Kimba, thanks for the feedback! Nice to talk to you as well. I haven’t tried to max my BB OH press but like you, I’m doing them standing still, like a standing military press, but with my feet at shoulder width or so. I’ve been staying in higher rep ranges. Like 50x8x4, or one day I tried 55x5x5 but could only get in 3 sets. I know with the standing single arm DB OH press, I can press a DB 35x3, but I use the other hand to assist it up there to the starting position and I do them with the palm facing forward more like it would be if you were holding a BB, (not neutral where your hands are facing your ears). My BW is hanging at about 112 again.
I think the limitation with getting heavy on these is how much I can clean. Without a spotter handing me the BB, I don’t think I can clean nearly as much as I can OH press. I’ll test it out and let you know over on your log.
Most people mean standing. If they’re not, they should specify.
I’m 130, press 65 with my heels shoulder width apart and my long term goal is to get 100 overhead!
If someone says OHP or military press I assume this means…
- it is performed standing and feet are about shoulder width apart (or however the individual feels most stable)
- a barbell is being used
- the start position is somewhere between the collar bone and chin
- virtually no leg drive is used
When I OHP for 5/3/1 I tend go until I can’t press the weight “correctly” any more and then switch to push pressing and judge my progress by both the # of strict reps and the # of total reps.
PP, you can press a 35 lb. DB!!! Damn. Nice going. I haven’t tried pressing a DB in awhile. I’ll have to see what I can do with this…
BG, I like the idea of push pressing after the strict pressing goes.
Military Press originally meant a standing barbell press with heels together (not feel shoulder width). I don’t think many people do them that way now although I almost do.
I press from rack position, ie, my collarbone, rather than higher.
Hi all. Thanks for the OH pressing replies.
I don’t know why I’d been doing these with the fixed BBs that I use for BB rows. After Cal said rack position, I had this flash of brilliance. THE RACK! Set it up like a squat so I don’t have to clean the thing. DUH! I don’t know why I hadn’t thought to do that. When just doing a working set of 8x4 or something I can clean the BB and so I just use the fixed ones, but not when I’m getting heavier.
Kimba and Dani - Since we have similar upper body lifts, this morning I did OH Press BB 65x2, then 70x1. Tried 75 and not quite, but I will say I did some heavy benching last night so I think it’s MAYBE possible if I were rested. I have 100 on my bench again which is the most I’ve lifted since my surgery so I’m happy that my strength is almost back.
If you are interested in cleaning and pressing, and you’re limited with your clean ability, look into learning the continental clean. Awkward as hell, and a real titty bruiser, but it will get the bar up for you.
I can clean more than I can strict OHP, but I can push press more than I can clean. I call it a push press if I’m using leg drive, and an OHP if I’m standing with a barbell and minimal leg drive. It’s seated DB OHP if I ever do those.
One of the strongman secrets I learned this summer is, at least with locking out push pressing, push your head forward between your arms once you get the bar off your collar/chest and it clears your head. It will go up.
PMPM - Good Grief! I just googled Continental Clean and watched some video of people sitting the BB just above their waist, or on their belly and then sort of dragging it on up their chest. I had to put my hands over my boobs just thinking about it. 
They should call that the Powerbelly. LOL! No, I see what you mean about using some body english and leg drive to help you clean more if you need to.
Thanks for the tip about pushing my head forward. About using some leg drive, I sometimes do sort of a push press to eek out the last few reps of standing laterals with DBs, just to get the benefit of getting them up there, hold and lower slowly.
Puff-Koubanator told me this in my log way back when, and it helped immensely.
“On your presses, think of it as a total body movement. Feel the power start from your feet, and then work its way up the legs, glutes, core, upper back, and the chest/shoulder/triceps. Also, when lowering it, make your lats work, and don’t put all the stress on the tri’s/shoulders. Want to go for the feeling of the bar resting on your lats, not just laying limp on your chest. Once I started doing this, my MP sky rocketed.”
that continental clean looks like it’d hurt your back! gahhhh!
PP, you are definitely stronger than me on presses. 65 lbs. is currently my one-rep max on MPs.
Hi everyone! I’ve got a PW question:
I’m doing a four day a week plan where each day is dedicated to the big lift (DL/Bench/Squat/MP) and I do light version of the complimentary lift. e.g. on squat day I will also do light deadlifts. I’m also doing all my accessory work for the same muscle groups on those days, after the main lift.
Here’s my situation:
I’m sore after every. single. workout for several days. In the past I associated this with not working those muscles frequently enough, in other words, if I took a week off, I would be sore the first time.
So my question is: is this sort of once a week focus too infrequent?
I seem to be getting stronger, but I also quit drinking wine so that could be why.
P.S. you are all wonderful and beautiful. Sorry I haven’t been around!
Spidey! Good to hear from you! Your log went on hiatus and I wondered what you were up to.
Wish I had the answer to your question. I frequently do something very similar with my main lift and then accessories. Like squats followed by walking lunges, Bulgarian splits, and leg pressing. I haven’t had a problem with recovery. Like you, if I haven’t done something in a couple of weeks, it will usually give me DOMS. You’re making strength gains so that means something is going right. No clue about the soreness.
maybe do half’s. like sq and mp on the same day, take two or three days off then dl and bench on the same day for half of what you were doing before, if that makes sense. or cycle it. do two days a week of whatever, then the next week do the other two lifts.
i don’t think it really matters just as long as you are seeing progression in strength when you do it vs how often you get the days done. i don’t think it matter weeks vs days on and days off. go with what suits you.
[quote]arachne12 wrote:
Hi everyone! I’ve got a PW question:
I’m doing a four day a week plan where each day is dedicated to the big lift (DL/Bench/Squat/MP) and I do light version of the complimentary lift. e.g. on squat day I will also do light deadlifts. I’m also doing all my accessory work for the same muscle groups on those days, after the main lift.
Here’s my situation:
I’m sore after every. single. workout for several days. In the past I associated this with not working those muscles frequently enough, in other words, if I took a week off, I would be sore the first time.
So my question is: is this sort of once a week focus too infrequent?
I seem to be getting stronger, but I also quit drinking wine so that could be why.
P.S. you are all wonderful and beautiful. Sorry I haven’t been around![/quote]
Are you eating enough/consuming enough carbs? (I’m assuming you’re doing okay with the protein if you’ve been on this site for a while)
Hey Spidey!! Hm…DOMs 24/7 on your 4 day split…sounds about right to me! lol.
I followed a similar template when I did a modified DeFranco program (ME main lift followed by accessory work that hits same muscle group AND complementary group) and I remember being sore pretty much after every workout as well. I do think I got jacked though! Couldn’t sit down so well, but at least I was doing something right…
Are you doing any other stuff on your off days? Maybe you need to devote one day to stretching/mobility work?
Anyways, sounds fun! What program is it?
Hi everybody! nice to see your avis again.
Brute, I’ve done some versions of halfs a few times, and they have been good for me, but I feel like I can only give one of the big lifts my all on any given day. Do you know what I mean, or are you just a total badass?
cross, I am eating a variety of good wholesome foods, and I am not shy about carbs these days. I am pretty lean right now, but hard so I don’t think it’s that. My body is all over the place since I cut out the wine, but this program pre-dates that.
Masch, I’m synthesizing several things I know work for me. 1. Give the big lifts their own day, and put them first. 2. Get more volume with accessory work. 3. Mix up the reps 10, 5, 1 …
I’ve added heavy singles as finishers for the important lifts, because some good lifters I know do that (snap, eg)
Here’s another PW subject. There was a writer here on T-Nation who noted that female benchers seem to have a very steep bench curve compared to men, meaning that a woman’s 5 RM is very close to her 1 RM compared to a typical man.
I complained to another woman lifter and we both noticed that if you add the tiniest weight to our 1 RM on the bench, it won’t budge. This is much different from other lifts. Put 10 lbs on my max dl and I might make it.
So, PW question follows:
- Is this generally true?
- I’ve got a theory that it has something to do with lack of fast twitch cross-training on the upper body.
Thoughts?
I certainly can’t answer for anyone else here but I’ve found the bench thing to be true for me. I’ve repped 115 for 5 or 6 but have yet to get more than 130 for a single. Of course bench isn’t my thing so it could be different for others.
Right, ouro? So according to a rep calculator you should be able to hit 138.
Any arguments based on lower upper body strength in women are insufficient, because this is apples to apples for each woman. What about any of you women who are using Westside? Does the dynamic effort help to break this pattern?