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Help with OHP

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  • Help with OHP

    I was wondering if you could give me a tip on my overhead press.
    I'm a beginner, with a solid conditioning base and a history of competitive kickboxing and rowing.
    Strength is not my forte though, and I'm trying to build some general strength whilst keeping/improving my work capacity.
    I'm using your beginner template and am doing relatively ok for now (given my starting point, which was criminally bad IMO).
    My stats are:
    Height: 6'4''
    Weight: 225 lbs
    IQ: Yes
    Squat: 95 kg (4 reps, RPE 8)
    Bench: 67.5 kg (8 reps, RPE 8.5)
    Deadlift: 130 kg (4 reps, RPE 8).
    Conditioning: 32 kg kettlebell swings 6x1 min w/1 min rest in between intervals or the same strategy on the Ergometer (1x/week) + an active job and an occasional jog just for the hell of it.

    The upper body lifts, especially the overhead press, is where things get sticky for me. I'm struggling with 52.5 kg, RPE 10 on the last rep of the last set and my sticking point is somewhere around the beginning of the lift, always.

    Could you please give me your opinion on my next planned approach:
    Since I jumped from 50 straight to 52.5 kg, I would skim down to 51 kg and work from there. Once I hit a wall that cannot be avoided with smaller increments, I plan on switching to a more hypertrophy-oriented approach to the overhead press (4x8, RPE 8), in order to induce an adaptation that would (hopefully) allow me to expand my upper body base for strength gains.

    P.S. I'm eating well, sleeping well and I feel great in general.

    Thank you in advance,

  • #2
    So I don't know the beginner template specfically, however I suspect it only has one day of pressing? If that's the case you may want to add another pressing movement in behind your bench one day. With the added volume and frequency I would expect you to continue progress. Generally speaking, the upper body lifts are harder to see noticable improvements on just due to the rate of progression usually being slower. So basically, assuming you aren't overly fatigued, just press more. If you care less about your bench you can swap one bench day for either another overhead press or inclined bench press. You could add in some dumbell press as a supplemental movement. As long as the hypertrophy program adds more volume and you're eating a small surplus (I'm assuming you are pretty lean), you can probably make some pretty decent gains and the higher reps will help with practicing the movement which is a pretty big deal with OHP.


    • thicky
      thicky commented
      Editing a comment
      Thanks man, appreciate it!