You probably say it 40 times a day.
But you have a point. Assuming you were trying to make one.
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I’m a broken record about it.
I’m only about half sure most of the time. It would be a good idea still. The next good idea is increased frequency on stuff you want to get better at. It’s not well liked by most though.
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I think you already know that I fully buy into the idea of the Push Press both as a worthwhile movement itself, but also as a way to improve the strict. I am very shortly going to add it back in myself for both of those reasons. Everyone should push press.
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Agreed. I don’t do a lot of strict pressing and honestly never have. Lately I’ve been doing it on the side as an addition to the ridiculous amount of pressing with leg drive that I am doing and it has honestly skyrocketed. I am not a huge strict presser by any means but for a lift I don’t care much about, it’s doing very well with this approach.
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The next 3ish weeks I’ll be pressing ~5 days per week, which is radically different from anything I’ve done previously, to see if high frequency helps.
I’ve not push pressed in years, so yeah, that’s another option. I fear I’d simply improve leg drive without actually strengthening my shoulders, but it’s worth a shot in the near future. Maybe that overload would help.
It’s ridiculous because I care the least about bench, but my greatest progress happened there when I did only three work sets per week. Pressing is on a different planet…
I like it. Although I need to ask what pressing specifically means in this case and would warn you to ease into it.
If you’re gonna have 5 days a week of pressing, how can that exclude push presses, haha?
Unless you go all out weightlifter, I doubt that’s going to happen. I’d say my shoulders are my greatest assets and although that’s just a singular case of course, I don’t think I’m that much of a special unicorn.
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What really happens is your body learns to push and hold loads overhead much heavier than you are used to. When I went All In on it last year, I was surprised at how I started feeling it in my shoulders in a way strict press did not stimulate. It works on your brain as well…racking and pressing X psychologically becomes more achievable when you are racking and push pressing X plus 20.
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My bad, I consider “press” strict overhead pressing like Jim implies in 5/3/1. I realize the term allows leg drive in Strongman (I think, correct me if I’m wrong).
This gives me an opportunity to write what I am doing the next few weeks 
There are a few versions of Easy Strength floating around the Internet, and even those differ slightly from the book. But generally it focuses on 5 basic movement patterns, using the same lift, for several weeks.
Each session is quick – only 10 reps for most lifts per session. The book and some online resources, such as this article on T-Nation, explain the rep schemes. I’ve never done anything like this before, but according to Dan it’s good to pair with fat loss and to, well, improve specific lifts.
I plan to do
- Pull up
- Front squat
- Press
- KB swing
- Ab wheel
I’m nervous about not benching or deadlifting, but I think this is a good experiment for the few weeks I have before vacation. Dan warns that ES does not work well with squats and prefers people to deadlift, but… it will be a learning experience, I guess. Shed a couple pounds, work on pressing better, go on vacation, and come back refreshed to do a much more demanding program.
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6/2
Easy Strength Day 1
Pullups +3kgx2x5
Front squat, beltless 90x2x5
Press 55x2x5
Standing ab wheel progression 2x5
KB swing 17kgx2x25
50 band pull aparts
5x200 m at the track, all ~40s
6/3
Easy Strength Day 2
Pullups +5x2x5
Front squat 100x2x5
Press 57.5x2x5
Standing ab wheel progression 2x5
KB swing 17kgx1x40
50 band pull aparts
I still need to get in the groove of front squats again because I haven’t done them in nearly a year. This morning I tried them belted for the first time ever. My squats will never look pretty, but I think they went better than in the past. I wish I could squat straight down better.
I’m skeptical about KB swings. Not sure I will get much out of them, but I have to remember that deadlifts aren’t my problem anyway.
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me too. haven’t noticed any carryover to anything other than more and heavier KB swings. but then, why not?
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I like swings for conditioning and building/dialing in an explosive hinge pattern. I wouldn’t use them to chase strength or hypertrophy though.
I could believe that. I figure I don’t have that much to lose for a few weeks at least 
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Easy Strength Day 3
Pullup
+5x2x3
+10x1x2
+15x1x2
Front Squat
90x5
105x3
115x2
Press
55x5
60x3
65x2
2x5 standing ab wheel progression
KB Swing 19kgx2x25
50 band pull aparts
2x10 pushups
3 mile run 24:00 (doesn’t include the couple minute breaks I had when I had to cross the road twice though)
Pull ups with 15 pounds added were easy. I’m aiming for a single with 25 pounds in a couple weeks. I tried it a couple times in college and could never get it. I’m optimistic now.
I’ve managed a BW front squat (beltless) in the past. I probably could do it now based on how today’s set looked. I think more than BW is also within reach.
I’m down about a pound. It’s already terribly hot outside, so on top of increasing sodium I’m going to start sipping electrolyte powder throughout the day. That run was not fun at all.
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ES Day 4
Pullup +3kgx2x5
Front squat 100x2x5
Press 57.5x2x5
Standing ab wheel progression 2x5
KB swing 19kgx2x30
50 band pull aparts
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We front squat the same weight! Yours looks way better than mine, too.
Are they ever? I see people running down the road every single day, and none of them are smiling or look even remotely happy to be running.
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I reckon you could push the weight a tad if you prioritized front squats more 
I just think front squats are absolutely awesome. I did a lot more of them in the past.
Never. I’ll admit that they feel pretty good afterwards though. I don’t know how I fooled myself into pretending to like running years ago. I wish I could have spent at least some of that time focusing more on strength training.
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Caught up on the last few days, you are strong. FS looking really solid too. They are awesome and I’ll miss them (gonna switch to back squats for a while… maybe one last hurrah today if I get time).
Your pullups put most men and nearly all women to shame.
And don’t dis the swings. I don’t know how, but they really make you better. Keep em up!
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Thanks for the words. I look forward to seeing how transitioning to back squats works for you. A lot of people diss front squats or at least feel that they don’t “carry over” to back squats, but I would be surprised if all those FS widowmakers did not give you a great foundation.
Haha, that’s very kind of you. I hope to one day do a single rep with one plate. Baby steps.
Dan John knows way better than I do, so I’ll trust him for these couple of weeks. Even if my deadlifts are a little rusty next month from not practicing them, I won’t be upset.
ES Day 5
Pullups +3kgx2x5
Front Squat 85x5, 105x5
Press 55x5, 60x5
Kneeling ab wheel 1x10
KB swing 21kgx2x25
1x13 dips
50 band pull aparts
3x400m at the track 1:26, 1:31, 1:29
I’m tempted to train every day up until vacation, but I think taking the prescribed rest days is a better idea. Looking forward to tomorrow’s break.
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Maybe, but at this time I’m immobile and not flexible haha. Going to be a lot of work to get to the point where they’re “comfortable”.
I knew it.
Seems like a lot of people are going/have recently been on vacation. After being cooped up for so long I was so happy to not be at home. Enjoy yourself!