Log Press 531: How I put over 20kg on my log in 2016

I’ve been looking back on my training from 2016 like everyone probably does (or certainly should) - seeing what worked and what didn’t as I go about planning my programming for 2017.

As it turns out I hit a 100kg log clean & press for the first time on 6th January, 2016. Getting into triple digits was kind of a big deal, and the milestone had been playing on my mind for quite some time as I floated around the 90-95kg mark chasing the number and testing too often and not training to surpass if often enough. But yeah I finally hit it.

Closing in to a year later my gym log tells me that I hit a 120kg log clean & press for a PB back on 23rd November 2016 and then later 120kg for two repetitions on 2nd January, 2017.

One of my training partners also managed to put 20kg on his log press this year, using this programming. Going from a fairly unconvincing 75kg up to a fast and confident 95kg inside the same time period.

In this post I’ll try to lift and shift information from my training log and put it together in such a way that it’ll perhaps be useful to somebody struggling to get started with their log press.

I should warn you this probably won’t suit experienced log pressers and strongmen - things are pretty basic and involve a whole lot of volume that might be impossible with far higher intensities and the effects on the CNS. But for somebody just starting out in strength - or just starting out with log press… why not give this a shot? Maybe it’ll work for you as well.

Credit where it’s due…

Jim Wendler must have spawned countless variations and interpretations of his famous 531 training program since its release. The reason for this is simple - it works.

I should add a caveat first about altering 531 from how it is written and instructed in its original form - once you change anything you’re not following 531 anymore. You’re doing something else. I’ll agree that in this case that any failures that it presents for the lifter are not the fault of 531, but because the lifter has not followed the program. But I’ll also state that is unfair not to credit a modified program that works as an extension of 531, because that’s exactly what it will be. Sometimes you can reach higher standing on the shoulders of giants.

Changes?

Volume. Lots of it. 531 just wouldn’t cut it for me. Coming from powerlifting I had a reasonable base of strength that could be applied (although overhead was never a focus or strong point) - I had to learn how to apply it. Over and over again. Repetition is king and practising one of the more technical movements was something I needed to do if I were to squeeze the best out of the lift given my current level.

So I trained double the number of working sets, and trained that twice per week (Wednesday and Sunday). I also dropped the 4th (de-load) week from the program. I knew that I (we) could get away with it because we were very young (untrained) in the log press.

How did I do this then?

So just like the original 531 program we were working at a %’s of our 1 rep max (1RM).

I should stress how important it is to leave your ego at home when you work out the weights you’ll be using, because the volume of lifts is actually very high - and to make sure you’re hitting the last 2 sets each session easily enough to get a few more reps than planned. So as suggested, take 90% of your 1RM as your starting value for each cycle and then working out your %’s based on that number. This is especially true because I’ve not really felt the need to de-load the log press at all - you’ll be firing on all cylinders for a long time. If you gauge the starting point well, you ought to be finishing your 2 final sets each week with more than the prescribed number of reps.

Each log press session was split into 6 total sets, alternating between A and B.

A sets are 1 clean followed by a number of press reps from the chest.

B sets are a number of full clean & press reps each from the floor.

Week 1

A 65% 5 reps

65% 5 reps B 65% 5 reps

65% 5 reps A 75% 5 reps

75% 5 reps B 75% 5 reps

75% 5 reps A 85% 5+ reps

85% 5+ reps B 85% 5+ reps

Week 2

A 70% 3 reps

70% 3 reps B 70% 3 reps

70% 3 reps A 80% 3 reps

80% 3 reps B 80% 3 reps

80% 3 reps A 90% 3+ reps

90% 3+ reps B 90% 3+ reps

Week 3

A 75% 5 reps

75% 5 reps B 75% 5 reps

75% 5 reps A 85% 3 reps

85% 3 reps B 85% 3 reps

85% 3 reps A 95% 1+ reps

95% 1+ reps B 95% 1+ reps

Strict Press & Viper Press

For each of the A sets use a strict log press from the chest for as many reps as you are able. Perhaps this is 1 or 0 reps - perhaps this is all of the reps in the set. But this is going to hit those pressing muscles hard.

For each of the B sets use a Viper Press from the floor for as many reps as you are able. Again perhaps this is as few as 1 or 0 reps - but could also perhaps be the entire set. It feels somewhere between a push press and a strict press because you’re taking advantage of the upwards momentum of the clean - but practising this technique will stand you well if you’re able to use it in a contest to really blast out a few fast log reps before falling back to the push press or jerk.

For each and every set in my training log I was recording if the set was from the chest (A) or from the floor (B) - I would also note how many reps of each set were performed as a strict press or a viper press. This gave me just another vector for which I could measure some progress.

Accessory Exercises

This varied for me almost each week. Some months I might have picked one exercise to perform each week for that month, hopefully long enough to see some progression in that accessory and then perhaps see how it affected my main log lift.

Most of the time it was either 5x5 or perhaps 3-4 sets of 8-20 reps - on some of these lifts:

Strict Overhead Barbell Press

Behind the Neck Push Press

Bench Press

Close Grip Bench Press

Klokov Press

Incline Seated Log Press

Occasionally I’d throw in some direct triceps’ work on a cable machine or with dumbbells.

In Closing

There are many ways to skin a cat - and pretty much the only keys to success I’ve found is intensity and consistency for long durations. There are no quick fixes and you’ve got to put your time in under the iron and back that up with quality food and sleep.

So this isn’t the only and probably far from the best way to program your log press. But it’s far from the worst.

If you get any success or have any questions - then get in touch via any of the social media links or leave a comment. Hell! just let me know if you found any of this interesting - I’d appreciate the comments.