I recently started training the Olympic lifts. That; in conjunction with too many viewings of the log press event of the Arnold Strongman Classic gave me the itch to shift towards the overhead press. Since both events basically require you to get a weight overhead, the OHP makes more sense, and the BP significantly less so.
Also; as it has been highlighted - a press looks more badass than a bench press.
As part of building my own home gym, I’m thinking of getting an angled grip Football bar to do overhead presses (http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-mg-2-multi-grip-bars). It’s significantly more compact than an actual log bar!
I’d like your thoughts on the idea.
- I see lots of mention of using a Swiss Bar or Football Bar to simulate log presses, but I can’t seem to get much noise on Interwebs about this idea. Quite a few sites talk about the idea of the lift, but there’s actually very little discussion / review about how well it works as a strength builder and as a long term lift. To me, it makes perfect sense as to alternate it with barbell OHP to take stress off the shoulders and to add variety - but does it really? I know that experimental ideas don't always translate well to reality.
- Angled or completely neutral grips? Obviously the Neutral grips have lots more carry over to the log lift, but as I have 2 objectives to work towards, I’m thinking that angled grips make more sense. My Oly lifts are more important to me than Log Lifts – so Neutral grip presses will have less carry over.
- Another part of the above point is because I’ve read that neutral grip make a lot of sense for bench press, but in the overhead press department, an angled grip actually puts less stress on the shoulder joint.
