The Lifer Series - Part 3 - I will push heavy things

Generally speaking, it's not hard to talk the average gym goer into bench pressing.  I mean, walk into a commercial gym on Monday, and how many guys will be benching?

"It's chest day, brah."

That generally means something like so....

Bench Pressing....where everyone in the group works up to a max where the spotters hands never leave the bar.  They bounce their "max attempts" and then proceed to do glute bridges and fuck an imaginary fairy, shooting their hips straight up, shuffling their feet around like they are having a tap dancing contest with Gregory Hines (who is also dead), then of course are screamed and yelled at using the magic bro phrase...."all you man, all you".

After that they usually incline press.  Using something to the tune of about half of what they used on the bench press, or less.  Then they decline.  Only God knows why.  Then of course, they go to the pec-deck machine and lavish over it like it's the God of money, wisdom, and power.

They leave the gym chest puffed out, with of course imaginary lat syndrome.  Why, I don't know.  You didn't work lats or back.  I'm always amazed.

What I generally don't see guys doing is the following.

Close Grip Benching with a pause.  This is hard, and it's an ego destroyer.

I know this, because when I had to make the change to doing it, my pressing ability in that fashion was shit.  If your setup is not tight and sound, it will expose you for the weak bitch that you are.

I don't see guys doing a lot of heavy dips.



I know this can be hard on some guys shoulders, but if you can bench press with your elbows flared completely out to the side, I'm not sure how you can't do some weighted dips, in terms of shoulder issues.  Even I can do weighted dips if my pec minor isn't flared up, and I have a permanently dislocated shoulder.

I don't see a lot of standing overhead press.

Most guys prefer to do shoulder on machines.  It's easier.

Pressing is pressing, is pressing really.  However in most commercial gyms watching guys press is a sad state of affairs.  99% of guys know nothing about how to set up for a good bench press, and even fewer have a decent ratio in terms of their bench to incline to overhead press.

You should be strong at pressing from any angle.  If you aren't, then get better at it.  When you do, you will improve in the other presses as well.

You should also learn how to bench properly.  Driving your upperback hard into the bench, getting your legs tight into the floor to create a foundation to press from, and pausing your initial rep, to show that YOU control the weight and not the other way around.

I get asked, "should I do low reps or high reps for pressing, Paul?"

Why not both?  Training some cycled singles on bench, do medium reps on incline, high reps on dips, low reps on standing press, high reps on db pressing, etc.  This covers all the bases.  Just don't get caught doing the same shit over and over again, or in an unproductive cycle of repetitive training behavior.

If you find a way to press that's hard, or you suck at it, press that way a LOT.  The better you get at the things you are terrible at, the better you will be at the things you excel at.  This is a time proven theory.

Don't be a "chest day, brah" guy.  Be a guy that is in there to press heavy shit, and can do so from any angle or on any movement.  Pressing is a huge part of being strong, obviously, but you don't want to be that guy who was a one trick pony.  Get good at pressing, period.  Put your time in on the incline, various overhead work, dipping and such.

You don't have to goad most guys into pressing hard and heavy.  Just make sure you are doing so on more than the flat bench.