Stalled with Strong Lifts

tawanda6329

Hi

I'm 39yrs old, 5'6" and 175lbs. I eat anywhere between 1,500 - 2,000 calories per day. My TDEE is around 2,000 calories. I'm on my 10th workout and I've never been able to do more than the bar on the overhead press. You can't deload if you've never added any weight. On my 10th workout, I was at 65lbs for the bench press and it was really hard. I don't see myself advancing pass that weight going forward.

Any suggestions on what I should do or a different program that may work better for me.

Thanks

Th3Ph03n1x

tawanda6329 wrote: »

Hi

I'm 39yrs old, 5'6" and 175lbs. I eat anywhere between 1,500 - 2,000 calories per day. My TDEE is around 2,000 calories. I'm on my 10th workout and I've never been able to do more than the bar on the overhead press. You can't deload if you've never added any weight. On my 10th workout, I was at 65lbs for the bench press and it was really hard. I don't see myself advancing pass that weight going forward.

Any suggestions on what I should do or a different program that may work better for me.

Thanks

Are you working out at the gym or at home? Is it possible to do it with dumbelols instead until you get up to that weight? I'm not sure I could do that weight for the overhead press either it's hard.

If you have the option to use a non Olympic barbell with just a little weight try that if not I'd say do it with dumbells till you get to 45 lbs.

Others might have better suggestions.

erocks308

Check your form first. OHP is very finicky for me. If I'm off at all I will fail. You also need to understand though that OHP is almost always the lift that people struggle with the most. Smaller muscles.

Second, if you're not eating enough you'll probably see issues with progression.

klwells08

If you can get the bar up in OHP, look for fractional weights if you can't make the 5 pound jump the next round. It typically takes me two sessions of SL-B to master a new OHP weight. I typically fail the first, go through SL-A and then succeed when I do SL-B. I expect it to take longer as I go further up in weights. I also plan to start going up by 2.5 pounds versus 5 for this lift in particular when I find that I am not successful deloading and working back up.

This is my hardest lift and progression is really slow for me. I find that accepting it will take longer, plugging away, and being thrilled when I get through 5x5 at a new weight helps!

alyhuggan

At my gym I see people regularly bench pressing, deadlifting and not uncommonly squatting. I, however, rarely see people doing standing ohp as it is a fairly difficult movement, so just by doing it you are one step ahead of most people! So well done!

Two things that has helped my OHP exceptionally is paused bench press and close grip bench press. The strict ohp is made difficult by many factors but working on a very explosive start makes it much easier! I've found pause benching help with this initial explosion.

It should also be noted that you are eating at a deficit so your strength is unlikely to increase much if at all. When it is increasing it will mainly be due to better form. As you are only on week 10 it's most likely just a small stall, it usually takes me weeks to add even a few pounds extra on.

One tip that may help put some extra weight on the bar is squeeze your glutes throughout the exercise. It will help keep you stable and I always find it gives a little bit of an extra drive, especially towards the end of the movement.

auddii

There's a group here called stronglifts 5x5 for women which has a ton of pointers. Ohp is hard for a lot of people.

zipa78

Use dumbbells for OHP. Start with the smallest ones, focus on the form and work your way up from there. Dumbbells will require you to stabilize the motion much more, so they will activate and develop all the smaller muscles really well, too.

BernadetteChurch

I was in the same boat. It's not quite the same move, but on my last 5X5 program I started with dumbbells and was able to increase with them until I got to the empty bar. I was then able to add weight from there, but not a lot and kept having to deload and work my way back up. OHP is hard, even for experienced and strong lifters, so don't get disheartened.

Also, if you feel you've stalled on Stronglifts, have a look at Madcow 5X5. There's a section about it on the Stronglifts website. Might be worth a look?

Also, well done on your progress so far. You look great!

josavage

A 45 lb OHP is a lot, especially if you weren't lifting before starting Strong Lifts. Switch to dumbbells until you are up to 45 lbs. I've been lifting for years and started Strong Lifts last summer after recovering from a shoulder injury. I started my OHP at 20 pounds and didn't even touch the olympic bar until I was on my 6th OHP day. The OHP has by far been my toughest exercise.

hill8570

Does your gym have some of the women's oly bars? Starting at 30 lbs instead of 45 would certainly help things. Also might want to do 3x5 (in the vein of the Starting Strength program) instead of 5x5 if you're having trouble making the whole set. Definitely invest in a set of fractional plates (1.25lb) -- ramping at 2.5lbs is less frustrating than ramping at 5lb. Fractional plates are dirt cheap on fleabay.

cajuntank

Sounds like maybe you started too heavy across the board. I know the program calls for just a 45lbs bar, but I feel that is geared for most men and some women when it comes to upper body. As others suggested, maybe start off with lighter weight dumbbells and work your way up to the bar. Beyond the bar, you need to invest in micro-plates if your gym does not have them. They are really cheap and can be found on Amazon for around $50-$60 for a set. Theses will include .25lbs to 1lbs plates so you can go up in smaller increments instead of the usual 5lbs jumps that the program does. The gist of the program is that a beginner can make increases every workout for a while (usually a couple of months) until things start slowing down. This is where you will stall, be able to increase some, stall, maybe stall again, fail, deload, try again, etc.... Going through this as programmed should take quite some time and normally one can run the full program anywhere from 6-12 months until running its course and needing to move on to something like Madcow (which makes weekly increases instead of "daily" increases as you are no longer a beginner, but more toward an intermediate lifter). This of course assumes all other variables are in place like nutrition, sleep, and doing the program without much interruption.

zipa78

Micro-plates would probably be a good choice for your bench press as well. I mean, I bench with about three times the weight that you use, and I use 5 lbs increments when adding weight. It is no wonder that the same 5 lbs increment feels incredibly heavy for you. I mean, heck, it is almost a 10 % increase, when you should be adding somewhere around 2-3 %.

If you can't find micro-plates anywhere, go to a hardware store and buy 50 mm (or 2") washers. They weigh around 0.5 lbs, so if you get four of them, you can do 1-2 lbs increments, which would probably be much more in line with what you should do.

EDIT: Sorry, you'll need 8 washers (if they indeed weigh around 0.5 lbs each) if the smallest plates at your gym are 2.5 lbs.

stealthq

If you don't have microplates, you can also increase by adding reps for a while instead of weight.

Able to do 5 reps? Next time do 6. Then 7, then 8, then 9. If you aren't able to do the prescribed reps for all 5 sets, repeat that number of reps for next time.

When you can do the 5 sets of 9 reps successfully, add 5 lbs. and start back at 5 reps per set.

cajuntank

stealthq wrote: »

If you don't have microplates, you can also increase by adding reps for a while instead of weight.

Able to do 5 reps? Next time do 6. Then 7, then 8, then 9. If you aren't able to do the prescribed reps for all 5 sets, repeat that number of reps for next time.

When you can do the 5 sets of 9 reps successfully, add 5 lbs. and start back at 5 reps per set.

Yep, this can be done, but then you aren't doing the Stronglifts program and doing something more akin to All Pros. So if by environment, she needs to do All Pros, then she needs to follow that program instead of trying to blend programs (especially for someone that does not have years of lifting under their belt and know what and why they are doing it for). It's a nit-pick thing, but the program was setup to follow a certain structure and changing the program might negate aspects of the program entirely. Your changing volume without direction of how to manipulate sets accordingly which could influence recovery.

But again, being nit picky about it.

CA_Underdog

From the stronglifts website--

Stronglifts wrote:

The empty bar can be too heavy. I had my girlfriend do goblet Squats with a kettlebell, kb Deadlifts and db bench/presses. Now she Squats 50kg for 5×5 (her body-weight). You’ll need fractional plates. Adding 2.5kg/5lb each workout is too much on the Bench and Overhead Press. This is because women tend to have less muscle in their upper-body than men. My girlfriend used increments of 1kg/2lb from the start on Bench/Press.

Read more: http://stronglifts.com/5x5/#What_does_52155_mean

tawanda6329

I will try deloading on the OHP press down to 40lbs for my next workout. I'll stay at 65lbs on the bench press for my next workout and see how things go from there.

I haven't seen any plates smaller than 2.5lbs in my gym and I don't have any smaller than that at home. I'll look around at some local sport stores to see if I can find some to use at home.

Thanks for all the responses.

FullOnBurn

Grab the Stronglifts app if you can. It will guide you through deloads and when to switch to 3 set of 5. You are not likely to find fractional plates at any local sports store, unless you have one that specifically carries a lot of olympic weight gear. Amazon is a good place but they are much more expensive than the regular buck a pound

punchgut

You can purchase your own fractional plates from amazon and take them into the gym. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RP3KY8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Also see if they have a 6' oly bar that's 15lbs. These are common bars for women to use while starting a lifting program. They are good to 150lbs. and if you're gym wants more women to start lifting they should invest in one or two. (http://www.fitnessfactory.com/Home/Item/5642/OB72A15-/Lightweight_Aluminum_6__Olympic_Bar/)

For around $100 you could get your own 6' 30 lbs. bar and start from there too.