WEIGHT GAIN TRAINING GOALS: PRESS DRIVES PROGRESS

This is something I realized while typing out a response to someone on t-nation regarding training and gaining weight (shout out to dagill2 for letting me abuse his log for that purpose).  Specifically, I was discussing my approach to gaining weight, in that I let training drive a recovery demand that necessitates an increase of calories, and then I eat the greater amount of calories in order to recover from such training, which results in muscular growth.  None of that is new to my regular readers, but in discussing the process, something dawned on me: I got my best results gaining weight whenever I focusing on improving my press overhead.  Specifically, this was whenever I had signed up for a strongman competition that was a weight class above my usual one that required me to hit a press that was well outside of my current abilities.  The two best instances were a competition where I was slated to hit a 260lb log press for reps and one where I was slated to hit a 275lb keg press.  I write “slated”, because in the case of the first I was eventually able to compete in my normal weight class, which only required a 225lb press while in the second case the competition eventually got canceled, but simply TRAINING for these goals got me the best results I’d ever had regarding weight gaining (one ofwhich I documented in an earlier blog entry found here ).  It’s worth exploring WHY this is the case so that others can make use of this.

But often pictures speak louder than words

What makes the press such a good goal for chasing weight gain?  Assuming there’s even the smallest element of vanity for one’s weight gaining goals (which is to say, assuming we’re being honest with ourselves), the muscles involved in strict pressing are the muscles that appear visually impressive.  The shoulders (all 3 deltoid heads) and triceps are the most obvious muscles necessary to press big weights, and big arms and shoulders are always cool, but on top of that the traps, lats and middle/lower back play a valuable role in stabilizing big weights, especially on a log or keg.  Logs and kegs and other similar weights will ALSO bring in some element of the pecs to the equation, as there will be a necessary degree of leanback in pressing big/awkward implements, making pressing in an incline a part of the process, to say nothing of the value of a “shelf of upper pecs” to press from.  A meaty set of legs and a strong core are going to be of value as well, even if we aren’t push pressing, because we still need a stable base to press from.  And we can see the testament of the value of strong pressing as it relates to strong physiques by examining the physiques of historically strong pressers, and specifically people that used more of a stricter style of pressing vs significant amounts of leg drive.

(This isn’t to say that the press itself is all one needs in order to achieve a striking physique or to ensure positive weight gain (though it’s a fantastic movement to base training around), but that chasing a large press will help vector one’s goals in the right manner.  I write this because my older blog entry “On Overcoming” got wildly misinterpreted in a similar manner.  One will need to press to drive the press up, which will develop the pressing muscles, but one will also be orienting their training toward driving up the press, which means orienting all their assistance and supplemental work to benefit the press.)

Now comes the part of the blog where I piss people off with wild and baseless speculation, because I’m going to discuss why focusing on just getting strong on the squat or deadlift isn’t going to have the same results.  The squat, unfortunately, can and will reward simply getting fatter around the midsection.  Make no mistake: getting a big and strong posterior chain and quads will definitely improve your squat, but your squat can ALSO improve just from having a bigger midsection, because now your squat leverages improve and you have a more stable core due to the wider base.  If you set your sights on squat goals, you can definitely walk down the wrong path as far as weight gain goes, putting on significant abdominal fat, watching your squat rise, and tricking yourself into thinking you’re putting on quality weight. 

No question Jeff Lewis squats big weight, but that gut gets int he way on the pull

With the deadlift, my experience has been that weight gain will actually NEGATIVELY impact the deadlift.  Keep in mind I’m a conventional puller, so when I say deadlift, I’m talking about an actual deadlift and not your sumo monstrosity, wherein who knows how that works, but with a conventional pull, if you like to have your feet closer together like I do, abdominal circumference growth can really throw off the pulling style.  I actually tend to see my best deadlifting growth when I LOSE fat after a weight gaining phase, something I’m currently experiencing and have experienced in the past.  So deadlift growth might be a good indicator that your weight gain phase WAS successful, but it might not be the best bet for if it’s currently BEING successful.  Meanwhile, watching the press grow and grow is a fairly good sign that you’re putting on some quality muscle.

I didn’t bring up the bench, because I haven’t chased a bench specific goal since around 2012 or so.  In theory, it should pan out well, but there is the possibility of growing your belly so big it cuts down ROM and your bench goes up despite your muscles not really growing.  But big strong benchers who don’t rely on a ridiculous amount of back arch tend to have pretty awesome physiques, especially so among bench specialists, so there’s a fair chance it has merit.

Traps seem a little smaller on the benchers vs the pressers, so maybe something to say there, but still big and strong physiques

The big element that needs to come into play here now is having a goal that is a SIGNIFICANT reach with a deadline that seems too short.  In the 2 examples I provided at the start, I was talking about strongman competitions which, in truth, is the reason I compete in the first place: having that sort of incentive gets me much bigger and stronger vs when left to my own devices.  But given the current global situation, I get that competitions of such manner are sparse.  That acknowledged, two of my other best instances of weight gain were running 5/3/1 Building the Monolith and Jon Andersen’s Deep Water program, both of which have the press as a significant portion of their programming and both of which require the user to achieve a certain specific goal in a specific time that will be a reach UNLESS one really eats well enough to put on the necessary amount of muscle.  In all 4 instances, the takeaway is the same: chasing the press means gaining QUALITY weight.

So now we know the secret: big press goals in short timeframes.  When I signed up for the competition with a 275lb keg, the heaviest keg I had ever pressed was 200lbs, and I had 6 months to remedy that (man they announce competitions far out these days).  I remember seeing “275” on the entry form and knowing that THIS was the competition I needed to sign up for.  I remember thinking to myself just how big and wide my back and shoulders would have to grow to be able to press that keg, especially since I was going to strict press it instead of push press it.  I went out and got a Barto’s Power Keg so I could easily practice with progressively heavier kegs, and in 3 months’ time had managed to set a lifetime PR by strict pressing a 250lb keg

By that point, the competition weight had been reduced to 250lbs, which honestly upset me significantly and just about had me withdraw from the competition.  I was actually pretty happy when it got postponed due to COVID, because I lost the drive to train for it, but I kept pushing forward in my pressing riding the momentum I had established and set a huge lifetime PR strict pressing an axle for 5x241 and 1x266 with a VERY near miss of 276.

Up until this point, 240lbs was a number I had been stuck at since 2013, never able to strict press more than that for a single.  I had completely blown it out of the water, and as I cut down bodyfat my upper body musculature had significantly grown.

Most of you have seen my face already, but still, the internet can be weird.  And that is a small bit of log bite on my abs, because I'm STILL pressing

Needing to add 75lbs in 6 months got me to accomplish something awesome.  Put yourself under the same kind of pressure.