We all reek of ego and life's a masked tragedy.
Aw poop.
Okay then!
When strong men get together they generally test their strength by seeing how much they can lift off the floor, or see how much they can lift overhead.
In the weight-overhead instance there are invariably problems. Lifting experts do what is known as a clean & jerk but, because of the high element of skill this is not usually accepted as a good guide to the relative strength of individuals.
The most widely accepted test of real strength in overhead lifting is still
the military press while walking a tightrope held upright in the jaws of two men.
Right! And matter of fact, the term "pressing on a rope" once referred to the heels-together strictness of previous "military" presses in competition. Okay, say-no-more, say . . . no . . . more . . . nudge, nudge, screw you and all your memories in a wink or two . . . that's it with the laughs and bits of historical trivia on this one and I tend to lie a lot just for fun.
The most widely accepted test of real strength in overhead lifting is still the two-hands military press.
Many people overlook the fact that to get a good press the lifting of the weight to the chest is very important. The clean to the chest should be as fast and as easy as possible to save energy and to get the psychological benefit of making the weight feel light at the shoulders.
I advise a half-squat clean, going down only as far as you have to. The harder it is to clean the more you must squat. You may split if you wish but the added recovery time to the upright position takes just a little bit more out of you.
TRAINING FOR THE PRESS
The press will, of course, only be one exercise in a schedule and a great deal will depend on your aims and motivations. If you are using the press as a muscle builder the composition of your sets and repetitions will be completely different from those who wish to press maximum poundages for one single repetition in a competition.
The complete beginner would probably include a single set of 10 reps on the press as part of a 10- to 12-exercise routine but would quickly progress to several sets of 8-10 reps.
After a while he would considerably increase the weights being used and correspondingly reduce the number of reps. Around 3-4 sets of 5-6 reps would be fairly common for a person at this stage of training.
Those bitten with the "big lift bug" would tackle things slightly differently. The popular "pyramid" method which involves several sets of reps that decrease as the weight increases; for example: 105x5
160x4
170x3
180x2
190x1
210x1
no pumped like a mosquito jokes,
no jokes about performance enhancing bugs
and/or powders,
no William Lee references
no lightweight romance novel titled The Nude Brunch and
no K-holed Kafka humor, okay?
Moving on . . .
Joe Dator, cartoonist for the New Yorker since 2006, but not that one ->
This pyramid approach is similar to the way lifters warm up for competitions so it is essential to be acquainted with the pattern and have detailed knowledge of the volume and intensity of work best suited to giving maximum results. Gain experience and learn how to select your poundages for different rep sets. Without some fucking app telling you as though you had morphed into an insect-host with a digital parasite burrowing into your brain.
It goes without saying that in training your would only infrequently work up to maximum efforts.
To get good results you should work on a long-term palindrome, e.g., about some personal trainer goon who only trains shoulders leading a group of newbs (deltoid igniting idiot led) as well as a LONG TERM PLAN and not think just of the current schedule and the one you might do next. So, you have your rep, you have yer set, and you's got yer workout . . . each owed focus and McConcentration and not mental castration . . . piling up consistently like shite in a dank and light-lacking alley known for rather foul odors. This piling-up of CONSISTENT Press workouts is what WILL increase your poundages. The rest is really . . . um . . . you get my drift and does that really rhyme with shit-n-shite? Short shrift, TIFF in Toronto, sounds shrill, now it's dumb and done 'er.
In the early stages of training you should do a lot of pressing exercises of one kind or another. These assistance exercises are invaluable to build strength and muscular endurance and the latter is a necessary foundation for later progress. Without a basis of work like this you will not be able to have profitable intensive workouts at later stages in training and your rest pauses between sets will be longer than they should be. When the pace is slow, progress is likewise at a snail's pace.
Russ told me he favored sets of 5 reps repeated for 8-10 sets. He usually repeated this 2-3 times a week, and I believe this would be a good foundation-builder for top military presses.
You should always work at various stages of the press if you are employing isometric techniques. Do one hold at chin level, one at eye level or top-of-head level, and one halfway between this and the arms fully extended position.
Personally, I always believed a 12-second hold was too long as there is a tendency to hold the breath for that time and such pressure leads to "blacking out," also known as self-redaction, you fucking clown. However, March got good results with this method although this was all he did for the press on Monday to Thursday. On Saturdays he would do a full press.
The Russians are very meticulous in researching various training principles, and the results they have achieved in international competitions testifies to the efficiency of their methods and other stuff ingested, injected, administered and partaken of. Yow and Zir.
The top coaches in the U.S.S.R. have stated that pressing should be included in each training session. They go further and suggest two series of presses, the first in 3-5 sets at the beginning of training, with the press itself and DIFFERENT GRIP WIDTHS, then 6-8 sets at the end of the workout, doing incline presses and other assistance exercises. Elite lifters should do 30-40 presses per training session, a total of some 400 presses per month if you have hopes of becoming a really great presser.
ASSITANCE WORK FOR THE PRESS
There are a number of good exercises which will add variety to workouts and at the same time help to improve your pressing poundages. These are mainly presses of one kind or another but the slight differences in positions, resulting in the muscles being worked from different angles, will greatly improve basic strength in the shoulder and arm region.
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The seated press is one exercise which helps to eliminate the tendency to cheat when pressing. The lifter holds the barbell at the chest while seated on a sturdy bench, stool or chair. Spreading the feet apart to get good balance and stability, the bar is then pressed overhead for the required number of lifts. Back support, no back support, various ranges of motion in the rack, there's quite a few variations to choose from, depending on what the goal of doing them is.
The press behind neck is another of the standard exercises which works the muscles of the shoulder girdle. Hold the bar behind the neck with a wider than usual grip for the sake of comfort. Press the bar overhead and rather than bring it back over the face, direct it slightly backwards so that at the finish of the movement the arms are straight and a line drawn from the barbell to the floor would pass over the back part of the head.
You can increase the severity of the movement by doing SEATED press behind neck. In these exercises it is imperative that you get a full range of movement, lowering the bar the full distance rather than cutting down and shortening the distance the bar must be pressed.
All forms of dumbbell work are advisable.
The two-arms dumbbell press is a great strength-builder. The fact that the arms work independently, but at the same time, is not nearly as easy as it appears and you should use weights well within your capabilities until you get the movement pattern right. The arms are apt to wander or move at different speeds, so hasten slowly!
Alternate presses can be done in two ways. In the first variation two dumbbells are held at the shoulders and first one arm presses and lowers the dumbbell, then the opposite arm works in the same fashion. Right up, right down, left up, left down.
In the other, the more popular "see-saw" press variation, a good rhythm is built up and as one bell is pressed the other is lowered. Avoid using too much body movement in this type of dumbbell press.
If the triceps are a weak link in your chain of pressing muscles then the bench press can be used, preferably with a narrow grip. I am, however, against the use of the bench press for those interested in competitive work which involves overhead lifting such as the military press, for there is undoubtedly a little restricting of shoulder mobility as the big muscles of the chest are built to bodybuilding proportions.
All these exercises are of value and should be used at some stage in training for the military press.
Once again, the volume and the intensity will vary according to the phase of training into which the movements are slotted.
STRENGTH TRAINING
The number of workouts can be changed from time to time, but if you are really serious about improving and have had a good basic training foundation, then in your intensive periods you should be working 5 or even 6 days per week.
If you were basing your training on a 6-day stint then your regime would be something like this:
3 days lifting
1 day fitness (road work, etc)
2 days lifting
1 day rest
In a 5-day workout week it would be:
work for 3 days
rest 1
work for 2 days
rest 1
This is tough, but it's the way to progress.
In the first month of your intensive training, you should work up to using poundages of only 70-80% of maximum. This is very easy.
In the second month 80-90% and you'll be fit for this.
The third is the real killer with poundages of 90-100% being used.
This can be repeated at least three times a year, so you will have periods of recovery between the hard slog of maximum training.
A man who possesses in the region of a 175 military press would therefore train something like this:
Always remember . . . the principle is to have an easy month, medium month, then a very hard month (April, eh. Forgetful snow melts, renewal emerges and brings painful reminders of loss and unattainable hope. T.S. Elliot, though not a lifter, said so).
This sequence gets results.
One of America's strongest pressers was Phil Grippaldi and for a long time he was very, very good indeed in strict-style pressing. Some 10 weeks before a competition Phil would cut down on repetitions and instead do around 8 sets starting with 135 pounds and moving up in 10- to 15-pound jumps until he had reached his training maximum.
One thing which must ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED in such a schedule is that it should never be attempted without first having a very thorough warmup.
There are two main danger points in heavy pressing and these are the lower back and the should joint. These areas are rather prone to injury so it's advisable to ensure that a great deal of attention is paid to light shoulder and back work before ever going on to anything like maximum attempts. I advise plenty of toe touching (your toes only), hip circling, hyperextensions, etc.
What was that loooong same-weight DBs giant set layout that I liked so much from decades ago? I remember it correctly, I think . . . but that was quite a while ago and there's little reason to put it here, but then again:
Around 6-8 reps each, continuous, from one to the next.
First time trying it the weight selection will likely be too high.
Front lateral ->
Rear lateral ->
Side lateral ->
Press ->
Upright row ->
Shrug ->
a Neck exercise.
Some light low back work in between a few of those giant sets should help a little with any stiffness or mild soreness you may experience from frequent pressing and get you warmed up nicely. Not a strength-builder and not meant to be seen as one.
There are many systems and schedules but this comprehensive survey of the most widely accepted principles will show you some of the range and variety of training possible in this lift.
Just one final reminder . . .
the lift aimed at here is the MILITARY PRESS and if you incorporate heave starts or back bends you are getting away from the essential point of this article.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
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