A PRESSING MATTER: BUILDING A STRONG (OVERHEAD) PRESS WITH A “BAD SHOULDER”

Hey folks, for one, I wanna say that including the word “overhead” in the title of this post kills me on the inside, as any trainee worth his salt should know that “the press” refers to pressing the bar overhead, but I see the question asked so much and I wanted to make this topic helpful to a wider range of trainees that I threw it in there to make sure we’re all on the same page at the start.

 

Here’s a little background on me: I’ve pressed 265lbs over my head with an axle in the same workout that I pressed 241lbs for 5 reps and very nearly finished a 276lb press soon afterwards (caution: NSFW language at the end of the video)

 

 

I did this during a normal workout, no peaking, no psyche up, no tricks with chemistry. 

 

In addition, it’s worth noting that I have dislocated my right shoulder 6 times, subluxed it several dozen times, and torn the labrum in it.  The labrum tear happened on the first shoulder dislocation at age 16 during a wrestling match, at which time I had the shoulder repaired surgically, went through physical therapy, and went on to pop it out 5 more times through a combination of more combat sports, 1 botched press, and rolling over funny in my sleep.

 

I bring all that up because I constantly hear people say “I wish I could press overhead, but I have bad shoulders”, sometimes even saying this to ME, to which I just gotta scratch my head (with the hand attached to the good shoulder of course) and wonder just how broken their shoulders can possibly be.  Let me share with you what I’ve done to build up a strong press.  This will be lengthy, but hopefully useful.

 

THE FOUNDATION

A strong press has always been worth celebrating

 

I legit never even considered pressing a barbell over my head until I had been lifting for 4 years already.  The majority of my pressing efforts were bench pressing and push-ups.  In turn, when I first went to press, I had a 335lb touch and go bench press, had done 400 push ups in one set (reference my post on “The Richest Man in Babylon), and could barbell strict press 135 for 5x5 on my opening workout.

 

What’s the lesson there?  Building strong pressing muscles carries over to pressing.  Now, that said, some dudes can bench monstrous weights and can’t press overhead to save their lives (I’ve actually beaten a lift set by Kroc on strict pressing an axle overhead, despite the fact Kroc can raw bench for reps weights I can’t even touch), but there’s still going to be SOME carryover between pressing in various planes of movements.  Hell, the bench press was originally DESIGNED as an assistance exercise for the Olympic press anyway.

 

The programming I was following at this point was Pavel’s 3-5.  This was abbreviated training, double progression/linear progression.  I’d go for 5x5 with a set weight.  With a new weight, I might get 3x5, 1x4 and 1x3.  The next week, I’d try to beat that rep total and go for like 4x5 and 1x3.  Once I hit 5x5, I’d up the weight again.  Since I already had a foundation of pressing strength from all the previous training, weights moved pretty quickly, and I eventually got to 185 for 5x5 before transitioning to Westside Barbell style training, rotating between pressing and benching.

 

For those of you starting out your training with the press, you won’t have this foundation, and will be most likely struggling with the bar or slightly more than that.  Progression is going to seem slow compared to the other lifts, but it’s more a product of the fact that you simply can’t load the bar in a meaningful way to realize the strength you’re building in the press.  Going from 45lbs to 50lbs is adding almost 10% of your workset weight to the bar: that’s like going from a 500lb deadlift in one workout to a 550lb deadlift in another.  That takes time.  Recognize the strength of the press growing in other ways: faster bar speed, smoother reps, shorter time between sets, etc etc.  Keep building up the pressing muscles with other pressing exercises.

 

ROUNDING OUT THE PRESS

To press like Kaz, you need a back like Kaz

 

I touched on this in my previous post about using the press as a goal to achieve a solid physique, but a key point in having a strong press is you need to train both the front AND the back.  The latter, honestly, even moreso than the former.  When you bench, you have something physical you can brace against in order to ensure you can give maximal pressing output.  When you press: YOU are what you brace against.  You need to build a thick, wide, STRONG back in order to be able to have a strong press.  Everything from the glutes up needs attention, as they all play a role in stabilizing and expressing strength in the press.  And if you’ve got bad shoulders, you need to build the hell out of your rear delts so that they can lock your shoulders into place when you press and keep things rigid.  I know everyone thinks mobility is super neato, but when your shoulder is so mobile it falls out of the socket, it’s less than cool.

 

I’ve been doing band pull aparts in between sets of stuff since 2008.  I’ve gone through periods of doing 100 a day on top of other things.  They are a staple in all of my programming.  You cannot do enough band pull aparts.  Minibands are stupidly cheap: there is ZERO reason for you to not own and use one.

 

Otherwise, on top of the pull aparts, ensure you are doing an absurd amount of rowing and chins.  Pulldowns are fine too: I just rarely have a good rig for them.  I train my lower back with a reverse hyper, and if you have one, you should use it.  If you don’t, I can’t vouch for anything else, but find a way to get your back big and strong. 

 

“Strong” doesn’t mean going for maxes on rows and turning it into a circus act.  I stay away from low reps on back work and instead train it “like a bodybuilder”: focusing on feeling the muscle while I do the movement and ensuring that I’m developing what I want to develop.  Reps in the range of 6-20 with plenty of sets.  I like putting back work in between sets of other stuff in my workouts, and also like daily chins as a means to accumulate volume.  If you do daily chins, keep it submax: going for a rep max each day always makes my elbows bad.

 

MY MOST EFFECTIVE PRESS TRAINING CYCLE

I imagine it shocks absolutely no one that this lunatic was involved in the process

 

I want to preface it by saying this isn’t a 6 week plan or a 12 week plan: this is a multi-YEAR approach, but it got me out of a multi-year plateau, so it fits.

 

For years, I’d been stalled at a 240lb strict press.  I’d try 245 several times with several programs (primarily Westside Barbell style and various 5/3/1s) and just not be able to get it.  This was at a bodyweight of around 195-200lbs at 5’9.  I finally beat that with the following approach.

 

DEEP WATER

 

It starts with Jon Andersen’s Deep Water Program.  I’ve written extensively about this program and my experience with it, but to lay down the basics of the pressing work: The beginner program alternates weekly between 10x10 for strict press and 10x10 for push press.  4 minutes rest the first time you do the workout, 3 minutes the second, 2 minutes for the final workout (6 week program).  The weight used is 70% of your 10rm (find your 10rm by taking .77 of your 1rm, so this is also just 54% of your 1rm for easy math).  This is on top of some other assistance stuff, a full on back day workout, etc.  It’s a fully fleshed program: that’s just the pressing part.

 

The intermediate program follows.  This starts with 10x10 and keeps the alternating weeks.  You’re supposed to use 80% of your 10rm now, but I went for 75%.  Weeks 3 and 4 has you get those 100 reps in 9 sets, and weeks 5 and 6 has you get the reps in 8 sets. 

 

The advanced program follows.  This one is less predictable in terms of what happens on what week, but through it there will be days that you hit a strict press ramping 5x5 workout followed by 2 backoff AMRAP sets using percentages of that weight hit at the topset of 5 (reps in the range of 20+ can often occur here). 

 

It behooves you to actually read Jon’s book and see the program in full to appreciate the effort that went into this.  Along with it, I ate according to the diet (minimal carbs, high protein and fat) but afforded myself a weekly cheat meal the night before I did the lower body workouts (most often it was Panda Express, so rice and sugary food, but occasionally Taco Bell).  I went from a bodyweight of around 192 to 207lbs, the highest I had been in a while, and put on a fair amount of muscle in doing so.

 

BENEFITS OF THAT APPROACH

 

I had grooved the absolute hell out of my press by doing so many reps of it.  In addition, I got good at training under fatigue.  The push pressing helped with overload as well.  And, of course, the muscular weight gain ensured I was set up for some big numbers.  Lots of reps and lots of food=lots of shoulders.

 

5/3/1-ISH

 

Hey, more strong dudes pressing

After Deep Water was done, I went back to what I usually did for pressing: first edition 5/3/1 with a First Set Last backoff set.  So basically hitting a PR set for the topset and then going for another PR set using the weights employed on the first set.  Because I had kept training weights so light in Deep Water and had put on so much muscle, I was observing something really cool: I was actually hitting MORE reps on my PR sets each cycle rather than less.  Typically, I’d use the “5 forward/3 back” style of Training Max management with 5/3/1 because, as I went on in cycles, PR set reps would drop until I was hitting 5-6 reps on my 1s week and I had to reset the training max, but each week I’d end up hitting a BETTER PR set than the previous cycle which was done at a lighter weight.  And this was while losing some bodyfat.  I was primed for growth after Deep Water, and 5/3/1 allowed me to express it.

 

In addition, I made the supplemental work my own, and unique.  Here is where I want you to really pay attention.

 

SUPPLEMENTAL WORK STRATEGY

 

As a strongman, I wanted to maintain proficiency on a variety of implements.  Specifically, the axle and log.  I always did my mainwork with the axle, but I also liked doing my supplemental work with it too, as the log can sometimes make things a bit too easy with its short ROM.  I ALSO wanted to start including some behind the neck pressing in my training, as I felt it was a portion of press work I had neglected for a LONG time and something I could see some growth in.

 

The solution?  6 sets of supplemental work.  2 sets of axle pressing, 2 sets of log pressing, 2 sets of behind the neck pressing.  I’d run it in a circuit too: do the axle on sets 1 and 4, behind the neck on 2 and 5, log on 3 and 6.  I even got to the point where I’d switch up the order each week, just to alter the stimulus a touch.  Always aiming for sets of 10.  No fixed percentage: just typical double progression style approach.  At one point, I dropped the BtN pressing and went with the trap bar, simply because I got a rackable trap bar to play it and trap bar pressing is also awesome.

 

On top of this, I took to including dips in the supplemental work, because they’re an awesome exercise too.  How did I fit it in?  Immediately after the press supplemental work, I’d hit up the dip station and dip until failure.  I took to thinking of this as a “filler movement”: after you burnout on pressing something heavy, there’s still some life left in the pressing muscles, and bodyweight work allows you to really squeeze the last bit out.  I’m sure this could be done with push ups too, but dips are awesomer.

I mean, they just plain are

 

I took to running this as a giant set, starting with a press for 10-ish reps, immediately burnout on dips, then lateral raises for 10-15 reps and finally a set of 12-20 band pull aparts, then rest 90-120 seconds and do it all over again with a new implement to start.  This blew up my shoulders something fierce and got me strong from all sorts of pressing angles.

 

During this time frame, I went from having dropped down to a bodyweight of 192lbs to moving to a bodyweight of 210lbs, a very recent all time high.  While losing the fat, I focused on those rep PRs in the main work, and while the bodyweight climbed, I watched my supplemental lifts get incredibly strong.

 

During this time I also competed in 1 and trained for a second strongman competition (that was eventually canceled due to COVID) that had me make 1 small change to the mainwork: instead of a FSL backoff set with the axle, I did a PR set of push pressing with the same weight as the topset for about 6 weeks leading up to one comp, and for the other, I swapped out the axle for a loadable keg and used FSL sets of that for a few months.  I imagine that keg work went a long way to making me “chaotically strong”: able to exert maximal strength at odd angles.  It was during that period with the keg I ended up hitting the 266lb press on the axle.

 

TAKEAWAYS

Yeah, that will probably help too

 

Deep Water set me up to express strength, and 5/3/1 let me express it.  Without that foundation laid down, I woulda run into my traditional stall at 240lbs, but now I blew WAY past it.

 

In addition, the supplemental work was the smartest thing I had done as a “bad shoulder” lifter in a while.  I always press only once a week, as more frequent pressing than that can mash up my shoulder and make it achy.  However, by rotating between a bunch of different exercises WITHIN the workout, I was able to really push volume without beating the hell out of my shoulder from one angle over and over again.  It allowed my shoulder to maintain resiliency while still getting incredibly strong.  I’ve kept that approach since that time, because it’s the most effective approach I’ve used.

 

I’ve kept the filler exercise too.  I stick with bodyweight dips when it comes to pressing exercises, and now that I’m using weighted dips as part of my supplemental work, I chase it with light weight dumbbell pressing to fill in the gaps.  I think it’s a very solid approach if you’re looking to add volume and muscle.

 

Giant sets remain a great way to get in a lot of work in short time, and this specific approach continues to strengthen the shoulders from various angles and help lock it into place.

 

IN SUMMARY

·       *  Build a strong foundation of general pressing strength (push ups, dips, benching, etc)

·      *  Build the absolute hell out of the BACKside of your body (get in those pull aparts)

·       *  Set up with a LONG and purposeful accumulation phase (Deep Water) with a focus on gaining muscular bodyweight

·       *  Follow up your accumulation phase with an intensification phase (5/3/1) to realize the strength built

·      *   Vary the movements in your supplemental work WITHIN the workout to allow for great volume without mashing up the shoulder

·      *   “Filler” exercises and giant sets

·       *  Bodyweight gain

 

 

And there you have it!  For building a big press with bad shoulders, this has worked the best for me.  Hopefully there are some lessons from there that you can use in your own training.