Wednesday, October 17, 2012

SLL Programming Combinations Part 1 - Pressing

Been getting lots and lots of questions about mixing programs (not in a bad way) and I am going to outline some ways I would do this.

I tell non-advanced guys NOT to do this because all noobs and intermediate guys overthink the shit out of everything.

So if you fall into that category, then you can continue reading, but don't ask me "can I do..." because you need to just spend time slangin' away at the iron as hard as possible, on some basic shit, until you have been at this long enough, and built enough mass and strength, with enough knowledge about the lifts to call yourself advanced.  Or at least intermediate advanced.  For the sake of discussion if you can't bench 3 plates easily, count yourself out.  Fair enough?

Ok, let's proceed.

Strong-15 and Big-15 combinations for pressing twice a week - 

Close Grips are my staple

These fit in well together.  Even for meet training.  Not just offseason shit.

Day 1 - Bench
Bench - strong-15
Incline - big-15 with 50% set
Rear Delts - 1x100 or 5x20

Day 2 - Overhead Work
PBN - big-15 with 50% set
Front Raises - 1x100

For guys who can bench each week and not get all fucked up, this is a great way to press twice a week.  I would nix the second overhead day for phase 3 of the strong-15 cycle, and just keep incline in there.  Or, if you are doing well pressing twice a week, nix the overhead work, and just move incline to the second day.  Remember, as you get closer to the meet, the intensity level for the big 3 go up, so you have to bring the support work down a notch.

The "all my shit hurts" routine part 2 - 

This routine has really helped a lot of guys.  I've gotten more e-mail from guys hitting new bench PR's from this particular routine than any other pressing outline I've put out there.
Here is the original.

...followed by incline

Week 1 -
Bench (heavy) - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1 (no back offs)
Incline (light) - 225 or 250 for max reps x 2 sets
Triceps

Week 2 -
Incline (heavy) - up to a top triple, 1x8-10 back off
Overhead Press - medium weight - 2 sets all out
Triceps

The reason for no back-offs on the bench is because I generally can't rep on bench for more than one week or so, and then my pec minor gets inflamed.  This is what led me down this path.  I can do some singles, but then I do the back off work on the incline.  This doesn't bother me and I can progress nicely.

The only real difference in part 2 of the AMSH pressing, is we'll be more clear about what we're doing for each pressing movement.  

Week 1 - 
Bench - strong-15 no back offs
Incline - back off weight that was to be used on bench x AMAP (no 50% set)
Curls - 1x100
Triceps - 4x25

Week 2 - 
Incline - big-15 + 50% set
PBN - big-15 + 50%
Front Raises - 1x100
Face Pulls - 1x100

But I want to overhead press more!  

I'm glad you asked how to do that.  We're going to use the same method we used in the AMSH routine for overheads.  Except that you overhead press twice a week.  
Day 1 -
Military Press - strong-15 no back offs
Incline - big-15 + 50%
Front Raises - 1x100
Curls - 1x100

Day 2 - 
Klokov Press - strong-15 no back offs
Military Press - use the back offs programmed from the previous military press session 
Face Pulls - 5x20

PBN is starting to make a comeback now that people realize it's not  the shoulder destroyed everyone made it out to be.  Longest caption on LRB EVER!  

My advice is to program very light for the Klokov presses.  They will in fact beat your shoulders up if you go really heavy on them.  My overhead work has never given me any problems but the K presses definitely make me feel more "sore" than any other kind of press.  Not entirely in a great way either.  So be careful here.  

After the K presses you will probably just throw some weight on the bar and go after AMAP.  

You're running the strong-15 here, so again, just like meet prep, don't get stupid for the first three weeks.  use that as an acclimation period and have a good time with it.  The last 6 weeks should be the meat and potatoes of your training ramp.  

I don't know how many parts there will be, but this should be a fun little series because I have so many things I can do with all of the programming in SLL.  



















5 comments:

  1. I find that the more I press the better I am at it. Jamie advocates high frequency pressing as well, especially on overhead work and I couldn't agree with you guys more.

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    Replies
    1. I don't do high frequency pressing. Jamie does high frequency everything and I don't agree with him on it (for me), but it works for him.

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  2. Paul this might be a stupid question and I apologise in advance if it has been answered somewhere, For overhead there was no specific strong-15 outline in SLL, so do you use the same template as the Bench? Also all of these twice a week upper templates seem really light on upper back work, thoughts on adding a fair amount of chins and kroc rows to them?

    Thanks, Dan

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    Replies
    1. The templates above are for pressing, not addressing every nook and cranny of an entire program. I didn't list squats either, but I assume you'll be squatting one day.

      And there is no "specific" outline for the strong-15. I gave several routines to pick from in SLL.

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  3. Paul,

    Thanks for this really answered all my question of how to program in the presses into my program for optimal gains especially when I am overhead pressing and incline pressing in the same day.

    ReplyDelete