definitely not too early to microload at 2.5 pounds on bench and press.
take a healthy reset and work back up with 2.5 pound increments. I'll bet you get to your 240 pound bench goal.
Hi,
I'm 6 foot, 33, and 14 stone 10 pounds (206 pounds). Started SS mid-April, and am now in my 8th week. (Did 2 months of some internet program last year, but other than that I'm a complete beginner.)
Anyway, having started in april on 50kg, yesterday I failed for the third time at 87.5kg (192.5 pounds) on Bench. I was hoping to be on around 110kg (240 pounds) for 5 x 3 by the time I finish SS, so I'm gutted I've stalled already. Was going up in 5 pound jumps as thought it too early to microload.
1. Do I need to gain weight?
I put on half a stone quite quickly, but now gaining weight very slowly, if at all. Here's what I ate yesterday:
breakfast: 3 egg, 3 bacon, toast, baked beans
Lunch / post wo: double whopper with cheese and protein drink
early dinner: Lamb steak, large salad, small potion of chips
late dinner: Lamb steak, large salad, small portion of chips
snacks: bowl of kellogs fruit and fibre cereal with cream; half gallon milk; fruits
That's pretty typical, except just recently I've not been having the whoppers or McDonalds as much. No idea what my bodyfat % is, but my 34 inch jeans are still fine for me.
2. What do I do with my Press, while I'm resetting Bench?
Got 55kg (121 pounds) 5 x 3 last time on Press. Was planning to just keep adding weight to this but in smaller jumps.
Grateful for any suggestions.
cheers,
Ben
definitely not too early to microload at 2.5 pounds on bench and press.
take a healthy reset and work back up with 2.5 pound increments. I'll bet you get to your 240 pound bench goal.
Cheers missedspelledgeoff, that's good to hear. I'll do what you suggest and see what happens
As for your press, just keep it going. It's not heavy enough to interfere with your bench recovery much.
2.5# increments should come sooner rather than later. Second the suggestions for backing up, doing 2.5# jumps. You should probably gain more weight, too.
Nothing wrong with going to the Texas method, too. You'll make just as fast progress microloading SS 2.5# at a time as TMing 5# at a time and personally, I loved just working up to a single heavy set of 5, putting all I had into it, and calling it for the day on the exercise. The Bill Starr-esque 5x5 intermediate programs often call for 5x5 working up to a heavy top set. I think it is something good to explore. 192.5# is low for starting TM, but everyone's different, maybe 3 months of TM will shake things up and after that you can go back to linear progression to squeeze everything you can out of it.
I've seen this mentioned by others, and it's certainly proven to be true for me - I need to be gaining weight in order to sustain linear progression, even with small increments. I'm using 1.25# jumps now on bench and press and if I'm not gaining weight I stall.
It's frustrating at first to have to decrease the increments, but it's better than stalling by a long shot. You can still reach your goal with linear progression.
Alex - the question is whether he can do 5# at a time on the Texas Method. Doesn't work for long.
Thanks Alex, nice to know Texas Method is an option. Will definitely consider it if I stall again on bench. But cos it's only my first stall and I was still getting 4 or 5 reps every set on that weight I reckon I should reset and stick it out.
Thanks GZT, Tescott, MikeO and DanishViking. I agree I need to gain weight. I seem to have got bigger but weirdly I'm not any fatter (leaner now if anything). Not gonna do anything drastic; probably just bump the milk back up to 5 english pints (think that's 6 US pints) and have one meal at BK, KFC or McDonalds a day, plus the usual meals. See how that goes. I've got some small plates so can do the microloading. They're in bright colours and I will look pretty gay using them though, especially as I'm weaker than everyone in my gym.
And just to be clear, you recommend I microload straight away after deloading, ie even through the weights I did okay before? I'll do that, but let me know if I've misunderstood.
Anyway, cheers for the help