Thread: suggestions for my only vertical push on maintenance day while I block train

Push presses are a favourite of mine for vertical push. Arnold press is another I have recently been doing.

Hang cleans as a vertical push?

I would do overhead press. Military presses aren't bad either. You could also do handstand pushups or push press.

Whenever i get bored of BB military i switch to Single Arm DB Overhead Press. Bit of a mouthful, but basically take a dumbell and overhead press it. Then do the other arm.

Great movement, can get a lot of depth, and it requires a lot of stability and concentration.

I'm also doing hang clean and press as one movement at the moment and it's doing a lot for my shoulder/trap development.

Hang clean it, pause, and do a nice slow press. The change from explosive speed to slow tempo is really challenging.

Originally Posted by Gazhole

Whenever i get bored of BB military i switch to Single Arm DB Overhead Press. Bit of a mouthful, but basically take a dumbell and overhead press it. Then do the other arm.

Great movement, can get a lot of depth, and it requires a lot of stability and concentration.

I'm also doing hang clean and press as one movement at the moment and it's doing a lot for my shoulder/trap development.

Hang clean it, pause, and do a nice slow press. The change from explosive speed to slow tempo is really challenging.

Do you find that you're strength (or in the case of cleans, power) for hang cleans and presses are relatively equal? Say, for instance, you're week's intensity is 75% @ 3 x 7. Can you overhead press the weight for that rep range that you would normally do on hang cleans for that rep range, and vica versa? Or, should I expect to have to lower the weigth a bit?

Originally Posted by Gazhole

I'm also doing hang clean and press as one movement at the moment and it's doing a lot for my shoulder/trap development.

Hang clean it, pause, and do a nice slow press. The change from explosive speed to slow tempo is really challenging.

That's an excellent mod to the hang cleans. I'm stealing that!

Originally Posted by Phineas

Do you find that you're strength (or in the case of cleans, power) for hang cleans and presses are relatively equal? Say, for instance, you're week's intensity is 75% @ 3 x 7. Can you overhead press the weight for that rep range that you would normally do on hang cleans for that rep range, and vica versa? Or, should I expect to have to lower the weigth a bit?

A little bit, but not a great deal. I would adjust by maybe 10lbs for the tempo. Depending on how good you are at cleans this may too light or too heavy.

I can do about 155lbs military press for 5 reps strict tempo, with the hangclean & press im doing about 140 for 5 reps. I can hangclean 175lbs without the press for 3 reps.

The combination of the movements makes it a tough one to judge, but use that as a ballpark figure to start with - it took me a session or two to get the weight right, but its a very fun movement.

Originally Posted by FMJ

That's an excellent mod to the hang cleans. I'm stealing that!

Your shoulders will love it

Originally Posted by Gazhole

Your shoulders will love it

Done it twice now. Have to say, this is one of the most impressed I've been with a new lift! (new only for the combination, but still new stimulus, nonetheless). I love the transition. Though, I changed the military press to a push press, only because I wanted to continue with that movement (have done military more in the past). This is shoulder brutality! Love it! Thank you and damn you Gaz! lol

All you need to do is look at the shoulder/back muscles of olympic lifters to see how beneficial oly lifts can be for those areas.