Advice Needed: Presses Going Down

[davfergus]

Age: 37
Sex: Male
Weight: 195lbs
height: 5'10"

Squat 305
Bench press 200
Deadlift 330
Press 140
Power clean 170 (have been snatching the past month, currently at 115).
Chinups max reps or added weight x reps: 8

General description of training history:
Started summer before high-school. Starved myself all through high-school for wrestling. Starved myself all through college to stay slim. Was never strong despite lifitng all the time. Was a weak gym rat. Stalled bench at 165 for 3-6 sets of 10 for years. Never could press more than 95 for 3 sets of 10, or lateral raise more than 15 pounds for 3 sets of 10. Rarely did lower body. Would have stretches of leg workouts. Most was squatting 225 for 6 sets of 10. Worked biceps ALOT and could dumbell curl 45's for 3 sets of 10, then hammer curl 45's for 3 sets of 10, and preacher curl e-z bar with 45 pound plates for 3 sets of 10 wide grip, the 3x10 narrow grip. I looked like a goon since I did no tricep work. For these 10 years of highschool, college, and a few years after my weight went between 135 and 165, height from 5'8 to 5'10.

Was in service for a few years. Put on 30 pounds. Could do 20 pronated grip pull ups and run consistent 6 minute miles. Still did weights, and still did mirror muscles. 15+ years of weight lifting and still no gains. Stupidity is strong with me.

Out of service in 2008, rarely in gym for next couple of years. Ran occasionally, push/pull drills with body weight. Do not recall how, but sometime in 2010 learned of SS. Decided to suck it up and start at the beginning. 45 pound bar for everything. Increased weight 5 lbs for everything. Did not stick with the program, jumped around jobs, lifted occasionally but not consistent, screwing around with form for a couple of years and that brings me to Jan 2015 when I began SS again.

3 sets of 5, or 5 sets of 3 for clean/snatch.
January July
Squat 150 300
Press 75 135
Deadlift 150 320
Bench 75 195
Clean 75 170 (snatches the past month at 115. have not cleaned. this was just for fun.)

Any special diet and whether you are currently gaining or losing weight: Lactose intolerant. Weight is increasing slightly. I have cut as much sugar out of diet as possible. Eat lots of vegetables. Every day eat 1-2 onions, peppers and tomatoes, several mushrooms, few cups of kale/spinach, 3 eggs, bagel (high carb but low sugar), almond milk, banana, apple, handful of carrots, then a dinner typically meat, carb and veggie (I am spoiled and my wife typically makes this). I feel amazing when I am eating the vegetables. No longer bloated, regular for first time in my life, etc. It is a world of difference.

Major goals: Get strong.
Major concerns: Not getting strong.

I feel great and am the strongest I have ever been in my life. I am starting to slow down in gains and I understand that is normal. It typically takes me two sessions to increase by 5 pounds. For instance, I squatted 285 last Wed for 5-3-3, then on Fri hit 3 sets of 5. Monday hit 290 for 3 sets of 5, then did 295 on Wed, but didn't get 3x5 until Fri again. That is typical and hasn't concerned me since I am still making gains.

My problem is that I have been feeling good, but am hitting a brick wall with presses. They are going down. I felt great tonight when I went to the gym, but my performance was abyssmal. I pressed 135 for 3 sets of 5 a couple of weeks ago. I felt on top of the world. Increased to 140 the next session and did 2-1-1. Next session of presses was 140 for 2-2-2. Dropped to 120 for 2 sets of 5, increase by 5 pounds until tonight where I did 130 for 2-1-2. Last session when I did 125 for 3 sets of 5 it felt so damn heavy.

Other lifts are still going up, though when I did deadlifts tonight the 330 I could only move twice and had to stagger grip. Did 325 last week for 5, and did three reps with over-hand grip before having to stagger. Pulls ups went from 8 to 2 tonight.

Will be buying fractional plates soon. I wear a belt when lifting more than 275.

When I first deadlifted 315 I felt like I got hit by a truck and slept that afternoon for 2 hours. I never nap. After mondays workout I had a horrible night of sleep and felt bad. Not pain really, just achy everywhere, especially in the knees. Slept in today and feel fine. I know I need 8 hours of sleep to function and recover. Some of it is mental hurdles, and I broke through several, so I am getting really irritated to have presses going down. Any advice what I am doing wrong?

[John Hanley]

Some recommendations:

- make wed a light squat day (80% of Mon for 2x5). Mon & Fri are regular old LP

- no more 5 pound jumps within a week on overhead press. Never again. Not going to happen. Make 1-2.5# jumps on press going forward.

- wear wrist wraps for press and bench

- if you're not taking creatine, start immediately

Also, I think every ~200# man goes through this exact struggle a these weights. Not a big deal. Everything was easy up to this point. Now you learn to lift.

[Erok]

Exactly what Hanley said. I went through a similar sticking point.
Also, it concerns me that when describing your diet, you only list meat once. I would humbly suggest more cute animals on your plate.

[John Hanley]

Also, it concerns me that when describing your diet, you only list meat once. I would humbly suggest more cute animals on your plate.

This too. Using very accurate techniques, I added up about 90g of protein a day.

In all seriousness, might be worh looking into protein supplementation.

[davfergus]

Thank you all for the feedback. Will start the alternate routine while increasing protein.

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

I broke a 135 pound press brick wall by doing 15 reps at 135 each time I did press, followed by 1 set of 120 to failure. It didn't matter how long or how many sets. Sometimes it took me 45+ mins of just press but after about a month of this and not pregressing, I added 10 pounds over the cours of 3 press sessions. Unfortunitely, this technique didn't work for as econd round, but at 135, it worked like a charm.

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

Some recommendations:

- wear wrist wraps for press and bench

.

Why? Never heard this before and don't remember from the book.

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

By the way, OP, welcome to the intermediate stage where all of the low hanging fruit has been harvested. BTW, I hate you for your deadlift and squat being so close . My squat sucks so bad, my dead is now ~150 pouns ahead. Ugh!

[John Hanley]

Why? Never heard this before and don't remember from the book.

To help stabilize the wrist at the perfect angle, and (ultimately) recruit more motor units from the prime movers.

I only have intermediate and up folks do it.

Book learnin's great, but the road to a 120% BW press taught me some shit too.

[Nbk41hm]

In a similar boat with age and size... Everything these guys said. Would also mention considering getting a food scale and getting a read on your calories and macros. It inevitably leads to a diet consistent with whatever your goals are. Might be worth reading this:

Calculating Calories and Macronutrients - Bodybuilding.com Forums

With SS foremost, that article has changed much of my perception.

Had to laugh at your DL comment. When I pulled 315 for the first time, I was walking around in a fog for a day... After the nap.