Hi all,
I've missed one or two reps on my final sets of the press for 3 sessions now. It's the only exercise that has stalled. So I'm going to deload by 10% and work my way back up.
However, I was going up in increments of 2k (4.4b) every press session, but I'm wondering whether I should cut that in that half or continue and see how I fare with the 2kg incremental jumps?
My plan was to see how the 2kg incremental jumps work out after a deload, but having dug around the forum, people seem to progress their press further before a stall compared to me, so just wondering what incremental jumps I should be making at this stage?
Some stats:
Age: 30
Time doing Starting Strength: Did a few months before covid shut the gyms down for about 4 months, but I've been training since they opened 1.5 months ago.
Squat: 110kg (243lb) 3x5
Deadlift: 125kg (275lb) 3x5
Bench: 83kg (183lb) 3x5
Press: 43kg (95lb) 2x5 1x3/4
Cheers.
Thanks for sharing the article, Rip.
My sleep is okay. It could definitely be better and I'm looking to become more disciplined in that area.
I think my diet is good in terms of the quality of food and macros. Admittedly, I'm eating around maintenance in calories. You may crucify me here, but I'd consider myself overweight. I'm 96kg (211lbs) at 5ft 11 and (unfortunately) have no trouble with putting weight on.
In your experience, at my age, is it reasonable to continue to make those 2kg Press jumps at my stage of development? Or should I knock it back down to 1kg.
Cheers
You're not alone. OHP is kicking my ass too. Bench I just hit 3x5 at 225 yesterday with no issues... press been stuck at 120 for the last three sessions.
Reset a tiny bit AND go with the smaller jumps. I currently increase both types of press 2.5 pounds a week. You're boosting up your press by close to 5 pounds every time, which definitely gets to be too much. Even that ubermensch NLP in the gray book ended up spending most of it incrementing the press by 2.5 pounds. Often the bench will need the smaller jumps too eventually, but it will typically happen much sooner with the press.
You never answered his question about how long you are resting between sets
That’s the most likely reason to stall IMO
You could try to take three more minutes before the last set. But you will need micro plates at some point for sure, so get on that.
That's why Nick gave an hour presentation, including Q&A's on this — Press and Bench Press Programming - Getting and Staying Unstuck.