Press Singles

by Carl Raghavan, SSC | July 29, 2025

The compressed Texas Method is one of my favorite ways to move lifters into intermediate programming – especially when their press and bench start needing more frequency, but you still want to keep the overall structure as close to the Starting Strength linear progression.

Quick refresher for new readers: a typical first week of a compressed Texas Method (upper-body only) might look like this:

• Monday: 5×5 Bench
• Wednesday: 5×5 Press
• Friday: 5–7×1 Press + 1×5 Bench

Why Singles?

Heavy singles on the press are a major departure from the classic SSLP approach. The press doesn’t move enormous loads like squats or deadlifts, but singles develop a different skill set. They build confidence under maximal load, they force you to perfect your bar path, and they demand intense focus.

The good news? Heavy press singles aren’t that fatiguing overall. Regular exposure to near-maximal weights sharpens your ability to handle heavy efforts precisely – something you can’t fully develop with fives alone. In short, they give you more “touches” at truly challenging weights. Anyone who’s pressed heavy knows a triple feels very different from a single at 95–97% of 1RM. It’s another universe entirely.

A strong presser can usually hit a bodyweight single. The truly advanced might manage a bodyweight set of five – a rare sign of technical mastery and force production.

At this level, you don’t need many heavy singles. One to three is plenty, from my experience. You can add a few lighter singles as back-off practice, but the true heavy work stays low. Creep up to five if needed, but past that, technique and recovery start to be affected.

Weaker lifters – those not even pressing 50% of bodyweight – often need more singles to get anything out of them. Sets of five alone don’t create enough intensity to drive progress. That’s why I sometimes have them do up to 15 singles in one session, using “on-the-minute” style. This keeps the session tight, builds repeated exposure to heavy weights, and develops skill without turning it into an endless slog.

Sometimes, weaker lifters even benefit more from triples on volume day rather than fives, simply because their fives aren’t heavy enough to matter.

Spoiler alert: if you’re not in the “strong” group, you’re in the weaker group. That’s it. No participation trophies. You’re either pressing bodyweight or you’re working to get there. Simple.

If You Miss a Rep what do you do?

If you miss a single because your bar path looked like a toddler scribbled it with a crayon, perhaps try again at the same weight. If you’re 99.99% certain you’ll make it, go for it. But if you still can’t finish the prescription, you have options to salvage the session:

• 5–10% Off Approach: Drop the weight 5–10%, finish the singles, maybe add a few extra as penance. Get the work done.

• 10kg Off, Plus 1kg: From weightlifting (“the grey book” strategy). Strip 10kg, then work back up set by set to reattempt the missed weight.

• Scattergun Approach: Bounce between your top set and up to 12% lower, mixing and matching until you accumulate the planned singles.

• Raise the Floor and Ceiling: Andy Baker’s strategy. Last week: 80-90kg. This week: 82-92kg. Even if you don’t push the top end, raising both the floor and ceiling increases overall stress. Win.

A heavy day of fives and a heavy day of singles is a staple in my programming for early intermediates because it works. Fives build volume, consistency, and general strength. Singles teach you to handle heavier weights, refine your bar path, and push into true hard-effort territory – something no other rep range matches. Together, they prepare you to keep progressing once the novice phase ends.

There’s no universal timeline for switching from SSLP to a compressed Texas Method press setup. You don’t change programs because you’re bored or think “it’s time.” You adjust when progress demands it.

Prescription and timing come down to a coach’s eye. You can’t jump programs and expect linear gains to continue untouched. Sometimes, it takes a few weeks to adapt before progress picks up again.

Remember: the goal on singles day is to do heavy singles. That’s it. Sounds insultingly simple, and it is. But whichever strategy gets you there with the fewest misses, the best bar path, and the highest technical sharpness – that’s the winning strategy.

It’s not a neat, one-size-fits-all answer. Welcome to intermediate training, where “just add weight” still works in theory, but in practice, things get messier. We’re human after all, not robots.