Stuck On SOHP

So for the longest time i havent made any gains on my sohp...ive been stuck at 175 and im looking for any suggestions to break this plateau...it wouldnt piss me off as much if i hadnt been eating to put on weight..but i am yet this lift stays stationary


I thought i broke the trend, came in and busted out a few 175 reps and i was feeling good...next week it was back to the same thing...come to find out later...in the small gym i go to one of the bars is about 8 lbs or so lighter then it should be...yet is a direct clone of the other bars....depression

Should i do some push presses? Dumbbell presses? anything else that might jump start it?

 

Push press is a nice lift.

Read Keith Wassung's article on oh pressing in the Keith Wassung faq.

 

I agree with the above. Also what are you doing for your lats and core each of which have a big part in keeping you stable during the OH Press? Finally do you have the ability to do dead-stop work where you train (a power rack)?

 

Also don't say anything that is remotely anti-religion in KW's faq. He'll get pissed and then come back a couple of days later with an incomprehensible post about rain and beef. Trust me, I've seen it before.

Speaking of which, he still owes me an apology for his comment to me in the Kurt Angle thread.

*waits*

 

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f13/kurt-angles-olympic-training-regime-426990/

Wow that is a crazy thread. Never saw that one before.

 

i would switch to db sohp for a while and then go back to a barbell and see what happens. it worked for me.

 

I maintain that OHP should be trained at about 80-85% push press/jerk and the remainder as strict press.

 

Crazy indeed, I opened it and kept on reading, even thought about posting but I think its better to leave that one be....

 

I would suggest push press and also switching up the reps/sets on your ohp. What do you normally do?

 

Is there anyone who isn't stuck on their strict OHP? If so, please post in my log !

We need a "Get Unstuck on the Strict OHP" sticky. It seems like everyone's in the same boat. If we couldn't help eachother, at least we could commiserate...

 

well, right now I am not particularly stuck on my Military Pressing. It was stuck for ages because I didn't consistently work it and work it heavily. If you can find my log(that I quit posting because I got tired of having to dig through 15 pages to find it) you can see that my press really started to fire up. I learned of the old Doug Hepburn from a few guys that post on another forum. Man it really has worked well for me. I took two weeks off from all training for a few reasons. I hit my first Military Press work Thurs since starting back and I was a little out of the groove but still strong. I went 210x5x1, 185x6x3 and it felt strong. I will be using the Hepburn for awhile as long as it keeps producing like it has been.

Here is some clips as proof.
210lbs
YouTube - Military Press- 210lbs

175lbs
YouTube - Military Press/ DB Row Superset


OHPing is a fickle lift for sure. It takes time and consistency. You will have a great day one workout, comeback the next day and not get within 25lbs of what you were doing reps with the last workout. You just have to understand its just one of those workouts and don't let it get to you.

 

^That's my problem, I get really frustrated at the first signs of regression.

 

Absolutely true. My PJ PR is 315, yet this week, I missed 285. You can't let that stuff eat at you and destroy your confidence. If you do, you're screwed.

 

It helps to know other people have the same issues.

 

A couple of thoughts on SOHP.

It is essential to develop great technique. There are a lot of lifts where having excellent technique is certainly a plus, but not essential to progress, ie you can just keep getting stronger with less than optimal technique. I have found that not having excellent technique will stall more guys than anything else and that is why you will often see a lot of guys that are stuck in the 200-225 range or so--it does not mean their technique is bad, but it may indicate that it ie less than optimal.

As was mentioned earlier, doing full body core type work is very important, the Overhead squat is a perfect adjunct move for the SOHP ( and just about everything else)

You may want to consider taking a block of time, say 4-6 weeks and really focusing on the OHP, not that you eliminate everything else, but you start every workout with OHP, then assistance moves, then do you normal workout, you can do this say twice a year or even three times a year if the stretch of time is shorter ( say 2-3 weeks) and this will often give you a decent bump in your poundages. When I was in the Navy, we did two patrols a year, which lasted about 75 days and before we went out, we would spend 30 days in port getting the boat ready--it was a grueling schedule and we often did not get off from work until 8pm at night if at all. I would go to the base gym and really did not have the energy to do complete workouts, so I would do an hours worth of presses and related work. I would do this 3 times a week for the 30 days and at the end of the month would always be stronger in the SOHP, even though I had been using less than optimal poundages during the training. The gym was always quiet and empty late at night and it was a perfect time to focus and work on my technique. I was there late one night and another guy came into the gym and ended up doing presses with me and then also some front squats---this was none other than NBA legend, David Robinson, who was fulfulling his military duty at the base.

An exercise that I have often described in the past is to take about 95% of your best OHP and get in the power rack--set the pins to a point where they are about 4-5 inches ( depends on your height) below where the bar would be if you were standing upright, with locked legs and the bar was rack across your shoulders. Get under the under the bar and do a modified push press driving up as hard as possible and try to get the bar just above your head, then slowly lower it with a 6 count. Rack the bar and repeat for 6 reps,,this is absolutely brutal--you wil likely need spotters, not so much for the safety aspect, but to "talk" ( ie, scream at you) through it. This exercise took my OHP from 275 to about 340 in less than six months.

Keith

 

eat alot and get your sleep in

if u like make the ohp the first exercise u do when u get to the gym

if i cant break through a plateau its either because im not gettin enough rest or just not eating enough

 

david robinson!

 

That seems like a very good advice KW.
I realized myself that the most important part of the SOHP (or any OHP for that matter) is the initial drive - sticky point is at the very beginning of the lift.
If I get the weight of my shoulders, there is big chance the lift will be completed.

 

I found that my strict pressing overhead improved when I actually brought my heels together. Seems like my legs and glutes can provide a much better base to press from. I also sometimes look straight up and if I can shoot that bar to the point my eyes can see it, I'll press it most everytime.

yeah you definately can't let it get into your head. Its one of the most mental lifts that I do.

 

I'm stuck too. I'm such a huge queer for devoting more time to my bench--I do it first, and sohp second.