Question on weight/intensity progression

[Sam_A]

I apologize if this or a similar question has been asked before, and I'm happy to just get pointed to previous threads as a reply if that's the case.

Background: 50yo doing the master's nlp for 3 months. Weight jumps have largely been linear, and pleased that the program has worked as promised. On the press, I had recently hit 95 sets of 5 across for 3. I had done this for a couple of workouts and added 2lbs yesterday. This dropped me to 4,3,4 reps. So, the question, is it better to stick with 97lbs until I can get 5,5,5? Or drop to 95 for 1 or more sets? (Fractional weights are available down to 0.25lb plates).

I think the more general question, how many reps is too few, and should indicate that the weight should be dropped? Assuming diet, sleep, recovery have all been addressed properly (I know this is a big presumption), just to isolate the weight/intensity question.

+thanks for your time!

[Maybach]

A hard stick like that indicates you have failed to produce the next increase. Try 96 pounds.

Triples are occasionally warranted for the particularly muscularly inefficient. This may include you. That is a sharp dropoff: you could do stupider things than see how 5x3 treats you.

Some relevant material:

Intermediate Programming for the Upper Body Lifts | Nick Delgadillo

Programming a Smooth NLP | Scott Acosta

[Sam_A]

Appreciate the feedback! I’m going to give 5x3 a shot.

[Sam_A]

Greatly appreciate the reply. The Programming a Smooth NLP article was particularly helpful. I'm going to try switching from 3x5 to 5x3 on the Press.