Push Press Blitz?

Coach,

I am considering prioritising push press for several weeks with your Blitz system. I have some questions though:

  1. Would training push press 6 days a week (like you recommended for SGHP) be OK or would it be better to train it less frequently (perhaps 4 days a week like you recommended for bench press)?

  2. I’m thinking of 1 or 2 technique and speed days @70-80% and 2-3 heavy days (ramping up to RM) but I am not sure what to do about the remaining days. Would very heavy/ strength reserve day make sense in this case? If so, how to overload the muscles during push press? Also, would you recommend something like contrast day for the bench press (e.g. military press with pauses and medicine ball overhead throws)?

Thanks in advance for your advice. Although Iâ??m new on the forum Iâ??ve been a fan of your work for several years.

[quote]tryftong wrote:
Coach,

I am considering prioritising push press for several weeks with your Blitz system. I have some questions though:

  1. Would training push press 6 days a week (like you recommended for SGHP) be OK or would it be better to train it less frequently (perhaps 4 days a week like you recommended for bench press)?
    [/quote]

Oddly enough the more technically efficient with the push press, the more often you can train it. Why? Because an efficient technician has good timing between the leg drive and arm press which makes the lift smooth and much less traumatic on the body. Someone with less efficient technique will either involve the arms too early (before gaining enough momentum from the leg drive) or too late (when the momentum of the bar dies off and it is slowing down). In both cases it will cause a “shock” on the shoulder joint which can cause inflammation issues and inflammation is the no.1 cause of “overtraining” (morel like underrecovering) when doing heavy work.

So if your timing is good you can likely do the push press 6 days a week, provided that you do no other form of pressing at all.

If your timing isn’t that great, 3-4 days a week would be a better place to start.

I also like the going to daily max (technically solid max), then doing 3 sets of 3 reps (with about 80%) and 1 set of 5 reps (with about 70-75%) on the “heavy days” and ramping to a daily max, then doing 5 sets of 2 (with about 85-90%)

[quote]tryftong wrote:
2. I’m thinking of 1 or 2 technique and speed days @70-80% and 2-3 heavy days (ramping up to RM) but I am not sure what to do about the remaining days. Would very heavy/ strength reserve day make sense in this case? If so, how to overload the muscles during push press? Also, would you recommend something like contrast day for the bench press (e.g. military press with pauses and medicine ball overhead throws)?

Thanks in advance for your advice. Although Iâ??m new on the forum Iâ??ve been a fan of your work for several years.
[/quote]

That isn’t bad idea, especially if your technique/efficiency is not great.

2 heavy days (as explained above)
1 technique day
1 very heavy day (as explained above)
1 contrast day (military press and med ball throws)

Well, I consider my technique far from great. That is the reason I want to prioritise this lift.
All seems clear now. Thanks a lot.