First of all. I would like to take the time to thank Barbell Medicine for all of the great content and encouraging me to stick out LP as long as possible.
I am starting to plateau on both my upper body lifts. I have been micro loading my bench press and press at 2.5lb everytime I am able to complete 3 full sets of 5 across. My Bencn has stalled @ 5,4,4 reps for two consecutive workouts. My press is almost there. Is it time to switch to 5 sets of three or one heavy set of five and two back off sets? Should I stretch the workouts to every third day? My lower body lifts still seem to be progressing 5lb/workout still. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I am 35 years old 6’2" 235 lbs ~24% body fat
Current lift #s are:
Squat 335 for 3 sets x 5 reps
Deadlift 380 for 1 set x 5 reps
Press 152.5 for 4 ,4 ,4
Bench 235 for 5,4,4
I wouldn’t recommend switching to 5 sets of 3 reps, as this does not address the underlying reason by which your upper body lifts are no longer progressing. It is not lack of intensity, as even though your training is very “heavy”- you still not are adapting from them to produce a higher level of strength. Rather, you are lacking in overall training stress that is not fixed simply, unfortunately. What I mean by this is there isn’t a “just do ____” fix because adjusting your upper body work also effects the rest of your training’s fatigue, you know?
That said, in the context of a stalling upper body LP, I would do this for the upper body lifts only:
Day 1:
Bench (regular) x 4 reps x 6 sets @ 215 (start here, try and go up every week)
Day 2:
Press: 4 x 6 sets @ 137.5 (start here, try and go up every week)
Day 3:
Incline or close grip bench x 6 x 4 sets @ a load where 67% or 77% of your previous Bench press. Try and go up each week.