Basically, I’m about to go from an accumulation block into an intensification block and there’s really only one pressing exercise I’m doing that I’m interested in really pushing.
My main focus is the overhead press, and I do it twice per week. I also bench and incline bench on another day in the week. If I’m dropping into a lower rep range on my overhead pressing days, is it still advisable to bench and incline bench in the 6-8 rep range, or for best OHP results, is it absolutely necessary to lower their reps too?
I’m curious about the answer too, but I think you might be on your own.
I did take a look at a couple Sheiko comp vs prep cycles, and it doesn’t seem that there’s any major change in rep ranges for any of the non-main lifts. Just as a point of reference.
This article however does show a reduction in rep ranges for all the lifts.
dynamic effort push press: anywhere from 6-10 sets of 2-3, only use like 60-70% and focus on max acceleration. Stop a set or stop adding sets when acceleration drops off
max effort bench press
This way you get the best of both worlds. You can push the intensity on both bench and overhead, while training the overhead pattern twice without hurting recovery.
This is an article I have actually read a few times, so it’s a good pick out. Even though the reps do all drop off, for an assistance exercise like incline press it never drops below 6 reps.
I did pick 6-8 as I felt like it’s a good in-between rep range for higher and lower rep range phases of training. In another post, Christian Thibaudeau did say that he rarely programs above 8 reps even in an accumulation phase of a strength-focused athlete, so maybe together these suggest 6-8 is not a bad in-between rep range all up? Maybe.
Honestly, I can’t say that I agree. If you assume 3 sets for each exercise, it works out to 12 total sets of pressing across the week, which is pretty standard, if actually a little on the low end for a lot of people I know/have seen on these forums.
Even if you look at the scientific literature, the general recommendation is 10-20 sets per muscle group per week, and a few years before that came out, CT, on this very website, said that in his experience, most people do best with between 9-15 sets per week.
At this point, 3RM strength
I like the way this is set out, and I have been thinking about push presses recently. It’s just that my knees have been kinda screwed for a little while know, and I don’t want to take any risks with the recovery for the moment.
Have you tried spreading your pressing volume over 3 days in a week? Personally I find that works really well for me
12 working sets per week for shoulders is overkill, man. As for the literature… well I don’t agree at all. It’s very vague… like how many actual working sets?
I think Cluster Sets are regarded as one of the, if not the best, strength gaining modalities on here.
Either way good luck and keep us posted on your progress!
Keep that focus and if they help YOU, keep benching as assistance. Lots of old timers swear by it. Just keep the volume/effort lower than OHP work. The key is…“if it works for you”. You have to be the judge if that extra stuff helps. Be smart. Feel it out.
Yes, I have had some of my best strength gains when I was training bench press AND overhead press both 4x a week actually. Submax of course, but I got crazy efficient at both movements. By 3rd and 4th workouts of the week, I’d feel like I didn’t even need any warm up sets on either of them.
The overhead press is one of my better lifts (200x2 yesterday, 185x5 a few weeks ago).
I don’t really have anything to back up my answer, but my intuition would be to not change the reps of your bench/incline press while you run the intensification block for your overhead press. I recently switched from almost half a year of sets of five to a cycles of triples, doubles, and singles, and all my accessories are being done in the same range (sets of eight on DB benching, for example)
However,
This gives me some pause about whether you even need to worry about accumulation/intensification yet. My first question would be how much you weigh?
I’ve been mainly doing bodybuilding-style workouts, and it’s only in the last few months that I’ve moved into maximal strength work. My e1RM for overhead press is ~60kg, but I’ve made good progress recently, so hopefully that’ll get pushed further soon.
I’m 6’ and I think I’ve got fairly average leverages. My deadlift lockout position isn’t crazy high or low, so no insane ape index going on
Yeah, that’s what I’m starting to believe now, especially in a moderate 6-8 rep range.
I’m 79kg rn, but it’s important to say that I started out super weak. As in, for back squatting, 6 reps with the bar was RPE 10, I was DB benching 4kg DBs and DB overhead pressing 2kg. I’ve got past the stage where I can add weight every week, and adding a rep is never guaranteed.
I’ve been lifting for ~5 years, and I feel like I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that even though I’m not particularly strong yet, I’m probably already into my personal later intermediate stage.
I like the way @jskrabac laid it out for you above. If I had OHP as my main lift I would focus the heavy stuff on this one day a week. My second day of overhead press would by a lower weight higher volume session or a skills session focusing on speed, or partial range, or pauses.
As with the bench press on your other day, I would just call this accessory work to work on the triceps and chest. I would do this in a higher rep range, 8-12 reps. I definitely would not be maxing out or going heavy on all those lifts at the same time.
Yeah, I agree. I’ve got something along those lines going in my training at the moment.
For me, Overhead Press is Monday and Friday, with Bench and Incline Bench on Wednesday. At the moment it’s 6-8 reps for bench & incline and the following for Overhead Pressing:
Basically, 4 weeks accumulation, 4 weeks intensification (I will do week 6 twice, but will make sure to progress something and not just repeat the exact same workout).
The top triple determines my e1RM for the day (top triple is anywhere from RPE 8-9, it doesn’t have to follow what’s written there), then I follow these rep ranges. The goal here is the backoff/volume work should start at RPE 8 on the first set
Looks OK. If it was me I wouldn’t do the top triple on the second pressing, I would just do some volume based on a pre set TM. But at the weights you are moving it wont really effect that much.
