Press programming help

5’8” 200lbs 19 years old. My current bench and press workouts are as follows:

Sunday:
intensity bench 2x3 @ 275
Volume press 4x5 @ 160

Wednesday:
Intensity press 2x3 @ 185
Volume bench 4x5 @ 252.5

I was making steady progress on my press with 4x5 on volume day and 2x3 on intensity day for quite a while. I haven’t made any changes for a while except adding 2.5 lbs per workout. My progress is starting to run out though and i’m starting to miss reps on the press. Last press volume day I got 5,5,4,3. Last intensity day I got 3,2. So my question is what should I do from here. Should I do a reset on volume day? should I move to doubles and then singles across for my intensity day? My bench is not stuck. Eventually I want to prioritize the press over the bench in my training. I’m currently not doing any accessories except chins. Any programming advice is greatly appreciated.

What were all your work set numbers like (for all the lifts) at the end of your NLP and how long did it last? How much did you weight then and how long ago did it end?

I have been lifting for years but I have only been doing it correctly for about 8 months. When I started my lp, the press and bench were way ahead of my lower boy lifts because I had an ACL reconstruction about a year ago and lost all my leg strength but I continued to bench urging that time. When I started lp (about 8 months ago) I weighed 155. My squat started at 135x5 deadlift at 225x5 bench at 200x5 and press 135x5

At the end of my lp:
bw was 190 I’m 5’8”
Bench 245 x 5
Press 155 x 5
Squat 300 x 5
Deadlift 375 x 5
I made programming changes on the pressing movements earlier since they were ahead. The lp for my squat and deadlift ended just about a month ago.
I’ve gained about 10lbs since then. I’m currently weighing 200 and all of my lifts are making progress except the press has just now got stuck. Ive been on a 4 day split for about a month now and have been microloading the pressing movements for a while now.

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Originally Posted by John Gach

5’8” 200lbs 19 years old. My current bench and press workouts are as follows:

Sunday:
intensity bench 2x3 @ 275
Volume press 4x5 @ 160

Wednesday:
Intensity press 2x3 @ 185
Volume bench 4x5 @ 252.5

I was making steady progress on my press with 4x5 on volume day and 2x3 on intensity day for quite a while. I haven’t made any changes for a while except adding 2.5 lbs per workout. My progress is starting to run out though and i’m starting to miss reps on the press. Last press volume day I got 5,5,4,3. Last intensity day I got 3,2. So my question is what should I do from here. Should I do a reset on volume day? should I move to doubles and then singles across for my intensity day? My bench is not stuck. Eventually I want to prioritize the press over the bench in my training. I’m currently not doing any accessories except chins. Any programming advice is greatly appreciated.

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Check out this video: The Texas Method: Making It Work For You with Paul Horn - YouTube

He talks about adjusting volume based on intensity. The jist seems to be, to continue getting 5 reps on intensity day, but depending on how many reps per set youre able to get, you adjust the volume day down as a %. I like how he describes the process as "cooking" and not "burning".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John Gach

5’8” 200lbs 19 years old. My current bench and press workouts are as follows:

Sunday:
intensity bench 2x3 @ 275
Volume press 4x5 @ 160

Wednesday:
Intensity press 2x3 @ 185
Volume bench 4x5 @ 252.5

I was making steady progress on my press with 4x5 on volume day and 2x3 on intensity day for quite a while. I haven’t made any changes for a while except adding 2.5 lbs per workout. My progress is starting to run out though and i’m starting to miss reps on the press. Last press volume day I got 5,5,4,3. Last intensity day I got 3,2. So my question is what should I do from here. Should I do a reset on volume day? should I move to doubles and then singles across for my intensity day? My bench is not stuck. Eventually I want to prioritize the press over the bench in my training. I’m currently not doing any accessories except chins. Any programming advice is greatly appreciated.

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You need to do more work to make long term progress. Texas Method is not where it's at either; if you wanted to keep the volume/intensity day theme though, you could reset your volume days back to 5x5s again at a slightly lower weight and then do something like 2x3 plus 1 or 2 backoff sets of 5 or 8 on intensity days. Just slowly add volume as needed. If you like dips too, they're usually a great assistance exercise to do after pressing. Just do them for bodyweight until you can hit 20 reps on a set and then add weight.

Sometimes the answer is more, sometimes the answer is less, sometimes the answer is different. As I look at this, the thing that jumps out at me first is trying to use the 2x3 protocol for an extended period of time. Triples tend not to last very long. If you've never done it before I think you'll get some juice out of some singles across on the Press. Just start around 190 or so and do about 5-6 singles across for the ID. I've even gone as high as 10 singles. If the Vol Press is missing reps at 4x5 then back up to maybe 150 and add a set. See what happens with the singles across. You might surprise yourself with a pretty good run of progress with them. At any rate, then they start to really slow down then start introducing a rotational concept to your Intensity day. Something like:

1) top set of 5
2) 2-3 x 2-3
3) 5 x 1 (5 singles)

My press and bench press numbers are similar to yours. Doing singles for the press on intensity days really helped me get unstuck.

I'm currently doing 5x5 for bench and press on VD, weights between 235 and 255 for the bench and 145 and 160 for the press. Since I do both on the same day I usually do two weeks bench + press and two weeks press + bench.

For intensity day I alternate 1's, 2's and 3's, aiming for at least 10%, 7.5% and 5% more weight than my volume day PR, and do from 7-10 total reps. Here I also switch priority every two weeks, and seek PRs On the first lift, sometimes both if I'm on a roll.

For acessories I do DB bench or press on volume day and dips or LTEs on intensity day.

Sample week could be:
VD (monday)
Bench 5x5 heavier
Press 5x5 lighter
DB Bench 3x10-12

ID (thursday)
Press 4-5x2 heavier
Bench 3x3 lighter
LTE 3x10-12

I'm adding a third pressing day on saturday. I'll do 4-6 total reps with a wider grip and bigger arch, starting with 3's and working up to 1's, hopefully above 315 by that time.

Will do, thanks for the reply Andy.