Member
Bodyweight OHP today vs 60 years ago
Hi Mark,
In this article
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-r...b_4550676.html
You wrote
"Sixty years ago, the press was the primary weight room exercise for the upper body. For men who trained with weights, a bodyweight-on-the-bar press was considered a good starting point."
My understanding is that a bodyweight overhead press by today standards is considered somewhere between advanced and elite. What exactly did you mean by "good starting point"? Are you suggesting that things were so different back then that OHP strength that takes many years to achieve today was considered no big deal back then? What was different about their training methods that accounts for this difference in strength (aside from less benching and more pressing)?
TMPHBITEU
I am suggesting that 60 years ago men training in a gym pressed the barbell overhead, and therefore became strong at the exercise, not having been distracted by the bench press, "functional training", and "mobility." Have I not been clear about this?
vegetableboy
Doesn't the bench press increase the press, though? Was it that they were weak on the press or just not used to the movement?
Member
My Dad used to say "you're not strong until you can press you're own weight" when talking about lifting. Being the annoying prick he is, that was all he said about it. I assumed he meant bench press.
Only in the last few years that I've actually been lifting, did he mention that in his gym, a bodyweight press was considered the minimum standard. THE MINIMUM STANDARD. I've pressed 203lbs, 40lbs shy of bodyweigh at the time, and I felt like a god.
It really was a different time.
"What the fuck are bumper plates?" is another gem of wisdom he offered.
Member
Every time I watch Serge Reding do that 502 lbs, it warms the dark places of my heart.
TMPHBITEU
Did it increase yours?Originally Posted by Kregna
Member
IMO the over head press is still King over Bench as a pressing movement that demonstrates pressing strength.
Member
Rip's right. I was talking to my grandpa about weightlifting (he's in his mid 70s) and when he was a teen he did the press for upper body. He also said the status quo at the time was to press bodyweight and that many people he knew could do it, although he himself couldn't do it.
Starting Strength Coach
In your experience, how long did it take to get to a bodyweight press? I admittedly have fortunate anthropometry for the press at 5'5" and normal relative arm lengths, but I reached a BW press after less than a year of general strength training and exceeded it as I increased weight.
I would agree that a A BW press is as rare as the numbers that represent an advanced DL/Squat on the old standards sheet, but I suspect that's more a factor of the fact that it's not commonly trained.
Rip asked the obvious question, but my N=1 observation is that there is limited transfer. As my press progressed from 165-200# (BW 175), my bench remained stuck around 250#. When training conditions and priorities changed to favor the bench press (I had access to a gym where benches weren't always taken and started to train for PL), bench increases didn't transfer to any press gains.
Member
I could be wrong about this but I recall the Press was THE pressing movement until WWII. Somehow people realized they could be laying down while pressing. Press still remains an important lift to me. I only bench because its a competition lift. Otherwise, i would stick with BBOHP as the main pressing movement.
As an example for about 1 year I did seated supported BB OHP because of lower back issues. I got up to my body weight at the time was 158. When i switched to Military Press I had to deload more than i care to admit. It is that much harder when you much incorporate your entire body
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