Lagging upper body

[TroyG]

I've been doing the novice program for a while now, and I'm finding it quite difficult to improve in the press and bench. For squats and deadlifts, they seem to keep being able to improve.

Personal statistics:

Height: 6'1.5"
Weight: 215.5 lbs
Age: 32

Squat PR: 250lbs 5x3
Bench PR: 155lbs 5x3
Press PR: 101.5lbs 5x3
Deadlift PR: 340.5lbs 5x1
P Clean PR: 123lbs 3x5

There's been multiple times I've tried to get above the bench/press PR's with only small increases (1-2kg), yet I keep failing to get all 3 sets of 5. There's been a few times where I hadn't made the same weight in 2 or 3 workouts in a row, then rest the weight back down in an attempt to bring it above the sticking point, yet still hit a 'plateau' at the weights mentioned above. I've also played around with increasing the intensity of just the first set, then lowering the weight for the next two sets as described in the advanced novice section of SS, yet that hasn't been very effective thus far.

I feel as though my strength is a little disproportioned. It seems like a high deadlift compared to the presses.

One thought I had as to why my upper body is lagging compared to lower body is that I do have a large wingspan, which is about 77 inches with my height only being about 73.5 inches. It may also be my technique for these movements.

Any thoughts on how I may program differently to get my upper body going?

[Tom Narvaez]

Show the last nine workouts or so.

[TroyG]

Mon:
Squat 205 5x3
Press 97 5x3
DL: 308 5x1

Fri:
Bench 140 5x3
Chin BW (217.5) 5, 4, 4

Mon:
Squat 215 5x3
Press 100x5, 95x5x2
Clean Shrug 108 5x5

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sat:
Squat 202.5 5x3
Bench 135 5x3
P Clean 88 3x5

Tues:
Squat 211.5 5x3
Press 100 5, 5, 4
P Clean 110 3x5
Chin BW (214.5) 5, 5, 3

Thurs:
Light Squat 195 5x3 *miscalculated light squat, was too heavy
Bench 145 5x3
DL 286 5x1

Sat:
Squat 215x5, 171x5x2 *felt super fatigued after first set, so lowered for last two
Press 100 5, 5, 4
P Clean 119 3x5

Tues:
Squat 215 5x3
Bench 150 5, 4 , 140x5
DL 308 5x1

Thurs:
Light Squat 165 5x3
Press 100 5x3
P Clean 123 3x5

Sat:
Squat 225 5x3
Bench 150 5, 4, 4
DL 330 5x1




Above the hash marks was while I was engaging in intense sport along with strength training. This is why the workouts were reduced.
The PR's listed before are from the recent past (such as the squats and DL) or quite a while ago (press and bench).

[Tom Narvaez]

What has your recovery situation been like? What has happened to your body weight in this time? What about your sleep?

How long are you resting between sets?

[TroyG]

I generally go for 8 hours of sleep, but I'd say that average is 7.5.
As for weight, I've gone up from 210 to 218 in the last 4 or 5 months (while playing hockey twice a week). Down to around 215 right now cause I tend to fluctuate a lot. Also, I have stopped taking creatine for a bit, so that may reduce my weight.

Food could use a bit improvement in the amount of carbohydrates, which I guess I'm answering a bit of the problem myself there, yet my lower body can seem to increase still.

Rest is minimum 3 minutes, sometimes upwards of 5 minutes. I realize now that I do usually only have the upper body exercises rest for 3 maaaybe 4 min. The lower body exercises and power cleans tend to be closer to 4-5 min.

[lou t]

proportions when comparing lower to upper body can be a bit misleading.

155 bench/250 squat = .62

mine
265/365= .72

Your deadlift when compared to squat is better than mine - 365 squat/385 deadlift. I'm either a good squatter or shitty deadlifter. I really don't care, its probably more about my anthropometry

Just worry about figuring out why you are stalling and not so much about the proportions. Over the long haul it won't matter.

[Satch12879]

Not long enough intra-set test; 6-8 minutes or more.

[Kelli Nielson]

How long is "a while" for the novice program? Videos would be helpful to determine if it's at least in part a technique issue.

[TroyG]

I've been doing the novice program described in PPFST since October of last year. I do have many years experience lifting weight, just not the same programming.

I can try to find some time to get a few videos on here for critique

[dietlbomb]

Rest is minimum 3 minutes, sometimes upwards of 5 minutes. I realize now that I do usually only have the upper body exercises rest for 3 maaaybe 4 min. The lower body exercises and power cleans tend to be closer to 4-5 min.

Definitely try 8-10 minutes between sets.