Adding more pressing to 4-day TM?

[Daniel Cavallari]

Hey coach,

I've been doing 4-day TM for quite a while now, and am still making nice progress, even with a forced layoff of several months thanks to the """""pandemic""""". However, my press just keeps stalling over and over again... I reset, make a 4-5 lb gain, stall again, etc. Every other lift is progressing quite well, so I'm pretty sure I need to add more pressing to my program (pin presses, since I struggle with the top half part of the movement), but am unsure on when exactly to fit this. For reference, my current programming is:

Monday: Intensity Bench/Volume Pressing
Wednesday: Intensity DL/Volume Squatting
Friday: Intensity Pressing/Volume Benching
Saturday: Intensity Squatting/Volume DL

Rip said something to the effect that a good presser presses 4 times a week, but I don't quite know where to fit additional pressing without compromising one of the existing lifting days. Should I try to add another day of training just to pin press? Should I move things around? Seems to me that doing an overload movement like a pin press would be detrimental to the current pressing days if done 1 day prior or vice-versa if done one day after. Any insight would help a lot. Thanks in advance.

[Szymon]

How much wheigth you add to your 5x5 press ?

[Daniel Cavallari]

2lbs every week.

[Szymon]

Maybe try less ? How is it with your bench ? You also add 2 lbs ?

Other usefull info would be your age, height, weight and how much do you lift.

[Daniel Cavallari]

30 years old, 5'10'', 253lbs. My lifts are (1RM and sets of 5, respectively):

Press: 181lbs / 157lbs
BP: 265lbs / 229lbs
Squat: 364lbs / 340lbs
DL: 423lbs / 380lbs

Weights are weird because I lift in kg and just converted everything. I'm adding 5lbs to the BP every week.

[Szymon]

Since your other lifts go up than it might be problem with your press technique or 1kg is to big jump for your current template. So you could try to go up 0,5 kg. If you want to press x4 a week than something like this could work just fine:

SQ volume / press intensity
Bench volume / deadlift intensity
Squat intensity / press volume
Bench intensity / light deadlift or pullups or powerclean or whatever but light

Just a matter of preference if you want to do more press or 50/50 with bench.

Anyway, I think you should try adding 0,5 kg to your press because it seems to go up but to fast. This is what you are getting stuck

[Mark Rippetoe]

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe