The ATHX 2027 format opens the Strength zone with a 1RM Shoulder to Overhead, inside a five-minute window.
In 2026 it was a strict press: arms only, no drive, the most honest and most limited movement in the book. In 2027, anything that gets the bar overhead and locks it out counts.
It sounds like a rulebook detail. It's the biggest source of kilos in your whole preparation.
What the change allows
"Shoulder to overhead" means exactly what it says: the bar starts at the shoulder, finishes overhead, arms and legs locked. The path is yours.
Three techniques, in increasing order of return:
The strict press. Arms only, legs still. That's the old movement. It's still allowed — it has simply become the most expensive.
The push press. One dip, one explosive drive, arms finish the job. You add leg power to the bar's start.
The push jerk or split jerk. You drive the bar and drop back under it. The bar travels less far, but you go down — and that's what allows the heaviest loads.
⇒ An athlete who executes a clean split jerk moves considerably more than their strict press. One who has never trained it leaves those kilos on the platform, with the same shoulders.
Why it's the best return in your preparation
Compare the cost of two equivalent gains.
Adding ten kilos to your back squat takes a structured strength block: eight to twelve weeks, three sessions a week, fatigue to manage and recovery to plan.
Adding ten kilos to your shoulder to overhead when you're still pressing strict can be a matter of technique. No hypertrophy, no block: coordination.
It isn't magic — a clean jerk needs shoulder mobility, bracing and weeks of repetition. But it's quality work, not volume, and it costs almost nothing in recovery.
In other words: it's the only place in the format where you can gain kilos without paying in fatigue.
The real trap: the five-minute window
The movement isn't the only change. In 2027, each lift has its slot.
| slot | lift |
|---|---|
| 0 → 5 min | 1RM Shoulder to Overhead |
| 5 → 10 min | 2RM Back Squat |
| 10 → 15 min | 3RM Deadlift (individual) |
Five minutes for a max is two, maybe three attempts. No more.
That moves the difficulty: it's no longer in the load, it's in choosing the load.
- Aim too high, miss twice, and you leave the window with your warm-up bar.
- Aim too low, bank it, and there's no time to come back.
In 2026, a press that dragged ate into the squat's time. In 2027 it eats into nothing — but the time lost doesn't come back either.
The strategy that works
Three attempts planned before you enter the zone, not improvised inside it.
- A load you'll make for certain, around 90 % of your known max. It banks a score.
- Your target, the one you came for.
- A stretch attempt, only if the first two went fast and clean.
And the warm-up happens before the zone starts, not inside it. That's a mistake you only make once.
How to train it
Three strands, over eight to twelve weeks.
Technique, light. Twice a week, at the start of a session, at 50-60 %: push press, then push jerk, then split jerk if you're building one. That's motor learning, not strength — do it fresh.
Shoulder and wrist mobility. It's what limits most athletes in the receiving position. An incomplete lockout and the lift isn't passed by the judge.
Heavy work, under window conditions. Once a week, set a five-minute clock and hit your max inside it, warm-up excluded. You're training the decision as much as the strength.
⚠️ That last point is the one nobody does, and the only one that actually reproduces the event.
Measuring, because it's a decision made under pressure
The Strength zone is where the notebook shows its limits fastest.
You can't follow a clock, decide your next load and record your successful lifts at the same time. Either you follow the time, or you follow the bar.
That's the problem we solved with ATmetrYX, a Garmin app on the Connect IQ Store. In Training mode you pick the Strength pillar: one press marks each successful attempt, and the watch records the rest — durations, sequencing, heart rate — while you stay focused on the bar.
What you read afterwards is your actual run: how long you took to decide, how long between attempts, when you started to drag. That's what improves strategy, and strategy is worth kilos inside a five-minute window.
In short
Three things.
One. Shoulder to overhead allows the legs. If you're still pressing strict, you're leaving kilos on the platform for no reason.
Two. The work is technical, not muscular. It's the only gain in the format that costs nothing in recovery.
Three. The five-minute window is an event in itself. Train it with a clock, not just with a bar.