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Originally Posted by
mcombs
In my (limited) experience, it is the opposite. The lifts that engage more muscle mass (deadlift and squat) are able to power through "less than optimal" recovery, whereas the presses need recovery to be dialed in. They have less muscle mass to rely on to complete the work, so it is relatively more important to be relatively more recovered.
N=1 observation, I can progress the weights on deadlift even if I only slept four hours, had a salad as my last meal, and have bronchitis. But, to progress the press into a new 5RM, I need to be well rested (7+ hours), well-fed, and feeling sparky. I have to be dialed in. Fewer muscle groups, less margin.
With deadlift, I can "stubborn" my way through an extra 5 pounds, in lieu of adequate preparation (for one boneheaded session, not as a long-term program tweak). With press, I have tried to add 2.5 pounds to last week's 5RM, after a terrible night's sleep and bad nutrition. The barbell pretty much says "F you, pal", gives me three reps, and then mercilessly crushes me under it's weight.
I actually eat a big "carb load" meal the night before heavy press (I train early morning). I don't care about "carb loading" as a protocol (not re-feeding because of carb restriction) and I realize this may be placebo, but I have tracked the results for over a year. If I eat a bunch of pizza/burgers/meatloaf&taters, etc., and then I sleep for 7-8 hours... the next morning I murder the press. If I eat some chicken and tofu and broccoli (or any other hippie food), stay up late watching Netflix, and get 4.5 hours of sleep... the press murders me. Fairly consistently.
So, I eat like a jackass the night before heavy press, and then sleep a whole bunch. Complete and utter bro-science. But, I like eating, sleeping, and killing the press, so it works for me.
Same phenomenon, to a lesser extent, seems to happen with bench press. Point being, if your bench press stalled after one month on TM, and you got 4.5 hours of sleep and ate crappy the night before, that's probably why.
tl;dr - Try eating a bunch and sleeping a bunch. It helps.