IN OPPOSITION OF THE PUSH PRESS: AN ARGUMENT FOR STRICT PRESSING

First, a rant.  I will be discussing the strict press, or press, today.  Not the Overhead press, or OHP.  Why?  Because OHP is not a lift: it is a classification of lifts.  Specifically, lifting of weights over one’s head.  There is no one lift known as the OHP: ANY lift over one’s head is an overhead press.  Strict press, push press, log, axle, etc etc: all overhead pressing.  This is why, when internet nerds freak out at a 400lb overhead press because “they used leg drive”, they show that they are weak AND stupid.  Pressing without leg drive overhead (a strict press) has never been known in any traditional circles as “the overhead press”, but was instead simply “the press” back in the era when they lift was included in the Olympics.  Also on that topic, can people PLEASE stop lamenting about how pressing overhead is no longer a competition lift: you folks ever watch a strongman competition?  And, of course, there’s always Mark Rippetoe’s “Strengthlifting” federation…I feel so dirty…

"Strict" press...

I’ve started wearing my glasses again, and had to push them WAY up my nose for that rant.  Anyway, more to the point of today: an argument in opposition of the push press.  It’s should be of no surprise that I, a self-admitted oaf, oppose anything that requires coordination and skill in support of the more basic and brutal variation, even if the end result is less weight moved.  But it’s worth analyzing the cons inherent in the focus on the push press.  As noted, more weight gets moved in the push press, which tends to make it a preferred lift for MANY trainees compared to a strict press.  Ego is very much a thing, and for many trainees, when they set up for a working set of strict presses, they load an empty bar with some nickles and dimes rather than the big plates, whereas once the push pressing starts, some of the heavier weight can start getting added to the bar. 

And hey, speaking of ego, there’s a weird new form of ego out there where lifters take pride in NOT building muscle?  Doubt me?  Think of how many trainees are in a race to talk about how they don’t do any curls.  Or how they don’t care about building “mirror muscles”, and they just want a strong posterior chain.  The ironic to the point of critical mass focus on the glutes while doing everything possible to NOT build the pecs.  We’ve bred a generation of counter cultural lifters that are trying their hardest to NOT look like they lift, so they can prove how hardcore they are about lifting?  What the hell?  And why do I bring this up?  Because to develop a strong strict press, you NEED to develop all those horrible “mirror muscles”.

The goal of the current generation

Doubt me again?  Think about it for a second: the lamentation about the “slow rate of improvement” in the strict press is due to the “small muscles” involved.  The primary movers are going to be the delts and triceps, with the back and rear delts providing the counter balance.  Before you science nerds go any further, I got a C in biology, my undergrad and masters are in POLITICAL science, and I’m sure you’re much smarter than me.  Back on topic, yeah, those muscles ARE small…if you let them be.  BUT, what if you make them bigger?  You suddenly have a VERY impressive physique.  A dude with big shoulders, big triceps, a big back and big rear delts is JACKED.  Think of every strong presser you’ve seen and think about how impressive their upper body was.  Kaz was inhuman, Big Z and Eddie Hall were basically strict pressers, Radzikowski, etc etc.  Also interesting to observe is the change in physiques with weightlifters in the era when press was a competition lift compared to the current generation.

I'm certain my blog just attracted a whole new demographic with these photos

The push press though?  Don’t get me wrong; it’s a good idea to develop those same muscles to make sure you can achieve a stable lockout, but most trainees tend to overemphasize the muscles involved in the leg drive rather than the actual pressing/locking muscles.  Some take it steps further, and focus so much on the execution of the lift that they effectively turn the push press into a jerk, driving with the legs, then diving under the bar to lockout again (the “double dip”), effectively removing the upper body pressing muscles from the equation.  Once again, much weight moved overhead…but how much strength are we building here?  Did we, instead, develop power?  Certainly an admirable physical quality, but also a DIFFERENT one, and one must be aware of this in their training.

So why do I argue against training the push press in favor of developing the strict press?  Aside from the benefits inherent to the physique, when you take the time to make those “small muscles” bigger, you’ll also find that strength in the strict press is more reliable than strength in the push press.  The example I love to provide stems from my 5^th strongman competition, wherein our first event of the day was a squat for reps, followed by a press medley.  Athletes found themselves floundering on lifts they had crushed in training on the plus, as now their legs were fatigued, and their ability to drive the weight was compromised.  When they tapped into the well of shoulder strength to find a way to get the implement overhead, they came up empty.  All that time spent emphasizing their ability to move as much weight as possible overhead came at the detriment of their ACTUAL ability to get weight overhead, as they developed legs and power, but no for real pressing strength.  I ended up taking first for the first time ever in a press event, because these were weights I could still strict press.

Alternative Matt Groening punchline: "Strict pressing: that's where I'm a viking!"

The unreliableness of push pressing doesn’t just extend to fatigue legs, but to implement as well.  The master of a weightlifting bar can move a tremendous amount of weight overhead by relying on bar whip and precision timing, along with keeping the bar as close to the body as possible, to generate as much possible vertical force as they are able.  However, with the axle, the implement is stiff, there is no whip, and the bar is further out in front.  With the log, the implement is even further away, the hand spacing is wrong, and again, there is no flex.  A sandbag?  Forget about it.  But actual raw pressing strength?  It’s a universal; you’ve made those small muscles big and, in turn, developed an ability to manipulate any mass in any shape over your head.

And perhaps this is all very obvious to you, but from my observation, it seems many miss this point.  “I’ve been stalling on strict pressing: does push press have any carryover?” “I just started push pressing, and I’m FINALLY seeing progress moving weight overhead”  “I don’t spend time working on my strict press, because it’s just weight overhead that matters”, I’ve seen it all, and thus I argue against the push press in favor of the strict.  Take a page from some bodybuilders and build a big set of shoulders, triceps, traps and back.  Take some weight off the bar, swallow your pride, and grind some weight overhead.  Let your back bend some, do some “dangerous” behind the neck pressing if you can, do a ton of raises, pull aparts, etc etc.  Up the volume and up the food.  Build a big, strong STRICT press, and I’ll bet your push press will get better too.