OHP - increase in 2.5lb a week maybe?

neandermagnon

Today I just did 5x5 of 50lb OHP which I failed at last week. the last rep of the last set today was very very difficult (but I made it with good form YAY!)

going up to 55lb next week seems a big jump.... that's a 10% jump, and from what i read in the pdf, it's all about taking a long term view and building strength up steadily, rather than loading too much on the bar at one time... so I'm wondering if I should increase it by 2.5lb each week instead...? has anyone tried this? This is likely to be the case for pendlays as well, I'm about to do my 3rd attempt at 70lb on pendlays, if I succeed then maybe 72.5 would be better for the following week than 75? (if I don't succeed and have to deload that's a different question). With pendlays I can almost do 5x5 I just struggle with the last inch or so on the last rep or two. Most of the lift is easy at this weight, just the last inch that's not.

what experience do others have on this?

leahartmann

For me personnaly, 5 pounds is to big of a jump. I go up by 2.5 at a time. If it goes well, then another 2.5 pounds. It haven´t been going well for quite some time (I started a month and a half ago) and I´m still at 40 pounds. I haven´t even made it to the bar yet. :embarassed: Very unsatisfying!

I´m in on hearing others experiences.

xidia

I'm still not on the Oly bar several months in! I've switched to fractional weights, so I go up 1 or 2lbs a time at the moment. OHP is the hardest lift for women to make progress on, so there's no shame at all in dropping to smaller increases. Any progression is good - ideally weight (however small!), but adding just one more rep can also help.

Weebs628

I plan on adding an extra rep before moving up 5 pounds, but my gym only has plates that go down to 2.5 pounds, so I have to make due, if you have fractional plates, then go for it! I've been tweaking the program based on how I feel too. My squats I increase every week cause I want to make sure my form is good, and I started over on rows cause my form felt horrible once I got to 85 pounds.

Martucha123

go for it
I don't have fractionals so I do extra reps (I only up my weight if I can do 8 reps not 5)

neandermagnon

thanks for the replies

I think I'll go with the 2.5lb increases, it makes more sense to. I'll see how it goes with rows, if I don't end up having to deload next week.

I have an ecclectic mix of barbell and dumbbell weights, some in imperial some in metric, so by mixing and matching them I've so far been able to get it to the right weight. I'm buying some more plates this weekend as one of the local supermarkets sells them quite cheap, but that's to make it heavy enough for the deadlifts, the smaller dumbbell ones are only 1.8lb, plus the extra dumbbell collars would make it up to about 2.5lb.

DaniH826

I go with 2.5 increases on bench presses, OHP, rows, front squats and power cleans. I bought washers for that reason.

The only lifts I increase by 5 lbs each week are squats and deadlifts.

If I feel I can do more than 2.5, I do, but that way I have a steady minimal increase that I can actually accomplish and continue progressing. So far, so good ... getting up there bit by bit, and I haven't failed any lifts yet.

Think of it this way ... if you start with a 45 pound OHP and you increase it by 2.5 lbs/week, the in 3 months that's a 25 pound increase, which is quite nice progress, and in 6 months (if you can keep up the pace) you'll be pressing 95 pounds over your head which is quite impressive. Heck, even if you increase it by 1 lb a week, in a year you'll still be at 97 pounds. Weight lifting progress at the end of the day is as much about long-term goals (if not more so) as it is about short-term goals. Where do you want to be a year from now? Two years? Five? Ten?

I think realistically, by the end of the year I'd like to at least deadlift my body weight. I'm at 130 and weigh around 200 (give or take), so hat's 7 months to go up 70 pounds, ergo 10 lbs/month which is much slower than my current progress, and I'll probably surpass that goal, but life happens, and who knows if I can realistically continue lifting and increasing every week? The other lifts ... well, they will just progress as they progress. I'm in no hurry, just enjoying the journey right now.