Progression for young teens on press

[Machmood869]

Wondering how someone who is unable to progress in the smallest increment (2.5lbs each side) manages the program. My easy fix it for my 12 year old who just started is on press we finally got him to the bar 3x5. Before we had to use DBs to build him up. Once we got to the bar 3x5 we added 2.5 to each side and did 3x3, then 3x4, and eventually 3x5. Anyone else have to program the press this way? I think now that he’s up to 2.5 on each side he should be able to add 2.5 on each side and shoot for 3x5 without miserably failing

[Mark Rippetoe]

What Tanner Stage is your 12-year-old in?

[Machmood869]

He is well into 4 for over 5 months now.

[Jason Donaldson]

Are you training at home, or in an external gym? If you're in a position to ensure the same bar and same plates every time, then you could invest in smaller plates, to be able to make smaller jumps.

That said, this article applies to everyone: The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

Are you running the full NLP for him, including the other lifts?

[AikiPapi]

FWIW – I also started working with my son a few years ago as a 12-year-old as he seemed interested in learning the lifts. I was quite surprised by the progress he was able to make despite what I believe was pre-Tanner Stage 4 but regardless, the general approach we employed may be useful.

For Presses (and actually all barbell lifts) we began with a 10 kg bar, but it sounds like you’re beyond that and assumedly working with a 20 kg bar already. Even so, adding 2.5 lbs. to each side of a previously empty 44 or 45 lb. bar is a huge increment percentagewise. I also have some micro-plates (1.25 and 0.5 lbs.) that were indispensable in this process. This way I could add 1-1.5 lbs. at a time and in our case, that wasn’t even every workout as the primary emphasis was just learning the movement and solid technique. Things moved along very smoothly this way with missed reps being a very rare event and almost certainly attributable to the inconsistencies of being a 12-year-old than being too heavy.

If ever forced to make larger jumps in weight than you’d like due to limitations in equipment, I would recommend using a rep progression that ensures he can get an extra rep or two per set before making the increase. For example, working up to 3x6-7 at 50 lbs. before moving up to 3x5 at 55 lbs. Not too dissimilar from your approach, but it does allow for more volume which may help with practicing technique/form and being enough of a stimulus to keep progress going (i.e. I would think 3x3 might prove insufficient prematurely).

Good luck and enjoy the time together before the teen years kick in!

[Machmood869]

Purchased micro 1.25 weights, for press well use those unless I can tell the weight is to light which I don’t see happening anytime soon.

[Machmood869]

Thanks everyone, and I agree not being able to use the same bar/weights every workout is a bit of a hurdle to overcome. We go to LA fitness which actually has 5 full powerlifting racks/platforms with rubber weights. for now we’ll use the 1.25 weights and just see how it goes.

And yes, we are doing the full program. Started a log as well