TL:DR I didn't die. It was fun. I'm still weak af. I'll probably try again next year
Press Every Day (PrEvDa)
Background:
all weight is in pounds and work is weight(percentage) x reps x setsI have been lifting consistently since August 2016. Press has always been a struggle. In efforts to get my bench press stronger, I have in the past neglected the press, training it 0-1 times a week for large stretches. Generally, I train it kneeling off of pins due to basement ceiling height, although during the spring I clean out the mud room and train it from the floor.
My SSNLP ran from mid-August 2016 to January 2017, where I went from 45x5x3 to 107.5x5x3. I have ran Greg Nuckols High frequency program from this article where I pressed my first plate. That was in 2018. I think I also hurt my shoulders a bit. After that I used a lot of Hanley-style single @8 and 7-10 minute density block type training, while focusing on 1) getting a bigger bench and 2) getting fatter. My best press PRs came from a run of Nuckols’ linear program where I got to a 170 kneeling press at around 240, wearing wrist wraps and a belt.
PrEvDa (PED is too suggestive…):
PrEvDa is a program written by u/dadliftsnruns, nee u/nsuns. It combined his experiments with using a intuitive reps/sets approach to Smolov with a skills-based Bulgarian piece. He originally used it for bench press, although people have adapted it for overhead press as well. The fact that more redditors than dadliftsnruns survived a run inspired it to give it a try. The basic set-up is to have one movement done 6 days a week (the seventh is reserved for an overload variant), where you hit 4 reps above 85%. Once a week you are to work up to a single above 95%. I raised the daily minimum in 5lb increments based on the weekly top single. For volume, he has you press 40/30/20/10 reps a day with a different variant. I chose my own adventure and took 4 variants and continued progressing them on their own, with an eye to making sure I was hitting different rep ranges.
My setup:
Initially, I took every set from the floor, although about 30 days in, I started having a knee and a toe issue, so I started mixing in kneeling press, and press from the rack when at the Y. My split looked likeMonday
Daily Press = 85+% x4 reps in groups of 1-4
Bench
1-3@8-9ish, back offs x 3-5 x 4
Front Squats
Good Mornings
Light arms and light pulls
Tuesday
Daily Press
Run
Wednesday
Press work up to a max single
Back offs x 3-6 x 4
Deadlift
RDL
Thursday
Daily Press
Run
Friday
Push Press heavy doubles or triples
Close Grip Bench
GG style (12-18rm, 4 sets of half the reps)
Squat
More arms?
Saturday
Daily Press
Run
Behind the Neck Press
Ramping 8-10s
Sunday
Daily Press
Results:
Date 3/20/23-5/8/23 no missed daysTrend Weight 202.4 -207.4 +5 pounds (mostly unintentional)
Daily Minimum 110-130
Weekly top single 135-155
Bench 215x6x3x4 ->225x4x4
Press volume 100x6x4 -> 120x3x4
Push Press 140x2 -> 145x2 not happy
CGBP 165x12->165x18->185x14 I’m happy here
BTN press 65x12 ->85x8 could have pushed these harder
Novel PRs
Press 140x2 2rm PR
135x4 4rm PR
105x6s across PR kinda sad as this was where my LP stopped…
Bench
245x3 3rm PR
225x4s across PR
220x5s across PR
CGBP
185x14
165x18 the wonders of GGBB…
Compliance:
I hit my daily minimum 50 days in a row, although I changed up kneeling, from the rack, and from the floor towards the end. I moved my last push press to day 50 since I already had maxed out earlier. I swapped one day of bench for cambered bar bench. I cut one deadlift workout early and sandbagged the last week a bit due to fatigue. A 6 week time to peak trend is developing. Supplemental, assistance and general back work was largely sandbagged or skipped. Pull-ups seemed impossible. Whereas I was hitting 10+ before, now sets of 2-3 hurt my delts. Not sure if this is compliance, because I made the decision to dial assistance and back work down for the more pressing volume. I had diet compliance issues - I always hit my protein, but I was late night binging throughout this. Overall Thoughts:
I finished what I started. I had fun. I hit some novel rep and volume PRs. I didn’t come close to my press 1rm. I expected more, considering the focus and the extra calories. I discovered I can’t push press for excrement. My cardio and pull strength took a big dip, although I hit some rep PRs for deadlift and squat as well (high volume low hanging fruit). I’m beat up but not injured. I will probably run this again for either push press or maybe bench press, but not for a while. I’m pretty sure all of my PRs came from this working as a kind of peaking block after a lot of GZCL GG with lots of accessories. The wife has mentioned several times about my upper body looking big, which doesn’t really happen, although she is listing too now, so she’s probably just jealous?Next Steps:
Running a big cut until end of school year, where I want to focus on building back giant set-style work capacity, faster running speed, and a high rep squat progression. Intensity is gonna come down and accessory volume is going back up. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the press going forward, but it will probably be something like what I’m doing for bench. Summer gets nebulous anyway.
