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Thread: Stuck with overhead press

  1. #1
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    Mar 2020
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    Default Stuck with overhead press

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    Hi,

    In my last workout I barely managed to do 152.5lbs. To be more exact, I couldn’t finish a full set of 5. Instead I progressed as follows till I completed all 15 reps: 4,4,3,2,2

    To give you some context, I was feeling strong on that day, had a good night’s sleep, and took long rests between sets, used 2.5lb micro loading, but my CNS was fried after the 2nd set. Could the heavy squats I did before be the culprit?

    Should I continue to increase the weight as long as I complete all 15reps?

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

    Other stats:
    33 years old
    5’8
    196lbs
    Squats: 295lbs (currently working my way up from 260lb due to a leg strain injury)
    Press: 152.5lbs
    Bench: 215lbs
    Cleans: 135lbs
    Deadlift: 325lbs (currently working my way up from 290lbs due to that leg strain)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
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    Press and Bench Press Programming - Getting and Staying Unstuck | Nick Delgadillo

    You’ll get a few more weeks out of just getting 15 total reps with your Press. At the end it’ll be you doing a bunch of singles. Once you’re at that point, you can add a second pressing day every week. Say Monday, 5-10 singles and Thursday do 5x5 with about 85-90% of the weight.

  3. #3
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    Feb 2020
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    Quote Originally Posted by TurboKostas View Post
    Hi,

    In my last workout I barely managed to do 152.5lbs. To be more exact, I couldn’t finish a full set of 5. Instead I progressed as follows till I completed all 15 reps: 4,4,3,2,2

    To give you some context, I was feeling strong on that day, had a good night’s sleep, and took long rests between sets, used 2.5lb micro loading, but my CNS was fried after the 2nd set. Could the heavy squats I did before be the culprit?

    Should I continue to increase the weight as long as I complete all 15reps?

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

    Other stats:
    33 years old
    5’8
    196lbs
    Squats: 295lbs (currently working my way up from 260lb due to a leg strain injury)
    Press: 152.5lbs
    Bench: 215lbs
    Cleans: 135lbs
    Deadlift: 325lbs (currently working my way up from 290lbs due to that leg strain)
    Work on getting your Power Clean up and start doing chin-ups every othet workout, it'll help you put some more muscle mass on your traps and upper back which helps on the Press.
    Also, 295lbs doesn't sound too heavy for someone like you. How long have you been doing SS?

  4. #4
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    North Texas
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    Trap mass is produced by deadlifts.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2021
    Location
    Arlington Heights, IL
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    This isn't uncommon for the press. Assuming the answers to the first three questions are adequate, there are a couple ways forward. Here's what I'd do:

    1) Try it again next time. Sometimes after the first missed-rep day like this, you can show up to the next press session with better technique (and maybe grit). If this works and gets you another couple days of progress, great.

    2) If not, you either have a pretty bad technique error, which we can't really know here without a video, or it's truly just getting heavy. Either way, but especially if you can determine that there is something inefficient going on with your form, it may pay to drop the weight back 5-10% or so and try to re-run 5s. Just don't be silly and reset 10% and not work on improving your technique, because then you'll probably have just wasted your own time. And don't waste time and do this more than once.

    I would try this before going straight to the video above, but when three sets of 5 no longer works, it's time to make programming changes.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    Trap mass is produced by deadlifts.
    Putting 40lbs on his clean or doing chin-ups won't help in putting muscle mass on his arms and upper back?
    I gave the advice because 135lbs seems artifically low and the clean is a pain in the ass to learn by yourself. So if he focuses on getting that up, mabye by fixing form issues that he is neglecting, he will get the benefits of a heavier clean as well.

    This is all based on my experience, of course

  7. #7
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    Mar 2020
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    Been training for 5 months with 2 breaks due to Covid and a leg injury that took me off for almost 3 weeks

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by francesco.decaro View Post
    Putting 40lbs on his clean or doing chin-ups won't help in putting muscle mass on his arms and upper back?
    Not relative to 200 pounds of new deadlift. Certainly not chins.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    Not relative to 200 pounds of new deadlift. Certainly not chins.
    Well yeah, it makes sense that the deadlift does most of the work having the largest margin for load increase.
    Still, with his stats and 5 months of training, even with covid and the leg injury, I would say the clean is probably pretty light and needs some form check, unless the covid breaks were oddly long.

    About the chins, so are they useful only because of increased muscle mass on the arms? I thought I read or heard somewhere here that they were beneficial to the Press because you work your upper back as well.

  10. #10
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    Jul 2007
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    starting strength coach development program
    Chins are for strength, for pulling things toward you. Where you get sore is where the hypertrophy occurs, and it's not the traps.

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