My barbell overhead press journey

The barbell overhead press from the rack continues to be one of my favorite strength training lifts.  

I’ve been working hard the past couple months trying to reclaim my one-rep maximum achieved in late 2012.  I’m about 10 pounds from being there but believe it will be a long journey for me to close the gap on those 10 pounds.

My best performance with this lift was a four month training period starting last September 2012.  In general, I performed this lift once a week but sometimes I snuck in a second weekly go at it.

I have a particular training progression cadence I like to follow but sharing its details will make this blogflection too long for my liking.  Maybe I’ll share on another day.

Here’s a recap of the last four months of my 2012 training chasing my one-rep maximum for this lift.  Note that I only include my working sets.  I generally did a singles progression ramp starting with a 45-lb. Olympic bar and increasing the load until getting to my working weight sets.   

My training load generally remained the same for my working sets but sometimes I varied it depending on how I felt.  All loads below are in pounds.

9/3/2012 - 135x5 - 135x5 - 135x5

9/10/2012 – 140x4 – 140x4 – 140x4

9/15/2012 – 150x3 – 150x3 – 150x3

9/17/2012 – 135x4 – felt tired

9/24/2012 – 155x2 – 155x2 – 155x2

10/1/2012 – singles progression of 95 - 115 - 135 - 145 - 155 - 165 - 170PR

10/4/2012 - 70% of one-rep max test – 120x11

10/9/2012 - 155x2 - 155x2 - 155x2 - 145x3 - 145x3 - 135x3

10/14/2012 - 155x2 - 155x2 - 155x2 - 135x5 - 135x5 - 135x5

10/22/2012 - 155x2 - 155x1

10/25/2012 - singles of 95-115-135-145-155-165-175PR

10/29/2012 - singles of 95-105-115 and 135x5 - 135x5 - 135x5

11/4/2012 - singles of 95-105-115 and 140x5 - 140x5 - 140x5

11/12/2012 - singles of 95-115-135 - 145x5 - 145x5 - 145x5

11/20/2012 - singles of 115-125-135 - 150x4 - 150x4 - 150x4 - 150x4

11/24/2012 - singles of 95-115-135-145-155-165-175FAIL-175FAIL- 135x9

11/29/2012 - 45x5 - singles of 95-115-135 - 150x4 - 150x3 - 150x3 - 135x6

12/4/2012 - singles of 95-115-135-145-155-165-170- 175-180FAIL - ties 175 PR

12/10/2012 - singles of 95-105-135 - 150x3 - 155x3 - 160x2 - 135x8

12/17/2012 - singles of 95-105-135 - 150x5 - 150x5 - 150x5 - felt strong!

12/21/2012 - singles of 95-115 - 135x10

12/24/2012 - singles of 95-105-135 - 155x4 - 155x4 - 155x3 - 135x9

While I continued with barbell overhead press work in my 2013 training, I relaxed my pursuit of heavier loads while experimenting with other lifts and workouts.  My upward flight hit a brick wall while chasing 180 lbs.

So now I’m at it again having fun and finding this historical training information of great value.

I’ll finish 2013 and begin the new 2014 year having fun while heading back north in my barbell overhead press journey.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum