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Thread: How to Train the Press | Mark Rippetoe

  1. #1
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    Default How to Train the Press | Mark Rippetoe

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    Rip discusses training the press and why it’s necessary to practice heavy presses often.


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    Rip made a comment I've heard from others as well, I'll paraphrase, 'to press a lot (weight), you have to press a lot (often). In the context of prioritizing the press, he noted pressing up to 4x a week. I'm curious what a 4-day pressing program with bench as an assistance lift would look like. I don't recall seeing this in SS or PPS.

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    I have the same question too.

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    Isn't the answer in the video?
    At least very short at around: 4:20

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    We need more details.

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    I'm not sure if there is a definitive treatment of programming for the press, but there are additional resources I'm aware of but don't have handy links for. Long ago, Michael Wolf posted a collection of tweaks he makes to the various lifts approaching the end of LP. Nick Delgadillo has a video on programming the press and the bench press.

    I personally have found the press to be the most difficult lift to progress on for two reasons:
    1. It is so very sensitive to form errors
    2. It shares a "slot" with the bench press

    I don't know if the topic could fill a book, but I am interested in getting broad perspectives on what press progressions look like beyond LP and early intermediate for lifters. I speculate that there are differences that could break down into three different categories:
    1. Powerlifters, for whom the press is an accessory to the bench press
    2. Strengthlifters and Olympic weightlifters, for whom the press is a contested lift and the bench press is an accessory
    3. Other athletes and general strength trainees, for whom there is no particular specialization

    I also suspect that as the lifter advances programming changes are made in response to where the lift has broken down. I'd be interested in reading the different approaches to attacking these different breakdowns and how they balance with the bench press.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisBuck93 View Post
    Isn't the answer in the video?
    At least very short at around: 4:20
    I went back and listened and as a complete novice to SS NLP, I take it to mean you add the other choices Rip mentions (pin, partial, etc) as supplemental or additional to ones' NLP. Enlighten me if I'm wrong as I was also confused a bit. And it brought up a question in my mind as to why we alternate the Press and Bench for a 2 to 1 then 1 to 2 ratio each week, instead of say adding in both on Friday and allow 2 day recovery on the weekend, so both movements are worked twice a week.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Cox View Post
    And it brought up a question in my mind as to why we alternate the Press and Bench for a 2 to 1 then 1 to 2 ratio each week, instead of say adding in both on Friday and allow 2 day recovery on the weekend, so both movements are worked twice a week.
    This is a modification that some coaches use as training advances. It appears to anticipate a move to a 4-day split.

    Through the novice linear progression, the average of 1.5 sessions of each pressing movement per week is sufficient to increase strength. I think that is the simplest answer to your question of "why?" -- it is the simplest method to strengthen the lifter for both the bench press and the press movements. As adaptation slows, more complicated methods are required to drive this adaptation.

    At some point, the lifter needs more stress than can be provided in that schedule in order to drive a strength adaptation and both the bench press and press are trained twice a week. I suspect there is a lot of knowledge about the smaller changes that are made along the way and why they are chosen, but I don't know of any place that has aggregated it. It could be a while before such a resource exists. Just look how long it took from the invention of the barbell to the writing of Starting Strength. I expect the far more contentious topic of the comprehensive programming of a particular lift will take time to appear.

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    Thank you for the reply it makes perfect sense now, and puts things into a better perspective that these are additions made either toward the end or last phase of NLP, or Intermediate programming. I know it seems the standard answer here is read the book, but I only got it a couple weeks ago and have a busy schedule lately, so I'm still reading it; forgive me if I maybe asked the obvious but I guess I haven't made it that far in the books yet.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Cox View Post
    I went back and listened and as a complete novice to SS NLP, I take it to mean you add the other choices Rip mentions (pin, partial, etc) as supplemental or additional to ones' NLP. Enlighten me if I'm wrong as I was also confused a bit. And it brought up a question in my mind as to why we alternate the Press and Bench for a 2 to 1 then 1 to 2 ratio each week, instead of say adding in both on Friday and allow 2 day recovery on the weekend, so both movements are worked twice a week.
    Article and video on this topic:

    Intermediate Programming for the Upper Body Lifts | Nick Delgadillo


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