Press Programming

[Sebastian Ohanian]

Hi,

I had a slow start with squatting that has since resolved. I'm 6'2" and 215 lbs. Squat is 235, DL is 295, BP is 187.5, and P is 140. Everything is going up in a linear fashion except press. It usually takes me 2 workouts to hit 3 sets of 5. Rest is about 4 minutes (longest of any of my lifts), and I usually miss the 4th or 5th rep in the last set. I microplate BP and P with 1.25 plates. Bench goes up much more easily.

I'm not sure if I should keep at it as-is until my squat goes up, or if I should modify something (maybe smaller plates or backoff set). Thanks for the advice.

[Michael Wolf]

Your press is quite high compared to your bench - not a problem, per se, but it makes me think it might just be ahead of the curve and need time for your bench to get heavier to continue to help drive it up.

That said, 4 mins rest is really not sufficient. Up your rest to 6 mins. You'll need to go to 7-8 mins for squat too, eventually.

[Sebastian Ohanian]

Coach,

Thank you for the advice. I upped the rest time to 6 min and put up 142.5 first time (but the last rep was ugly). Pretty happy about that! Hopefully, I can keep it going a few weeks until the bench is heavier.

Sebastian