Why is my lower body so much stronger than upper?
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dave_in_ni
Posts: 533 Member
My lower body is still progressing after 14 months of lifting while the upper body stalled 6 months ago.
My lifts are all out of proportion.
For example 1RM
Lower
Squat - 130KG
Deadlift 120KG
Upper
BP 55kg
OHP 40kg
Anything to do with my legs is strong and getting stronger while the upper seems like a lost cause.
My lifts are all out of proportion.
For example 1RM
Lower
Squat - 130KG
Deadlift 120KG
Upper
BP 55kg
OHP 40kg
Anything to do with my legs is strong and getting stronger while the upper seems like a lost cause.
0
Replies
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Do more volume for your upper body.0
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Its natural to have DL and Squats higher than BP but your BP seems a little on the low side comparatively.
I would ask a trainer, or perhaps you could upload your video here doing a BP, we could try to critique it. I feel like it could be a form issue. Also are you progressively increasing the weights? What is your reps like?0 -
Thr upper body lifts are sometimes called "maturity liftfs". There are a very large number of smaller muscles involved in the lifts, versus lower body which is a smaller number of larger muscles. Pair that with the fact that your legs and back have always had to carry and support you, while the upper body doesn't see a lot of overload stress in modern times, outside of certain manual laborers, and the discrepancy makes more sense.
When you see people with big benches and ohp relative to squat and dl, you can be pretty sure that they've either been training for a while, or they are built like a T-rex. Or they just act like sissies with squat and dl (not as common as it used to be, but still a thing).3 -
Are your legs bigger than your arms?5
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Your bench press seams low...
A lot of people struggle with weak triceps as much as they do with a weak chest during the bench press movement. Try working both your chest and triceps a little more.0 -
dave_in_ni wrote: »My lower body is still progressing after 14 months of lifting while the upper body stalled 6 months ago.
My lifts are all out of proportion.
For example 1RM
Lower
Squat - 130KG
Deadlift 120KG
Upper
BP 55kg
OHP 40kg
Anything to do with my legs is strong and getting stronger while the upper seems like a lost cause.
Some solid accessories to up your bench are dips, over head press, and close grip bench. I mean your whole body really comes into play with the bench press so you really need to hit your back hard as well.2 -
Get a spotter and start training your chest with higher weight to complete failure. Check out AthleanX on youtube for chest training pointers. Huge help.1
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dave_in_ni wrote: »My lower body is still progressing after 14 months of lifting while the upper body stalled 6 months ago.
My lifts are all out of proportion.
For example 1RM
Lower
Squat - 130KG
Deadlift 120KG
Upper
BP 55kg
OHP 40kg
Anything to do with my legs is strong and getting stronger while the upper seems like a lost cause.
Typically when a lift stalls out I would look at technique first to see if there are any glaring issues.
Next, I would ask yourself on average, do you tend to feel refreshed and eager to train or do you tend to feel beat up and worn out, on that specific lift. Do you have any joint aches or pains?
Conversely, do you feel well recovered, eager to train, body feels good, etc?
This answer may lead you to whether or not you need to do a little more (add volume) or do a little less (add recovery).
Fatigue prevents the expression of fitness, and so if you are over-fatigued/under-recovered, this will manifest itself in the form of you not getting stronger and eventually getting weaker or possibly injured.
Finally, I would look at the overall program to make sure that the training is structured with enough specificity towards the goal.
For example if the goal is 1rm strength in the bench press, I would expect frequent benching at loads that are likely to contribute directly to 1rm strength.
If the goal is 1rm squat strength and you're doing sets of 20, this isn't likely a good method however it's much better than riding a bicycle to increase 1rm strength.
Feel free to post your program.2 -
dave_in_ni wrote: »My lower body is still progressing after 14 months of lifting while the upper body stalled 6 months ago.
My lifts are all out of proportion.
For example 1RM
Lower
Squat - 130KG
Deadlift 120KG
Upper
BP 55kg
OHP 40kg
Anything to do with my legs is strong and getting stronger while the upper seems like a lost cause.
Typically when a lift stalls out I would look at technique first to see if there are any glaring issues.
Next, I would ask yourself on average, do you tend to feel refreshed and eager to train or do you tend to feel beat up and worn out, on that specific lift. Do you have any joint aches or pains?
Conversely, do you feel well recovered, eager to train, body feels good, etc?
This answer may lead you to whether or not you need to do a little more (add volume) or do a little less (add recovery).
Fatigue prevents the expression of fitness, and so if you are over-fatigued/under-recovered, this will manifest itself in the form of you not getting stronger and eventually getting weaker or possibly injured.
Finally, I would look at the overall program to make sure that the training is structured with enough specificity towards the goal.
For example if the goal is 1rm strength in the bench press, I would expect frequent benching at loads that are likely to contribute directly to 1rm strength.
If the goal is 1rm squat strength and you're doing sets of 20, this isn't likely a good method however it's much better than riding a bicycle to increase 1rm strength.
Feel free to post your program.
I just recently switched to this program from Fierce 5. The amount of reps is the total for all 4 sets, so take squat, 32 reps to be completed within 4 sets.
The Fullbody Routine
You run it with the standard rest day between the training days, taking two days off after each round.
Day 1
Back Squat - 4 sets - 32 reps
Bench Press - 3 sets - 25 reps
Barbell Row - 3 sets - 25 reps
Seated Leg Curls - 3 sets - 30 reps
Seated DB Press/Military Press - 2 sets - 20 reps
Wide-grip Pulldowns - 3 sets - 30 reps
Abs/Calves Superset - 3 sets each - 40 reps each
Day 2
Deadlift - 2 sets - 12 reps
or
Romanian DL - 3 sets - 30 reps
Leg Press - 3 sets - 30 reps
Incline DB Press - 3 sets - 30 reps
Close-grip T-bar or Cable Rows - 3 sets - 30 reps
Lateral Raises/Barbell Shrugs - 3 supersets - 30 reps each
Straight-arm Pulldowns/Facepulls - 3 supersets - 40 reps each
Barbell Curl/Skullcrushers - 3 supersets - 30 reps each
Day 3
Back Squat - 4 sets - 32 reps
Bench Press - 3 sets - 25 reps
Barbell Row - 3 sets - 25 reps
Lying Leg Curls - 3 sets - 30 reps
Seated DB Press or Military Press - 2 sets - 20 reps
Close-grip Pulldowns - 3 sets - 30 reps
Abs/Calves Superset - 3 sets each - 40 reps each0 -
subcounter wrote: »Its natural to have DL and Squats higher than BP but your BP seems a little on the low side comparatively.
I would ask a trainer, or perhaps you could upload your video here doing a BP, we could try to critique it. I feel like it could be a form issue. Also are you progressively increasing the weights? What is your reps like?
I got a trainer in January as I got pissed off with not progressing. The only thing I had form issues with was the deadlift but it was progressing anyway.0 -
kizentraining.com for a free 6 week bench program0
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You're legs are significantly bigger and always will be (in theory) than your upper body- so that is pretty normal.
Your bench does seem low- but keep in mind- not everything progresses linearly.
Frequently it's a work on this and maintain that- then work on that lift and maintain the other ones.1 -
I think it's pretty normal for one's lower body to be stronger...those are the largest muscles in your body. Also, my bench sucks but I think that's do primarily to the fact that I do more volume with lower body0
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My legs are stronger than my upper body. I love leg days. I tend to do leg training 4/5 times a week anyway. As a woman, I'm okay with it.0
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For bench press technique have a look on YouTube for the Jennifer Thomson bench tutorial.
Bench has always been my best lift but I added 10kg immediately and, more importantly, stopped hurting myself just from improving my form.1 -
You've only recently started to eat over 2000 kcals per day - continue with this for a few more weeks and with adequate training you should see your lifts improve.1
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For bench press technique have a look on YouTube for the Jennifer Thomson bench tutorial.
Bench has always been my best lift but I added 10kg immediately and, more importantly, stopped hurting myself just from improving my form.
I remember you posting about that video a while back -I'll second the recommendation, it's a great watch.1
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