Hey Guys, I’ve been visiting this site for a long time and now decided to create an account to ask a few questions myself. I’ve shifted my focus in training from just general strength to powerlifting. Before that I used to do a bigger variety of lifts like power cleans and all that. I really liked push presses and power jerks and now I would like to know if you as experienced lifters use push presses to aid your bench press?
I am currently using overhead presses without leg drive as an assistence and I think it works well to improve my bench. Might a push press be even better of an assistence exercise because it allows you to move more weight?
Thanks in advance and please excuse language mistakes I might have made, English is not my native language.
Strict pressing has been beneficial for me, but not push pressing. In general, I find my push press outcome is more technique driven, whereas my strict press ability is far more based on strength, and as such, moving more weight with strict press is making me stronger, whereas moving more weight with the push press in general is just making me a better push presser.
Strict pressing has more carry over than push pressing. I get the best carry over when I pause it at chin level. It causes less shoulder pain also (due to less shoulder rotation). Just my opinion.
dude benches like 575 at 21 years old,granted he’s large but still he does mostly push press and simulate the movement on the bench press from what I’ve seen.
I rotate press, wtd dips, and push press for benching. I love doing cleans and push presses too if i lived anywhere near a coach id oly lift, but i also enjoy powerlifts to so its no big deal. Jason blaha thinks push presses are a good way to overload the triceps and if you have at least some control on the way down still works the shoulders hard. But some people hate him while others love him, i think you need to experiment with it. Personally i think if you can lock out 315 above your head you can definately do it above your chest
Do them if you like them and want to get better at them but I don’t think it will directly hurt/help your bench. I guarantee anyone with a good push press and bench wouldn’t get worse at benching if they switched push press to something else.
Thank you all for your answers! I think I will stick to strict pressing for now and see how far my bench press will progress with them and floor presses as main assistence exercises.
Depends on your levers, for some guys they are better for shoulder health than presses. Problem is as the video showed at a certain weight bar flex will take a lot of the push out.
I would try them for 6 weeks and see what benefits they deliver (you’ll probably spend 3 weeks just adjusting to the movement). You might be too unco to benefit from them or they may push your bench to new heights. There’s only one way to find out.
