Overhead Presses Are Getting Difficult

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GlassslippersAndFairyDust
GlassslippersAndFairyDust Posts: 518 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm having an issue progressing with the overhead press. I'm a 55 yr old female and I've been doing SL 5x5 since the beginning of May. I workout at home. I have a power rack, a 20 lb bar and weight plates. I started with the empty bar and have progressed to 42.5 lbs, which includes the bar weight. My last lift was at 40 lbs and was difficult but I got through it. Today's lift started out heavy but by the last set was a real struggle. I had to pause on my last set at rep 3 and then do my other two reps. Not sure at this rate how I can progress. I'm only increasing my upper body by 2.5 lbs each workout day. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance. :)

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  • GlassslippersAndFairyDust
    GlassslippersAndFairyDust Posts: 518 Member
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    Anyone?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Plateauing or stalling on OHP before you do on any other lift is common. One way to deal with this is a deload, which means scaling back the weight and then building back up again. Most programs tell you how to do that and as I've never run SL, I'm not sure what it says but hopefully somebody else will chime in. Another option is to find even smaller plates so that your increases are even smaller.
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    Deload by 10%.
  • GlassslippersAndFairyDust
    GlassslippersAndFairyDust Posts: 518 Member
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    I will try the deload. Thank you both
  • yusaku02
    yusaku02 Posts: 3,476 Member
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    I recently hit a plateau at 110 on OHP and I deloaded down to 100. Last workout at 105 I changed my grip to be slightly narrower and I felt like that helped quite a bit too. Tomorrow I'll be back at 110 so we'll see how it goes.
    I've also made an effort to eat more in the last week. I've heard it helps to eat your way through plateaus.
  • rileyes
    rileyes Posts: 1,404 Member
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    SL 5x5 suggests women increase 2.5lbs. Women's upper body strength increase rate is slower--or something like that.

    Also I read in another thread that you can wear yourself out during warm-ups. So maybe try a 3-rep warm-up of bar then .5 then .75 of prescribed weight. That is what I did yesterday and felt better strength than the week before when I was doing more warm-up reps.
  • GlassslippersAndFairyDust
    GlassslippersAndFairyDust Posts: 518 Member
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    Thanks everyone. All good suggestions.
  • rick_po
    rick_po Posts: 449 Member
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    Another thing to try is getting ahold of Starting Strength, by Mark Rippetoe, and read up on OHP form. He has form tips for squeezing the most out of your lifts.
  • Hendrix7
    Hendrix7 Posts: 1,903 Member
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    - Buy some fractional plates

    - Make sure you are really squeezing your glutes and bracing your core to make a solid base, it's surprising how Much difference this makes if you aren't doing it

    - Wear a belt to help the abdominal bracing
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,210 Member
    edited June 2015
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    GlassslippersAndFairyDust wrote: »
    I have a power rack, a 20 lb bar and weight plates. I started with the empty bar and have progressed to 42.5 lbs, which includes the bar weight.

    Sounds about right. Once you get over the initial "newbie gains", progress slows down, since the muscles involved are smaller than legs, back, etc. If you're still progressing, i don't see the point of deloading... although you could try taking an extra day off to see if you come back stronger (recovery time slows with age). And if you're in a calorie deficit, you may need to up your calories. :+1:
  • GlassslippersAndFairyDust
    GlassslippersAndFairyDust Posts: 518 Member
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    I have fractional plates but the smallest I've been able to find is 1.25. I wear a back brace during all my lifts as I don't have the strongest back/abs. Will pay attention to make sure I'm squeezing the ol' buttocks and such. :p I checked out Mark Rippetoe tonight....(Thanks for the tip) Thinking maybe I should cut back on the cardio some so I don't have as big a deficit, although I usually eat most of those calories back. Thanks again all.

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