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Barbell Working on Overhead Press in my busy life

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Thanks for the suggestion!

I have a gym at home (temporarily at my in-laws' house now):
Instagram post by Toby • Nov 8, 2016 at 9:47pm UTC

I only have time to train twice a week. I do use CoC at work and tempted to left my Kettlebell there to use during late shift.

I think Rif's plan is pretty doable and reasonable.

Hopefully I can do 3 days a week again some day!
 
Hello,

To echo @Tarzan about HSPU:
Your Journey to a Handstand Push-up: Part 1
Your Journey to a Handstand Push-up: Part 2
Your Journey to a Handstand Push-up: Part 3
How to Double Your Kettlebell Press in 6 Weeks Without Touching a Bell

You can progressively increase the deficit. Theoritically, a full ROM HSPU on parallette is a bodyweight OVH press

Kind regards,

Pet'
Except that you get a eccentric contraction first, something you never get with a military press out of the rack and that makes ALL the difference.
 
PATIENCE is probably the biggest thing to practice with the Strict Oh Press other than practicing the movement itself!!! Something to consider when pressing is to squeeze your glutes and grip the bar as hard as possible. This pretty much gets everything from head to toe super tight and ready for a big press. I prefer a thumbless grip since I feel it helps with a better bar path but that's just my preference.

I can only speak from my experiences but when I wanted to Clean & Strict Press 225 I increased frequency and also centered my other big barbell movements around increasing this lift. Once you have dried up the linear gains, and if the Press is really your focus, Front Squats, Close Grip Bench Press, Deadlifts and Incline Bench Press were great supplemental lifts to increase my Press. For smaller assistance work Pull Ups (not a small movement in the big picture), Ab Wheel and Waiters Walks with a KB to increase stability in the overhead position.

My reasoning for the barbell supplemental work:
Front Squats: Strong Leg, Strong Abs, Upper Back stability
Close Grip Bench Press: Strong Triceps
Deadlifts: Same as Front Squat but multiplied x2, as well as low back
Incline Bench Press: Overload Principle (gives you a chance to feel a heavier weight)

Reasons for Assistance: (movements working in a similar plane of motion)
Pull Ups: Antagonistic movement and can never have a strong enough back
Ab Wheel: Strong Abs go a long way in the Press. Also a good mobility tool
Waiters Walks: Stability

If you are worried about your Bench Press suffering due to this type of specialization, DON'T FEAR! I did this setup on a 4 day a week temple (upper / lower split) and was able to a Bench Press 320 pounds with a pause and didn't do a traditional Bench Press for 3 months. I know you only have 2 days a week to lift but it's pretty easy to insert the movements on these days on top of your normal Oh Press.

Again, I would only suggest this once your LP gains have dried up completely. Milk those for all they are worth right now!
 
Overhead press is one of my favourite lift even I am not good at it.

Now, as I am advised by my neurosurgeon to stop doing martial arts/contact sports, my "goal" is to be able to be "strong enough" and "look good". I do Overhead Press for fun.

Since reading the Press chapter on PTTP Professional, I have been doing the press as written in the book (which is now on the SF blog post as well: Build a Barbell Military Press on a Kettlebell Foundation)

I do the "front delt raise (lead with elbow) until my upper arms are parallel to the ground, like the photo in the blog post:
barbell-military-press-technique.jpg

I keep bar close to me when i do the "front delt raise" and bend my upper back backward and keep my lower back vertical
.
Question:
when the upper arms are closed to parallel to the ground, my lower back would bend back a bit.
Is it normal? If I have to keep it vertical, I won't able to keep the path of the bar strictly a strict line.

Part 2 of the lift:
"when the upper arms are parallel to the deck. Triceps time. Instead of pushing the bar up, push yourself away from it...Press as close to your forehead as possible. When the bar is somewhat above your head, flare the elbows, push your head and shoulders under the bar and finish the press pushing slightly back.
"
Question:
Sometimes I get stuck when the bar is just above my head. I found that the lift would be much easier if I "threw the bar backward" when it is just above my head. I am not too sure if I should do that. The bar would feel weightless all in a sudden and I feel like I am cheating.

I can only lift twice a week and 20-30mins per workout (I train at home) and I am currently doing this:

Day 1: Press 5x5 (same weight) and Front Squat (3x5)
Day 2: Bench 5x5 (same weight) and yates row (3x8)

I recently have done 36 x 5 for press but for 5x5, I am still stuck at 33.5.

I understand that I need 50 reps of press to make progress.

Maybe I should drop the 5x5 (same weight for all sets) to 100% working weight x 5, 90% working weight x 5 and back off sets like "Russian Bear"? Or should I do the 5x5 twice a week do bench as a accessory lift?

Thanks in advance!
You make me jealous. I want to do a barbell press like that but I don't have a barbell (for a few reasons though.)
 
Thanks Jared!

Kozushi, dumbbell press/KB press are just fine :)

I hit my target this week!

Day 025 2017/05/27 SUN

Barbell OH Press (target: 5 sets x 5 reps)
*25.0KG x 5,
37.5KG x 5,5,5,5,5 yay!

Yate Row
37.5KG x 13, X 13

Snatch Grip Rack Pull
90KG x5, 97.5KG x 5


Day 026 2017/05/30 TUE

Bench (target: 5 sets x 8 reps)

*35.0KG x 8
45KG x 8,8,8,8,8 yay!

Chin Up (supersets)
BW x 2,2,2,2

Lunge
17.5KG x10/10, x10/10

Will repeat the weight next week before I move on.
 
I am up to 40KG X 5/5/5/4/4 now .
Not bad considering I am only doing it once a week and working on 5 sets of 8 bench press the other day of the week.

I am also doing at least 75 reps of one arm swing a day with a 24KG Kettlebell.
 
I have been doing this routine since FEB started with and have a few weeks off here and there.
63 workouts, 32 sessions of Overhead Press.

Started with this on week 1:
35KG x 4, x 4, x 3, x 3, x 2

And "peaked" at on week 23:
1 rep short of 5x5 with 40KG

I stopped training for two months because of moving to our first house, illness and all sorts of thing.

Last session was week 32 on Boxing Day, finally worked back up to 35KG 5x5 again.

Thanks @Rif for sharing this protocol.

I reflect on this last 32 weeks and have these findings:
- be MORE patient next time. You are not supposed to push yourself too hard
- do more Press related assistance lifts or push up like Rif

I will now move on to a Dan John-inspired DeLorme-ish workout, and
I am still working out twice a week and press once a week with Barbell.

Yesterday I did 13.5KG x 10, 20KG x 5, 27.5 x 12

Will add weight if I can do 13 reps or more at the last set.

Hopefully I can get back to the 5x5 Barbell Press again stronger next time.
 
Most excellent! Patience is more than a virtue with training, it's a necessity :)
 
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