strength imbalances?

[Jack West]

To start with thankyou Mr Rippetoe, on ss I've seen the best gains of my life

I'm 16yo, 5'11 '' , 87-88kg (approx 190lb) (+20lb since a year ago), and about 15% bf
I play rugby (2x weekly) and train in Taekwondo (also 2x weekly)

My lifts as of recent workouts are:
Squat : 3x5@ 330lb
Deadlift: 1x5@ 385lb
Bench: 5,5,4@ 173lb
Press: 5,5,4@ 135lb

Weighted chins: (3x5) reset after failing at 50lb a few times
Barbell row: just started doing these (for 3 easy sets of 5 at 135lb)

They are still all progressing and I'm putting on bw slowly on a calorific excess with a clean diet.

However on top of the Bench/Row and Press/Chins I added some lighter, higher rep assistance such as ring dips, ring pushups, bw pull ups, curls for 3-4 sets (2 assistance exercises in a superset per workout)

On the strength standards table in PPfST my lower body lifts are above intermediate but my presses remain closer to novice and this is mirrored in my physique (obviously a MASSIVE problem) .

Should I attempt to address this and balance my lifts out and if so how?

Thank you all in advance for all the help, support and knowledge received.

[cpbellavia]

The strength standards tables are garbage and that's why they aren't in newer editions of the books. People always misinterpret them. They are "BARE MINIMUM" amounts that rip expects the person with the worst genetics in population to be able to lift at a given level of advancement. So if you are actually an intermediate lifter, your lifts should at least be above the intermediate column. You can be a novice, STILL DOING A NOVICE PROGRAM, and have a squat in the advanced category. There are people here that continue the SS novice program until their squats are over 400, bench into the 300s, before they ever switch to intermediate.

All that said. As a rugby player, you want those shoulders strong and stable. Your weight is pretty decent for your height. You can probably put on another 10-20 lbs without messing with speed endurance (5 7 180 scrum/fly half here). Cut out the higher rep assistance nonsense. Heavy bench, heavy press, heavy weight chins are your bread and butter. If you want them to go up (and you do) you need to work them, and not waste energy on anything else. And eat more.

Also, (aside from some injury) there's also absolutely no reason you should be leaving out power cleans, so hopefully you just forgot to say them.

In-season, most people will just switch to squat/bench/press/weightedchins and run it as low volume heavy sets, and get most of their volume in practice. But in the off season the deadlift and power clean should both be in the program.

[veryhrm]

what he said.

Press and BP go up slower for almost everyone. Just keep at at it. (nice job, btw. i only wish i was that strong at your age.... or now. Though i'm close.)