12 Assistance Exercises for the Military Press
How to Build Rugged, "Stand on Your Feet" Strength Fast and Easily!
Dinosaurs know that the overhead press is one of the key exercises for strength, power and muscular development, as well as being one of the very best tests of a lifter's strength.
We all want a bigger and better press. Here are some important tips on how to build a better press.
In his "Guide to Weightlifting Competition," Bob Hoffman listed what he considered to be the 14 best assistance exercises to improve the military press. Here they are. How many of these exercises have you included in your training program over the past 12 months?
1. Heavy dumbbell pressing. Harry Paschall also rated these very highly. Virtually all great pressers excel on the dumbbell press.
2. Seated presses, both with dumbbells and with barbells. The seated barbell press was one of John Grimek's favorites.
3. Pressing behind neck. Yuri Vlasov did these.
4. One-arm dumbbell presses. Many of the legendary old-time strongmen did these – and they worked up to amazing weights. Do these strictly, with your body perfectly upright. Don’t make it a side press or a bent press. Stand straight and tall. Chuck Vinci performed this exercise while holding onto an overhead bar, which makes it a very strict movement.
5. Incline bench pressing. Use a 60-degree incline. A favorite of Dave Sheppard and Jim George. It brought Sheppard's press up from 286 in 1954 to 341 in 1958. It brought Jim George's press up from 220 in 1954 to 297 in 1958.
6. Bench pressing. A favorite of Doug Hepburn. Also used by John Davis.
7. Push pressing. One of Hepburn's favorites. Also a favorite of Paul Anderson. Drive the weight up hard and fast. Many top lifters prefer to lower the weight as slowly as possible.
8. Wide grip pressing. Press as wide as possible at first, and as you add weight, gradually bring the hands closer. Tommy Kono did these, and set World records in the press in four different weight classes!
9. Handstand presses. Sig Klein's secret weapon. Grimek's secret weapon. Terlazzo's secret weapon. Hepburn's secret weapon. Need I say more?
10. Partial presses from the shoulder -- use more than you can press and see how far you can press it. A favorite exercise of Paul Anderson. A related exercise: the jerk with a heavy weight, and then lower the weight as slowly as possible.
11. The Bradford Special. Hoffman said that 297 pound Jim Bradford had the broadest shoulders and biggest deltoids he had ever seen, and this was Bradford's favorite exercise. Press a heavy weight to the top of the head, lower it behind the shoulders, press back up to top of head, lower to chest, repeat.
12. Forward raise with barbell. A favorite of John Davis, who could perform the exercise with 175 pounds. You also can perform the exercise with two dumbbells. The dumbbell variation was a favorite exercise of John Grimek.
So, there you have it: 12 terrific assistance exercise to help you build a world class press! Have fun with them – and build your press as high as you possibly can!
Note: If you enjoyed this post, please share it using the share button below — and please subscribe to my substack! We’ll have plenty of great content for you every week.