Im limited to the kneeling press due to the height of my cieling. I noted in other threads that the kneeling press is preferred over seated press. Should I have both of my knees on the ground, or can I put one leg up to stabelize similar to the bottom positon of a lunge?
I don’t prefer kneeling press over seated press and honestly, I’ve never programmed kneeling press. I would almost certainly program a different variation than kneeling press.
Most of the kneeling stuff came from Austin I believe. I think I remember you suggesting seated for higher reps a long time ago. Is that how you would program it in place of OHP in the Beginner Rx?
Yea, I just asked Austin and he said he would prefer seated press over kneeling press if given the option. I would not program seated press for higher reps over lower reps for any particular reason, though they could be done for higher reps if a person wanted. I would program an incline bench or seated press in place of OHP for the beginner prescription, yes. I would not program a kneeling press unless someone wanted to do it.
Going to add my .02 here as I have some relevant experience with this situation, hope it’s useful.
I am tall and lift in a basement with only 7 feet of clearance, so I have looked at the OHP conundrum from most angles. I’ve tried kneeling, seated with and without back support, and a high incline close-ish grip press. I wager anyone who tries kneeling presses for a training block will realize the limitations, for me it always felt like my attention and subsequent performance were affected most by everything but the pressing exercise (setup, balance, discomfort, etc). I had more success with seated presses, however I found an upright bench made it difficult to clear my face/chin with the barbell as it is a tall bench and prevents any lean-back. When I tried seated presses on a standard flat bench, I found heavier weights were difficult to lift due to bracing issues, as correct foot placement/drive is very difficult to establish without causing some amount of sliding on the bench. I have had the most success using an incline bench at the first setting below 90 degrees (appx 75 degrees), as it allows the use of heavier weight without the previously mentioned concerns, and to me it subjectively felt by far the best in terms of how much the effort I was exerting matched that I had experienced when I could do standing OHP.
Dr,
First, thank you for your time on this and other posts.
I’ve had a few weeks of trying out seated form, and it just hasnt been working out well. Finding a way to position my equipment is incredibly awkward and I cant seem to unrack and brace properly with no back support while seated . Incline feels much better. Id like to preserve some degree of vertical pressing strength. I’ve found that a 60-75 degree angle on my adjustable bench seems to work best. The highest setting I have is 85, but I run into the same unracking issue . Do you have any objections for proceeding with seated 60-75? My only other thought is using the pins as j hooks as some hodgepodge chest level pin press.
Thank you again.