Reply With QuoteI'm not sure what your question is. . . are you worried that your press is lower than it "should" be, based on your squat and bench numbers?
Can you post a form check?
Member
Failure with presses (lower back)
After a long stint of laying off serious weight lifting due to a torn rotator cuff and some knee injuries, decided to start over using SS and the recommended workouts listed in Practical Programming.
Background: I played basketball and golf in high school. Our weight training was basically the coach saying, "Hey, go lift some weights". Consequently, I didn't know anything. Got to college, used machines because, again, I didn't know any better. In grad school I decided to make another attempt, got mixed results, but strangely enough was competent in deadlifting (1RM was 600). Never really did squats because I was told they were "too dangerous" by all the bodybuilders I knew. I use that term loosely...started tutoring some of the football players (major Div 1 program) and asked them how they lifted. Oddly enough, it was almost all Olympic lifts, squats, deads, etc. Still was unconvinced because I was an idiot and a second round pick in the draft didn't look nearly as impressive as one of the "bodybuilder" guys in the rec, even though that kid could clean 500. Decided that squats would be a good idea (finally), but didn't know wtf I was doing, so started using the Smith machine. That was intelligent. F'd up my knee. Also, torn rotator cuff doing way too much weight on military presses. Go me.
Fast forward to today...older, wiser, and not willing to listen to any more idiots. As stated, using SS and working on my squat form, results are pretty good. I started really light (185) just to see how I'd fare, added 10 pounds each workout without issue. Knee is fine. Did the same with bench, being sure to maintain proper form, shoulder isn't an issue using 205 right now. Strange how the correct form seems to not exacerbate injuries that should have never occurred. Going by how I feel right now, should have 300 squat by the middle of April and shooting for 300 bench by May.
If you got through all that, I apologize for the verbosity. Now, to my problem and question. All my lifts are fine except Presses. Now, I started pressing at 135 work sets, figuring this was about right given prior experience. Did 3x5x135, but the last two reps were tough. Lower back started hurting bad. Today I went ahead and did 140, did 2x5 and then 1x4, had to bail out of the last rep. Again, lower back pain. Almost couldn't complete the rest of my workout but went ahead and sucked it up. I'm thinking that 1) My form is totally awful with presses or 2) I'm not as strong as I should be proportionally due to the shoulder injury and I'm compensating by using a lot more back than I should. Probably both 1 & 2. Does this seem reasonable to anyone else? I was doing 3x8x80 dumbbell military presses seated not a whole long time ago so it's entirely possible my lower back just sucks balls.
My intuition tells me to just stop trying stroke the ego, back off presses to around 105 until I get the form perfect and my back doesn't hurt anymore, and let them catch up properly. In the meantime, I'd like to do anything I can to speed up the process.
Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks.
Last edited by Bradeep; 03-22-2010 at 03:50 PM.
Member
I'm not sure what your question is. . . are you worried that your press is lower than it "should" be, based on your squat and bench numbers?
Can you post a form check?
Community Organizer (Administrator)
Hurting your lower back like this means your form is fucked up. You should not be moving the thing in and out of extension. Use your abs, use your breath, and use your belt.
s.
Member
If your back hurts, you are probably trying to bench press the bar while standing up and leaning back. Back off the weight some, clean up your form and do what stef says.
Member
Succinct and pithy. I appreciate the directness of this answer.Originally Posted by stef
I'll drop the weight and work on my form as recommended. Thanks.
Member
I've never had a hurt back from doing presses, but have had short periods of soreness during the lift due to some excessive layback. What has really made the difference for me was squeezing the glutes hard, really hard. This will help prevent arching at the lower back and ensures a good foundation for this lift. Being soft from the waist down is a recipe for poor pressing. Tighten it all up. Good luck.
Member
+1. Squeezing the bum is really hardass (sorry, couldn't resist).
IPB
Member
For the curious...
Form must have sucked donkey balls. Backed off to 105 with the best possible form I could muster, squeezing ass cheeks and not cheating, et al. 3x5 was definitely doable and slightly challenging, which tells me my shoulder is still fucked and I was definitely compensating with a lot of back arching and weird pushing. I also did a couple sets of situps during my warmup, and I think this helped a lot. Really helped me focus on keeping my abs tight throughout all my worksets.
Lessons learned:
1) Using proper form = less weight but more results.
2) Strengthening abdominal muscles will even out weak back.
Moved up another 10 pounds without issues on squats, though. Bench went up again easily, too, as did deadlift.
Open question: do you think eventually presses will catch up with the rest of my lifts? 105 is pretty measly considering 229# bw.
Member
I've tried to not get wrapped up in where one lift is in proportion to another. Stalling/resets on some lifts and not others will typically have things out of synch with each other. As long as lifts are progressing well, otherwise fix them when needed, and keep pushing on.
Maybe that's a lax approach on my part, but I've got other/better things to focus on than trying to keep all of the lifts in proportion to each other. You'll get there. Get the form fixed, microload, and keep working.
Member
Bradeep,
Forget the situps and crunches. Try this instead - much more effective
http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/wheel.html
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