Monday, June 25, 2012

Training - Heavy Press

Bodyweight - 240

Clean and Press -
bar x 20
95x5
145x3
165x3
185x1
205x1
225x1
245x1
275x1

Close Grip Bench -
135x10
225x5
315x1
335x1
365x1
385x3

Superset -
ez-bar extensions/upright rows - 4 rounds @ 65 pounds x 20

Notes - If I were worth two shits at cleans, I could go for a 300 strict press.  But that clean takes a lot out of me.  Either way, my best is 275x3 at around 265 so 275 for a missed double isn't too bad.  Maybe I need to work on cleans or find an Oly guy to teach me how so I can try for 300+?

24 comments:

  1. Awesome press Paul! Why don't you go for a 300 press out of the rack/off the stands you use for the Klokov pressing? Clean and press is obviously more awesome but a 300lb press is pretty awesome no matter how you get it up there...

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    Replies
    1. Because my goal has been to clean and press 300. To me that's boss. Taking it off the rack? Not as much.

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    2. Haha, good attitude. You'll smoke it once you clean up that clean. Wish I had any advice to offer but my clean is no better...

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  2. dear god man wtf @ that overhead strength.

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  3. Man, that is a solid press, but I agree with you - get a couple of coaching sessions and sort out your clean. It'll make life heaps easier! You'll hit 300 easy.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah the clean feels hard as fuck, then the press like nothing. But the clean takes so much out of me, the press feels harder than it should.

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    2. You're totally muscling that bar from the waist up to shoulder level with your arms. Obviously a short comment won't do much help, but maybe try using your hips to generate the starting power, and get under the bar a bit so that you don't have to tug as hard?

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  4. Yea man, straps are going to limit your explosiveness for sure, but obviously you gotta make due with what you have. Elbow rotation / shrug is gonna be diminished a bit, but you still get it up there pretty easily. Any particular reason you're doing a hang clean though? Seems like you're deadlifting it off the ground, stopping your power off the ground from your legs, then trying to regenerate it from the hang position which is only gonna be hip drive and shrug instead of legs hips and shrug. If you drop your butt a little bit and have a bigger chest when you start the pull, and drive through your heels then explode right when the bar is mid-thigh, you can utilize those crazy strong legs more in your pull which is going to make the clean a hell of a lot easier i think. Still super impressive though. Id say if you try to do a straight up power clean from the ground you could add 25 lbs pretty easily to your clean with the amount of legs strength you have.

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  5. Paul, I don't know much about your flexibility, but given that you are a powerlifter, you might need to work on that (elbows, wrists, shoulders, knees, for the rack position, hips and ankles if you squat it) if you intend on doing an Olympic style clean, even from the hang. No offense intended, as a 275 reverse cheat curl means the strength is obviously there.

    Good luck with your quest.

    Tom

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  6. I know everything you guys are going on about here i right, but I hate cleans. I prefer hang cleans, which is why I do them. Power cleans feel shittiest to me, so I don't do em. fuck them.

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  7. Paul, there's a video somewhere with Wendler interviewing some coach and the two of them cover the basic power clean this coach teaches all his football players. I watched it some time last year; if you ask Jim I'm sure he can point you in the right direction.

    Anyways, this video was helpful for me -- he goes over a power clean that a non-Olympian can learn just fine. There's three cues: you push hard with your legs to get the bar off the floor, then as it comes past the knees you "jump" as hard as you can, and finally "punch" your elbows out and catch the bar.

    With not much practice, I did at 240lb clean the other day and my best deadlift is only about 500lbs, so with a 700lb dead, you've definitely got the strength to clean 300 with little bit of technique.

    Good luck man.

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  8. that's awesome! that's been a goal of mine for a while, and you make it look so freaking easy. can't wait to see you hit 300.

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  9. crap i forgot to ask on my last comment: is there a noticeable difference in the amount of weight you can press from that position compared to resting on your chest? in terms of training for a high press weight, which position would be better for building a press. or is it just more of a pick one that's comfortable and get after it?

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  10. I don't have nearly as much overhead strength as you do, so take this for what it's worth - but I know I have a FAR easier time cleaning a weight when I do it with a full clean. Clean-and-press is tricky, as you need your wrists to be in a good position (and re-positioning the bar on your delts sucks), but you still need a good racking.

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  11. Hey Paul, I've found videos of Donny Shankle's hang cleans to be very helpful to me in learning to clean not so retardedly as I was.

    Here he works up to a 200kg/440lb hang clean
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdhOdJ_NVao
    It's mainly about pulling yourself under the bar which I'm slowly beginning to get my head around.

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  12. Well for starters the jump position on the clean is LOW thigh that right there is robbing you of power on your 2nd pull. Like as soon as the bar is 2-3 inches above your knee, POP those hips all the forward while at the same time moving your feet about a foot width furhter apart and then "receive" the bar. You're in Kansas City arent you? You need to go see Coach Rutherford at Bootcamp Fitness KC. He would have you cleaning like a champ in no time.

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  13. Fuck that Paul!

    Don't you learn how to clean!

    It's much more impressive watching you muscle the bar up to your throat with nil more than retard strength.

    Besides, you're working more muscle that way right :)

    (j/k ... sorta)

    -- Caleb

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    Replies
    1. I'm most def just retard strumphing it up. But if I want to overhead 315 with a clean, which I am capable of pressing, I need to get better at cleans. Ugh.

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    2. I have no idea why you are upset. You have a VERY good problem if you can basically reverse curl 275 then press it like its 135. Hahaha. Learning to clean is seriously about repetition (you always talk about this) if you take some weight off and use them in all your warmups (even if its just practice reps on your light days with 135), and work on wrist/elbow/front rack position. In a matter of a month (thats being CONSERVATIVE) of that you can EASILY clean 300-315.

      DO IT PAUL DO IT FOR THE BEETUS!

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    3. I don't want to do anything for the Beetus except stave it off with some oatmeal and a 'stache.

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  14. Get a copy of this.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LczURx3JuE&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLCECA9349A4E9ED7F

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  15. Catalyst Athletics, great website with lots of videos of folks practicing oly lifts. Plus Greg Everette is supposed to be a great coach.

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  16. Hey Paul,

    You are way stronger than I am so take this with a grain of salt.
    It looks like you hang cleaned the weight up, which is much tougher than cleaning it from the floor. In the viedo you basically deadlifted the weight then lowered it to your knees and went from there. I bet if you went with the monster pull from the floor you would get it. Just my two cents.

    -Derek

    PS - Can't wait for your ebook to come out Paul, I will be definately picking it up. Thanks for all of the great information you put out there.

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