OHP Training

[jonboy]

Hey hows everyone doing. My name is Jon Leible, 18 years old college football freshman. I play 1-AA ball in NY. My question is regarding OHP. Our program doesnt emphasize that much over the head pressing, we do power presses from like a standing back squat position, squat down a little bit and explode up. My best is around 250 for 3. We normally do 3x5, never go lower then the 5 rep range (only when i fail in not getting 5). I feel that lately my power presses have been shitty, 225 has been feeling heavy. This week I switched it up to a regular power press from the front, and it felt good since I haven't done them in a while. My question to you guys is, what kind of rep range do you go for? I think im going to switch it up from back/front power presses each week. One week do it from the back, next week from front, etc. We do strict standing military presses also during the beggining of the week. Any Suggestions?

[SqeezeMasterFlash]

Lately my presses have gone up by pressing twice a week. Once a week working up to a max triple, and once a week going for 3-6 sets of 3 using bands and going to speed. I also usually do some sort of tricep specific exercise on the same day as the speed work. Hope that helps.

[Jesse Marunde]

Hey Jon! I'm not a big fan of doing any more than 3 reps on any overhead movement that is initiated with leg drive. Push presses, power presses, power jerks and split jerks are all EXPLOSIVE movements. Even when I was playing ball I never did more than 3 reps and usually stuck to doubles and singles. Save the 5+ rep range for strict military pressing. Remember, the goal is to get stronger right? The best way to evaluate your strength is by how much weight is on the bar or by how fast the bar is moving with any given weight. After 2 reps on any super explosive movement bar speed begins to slow down and technique starts to fall apart.

Best of luck to you in your gym training and on the field!

Jesse

[Mike W.]

Not that it matters a whole lot - but I agree completely with Jesse. I hardly ever go over 3 in over heads (unless training for a show with reps) and it's worked pretty good for me.....

Mike

[Eric Johnson]

Jesse, would you typically work both military presses and push presses in the same workout or alternate them, i.e., military one workout and push presses the next?

Thanks

[jonboy]

Thanks for the help guys. Im going to stick to triples then work up to a single. On our cleans and squats our program is pretty strict (we get signed off on last set) but on over head pressing we can pretty much do what ever we want (even though program calls for 3x5). BTW - I also powerlift and do strongman during summer and when im home, probally going to do a strongman competition this summer.

[Jesse Marunde]

Eric, it just depends on what my focus is. If I'm totally focused on building my MP I won't do any push presses at all. When I'm focusing on push presses I still like to do some light military presses once a week, usually seated. I must also mention that I rarely focus on push presses. I either emphasize MP or jerks on the log or axle.

Jon, alot of strongman events carry over to football. Keep it up!

Jesse