Chin-ups and pressing strength

[Foppi]

Hi, hope this isn't a frequently asked question, I couldn't find an answer with the search button. My stat:

Male, 24 years old
~95 kg (~210 lb), 1.78 m (5'10'')

Squat: 3x5 @ 152.5 kg (~335)
Bench press: 3x5 @ 95 kg (~210)
Press: 3x5 @ 66.25 kg (~145)
Dead-lift: 1x5 @ 167.5 (~370)
Power clean: 5x3 @ 97.5kg (~215)

I'm following the SS model, doing light squat on Friday (I train Wednesday-Friday-Sunday) and alternating bench/press and dead-lift/power clean. I would say I'm near the end of my linear progression, is getting harder and harder adding weight each time. Sometime I miss some reps in the last two sets, but I usually can complete all the set in the following workout, so I think I should stick with linear progression until I'll miss on two/three consecutive workout.

I think my squat and pulling weights are high enough to justify a forthcoming change in my program, but reading both SS and PPFST, I feel I can progress a little more on my pressing weight with linear progression. A month ago I did a reset for the press (10%) and it is coming up nicely, without excessive struggle or missed reps (after the reset I also switched from 2.5kg/5lb increments to 1.25kg/2.5lb). The bench press is more of a problem, in the last weeks I've 95 twice, done it in the next workout, only to miss 97.5 in the last workout.

Said that, I thought of 4 possible problem:

1. lacking (shoulder) press strength (because of the reset), in this case I should continue my linear progression until press catches up or maybe reset the bench a little (5%)?
2. too much incremental load for the bench, so maybe switching to 1.25kg/2.5lg increment for the bench too
3. maybe a technique problem with the bench
4. I also thought of the fact that I didn't include chin-ups in my program because my progression with the pulling exercises was good and I didn't need a rest from pulling on the second workout of the week.

On the last point I would like to hear some input, because for past experience I know I've always sucked at chins, and maybe training them would solve the problem I'm having with the bench. On the other hand I'm reluctant to add another exercise to a program which is already testing my recovery abilities and I wouldn't want to stall on the other lifts because of that.
That said, if I have to add chin-ups to my current program, I would try to continue pulling every workout and adding chins after dead-lift (only because the workouts with cleans are already long). Doing so I would do chins 3 times over two week.

I've also read the last PPFST, and not seeing chin-ups in the Texas Method (at least in the first phases) made me doubt the importance of this exercise, aside from active recovery from pulling.

[Tom Campitelli]

You should chin. It is good for you. I tend to chin every workout, usually doing less on deadlift or power clean days. Also, use smaller jumps on the bench. You can go down to 1 and 2 pound (0.5 to 1 kg) increments should you want to do so with the pressing exercises. I would consider deadlifting and chinning on Wed, Chinning on Fri, and doing cleans and chins on Sun. As for technique, I cannot say without a video.

[Tom Campitelli]

Also, leave a rep in the tank on the chins. If you chin often, going to failure isn't a great idea.

[Foppi]

Thank you very much for taking time to answer.

Yesterday I benched and missed on the first set, so I choose to do a reset (previous time I failed I could always do at least 1 or 2 complete sets). I will take advantage of the reset to do chin-ups every workout. In fact, yesterday I've also started doing chin-ups (after dead-lift) and at first I managed to do sets of 5 (easy reps), I then proceeded with sets of 3 (also not to failure), for a total of 30 reps (I could do more). Is that seems too much volume or should I do more (considering that I will do them every workout) ?
As for the increment I think I'll use 2.5kg/5 pound increments until I'll reach again 95kg and then, after 2 weeks of chin-ups, I'll consider smaller increments.

[Tom Campitelli]

I would make your first chin up workouts reasonably easy if you haven't been doing them. Remember, whenever you incorporate a new exercise, be conservative.