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I'm trying to settle on my next cluster. I've read that Jim Wendler, Dan John,and others think that "everyone" should be able to OHP their bodyweight. Any thoughts on that standard? I'm at about 89-90% of bodyweight. Trying to decide if I should keep hammering away at the press until I make that goal.

I think OHPing your bodyweight is a good benchmark. I actually just switched to OHP (instead of BP) in my cluster to try to get to 225lbs. I've never pressed that overhead at my current body weight.

I love the overhead press, so I would think it's a great goal. Especially as walking into any gym, the amount of guys who can press their bodyweight overhead is significantly smaller than the amount of guys who can bench press their bodyweight.

I've long neglected the OHP relative to my other lifts, but now I'm going to war with it! I'll admit that I've long been a typical American meathead -- obsessed with the BP.

J-Madd wrote:I think OHPing your bodyweight is a good benchmark. I actually just switched to OHP (instead of BP) in my cluster to try to get to 225lbs. I've never pressed that overhead at my current body weight.

grouchyjarhead wrote:I love the overhead press, so I would think it's a great goal. Especially as walking into any gym, the amount of guys who can press their bodyweight overhead is significantly smaller than the amount of guys who can bench press their bodyweight.

Ive not done bench press for over 8 years....... I love the OH press....... as a lift, putting heavy stuff overhead.... Awesome. I'm not near my BW at this time, and too be honest, it's not something I have focussed on [165 against a BW of 235, so I have a ways to go]..... keeping a set of healthy shoulders is the aim of my game...... I also beleive the standard of a BW press was to do with bench press, but could be mistaken.

If you are going to strive for a 1BW lift OH, then ensure your body mechanics can handle such a lift [no leaning back to bring your pecs into the mix ]

Although now that J-Madd has mentioned lifting 225# OH, I must admit, it has given me pause and made me think about how far I could go. Food for thought.......

Cheers all

Dot hop wrote:I'm trying to settle on my next cluster. I've read that Jim Wendler, Dan John,and others think that "everyone" should be able to OHP their bodyweight. Any thoughts on that standard? I'm at about 89-90% of bodyweight. Trying to decide if I should keep hammering away at the press until I make that goal.

Keep going and exceed it. The standard used to be even higher. There are a few schools of training where it is fairly common today. No reason you can't do it.

Rippetoe claims that a good ratio of OHP weight to Bench weight is about 2/3. (For good shoulder health.)

That's right about where my 1RM's are now.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. I'll keep at it. I try to keep my clusters pretty spartan and prefer to do one pressing exercise.
My OHP focus this year has made my shoulders huge...my arms, not so much. I typically don't care, but a set of pipes does help with command presence. I suppose the solution is Zulu with a little arm work as a finisher.

Dot hop wrote:Thanks for your thoughts everyone. I'll keep at it. I try to keep my clusters pretty spartan and prefer to do one pressing exercise.
My OHP focus this year has made my shoulders huge...my arms, not so much. I typically don't care, but a set of pipes does help with command presence. I suppose the solution is Zulu with a little arm work as a finisher.

Do you have weighted pull-ups in your cluster? I've found that they don't hurt a guy's command presence.

Haha yup. Weighted pull-ups are essential. They've just never been good for arm development for me.Whole Bunch of Lat hypertrophy though.