The Problem With the Press

[mcsquared]

The press is so damn fickle. Here's my background:

Been on SS since the beginning of January. Got my press up from like 110 to 120. Recently, I've been microloading. Still doing a 3x5 schedule, with both bench press and regular press. I'm typically going heavy on both days. Today I went up for a PR effort of 125, but got 1x5,1x4,1x4.

My question is, should I change the programming to a heavy/light/heavy work week, similar my squat? Or should I change to a 5x3 lifting schedule? Thanks for your input guys.

[Mr.City]

Have you deloaded yet?

[mcsquared]

Yes I have, twice. Sorry if that wasn't clear. First time I deloaded, went back up using 5lb jumps. Second and most recent time, I deloaded and went back with 2.5 lbs jumps once i got to 115lbs.

[PVC]

I'm not in any position to give advice on this, but I've been reading through logs and have noticed that the press always gives people problems on SS, and their other lifts continue to climb while their press is stuck in a rut. I'm personally trying to work through that rut right now, and in a couple of weeks I'll know whether or not I can break past it.

It makes sense that linear progression would run out for the press before the other lifts since the press uses the least amount of muscle mass to actually move the weight. But it seems like such a waste to keep trying linear progression for the press just because you're "doing SS".

I dunno. I'm just ranting I guess. Carry on.

[Mr.City]

It could be form related. I have a low press and after reviewing the video on this forearm, found out that I had plenty of problems with my form.

[hatmanii]

From my understanding, if you only miss 1-2 reps total you go for it again the next go around, giving yourself up to two workouts to make the weight. Try this and if again you fail (after having deloaded and knowing your diet/sleep is in check), it's time for intermediate programming on the press.

I think people get confused as to when to change programming (novice--> intermediate--> advanced). You do it on a lift to lift basis. Read PPST again if you are still confused.

[cervicornis]

MC, is that right that you started at 110 and advanced your press to 120-125 in about 3 months?

Sounds like you started at way too high a weight and have been stuck in an ongoing stall practically from the get go. FWIW, I started at 90 and got my press to 155 in about the same amount of time. The other guys I train with experienced similar results.

Unless I am misunderstanding something, I'd suggest deloading to 95-100#, try a couple of 5 lb. jumps, then continue on with 2.5 jumps for as long as you can. Don't get greedy with the weight. Stick with the standard 3 sets x 5 routine. It could be that your morphology doesn't lend itself well to a strong press, but I would think that anyone who follows the SS program correctly for 3 months should be able to see more than a 10-15# increase.

[JT in MD]

I started a couple of months ago at 95 x 5 x 3. I did 5 lb jumps till about 110 x 5 x 3. I've done 2.5 lb jumps since. I'm up to 142.5 and starting to struggle. Also my bodyweight has increased from 165 to 181 in the same time frame. Good progress is possible but you must be patient...

[Brenden]

I've had success moving from three sets of five to five sets of three.

[Sgsolberg]

I personally found that my pressing strength was closely related to my overall upper back strength. When I focused on DL, my presses went up. When I focused on quality reps for chins and pull ups, my presses went up.

[Robert Beckett]

I am an inconsistent strength trainee with a mere 120 lb press, so keep that in mind :) . I have struggled with the press too. What I have found works for me is pressing twice a week with the same weight.

I press on Mon & Fri and bench on Wed. Mon is the day I add 2.5 lb from the previous week. Then I use the same weight again on Fri. This doesn't exactly fit the intermediate periodization models found in PP (eg Hvy-Light-Med or Vol-Rec-Intensity). But I can *just* make the last rep on Mon, and then when I try again on Fri I nail it pretty solid, so I'm ready to increase by 2.5 lb the next Mon. I like this because it is very simple - same weights and rep schemes as regular SS.

This works for me because I can keep making linear progress w/ the Bench only doing it once a week. YMMV of course.

[mcsquared]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I started off the weight at 90#, to clear that up right away. I started 2.5 jumps at 115. I think I might try transitioning to a 5x3 workout and see how that works for me.

Anymore thoughts would be appreciated

[Platus]

As I have said many times on this board, I think that weighted abdominal exercises are very helpful for presses. I deloaded several times, went as low as 1lb. jumps, and eventually moved on to texas method for my pressing movements, despite still being on SS for my Squats and Deadlifts.

I feel like my presses have progressed much faster on TM than they did on SS. On SS, I took a very long time to go from 110 to 128 or so. On TM, I went from 125x5x5 to 150x5x3 in much less time, and I put up a single at 170 a couple of weeks ago.

That's not to encourage anyone to jump the gun on transitioning to intermediate programming, but linear programming with microloading the press can be very slow once 2.5lb. jumps become too much.

[mcsquared]

I have been doing weighted abdominal work as well. I just moved up to using the bar for my weighted situps, which definitely will take some getting used to, but feels awesome.

I'm thinking after I give 5x3 a try, i might transition to intermediate programming for the pressing movements just cause they've been so annoying in comparison to the squat, clean and deadlift.

[jameson]

The general consensus is to press heavy and to press often. 5x3 isn't a bad idea given this vein of thought. However, I wouldn't jump into intermediate programming just yet. It's been my experience that the press is easy to recover from and would therefore not necessarily benefit from LESS work (especially given my first statement of pressing OFTEN).

Try the 5x3 for a few weeks and report back.

[aussieluke]

I've just been reading Dan John's latest article on T-muscle. It's more about hypertrophy but it includes a different approach to doing 5x5 sets across, by breaking it down into:

2, 3, 5, 2, 3, 5, 2, 3

with fairly minimal rest, ie after the first set of 5, the next set of 2 reps doesn't require that much rest and mental preparation.

I quite like the sound of it and am thinking about trying to apply this the next few times I press to see what happens.

It somehow (to me) sounds 'easier' than 3x5, but with more volume

...any thoughts on this?

[jameson]

I've just been reading Dan John's latest article on T-muscle. It's more about hypertrophy but it includes a different approach to doing 5x5 sets across, by breaking it down into:

2, 3, 5, 2, 3, 5, 2, 3

with fairly minimal rest, ie after the first set of 5, the next set of 2 reps doesn't require that much rest and mental preparation.

I quite like the sound of it and am thinking about trying to apply this the next few times I press to see what happens.

It somehow (to me) sounds 'easier' than 3x5, but with more volume

...any thoughts on this?

Not sure how well clusters will do for the shoulders. I can't see how hypertrophy of the shoulder muscles will lead to better/faster gains in pressing strength. But, then again, I could be wrong.