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Upgrade Your Strength with the Soju and Tuba Press Program - StrongFirst

UPGRADE YOUR STRENGTH WITH THE SOJU AND TUBA

PRESS PROGRAM
By Joey Yang (http://www.strongfirst.com/author/coachjoey/)

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SFG, SFL
Posted on October 11, 2016. 23 Comments. (http://www.strongfirst.com/upgrade-your-strength-with-the-soju-and-tuba-press-program/#comments)

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Back in spring of 2015, Mark Limbaga came up with the concept of a step/wave hybrid cycle. Once he shared the basic concepts with me,
I applied it to the military press, and ran with it. My pressing strength increased so drastically that both Mark and I were totally
surprised at the effects of this approach. Thus, the Soju and Tuba Program was born.
I have tried this program with various people and all have so far reported back with positive results. For example, Mark Limbaga used
this program to increase his handstand push-up deficit. When he started, he could do 4 reps at a 1.25-inch deficit. After the program, his
deficit increased to two inches. His 1RM went from 5.75 inches to a little over 6 inches. My wife did a cycle of the press with the 12kg,
and can now press the 16kg.

(http://www.strongfirst.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/soju-tuba-handstand-pushup.jpg)
You can try this program with almost any lift, but it will be most effective with the kettlebell military press since many people get
stuck at a particular weight and are not sure how to progress from that point.

Note: Soju (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soju) and tuba (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_wine) are the most typical alcoholic beverages
in Korea and the Philippines (and you will not be happy in the morning if you have too much of either the night before), so we decided to
name this program Soju and Tuba to commemorate the collaboration between SFGs in Korea and the Philippines. Despite chatting over
Facebook on the initial concept, the overall context of our conversation did look (sound) like two lifters talking over a beer after a heavy lifting
session.

This Program and My Military Press

Prior to training this program, my kettlebell military press 1RM was 36kg. After the first cycle using the 32kg bell, I was able to do 4-5
reps with the 36kg bell. I pressed the Bulldog (40kg) in the middle of my second cycle using the 36kg bell, and the Bulldog was my 3RM
once I finished the cycle with the 36kg bell.

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once I finished the cycle with the 36kg bell.

Upgrade Your Strength with the Soju and Tuba Press Program - StrongFirst

After that, I laid off the military press for a while as I had to practice my bench press to submit my video for my SFL, but somehow my
kettlebell press 1RM had increased to 44kg during that process (probably because I was pressing the 32 or 36 about five times every day
while warming up to do Pavels Power to the People). Following the end of my bench press-focused training, I did my third and final cycle
of the Soju and Tubaand finally pressed the Beast!

(http://www.strongfirst.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/press-focus.jpg)

What Is a Step Cycle?

The beauty of this program is that because its a type of step cycle you only need one weight/bell. In other words, its very simple. And
foolproof (so far).
When I showed it to Master SFG Fabio Zonin while interpreting for him at the Seoul SFL, he was very impressed (he was explaining the
step cycle to the SFL candidates, so this program turned out to be a perfect example). For those of you not familiar, a step cycle in a
nutshell is a program where you keep the intensity (load) constant while gradually increasing the volume for each session, aiming for
a certain rep/set scheme at the end. Pavels classic Rite of Passage is a typical step cycle program.
But be prepared, as the volume builds up, it can get long and boring (and tiring, too). If thats the case, you can use the grease-the-groove
(GTG) approach and do the reps/sets throughout the day. I have tried both, the GTG and single-session approach, and they both worked
for me. My final cycle with the Bulldog forced me to use the GTG approach, as the intensity and volume was too much to recover from in
a few minutes.

The Soju and Tuba Press Program

Take a kettlebell one size lighter (4kg) than your 1RM, and do the following rep scheme for your next eighteen workouts (if youre in that
area where one size lighter than your 1RM is too light, then use your 2RM/3RM instead).

(http://www.strongfirst.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/soju-and-tuba-program.jpg)

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Its a pretty straightforward cycle if you take a close look at it. Since youre gradually increasing the volume with the same intensity,
its a step cycle. At the same time, dropping the volume every six sessions waves the load, yet upping the number of reps per set
increases intensity.
So the total number of lifts (NL) goes from 4 to 14, then drops to 6 while the intensity increases. Then the NL goes back up to 16, drops to
6 again, with the NL being 18 on the final day of this program. (In an ideal world I would have preferred the NL on Day 13 to be 8, but the
reps are 3 per set, and I decided that the NL at 9 would be too much to handle at that point.)
Training can be done three times a week for a total of six weeks, or if you consider yourself to be high endurance, you can do this every
other day for a total of 36 days. I tried both approaches, and they both seemed to work, so feel free to experiment.

Integrating with Other Training

I was still training my squat, deadlift, and pull-ups while doing this program, and they all seemed to progress fine (super setting with
pull-ups works great). If you have the time and resources, I think you can also do this program while training the bench press as long as
you take the GTG approach (I havent tried it yet, so I cant be sure. Feel free to provide any feedback).
As for combining with kettlebell swings, I kept them in the 70-120 reps range for each of my session while following this program. So
basically, feel free to combine this with other strength programs as long as those dont include military press.

(http://www.strongfirst.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/kettlebell-press-program.jpg)

What I Learned Doing This Program

1. This approach will drill in the fact that strength is a skill.
2. Your elbows will get sore due to a lot of lat activation during the press. Make sure to become good friends with a foam roller.
3. There is always more than one way to skin a cat (various approaches to the same program).
4. As long as it works, dont question why (because I initially had no idea why it was working during my first cycle).
Try out this program. I would love to get feedback from my fellow brothers and sisters on the effects and results of Soju and Tuba. Just
dont go out drinking soju and tuba after every session!

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Joey Yang (http://www.strongfirst.com/author/coachjoey/)

(http://www.strongfirst.com/author/coachjoey/)

Joey Yang, SFG, SFL, is a civilian employee for the United

States Army, serving as the Interpreter to the Commanding
General of the 2nd Infantry Division/Republic of Korea-US
Combined Division, the only permanently forward deployed
infantry division in the United States Army, stationed in
Korea.

When Joey is not busy providing translation and interpretation support for his commanding general in support of the Republic of
Korea-United States Alliance, he devotes his time and passion as a student and teacher of strength in accordance with the StrongFirst
principles. A former American football athlete in college and Republic of Korea Marine, Joey has been the strength coach for
numerous football programs in Korea. Joey was the strength and conditioning coach for Chungang University in 2008, semi-pro
football team Seoul Vikings from 2009-2011, the Korean National Team in 2013, and the University of Seoul from 2014-2015.

Nowadays, Joey likes to spend his time conducting strength training clinics for football teams in Korea, while traveling the world to
learn more as a student of strength and provide translation and interpretation support to StrongFirst certifications in Korea. Any
soldier or English speaker living in Korea is encouraged to seek out Joey for strength training. Personal training for soldiers of the
Warrior Division are always free of charge during PT and lunch hours. Joey can be reached at readysethut@gmail.com.
(mailto:readysethut@gmail.com)

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23 thoughts on Upgrade Your Strength with the Soju and Tuba Press
Program
Older Comments (http://www.strongfirst.com/upgrade-your-strengthwith-the-soju-and-tuba-press-program/comment-page-1/#comments)

P-G says:
October 14, 2016 at 9:57 am (http://www.strongfirst.com/upgrade-your-strength-with-the-soju-and-tuba-press-program/comment-page2/#comment-196290)
Great article! Just one question. Will the program be less effective if I clean before each press? Less time under load, or something like that?
Reply (http://www.strongfirst.com/upgrade-your-strength-with-the-soju-and-tuba-press-program/?replytocom=196290#respond)

Raymond Ahles says:

October 14, 2016 at 8:48 am (http://www.strongfirst.com/upgrade-your-strength-with-the-soju-and-tuba-press-program/comment-page2/#comment-196286)
Do you have any warm up suggestion? Maybe at least 5 reps at 50-60% of 1RM? I normally would work up to 4kg under my 1RM which adds to the
NL. Such as: 24kg x 5, 28kg x 3, 32kg x 2, then the 36kg x 1, 40kg x 1
Reply (http://www.strongfirst.com/upgrade-your-strength-with-the-soju-and-tuba-press-program/?replytocom=196286#respond)
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