hey guys, i have a friend who started bodybuilding late August this year and all his lifts have gone up. He has gone from weighting 141lbs to 154 lbs. Three weeks ago he started doing Rippetoes and everything went up except the press
Bench press 100-120
Squat 200-230
rows 110-130
Deadlift 200-235
Press 80-80
So, should he just wait it out or should he do something about it?
Edit… I somehow put his weight at 174lbs instead of 154lbs
He’s gained 30 pounds to get to 174 and he can’t press 80 pounds or deadlift 250? Please tell me those numbers are in kg, if not, ask him to stop his “bulk” asap. Its one thing to struggle with progress beyond 160 or so pounds and ANOTHER entirely to put up numbers like those at 174.
In any case, a person WILL stall quickly on military press, especially if he hasn’t understood how to “hip thrust” after clearing his face - but if he’s not able to progress beyond frickin 80 pounds and weighs 174 tell him to put the brakes on his food intake and train harder, or he’ll return as a 200 pound tub of lard telling everyone in sight that “bulking does not work”.
you posted a similar thread on the beginner’s forum with very different e-stats.
Here he (your “friend”) weighs 174 and on the beginner’s forum, he weighs 154? Here, its his overhead press thats lagging and on the beginner’s forum, its his BENCH press thats stuck?
Unless you have two different friends who…oh fuck it.
[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
He’s gained 30 pounds to get to 174 and he can’t press 80 pounds or deadlift 250? Please tell me those numbers are in kg, if not, ask him to stop his “bulk” asap. Its one thing to struggle with progress beyond 160 or so pounds and ANOTHER entirely to put up numbers like those at 174.
In any case, a person WILL stall quickly on military press, especially if he hasn’t understood how to “hip thrust” after clearing his face - but if he’s not able to progress beyond frickin 80 pounds and weighs 174 tell him to put the brakes on his food intake and train harder, or he’ll return as a 200 pound tub of lard telling everyone in sight that “bulking does not work”. [/quote]
ha im 194 and my lifts r around there guess i best stop growin n get a little stronger
[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
you posted a similar thread on the beginner’s forum with very different e-stats.
Here he (your “friend”) weighs 174 and on the beginner’s forum, he weighs 154? Here, its his overhead press thats lagging and on the beginner’s forum, its his BENCH press thats stuck?
Unless you have two different friends who…oh fuck it.[/quote]
listen man, my computer said server time out error every time I tried to post the thread so I hadnt realized that the other thread had gone up. About the weight, I edited the OP he weights 154 instead of 174. Youre a valuable member here and Id appreciate your suggestions.
And if you actually read the other thread you would see the only different thing is the title, all the info in the post is the same.
You have pics of this guy? I’m with TD, the weight increase is not in line with the strength increase.
guys please keep in mind that he has been lifting for 3 months and the increase in bodyweight is from these three months. The lifts, instead, are a three week progress from when he started Rippetoes.
One of the recent articles here said that if one of your lifts is stalled, don’t sweat it too much if you’re making progress elsewhere. I think Dave Tate said that, about a stalled bench press (?)
3 months of training time is nothing, just keep training, try not to miss any workouts, and try to learn as much as possible.
[quote]myself1992 wrote:
guys please keep in mind that he has been lifting for 3 months and the increase in bodyweight is from these three months. The lifts, instead, are a three week progress from when he started Rippetoes. [/quote]
So?
When I started lifting I gained a lot of size but it took years for the strength to catch up…
I would suggest you eat more protein, healthy fats, all that stuff that your body uses to build muscle…
your too concerned with little shit. lift the heaviest weight you can, and by comparing yourself to bigger people you’ll learn how much you suck. this should inspire you to work harder. if it doesnt, your friend is doomed
All right. but he is TOO weak for his size, 80 pounds on the MP is terrible even for a 125 pound female. I understand some people get the size early on and their strength catches up later, but this disparity is too much. He needs to put the brakes on the weight gain UNLESS he learns to “grind out” reps.
He needs to understand that he can’t go up in poundage ONLY when 85 pounds on the bar “feels” like 80 pounds on the bar, he needs to grit his teeth and just get the damn thing up TWSS. But when he is able to grind out reps with 135 pounds, 80 pounds on the bar will feel NO different from the unloaded bar.
Psyching up, better warm ups, coffee, a kick in the nuts, whatever…he needs to move up the poundage. if he can’t up the poundage, he needs to re-evaluate.
Useful tip: ask him to move the weight as fast as possible during the warm up and acclimation sets.
[quote]myself1992 wrote:
tribunaldude wrote:
you posted a similar thread on the beginner’s forum with very different e-stats.
Here he (your “friend”) weighs 174 and on the beginner’s forum, he weighs 154? Here, its his overhead press thats lagging and on the beginner’s forum, its his BENCH press thats stuck?
Unless you have two different friends who…oh fuck it.
listen man, my computer said server time out error every time I tried to post the thread so I hadnt realized that the other thread had gone up. About the weight, I edited the OP he weights 154 instead of 174. Youre a valuable member here and Id appreciate your suggestions.
And if you actually read the other thread you would see the only different thing is the title, all the info in the post is the same. [/quote]
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
myself1992 wrote:
guys please keep in mind that he has been lifting for 3 months and the increase in bodyweight is from these three months. The lifts, instead, are a three week progress from when he started Rippetoes.
So?[/quote]
so you might have thought the gains were from three months of training instead of three weeks…
[quote]myself1992 wrote:
waylanderxx wrote:
myself1992 wrote:
guys please keep in mind that he has been lifting for 3 months and the increase in bodyweight is from these three months. The lifts, instead, are a three week progress from when he started Rippetoes.
So?
so you might have thought the gains were from three months of training instead of three weeks…[/quote]
My point was that it wouldn’t matter, it’s sub par either way you look at it.
[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
He’s gained 30 pounds to get to 174 and he can’t press 80 pounds or deadlift 250? Please tell me those numbers are in kg, if not, ask him to stop his “bulk” asap. Its one thing to struggle with progress beyond 160 or so pounds and ANOTHER entirely to put up numbers like those at 174.
In any case, a person WILL stall quickly on military press, especially if he hasn’t understood how to “hip thrust” after clearing his face - but if he’s not able to progress beyond frickin 80 pounds and weighs 174 tell him to put the brakes on his food intake and train harder, or he’ll return as a 200 pound tub of lard telling everyone in sight that “bulking does not work”. [/quote]
sorry to hijack this thread but could you explain this hip thrust please?
Tell your friend to be patient. Overhead press will come in much smaller increments than other lifts. He may gain another 20lbs on bench before his press goes up 5.
Tell your friend to be patient. Overhead press will come in much smaller increments than other lifts. He may gain another 20lbs on bench before his press goes up 5.
alright guys, thanks for the responses
Here is what I would guess the problem to be. More than any other exercise within the starting strength program, the overhead press requires your body work correctly. Take a look at this push press from Mark Felix.
While your friend is performing a strict press with no push, this video is very helpful in seeing errors in pressing form.
If you notice Felix has no trouble getting the weight up and over his head, but has a huge problem with the lockout. This problem with the top end of a press is very common and results from the following:
1- Soft Tissue/Flexibility problems within certain rotator cuff muscles most commonly infraspinatus.
2- Poor Serratus and lower trap strength, muscles vital to strong upward rotation of the scapula.
3- tight pec minor, will pull shoulder forward in almost exact opposition to what the lower trap and serratus are attempting to do.
Those numbers look way, way off strength wise, as his squat and deadlift numbers started relatively high and went higher, and the bench press and the overhead press numbers started way too low and stayed there.
The bench press is affected by the above factors as well but the overhead press is affected enormously.
Do this. Have your friend stand straight up in front of a mirror and straighten his arms up overhead keeping his upper arm as close to his head as possible. I guarantee he cannot do it without bending his elbows significantly.
A bench press and overhead press that unbelievably weak in comparison to other lifts says one thing. A mechanical problem.
Also, I bet on his rows that he is not hitting full, proper scapular retraction.
Possibly like this.
There is no way that he is so terribly weak on his bench and overhead press but his pulling movement is unaffected. There is absolutely a problem there as well.
He is going to need ART as it sounds like he has some serious soft tissue problems and weaknesses.
Working harder in the weight room is not going to improve this one iota.
[quote]ihambrecht wrote:
tribunaldude wrote:
He’s gained 30 pounds to get to 174 and he can’t press 80 pounds or deadlift 250? Please tell me those numbers are in kg, if not, ask him to stop his “bulk” asap. Its one thing to struggle with progress beyond 160 or so pounds and ANOTHER entirely to put up numbers like those at 174.
In any case, a person WILL stall quickly on military press, especially if he hasn’t understood how to “hip thrust” after clearing his face - but if he’s not able to progress beyond frickin 80 pounds and weighs 174 tell him to put the brakes on his food intake and train harder, or he’ll return as a 200 pound tub of lard telling everyone in sight that “bulking does not work”.
sorry to hijack this thread but could you explain this hip thrust please?
[/quote]
I too was interested by this ‘hip thrust’. I can see it in a push press, but how/why would you use a hip thrust to help in a strict military press?