OHP can S my D

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gtylerson

New member
Ugh. I finished session 10 of SL this morning and finally stalled on my OHP at 60 pounds. I did three sets of 5 and the last two I squeeked out 4 reps. I feel like my form is okay but does anyone have a cue they use or any other tip that can help a girl out! I keep my abs tight and try to keep my butt tight too but I noticed my left leg will shake a little on the harder reps. Is that weird?

I did DL 115 this morning though so there's that!
 
@gtylerson When I stalled, I started incorporating extra sets of push presses. This way I could get used to feeling the heavier weight on my shoulders, that really seemed to help me out. I'm up to 5 x 75 and can knock out a few at higher weight now so I'd really suggest incorporating those in.

Video of a push-press
 
@gtylerson the big cue for me is "head through the window". As soon as the bar travels up past my head, I push my head forward slightly, so that the bar is travelling straight up above my body, as opposed to up in front of my body. That helped me a lot.
 
@philcho That's what I do too! I always think "hit your nose with the bar" and that forces me to back my head up. Otherwise I want to push more in front instead of above.
 
@gtylerson If this is your first stall, just work through it! Keep lifting as much as you can, and eventually you'll find you'll surprise yourself by working through the last two sets without any problem. I made it through my stall last week from 50-55. 50lbs was really hard for me, then I made 5x5 finally of that. Moved onto 55 and finished all 5 sets with no problem on my first try. I also ate a lot more that day before my workout than normal, so that might have contributed to it.
 
@bluegrace I did lift this morning as opposed to after work so no food before may have contributed. I'll try it again next week and see where I'm at! Thanks!
 
@gtylerson No problem! As an update, I went back to do 55 pounds two days ago on less food than the time before, and could only push 3x5, so food intake really makes a difference!
 
@gtylerson I highly recommend these vids. http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Press_Videos

Things I constantly remind myself to do on the OHP:
Tighten my butt.
Make sure my hands are no more than shoulder width apart.
Make sure my forearms are vertical.
Use my hips to move the weight up.

OHP just sucks, though. If you are advanced enough, I know it's not "the program" but maybe switch up with push presses for a bit.
 
@gtylerson Are you just tightening your butt or your whole lower body?
I dont have any good cues for OHP, but here are some things that help me up the weight:
  • grip - try switching to a thumbless grip. It helped get the bar in line with my forearms and increased the force pushing up
  • before taking it out of the rack squeeze your biceps and tighten the lats. Keep it tight as you step out and use it to explode up on the first rep
  • when pushing up, think about keeping your elbows in a straight line for the first half of the lift. There is a 70s big video that helps explain this. I would flare my elbows out almost immediately upon pressing and lose a lot of tricep strength in the process. By tucking in, I now find the lockout to be my sticking point, not getting it off my chest
  • train your weak spots. Mine is my upper back and triceps. Now I train the fuck out of those. Also just press more. I know your on a program but once I started pressing 3 times a week I really saw progress. I've found that it doesn't fatigue nearly as much as the other compound lifts
Hope that helps
 
@dawn16 Nope. It's really not on OHP. Failing a lift on OHP means the bar just comes down to the starting position. Even if it falls out your hands (which really it very unlikely) the bar will fall in front of you. Even if youre at the lockout, and the lift fails you would just move the weight in front of you and let it fall (like Olympic lifters do). But honestly I've never felt in danger of that happening.

Now thumbless benching on the other hand...that shit can kill you
 
@dawn16 If you're benching it's called a "suicide grip" because if it slips, it certainly falls on your neck or chest. But for press, the weight is lighter even then bench, and if it slips, it's easy (even instinctive) to step back away from its path. The risks of a thumbless grip for press are typically pretty minimal.
 
@poppy14 I definitely notice my elbows flare out a little and have been working to correct it. I'll work on it a little more!

I've been tightening my whole lower body and that's when I notice my leg get a little shaky.
 
@gtylerson I'd say that the shaking is pretty normal. Thumbless grip plus elbows in and exploding off the chest changed everything for me. I still hit a lot of stalls but I've added on 10lbs since fixing those things.
 
@gtylerson Daaaang, you have a strong OHP relative to your deadlift! Keep up the awesome lifts, and don't be daunted. OHP stalls first and that's normal.

A rule-of-thumb for lifts is that they end up hovering around a 5/4/3/2 ratio (dl, squat, bench, ohp) for a lot of powerlifters. Check out your relatve ratios here to see how kickass your press is!

Do you have 1.25lb plates? If not, get yourself some (they're cheap)!

a) Strategy 1: You can deload, knock 5lbs off and work up again: do 55, 57.5, 60, 62.5, and on up.

b) Strategy 2: You could stick with 60 and work on increasing your reps to add volume - 5/5/5/4/4, 5/5/5/5/5, 6/6/5/5/5, etc.

c) Strategy 3: Rest longer between sets to make sure you can get them all.

d) Depending on where you're getting stuck, you can add some assistance work. I find that assisted dips help the initial push and the shoulder lockout. Push presses might also help some people.
 
@gtylerson I agree.

My OHP is stuck too. 55lbs is doable, 60 I can struggle through a few sets, but can't manage the 5x5.

Are you locking your knees? (don't)

Otherwise, I have no suggestions, but you're not alone!

Congrats on the DL! 115 is awesome!
 
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