I said 1 pin but realized all racks are not the same. You want it to be about a foot off the floor.
I never used paused deadlifts.
Things I would use to make my 1Rm higher on deads. Rack pulls from different heights, good mornings, and RDLs. These would typically worked in 3-8 rep ranges.
I would pull singles or a competition pull off a deficit only. Make your training harder than your competition pull.
Of course, I only pulled 500 in competition and 515 in the gym before I hurt my shoulder and pulled out of my next competition. I do know I was getting stronger training this way though. The guy I listened to said they never pulled competitive deads in training. Always a variation, and always something that was harder than their competitive lift.
I suspect I was tagged more for my OHP strength than my deadlift, haha. So I am going to focus on that.
Frequency! Frequency trumps most other things for OHP in my opinion.
Focus more on leg drive pressing than strict pressing. At least if you already have a decent base, you are going to get much more out of being specific here.
Techique: Firstly - learn a technique that suits you, is replicable and allows you to hoist the most weight. The next step after push pressing is going to be some form of jerk. Donāt make it too complicated with a split jerk but learn something where you bend your knee twice. I had great success with a type of push jerk that is a very low level of complexity (because I donāt move my feet) and still added a bunch of kilos to my OHP that I didnāt get out of push pressing. Secondly - intensity: I find I can train OH pressing with both high frequency and relatively high intensity. That might be individual though, although it seems that way for most. That said, intensity shouldnāt outmatch your ability to replicate technique.
bits and pieces: Find variations that A) work on your weaknesses and help engrain technique. I am once again throwing paused presses (in the dip and in receiving position as well as in lockout) out there because I donāt think any single thing/ assistance exercise has helped me quite as much. Besides that, assistance obviously matters but is a highly individual topic. Less is more though. Find what you need, rotate cycle based but stick with it. Things that I PERSONALLY find very helpful: Seated btn press with no back support, incline db bench press, dips to a degree, btn push press (bar path), oh squats, jerk recoveries/ oh holds (only for shorter periods of time), front squats, plyos. What doesnāt help me persnally: Bench press, isolated tricep work, pin press at eye level/ temple (remember I donāt care about strict press numbers by themself)
Both being a strongman and advising one I want to add that my advice obviously depends on the type of pressing you want to improve in. Although a good press with a barbell is a great foundation imo.
So if we are talking log or keg (funnily enough probably my best oh event) for example, my advice would differ a little bit.
So when I do this, I never lay out reps: itās always by weight. I use a weight that I can get something like 12 reps from the top position and go from there. The understanding is that Iāll lose reps through the cycle, so I have to give myself some runway there. If I can only manage 3 reps from the top, Iām probably not going to get very far.
Iām always pulling max reps for that one particular training session. Iāll have some weeks where I pull MORE reps than the previous week, and some reps where there is a decline.
Itās only ever 1 set. I donāt find that deads respond well to multiple sets (assuming the goal is to deadlift heavier). Iāll rest pause this set twice, but it took me a few years to build up to that capability. For starting out, I did just 1 pull.
The most ideal cycle for me is a 7 week training cycle with a 1 week deload (8 weeks total), but that doesnāt tend to fit within most of my other programming which runs in 3-6 week cycles, so I pull 6 week cycles these days. Iāll start with a number of mats corresponding to the length of the cycle (6 mats for 6 week, 7 mats for 7s) and remove a mat each week. I skip the 1 mat week and go straight from 2 mats to the floor, because the different between a 1 mat pull and a floor pull is pretty insignificant.
I should have remembered this from your log, and given the way you usually train this should not have been a surprise, but strangely it was.
This is interesting as most of my deadlift (and any other lift really) training is multiple sets and usually a fair amount of volume. Maybe I need to re-think
So a few warm up sets with increasing weight, and then just 1 Amrap set, aiming for 12ish reps in week 1. Is this a max set, so canāt grind out any more ? or stop if the reps get real ugly ?
Yes I was thinking that given I havenāt done a lot of overhead work that more frequency would help.
When you program your push press (or eventually jerk if I can learn it) what sort of sets and reps are you using. Lots of singles or higher rep sets?
This is interesting as most of my deadlift (and any other lift really) training is multiple sets and usually a fair amount of volume. Maybe I need to re-think
I think this is helpful if youāre using the deadlift to build other qualities, but if youāre using the deadlift to build the deadlift, I find it better to keep the volume low. Basically, make your body strong so it can deadlift more, rather than deadlift more to make your body strong.
Is this a max set, so canāt grind out any more ? or stop if the reps get real ugly ?
If I stopped when reps got ugly, Iād stop on the first rep, haha. I always pull until I canāt pull another rep. But I donāt ever fail a rep.
OK I just checked the dates and if I start next week I have 8 weeks with week 9 being xmas week, so perfect for a deload.
You said you go 7 weeks with a deload. Is the deload in week 8 ?
I am getting a bit detailed here but I think you know me well enough by now so will allow it. LOL How thick are your mats ? Our mats at the gym are around 2 inches, so a 7 mat stack will be pretty high. Plus i am pretty short.
I am thinking maybe iāll use next week to set up and feel out the movement at 7 mats, then run the 7 weeks and that will have me deload on Xmas week.
@AnytimeJake Used some wooden boards he cut to length to run a similar process. Bumper plates could also work. Or a combination of standing on a plate so you elevate yourself for 1 week with your thick mats and then standing on the floor so you can create distances in depth.
But yeah, for ROM progression, I would absolutely avoid breaks between weeks. The point is to slowly trick yourself into pulling off the floor, and the week to week slow changes help there. I HAVE had to take a break mid cycle, and itās recoverable, but itās less than ideal.
I am pretty sure we have some thinner mats at the gym, so I am sure I can sure I can work out a mix of the thicker and thin mats to create a 6 week progression with week 7 being off the floor.
Yer worst case I have some MFD sheet at home and can easily cut a couple of squares to take with me and leave them at the gym.
Hmm really depends of course on a bunch of factors. But generally speaking: Lower reps, higher sets.
I donāt use it today anymore because it doesnāt suit my approach of OH pressing 4 times a week but one protocol I used a lot in the past was something the legendary @strongmanvinny1 (if that is his current handle here, haha) gave me:
Week 1: 6x5
W2: 10 x 3
W3: 6 x 2
W4: 5 x 1
I hope I am remembering this right because it is from the top of my head.
Generally speaking:
Skill lifts: Higher sets, lower reps (like jerks). For example: 5-8 x 3.
Medium skill lifts (push press) would be in the middle with something like 4-5 x 5-6 and the
static strength (strict pressing of any kind) in higher rep ranges and lower number of sets like 3 x 8-12.
The important thing is to program not everything at once but to spread it out.
So for example if we assume youād be pressing 3 x a week (depending on what you are used to so far) it could be something like:
Day 1: Jerks + one assistance like incline db bench
Day 2: Paused jerks and strict pressing
Day 3: OH squat and Push Press
Just as a super random example.
The more advanced/ bigger the base and of course depending on the recovery capabilities of your shoulders, elbows and so on the less assistance exercise you are going to need!
I was thinking of keeping it a little more simple at the moment given the general lack of overhead pressing. And the need to still push squat and deadlift as well.
I was thinking of utilising incline dumbell bench and close grip bench on day 1 (squat day), Axle or bar push press (out of a rack - no clean) on day 2 (deadlift day but press will be first) and then seated dumbell overhead press and tricep push downs on day 3.
The push press would be lower reps, and the other pressing is more meat and potatoes volume.
