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Thread: Is my LP progressing as anticipated or too slowly?

  1. #1
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    Default Is my LP progressing as anticipated or too slowly?

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    Hello. I started following the LP on September 4, 2018. I have always been a not so good bench presser. Since 9/4/18, I've increased my bench by 45 lbs, or 36% over the past 5 months. Given that the bench is not my forte, I am curious if this is a good progression, or if I am falling behind. Any constructive thoughts would be appreciated. If you think these results are a mess, I would appreciate any constructive suggestions on how to improve. As a point of reference, due to time constraints, I can only bench approximately once per week, maybe twice. Perhaps that is my problem. Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
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    Age, height, weight? If I did the math correctly, you started with a 125 lb bench and are now at 170. Did you increase weight and then stall or was the progress the same from the beginning? Typically LP bench weights go up at least 5 lbs per week at the start and then maybe to 2.5 lb jumps after a couple of months. What was your progress like?

  3. #3
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    On face value, 45 lb progression over 21 weeks seems low (from 125lb to 170lb). You can't change the past 5 months, so what do things look like now? Are you still progressing in bench? How much do you add to the bar each workout? Are your other lifts going up? If you are missing bench due to time sometimes, do you also miss deadlifts? How about presses and power cleans (or whatever you do if not power cleans)? If you are still increasing weight on the bar each workout, I'd keep going with what you have. If you are looking for programming changes to help, I think the time-restriction might be the thing to look at so that your lifting is consistent, even if not the ideal schedule.

    Beyond how regularly you are benching, have you considered form, sufficient calories to drive growth, rest between sets, and sleep?

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by abg View Post
    On face value, 45 lb progression over 21 weeks seems low (from 125lb to 170lb). You can't change the past 5 months, so what do things look like now? Are you still progressing in bench? How much do you add to the bar each workout? Are your other lifts going up? If you are missing bench due to time sometimes, do you also miss deadlifts? How about presses and power cleans (or whatever you do if not power cleans)? If you are still increasing weight on the bar each workout, I'd keep going with what you have. If you are looking for programming changes to help, I think the time-restriction might be the thing to look at so that your lifting is consistent, even if not the ideal schedule.

    Beyond how regularly you are benching, have you considered form, sufficient calories to drive growth, rest between sets, and sleep?


    Thanks for the comments so far. In response:

    1. 5'8" or so, 163 lbs.

    2. Bench results:
    9/4/18: 125 lbs
    9/6: 135 lbs
    9/10: 135 lbs
    9/12: 135 lbs
    9/19: 135 lbs
    9/26: 135 lbs
    10/1: 145 lbs
    10/8: 145 lbs
    10/11: 145 lbs
    10/22: 145 lbs
    10/26: 145 lbs
    10/29: 155 lbs
    11/7: 155 lbs
    11/12: 155 lbs
    12/3: 155 lbs
    12/7: 165 lbs
    12/10: 155 lbs
    12/13: 155 lbs
    12/17: 155 lbs
    1/2/19: 155 lbs
    1/7: 165 lbs (barely)
    1/14: 165 lbs (solid)
    1/21: missed 170 lbs
    1/28: 170 lbs (solid)

    Other responses:

    1. My other lifts are going up, both squat and deadlift. I've been overhead pressing with dumb bells due to a historic shoulder injury which seems to have gotten better (the common name is weightlifter's shoulder, but there is a medical name for it).

    2. I have never missed on a deadlift.

    3. My bench form isn't great, but has gotten much better from what it was. I would post a video from 1/28 but it's from a side angle, unfortunately.

    4. I think I eat enough, but have not gained weight, honestly, in about 2 years.

    5. I rest at least a minute or two(?) between sets, or as long as it takes to check my Facebook page. ;-)

    6. I sleep like a corpse


    Thanks!!

  5. #5
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    On first glance here, YNDTP. Is there a reason you weren't trying to add weight every workout as written? And do you not have the ability to go up in 5 lbs increments?

  6. #6
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    Clyde, old buddy, you're not even trying to do the program. I don't understand why we waste our time answering questions like this when we've spent the past 14 years writing shit that Clyde won't read. But I'm proud that Justin and abg are more patient than I am.

    The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    Clyde, old buddy, you're not even trying to do the program. I don't understand why we waste our time answering questions like this when we've spent the past 14 years writing shit that Clyde won't read. But I'm proud that Justin and abg are more patient than I am.

    The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

    I will take another read through the books and the article. In the weights that I posted above that I got stuck at, I tried to add to the bar but couldn't get the reps at the higher weight, but was able to get the reps at the weight listed. Then I tried again during the next session, etc. This is a classic stuck position. Admittedly, I was violating the first of the three questions in the article, now that I re-read it, and adding too much weight. A closer reading of the words in both the book and the article is definitely warranted. i appreciate everyone's comments. Thanks.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Clyde View Post
    I will take another read through the books and the article. In the weights that I posted above that I got stuck at, I tried to add to the bar but couldn't get the reps at the higher weight, but was able to get the reps at the weight listed. Then I tried again during the next session, etc. This is a classic stuck position. Admittedly, I was violating the first of the three questions in the article, now that I re-read it, and adding too much weight. A closer reading of the words in both the book and the article is definitely warranted. i appreciate everyone's comments. Thanks.
    You failed on your third workout, after jumping 10 pounds. So you chose the wrong starting weight and/or it was already too heavy for you to add 10 pounds to it, because that caused you to fail immediately. if recovery, sleep, and rest between sets is all up to par, that means you are adding too much weight session to session. You did it after literally your first workout, going from 125 to 135. And failed, but then kept trying 135 anyway.

    So, you had the wrong weight, you added too much to the bar... but, even without all of that, if you fail twice, and your recovery and rest time and loading increments are all in line (yours weren't, but lets say they were), you are supposed to reset after two failures. You didn't do that either and just kept doing the same weight over and over again. So, that's just not the program. You just weren't really doing the program, you were doing the exercises that are in the program, but not the actual program. It doesn't take too long to read up on how to actually program this routine.

    YOu start at a lighter weight and you add 5 pounds to your bench at most each time, eventually switching to 2.5 pounds after some time. And if you get stuck on a weight twice, you reset by 10% and work back up. You weren't doing the program as written so it's hard for anyone to really give advice, the advice would just be, restart from scratch and do the actual program. Then come back after a month with a new training log showing that you followed the program, and coaches here will probably be more inclined to give some specific advice. Right now the only advice is probably just to do the program.

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