Weight Training - Could I do more?

IR1SH RANG3R

Hi guys,

I'm currently at the gym about 4 weeks doing a 5x5 program a friend of mine that owns the gym started me on. Loving it so far and lost the guts of a stone the last 6 weeks with sorting out the diet and starting this

So, quick question on the weight training. I have noticed on two of my exercises (Bench press and Overhead press) that I hit failure pretty quickly and struggle to move up weights consistently like the other exercises (Squat, Barbell Row, Deadlift). I know my mate said when you hit failure I stay at the weight until I can do the 5x5 then move up which is what I have been doing, but I am concerned the progress may be too slow with these two. Is there a reason ie I'm particularly weak in a certain muscle (think someone mentioned shoulders) that I am seeing slow progress here? If so can/should I do something about it (work in another exercise to target the muscle)? Or am I worrying about nothing and keep going the way I am?

Cheers lads/lassies

LuckyLloyd

Couple of points:

- your bench and overhead press should stall before your squat and deadlift. At the end of the day, you will always be able to move less weight with your upper body than your lower body;
- taking that into account, you should be making smaller jumps on those movements. 1.25kgs increments on the press, and no more than 2.5kgs on bench. By comparison, you could add up to 5kgs on the Deadlift for a period;
- I disagree that you should stay at a weight until you get it. By all means try a weight a second time, but if you've failed two sessions in a row, drop 10% and work your way back up. This is the best way to break plateaus;
- If you do that, you will eventually get to a point where all lifts have been reset a couple of times and you're failing everything. Congrats - you've successfully completed linear progression and can move onto a more complex template;

Congrats on the weightloss and the initial progress. Best of luck keeping it going.

IR1SH RANG3R

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Couple of points:

- your bench and overhead press should stall before your squat and deadlift. At the end of the day, you will always be able to move less weight with your upper body than your lower body;
- taking that into account, you should be making smaller jumps on those movements. 1.25kgs increments on the press, and no more than 2.5kgs on bench. By comparison, you could add up to 5kgs on the Deadlift for a period;
- I disagree that you should stay at a weight until you get it. By all means try a weight a second time, but if you've failed two sessions in a row, drop 10% and work your way back up. This is the best way to break plateaus;
- If you do that, you will eventually get to a point where all lifts have been reset a couple of times and you're failing everything. Congrats - you've successfully completed linear progression and can move onto a more complex template;

Congrats on the weightloss and the initial progress. Best of luck keeping it going.

Cheers for the quick reply pal

To be honest everything you say makes sense I just wanted to make sure on that. Also, I was told to drop back a weight if I failed twice and work back up but thankfully that hasn't happened yet!

I'm currently moving up 2.5kg each time on all exercises with the exception of the deadlift which I move up 5kg each time.

That's perfect so, I'll keep plugging away with what I'm doing (I know it's VERY early days yet).