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Barbell GTG overhead press and moving up in weight

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Matt Piercy

Matt Piercy

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I've been working on my kettlebell movements for a while now. But now I'm interested in getting some barbell strength back with my military press. I started a simple 5x5 one day a week but I think I should do a gtg press instead. Right now I'm only using 120lbs, so no worries, but I want to do this for a long period of time.

My question is: as I move up in weight will greasing the groove with heavier weights cause me a problem? Or will my increased strength compensate for that over time.

P.S. its important to mention I'm training battle ropes and kettlebells with my wife several times a week. That's why I want to switch to a gtg press through the week, instead of a focused pressing session. I think it'd fit better.
 
I would not GTG Barbell Press. It's not really practical. It's hard to do reps throughout the day. Not like pistols, Pushups, or something similar.

Stick to:
- 5 x 5, 1-2 times a week
- H/L/M 3 times a week
- a Heavy day, and a volume day
- PTTP style almost daily
- add BB Pressing to the beginning of your regular training, if that is what is important, and use KB Press as your back off work
- work your BB Press hard 1-2 days, and GTG your KB Press, seems more practical than trying to GTG BB Press

Just about anything but GTG. If you have access to a BB throughout the day and week GTG could work to increase volume without taking too much away, I guess.
 
PTTP can be done fairly quickly (if you have a barbell at home and it's the only barbell movement you're doing, you can even just leave it loaded in the rack). I have done it alongside kettlebell swings in the past with good results.
 
If you work in a gym or have access toa barbell for most of the day then GTG is an option. Otherwise, PTTP would be the wiser alternative
 
I have access to a barbell. I have a pretty good setup in my garage. What I really need to do is have a goal and stick to it. My goal, this year, was to have a program and stick to it for 12 weeks. And I can't quit second guessing myself and adjusting my goal. I'm already second guessing this (thinking I should just stick with the kettlebells).I don't know, it gets pretty aggravating.
 
You really have a lot of options but like you said, it's best to stick to one for a decent time.

Lots of people have gained great pressing strength from training it twice a week. There's no question about it, it works. But whether it's optimal for you, is up for you to experiment and decide.

I, myself, got my KB MP up to comfortable reps with a 40kg kettlebell with only GTG. No ROP or other structured programs. Just pressing a bit everytime I was fresh. When I picked up a barbell I soon got up to 90kg based on my KB practice. Soon it will be 100kg, I hope. I train my barbell training at a commercial gym, and I think I'd do better if I could train at home GTG style. In my experience the legs and back are better beat up only some times a week with rest in between, while pressing muscles recover very quickly and in exchange demand exertion more often.

Try to do 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps every single day for a month. Pick the weight purely based on intuition and recovery. Train hard if you feel good, lift less the next day if you're sore, but every day at least train with the bar if nothing else. Commit to it and see if it works or not. After the experience you don't have to wonder about it anymore.
 
Antti said:
Try to do 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps every single day for a month. Pick the weight purely based on intuition and recovery. Train hard if you feel good, lift less the next day if you're sore, but every day at least train with the bar if nothing else. Commit to it and see if it works or not. After the experience you don't have to wonder about it anymore.
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Great, that's awesome. Thank you
 
@Matt Piercy, I'll offer another point of view. It sounds like you're doing a lot of kettlebell work already. If that includes a fair amount of overhead work, I think your idea of having a barbell press day just once a week might be best. You should be able to go at it pretty hard - it should feel like the Heavy Day of a Heavy/Medium/Light rotation.

I'm currently doing something similar with my bench press, a lift I've always been terrible at. Because I'm already doing one-arm pushups, pullups, and kettlebell military presses on multiple days each week, I have a bench day just once a week. I'm taking a pretty familiar "triple progression" kind of approach - I go for 3 sets of 8 with a particular weight and, when I get that, I add some weight to the bar and necessarily drop the reps, then work my way back to 3 sets of 8. At some point, as the weight gets heavier, I'll switch to a lower volume approach, e.g., 3 sets of 5 and possibly lighter backoff sets, and then continuing along, I'll drop the volume further and try to peak for a max weight triple, double, or single. You could certainly start with 5 sets of 5 and follow a similar approach.

To pick up on one of @Geoff Chafe's suggestions, this would be along the lines of his one heavy day and one volume day. I'm also considering adding a volume day but I feel like, in some sense, all the other upper body work I'm doing is, in a sense, a volume equivalent. And for me, there are only so many hours in a day, and I haven't found a way to schedule the volume day that works for me yet.

JMO, YMMV.

-S-
 
Steve, I do allot of kb overhead pressing. I've already accepted that I'll have to sacrifice it for the time being. I'll stick with swings and cleans (maybe a day or two of tgu), to compliment the pressing. Like I said above, I have a very hard time sticking to a program or a goal. Even though I do allot off KB lifts, I don't feel my progress is a good as it should be because I don't stick to one thing.

A GTG press is something I have no excuse not to stick to for at least 12 weeks. It's so easy to work sets in. It's about 5:30 here. I'm getting ready for work and I've already done one set for the day. It's actually pretty nice. Also, I've been doing this since Thursday and I've already did over a month's worth of work (If I was doing a 5x5 once a week), plus I feel fantastic. I don't hurt, my muscles feel ready to go at the drop off a hat.

Eventually I am going to do what you said above (maybe exactly, I'd like to try the progression model). But for now, I feel I should give this a go.
 
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