Strict military press

I've found heavy rack pulls (5 sets of 3-5 reps) have aided my deadlift and floor pressing (5 sets of 10 reps) has done the same for my bench what lift will help my military press? I added 1kg to my military in 2011 and at least want to double it this year I've tried one arm db pressing, db presses, incline pressing...nowt works!

I think the only time my strict has gone up has been when I've done it at least twice a week. Seemed to respond to volume but this did knacker my joints and lower back...

tbh I'm not sure what the best course of action is...

Just press mate, hammer strict overhead then do shoulder and tri assistance

what about setting the pins in a rack to your weak spot and doing partials?

volume

i like 3x5 at 80% Strict then 3x5 at 80% push press
close grip for 5s
lateral/front raises
tricep isolations

twice a week

Vary between seated/standing military. Try to beat previous pbs over different rep ranges each week, or 5x5 with a running start so start with a weight you can do 5x5 with easily and add 1-2.5k a session depending on how easy it ws.

Push press so weights you can strict press 'feel' light in the hands.

Do standing military presses with dumbells (2 at a time). This is the hardest overhead lift and heavily engages the core and the entire shoulder complex.

Hammer your triceps. I find overhead extensions (behind the head with a bar) have the best carryover to the strict press.

Ah, cheers guys. I do Wendlers and tend to base my lifting off the Boring but Big template so in a typical training week I do a heavy session and a volume session (5 x 10) however the delt assistance work doesn't always get priorised although my tris do get hammered.

dan302...it's the initial part of the lift I struggle on so I don't think partials would help? I'm not sure tho...I guess I could overload the bar and just try and get used to the feel of the heavy weight? Any suggestions???

Fat_Sam...must admit I have never done push presses as it's taken me so long to get my form set on the military I didn't want to chuck another technical lift in confuse myself! So that is something I will investigate. DB standing military I've only done one handed so time to give that a crack too.

I must admit...I did see some Crossfit stuff and saw them doing handstand push ups. As it's my goal to one day press my body weight I did wonder if these would help and have a carry over?! Just a crazy thought to ponder...

Listen to fat Sam !

FAT_SAM said:

Push press so weights you can strict press 'feel' light in the hands.

yeah mean push press the same kind of weights your strict pressing???

im totally not disagreeing i'm crap at overhead and wanna improve...

why do you say to do that??

I'd agree with Fatty.

I feel that heavy decline bench, push press and jerking help you get used to the weight in your hand.

I've found single arm work to be very beneficial, particularly single arm dumbbell bench press.

Going to try a gimmicky exercise on Saturday using the Hammerstrength shoulder press machine, but standing facing it. Why not?

the thing that most helped my military press was learning to press up, not out.

seems simple, but changes everything

so true..... i took some advice from the king of press (jay "ursus" pateman) as my pressing was and is very s**t... he suggested volume just doin that for a few weeks put 20k on my push press... i think alot of the time is starting to enjoy the lift instead of thinking to much about getting better at it.. i now look forward to my press day and its getting better month on month....but still week as piss lol

Yeah... push press 5-6 sets of 3 with around your strict press max! It's a form of overload, not looked at the science behind it all but I assume it just works by getting you 'used' to heavier weights. Bench press, strict press and push press have a lot of carryover to eachother. For me, if one goes up they all go up.

Cheers Rich, volume is the key ......just smash those shoulders as much as you can !

I know the standard meathead strongman idea on getting a better press is to just press. We see this on both sides of the pond (American strongmen say the exact same things you guys do here). Sometimes just pressing isn't the key though. There are obvious weak points in a lift for someone and they need to be worked, but not at the detriment to the other portions of the lift. For example, coming off the shoulders might be your weak point, but just pressing something you can get off of your shoulders is going to leavy your stronger triceps wanting more.

Try adding in some bodybuilding assistance to your training. Start with lower volume obviously and work up. I suggested this to Terry Hollands and his press has steadily climbed since then. Something as simple as shoulder raises to help add a little muscle to the shoulder may be key in helping you add weight to your press. Kaz said one of his favorite assistance lifts for his press was heavy front delt raises (said he did 150lb dumbbells!)and he had a monsterous press.

Anyhow, put a little more thought into your training when you get stuck is what i am getting at. Over simplifying things, as lifters often do, is often not the answer. Good luck with your training!