Strength [+2] - The Bear and Badger

hylian_elf

My OHP is rubbish. Need to add more volume and do stuff like pin presses to practice different parts of the ROM. Maybe that will help get my presss stronger. Same with bench.

Pretty happy with squat and deadlift for time being. I’ve added barbell rows (pull from floor) with supinated grip to my routine now. Quite enjoy it.

Skerret

THANKS COCKY
Yeah only compare to oneself

cockbeard

Running stronglifts5x5 because the app is free, I can do it on my lunchbreak, and it's pretty much the same as Starting Strength

Day 1
Squat - 52.5
Bench Press - 42.5
Row - 42.5
Day 2
Squat
OHP - 30 (drop to 25 for last two sets)
Deadlift - 55

Only weigh 75 and can't get good sleep, reckon I average almost 5 hours nowadays, better than it's been since I was a teenager though

MoesTavern

I don't do legs at all any more.

I've become everything I've ever hated.

Skerret

OUT

MoesTavern

Can't fit into my Geordie Shore spray on jeans with thunder thighs, bro.

Nina

cockbeard wrote:

But still got plenty of easy gains to be made, just really annoyed about the overhead press. I can do the first two or three sets easy but for sets 4&5 I have to deload massively. Massively frustrating

You're doing the 5x5 right? Can you hit 3 reps in the last 2 sets? I know I do better if I know beforehand that my reps need to be between 3-5, or 5-8, 8-12 etc. Otherwise I'd say lower the weight slightly so you can at least do all the reps with the same weight. If I feel good just before my last set, I'd rather increase the weight for that one.

I don't even wanna look at my numbers right now, I'm pretty sure they're all over the place. I'm doing stuff like presses / lat pull down fairly light, going slow in the eccentric part, making sure I use full range and that everything feels ok. Trying to figure out what the weak spot is, as it's mainly my elbow that i feel, but I'm pretty sure the problem is in my shoulder.

Need to get some active life rx stuff back in my schedule. They have performance care segments on YouTube. Useful for keeping your joints healthy and work on your range of motion etc. Lots of carry stuff, and single leg /arm movements. Good for warm up or after a heavy session.

voices

Going near my limit on ohp kills all my subsequent sets, so I wouldn't worry about doing 5 sets of 5 at the same weight before progressing. I think it will hold you back. Anecdotally, I got stuck on my third set of 5x67.5kg for ages, until I just accepted that's how it was, and pushed past.

As long as you are still getting a lot of volume into your ohp you will progress. Try doing 3 sets of 5 at a slightly higher weight and then taking 5 kilos off for your next 2 sets Then when you fail in your third set reduce to two, then one.

Doing this let me put another 7.5kg on my press, which is a big deal given how hard it is to progress

cockbeard

Yeah, 5x5 is what I'm currently doing. At the minute I'll fail around rep 3-4 of set 4, then deload 5 kg work to failure, then go to bar and work to failure again

Strange thing is the failure isn't the same kind of fatigue I'd get with very heavy more like an endurance issue. It has made me think about not increasing load until I'm completing the full 5 but will start to increment that, after all, it's still progress even if not in the exact prescribed manner. Just did the sums and it surprised me just how much the difference is between 5,5,5,3,3 at 30 (630) and 5,5,5 at 30 and 5,5 at 25 (700), definitely seems to make sense to get the reps done even at a lower weight

hylian_elf

Yeah make sure you get the volume. Even if you lower the weight. Stick to 5x5 I reckon. See if you can do 5x5 on 27.5 and only go up when you can do it two sessions running?

voices

I think it has to do with your arms being above your head. It's a bit like putting in a light fixture - after you've had your arms above your head for a while they just stop working.

My view is that at 30kg I think you are better off increasing weight so long as you can do one set (If you're looking to increase weight).

Also - are you stopping at the top or at the bottom for each rep? Are you making sure that you're pushing your head through each rep? OHP form makes a huge difference to the weight you can push.

cockbeard

Stopping at both, lock and a pinch at the top and a brief pause at the bottom. Don't really understand the pushing the head through thing. I see some vids online and guys are pulling their heads well out of the way, nodding back and forward like crazy. So I'm probably (without realising it) pushing forward a lot more than I should be, which I can see mechanically would make the exercise a lot harder

Verecocha

All my joints hurt today after a cold weekend walking round London in a T-Shirt go show off ma gainz. Chest is realllll hard. But awesome. Got an interesting split at the moment I’ll put up if anyone wants to look?

voices

cockbeard wrote:

Stopping at both, lock and a pinch at the top and a brief pause at the bottom. Don't really understand the pushing the head through thing. I see some vids online and guys are pulling their heads well out of the way, nodding back and forward like crazy. So I'm probably (without realising it) pushing forward a lot more than I should be, which I can see mechanically would make the exercise a lot harder

Your head should be underneath the bar when the bar is over your head, which means you need to move your head forward. If the bar is drifting forward it will make the movement a lot harder.

Final thought - have you tried a suicide (thumbless) grip on the bar? It can help keep the weight on the right path upwards. Try at your own peril.

Edit: final final - try not pausing at the bottom sometimes. It will let you push more weight.

cockbeard

Might take a vid next time and ask for pointers, also would be useful to see myself from different angles

Nina

Ah, thought you had to de-load more, going by your first post. If you feel like it could be endurance related, tried increasing your rest between sets a bit? Might have an effect.

Or push press / jerk the last couple. That's a thing my PT used to let me do with overhead presses, starting strict, ending with push presses.

Other thing that you could try if you feel like it, is lowering the weight but doing way more reps, 15-20 range. Your muscles might be strong enough, but they also need to be able to work for a certain amount of time. At least that's what my PT told me, she always had a heavy focused training plan for me mixed up with a more muscle endurance one. Forgot the exact names for it.

How's your shoulder mobility? I like these guys for mobility stuff:

The shoulder press image in the Starting Strength book:

So basically the head pushing through is just returning to your natural straight up position, as you start slightly backwards so the bar has some space.

(Note, I'm of course no trainer and I don't know your goals/how the rest of your life looks like. I just know that sometimes changing things up when you feel like you're not progressing enough can make you return with a better mindset to the thing you were stuck on. Do a similar thing for 4 weeks and then return, see how you feel. At least that's what I like)

Skerret

Yeah go on Vere.

Had the best session I've had in over a year this eve, OHP rocketing up like nobodies business. I might hit 60 again by Xmas.

voices

Does anyone use microplates for ohp? I got some in August and they are great, but I have been losing weight rather than gaining it recently (in my quest for a bodyweight press) so I haven't had much opportunity for progression.

The only down side is they make my gym bag super heavy, and they are really expensive for what they are.

Skerret

Old gym had micros which I miss a bit.

cockbeard

Cheers Nina, I like the way you'[re thinking there as well, might bring in bar only ohp on the days I don't do the ohp to get used to working above head height, which is never comfortable. Even stuff like painting ceilings, proper pain

Microplates? My gym has 1.25 kg ones if that's what you mean, and I'm at the moment creeping each left by 2.5 each session so they definitely come in handy

voices

Micro plates as in 0.25kg each side. 2.5kg increments on ohp are big jumps.

hylian_elf

Had a good sesh at the weekend. First new PB this year! Slow slow progress. 50kg press for 3reps then 2 and 2. Still lagging behind on it compared to other lifts but it’s progress. Gotta try and do 3x5 at some point soon.

voices

Press is supposed to be about 2/3rds of your bench I think, so a 50kg press is a 75kg bench. Not sure how that pans out, but it's eerily spot on for me.

hylian_elf

So technically my PB should be 3x5 on 50kg Press as my Bench PB is 3x5 on 75kg.

Nina

Guy came in this morning, walked strait to the 120lbs dumbbells, does some bench press attempts with them (I was sitting at the lat pull down just behind him), could see him struggling, didn't have full range and his wrists looked sketchy, dropped them and went on to do inclined bench presses with 85's (still didn't looked great). Some people ehh, this gym really attracts all sorts. Some of them are just in their jeans and look drunk, they just grab whatever is hanging from one of the machines and kinda dance around with it. Like keeping your feet in one place and then making circles with your whole body. Whatever keeps them off the streets I guess. Quite a few veterans too, if I have to believe all the "Nam Vet" caps I see.

I'm slowly finding my rhythm back, still my main struggle is breathing and a strange dizzy feeling, but at least I'm in a place where I'm not alone. Getting fed up with the hex plates for deadlifting, it's one thing that the lower weights just aren't big enough to have a decent distance to the ground, I can stack plates for that, but that they always fall into your shins when you put them down is really annoying me, and I feel I'm trying to avoid it, which makes lowering the bar more dangerous than it should be.

Skerret

That sucks, bumper plates all the waaaaay. I'm surprised they aren't more common.

Me I'm back to benching 90ish/OHP 55 and feeling a-ok. Weighted chins back up to 25 and my arm doesn't hurt so eeeeee

Knee is a day to day proposition, feels ok now.

Nina

Considering buying two 5lbs bumper plates, as I think all the hex are smaller. Downside being that I always walk to the gym. Not sure how smart I look carrying two plates.

Gonna switch to the 4 day Simple Science Fitness plan soon anyway, not sure if deadlifting is in there.

What did you do for your arm to feel good again? I'm feeling my elbow just a little bit, movement with my right arm always seems to be guided by the left. It's getting better, but it's been a half year process by now. I even feel it during squatting, never actually hurts, mainly annoys and makes me insecure.
I suspect the problem is in my shoulder though, I've always had the rounded shoulder posture, so that could be a reason.
Think bench press is where I feel it the most actually, need to write that down next time and track it for a bit.

Skerret

I did a heap of assistance stuff (like light one arm resistance band stuff) on my affected shoulder, bicep and forearm. I also worked on shoulder mobility with dislocations. Besides that, I think the biggest difference was not holding my phone in bed when reading; my left handwould hold it up and that repetitive motion/position gave my RSI I think. Since consciously dropping right back the pain has all but disappeared. HUH who knew

Nina

I never take my phone with me to the bedroom so that's an easy one.

Gym also doesn't have resistance bands, but I think they can be relatively cheap and are easier to carry with me. I'll look into adding some more assistance stuff when I switch programs.
If you still have videos /websites with exercises that helped you that would be helpful. Definitely my biggest challenge right now is doing this all in my own, and not really having anyone around to talk about this stuff.

Skerret

Nothing specific, just picked up bits and pieces here and there. Dislocations using a stick help me, plus doing these sorts of movements to promote sghoudler strength and mobility: http://www.physioroom.com/experts/asktheexperts/answers/qa_mb_20050225.php

Cept I use resistance bands of varying levels of resistance. Keep it light and focused, high rep.

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