Hit my all time PR running standard 531 for OHP, so once a week pressing with accessory work.
More bodyweight defo carries through to increased pressing, much like bench press.
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Tuesday 30th July - conditioning
EMOM for 30 mins
Odd mins - 3 x sandbag over shoulder with 60kg (132 lbs) bag
Even mins - 30 sec plank
For the last round I did 6 over shoulder and a full minute of plank.
Total sandbag reps - 33
Good session
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I thought that too but @Cyrrex is like 50kg.
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Are we talking about overhead pressing or STRICT pressing? Thatās going to matter for my response.
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My ratios might be better than average, but I still think it is generally true that it will tend to go up with bodyweight. But of course, that is true of most lifts.
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Just overhead mate not strict, just max overhead.
Other general snark-free advice I would give:
- Training Maximally. Max singles and doubles work, and getting better at these forces up all your higher rep work.
- Your shoulders might be your most resilient muscles, they are involved in a bunch of lifts. You can train them more often than you think. They recover quickly.
- When I am really working on getting my press to improve, I am everyday thinking to myself āhow does this help my pressā? Led me to emphasize certain things and de-emphasize others.
- Donāt just do strict OHP on press day. Toss in some other stuff like push presses, seated DB presses, BtN presses, HSPUs (hah, good luck). A whole day of just pressing above your head is time well spent
- Push harder, pussy.
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I am a fan of high frequency and pretty high volume as well, followed by phases of high frequency, high intensity and medium volume. My shoulders can take a ton of overhead pressing from a recovery standpoint. I will always overhead press at least twice a week but have done up to 4 times a week in the past.
If you need to focus on strict pressing (that includes any variation - also bench press and incline) depends on your technique. If you are a technical presser that gets a decent amount out of the legs, you will need less strict pressing strength. I for example donāt focus on strict pressing at all besides the off season. The carryover is rather small because the weights I use there are so far off my overhead weights with leg drive. I utilize strict pressing more for āshoulder health maintenanceā these days and focus on things like tempo btn pressing.
Technique: This is my biggest tip: Learn a sufficient technique. No other lift will benefit as much from a āgoodā (meaning suitable to you and efficient) technique than the overhead press. Getting the most out of leg drive, be it with a push press, push jerk, power jerk or split jerk is the single most important variable for guys that arenāt just humongous and can muscle up the weight. A good press, starts with a good rack position. The most common mistake I see thogh is the dip and then reverse into drive.
Intensity vise I like high but submaximal intensities for the majority of your training.
For quick boosts of stregnth (not to be used for prolonged periods) I can recommend overhead lockout holds, supramaximal front rack holds (like super small rom front squats), weighted jumps from the box (way above parallel).
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The bench will have a very good carryover for some and not so great for most. It depends on your technique and also your size (āsmallerā athletes will benefit less generally speaking). I have talked with the coach of 2 weight class world record holders in the overhead press. While the athlete in question could break the record with a 365 lbs axle clean and press, he could barely bench press 315 apparently. There are other examples of the opposite as well. This is something to figure out. But overall I concur with your statement. Especially looking at all the powerlifters at my gym, who are benching huge numbers but will have a piss poor overhead for the most part. SAID principle applies (Specific adapation to imposed demands).
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@Koestrizer and @Cyrrex so much great advice. Looks like the most common theme is frequency. Which seems to correlate with my less than impressive overhead seeing I rarely or infrequently do it.
@Koestrizer as far as the technique goes. This is a real challenge but also a great opportunity for some quick improvements. I really struggle with any kind of dip and drive so need to work out how to sort that shit out.
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My number one tip would be paused presses. I canāt stress the benefits of these enough. You can use them with any kind of leg drive press. I credit a lot of my success to those. Try using a slow descent and more importantly a DECENT pause. Feel where your weight is distributed through the feet. Focus on knees out so that your entire center of gravity doesnāt prematurely shift too far forward.
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Does that just mean holding it at the top?
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Good question
Paused at the bottom ???
Maybe in the Middle!
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We are such experts 
At the bottom - the point youād reverse the dip into the drive. Pausing at the top is useful for balance issues.
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I spent a bit of time reading up after you posted that. All good. Thankyou
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Iāll join you in this. Time to pump these numbers up!
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Is it worth it? Let me work it
I put my thang down, flip it and reverse it
I finally know what those lyrics mean, she was talking about improving her push press.
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Iām not familiar with this master piece but she sounds like she has a huge press!
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