Beginner program: Upper body lifts not moving

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hey, I’ve been doing the beginner program for about 13 weeks now and I’m a bit confused about how my upper/lower body lifts are diverging. I’m 27yo / 76kg / 180cm My e1RM moved:

Deadlift 110kg → 142kg
Squat 92kg → 121kg
Bench 66kg → 73kg
OHP 47kg → 51kg

I did the first block for 6 weeks when both my bench and OHP stalled (OHP being more or less constant the whole time anyway), and now 7 weeks into the second block my bench is stalling again as well. (Even though I’ve been making very small jumps as you can see.)

I’m not sure what the average results for my demographic are 3 months in, but regarding my lower body lifts I’m happy they moved at all: I was in a calorie deficit for the first ~12 weeks, only recently started eating at maintenance again. I also have some sleep apnea issues that I’m in the process of getting diagnosed (waiting lists and all that). But that can’t really explain my Bench/OHP issues since I made proportionally much more progress in my lower body lifts.

In the past I played soccer and cycled, never did any upper-body based exercise – does that make me a poor responder? Should I add extra upper body volume myself? Any other thoughts?

Thanks!

2

Timon,

Looks like both of your upper body lifts went up ~10%, which is pretty good! I would just move on to the next block or, if your lower body lifts are still moving, pick different exercises for block II and re-run it. I don’t think sleep apnea, soccer, cycling, etc. are likely explanations. If I had to guess, I think we’re likely training too close to failure, too frequently for the compound lifts (with the microloading). I’d prefer to be more conservative on the compound lifts and more aggressive on the accessory/isolation lifts. I could be wrong, of course.

Ultimately, we’re trying to figure out if there’s a problem with the formulation (exercises, rep schemes, etc.), dose (volume, intensity, etc.), or both. I’d alter the formulation first, then go from there.

1 Like
3

Hi Jordan,
Thanks for the reply!

Looks like both of your upper body lifts went up ~10%, which is pretty good! I would just move on to the next block or, if your lower body lifts are still moving, pick different exercises for block II and re-run it. I don’t think sleep apnea, soccer, cycling, etc. are likely explanations.

Hah, I appreciate the positivity, but the pdf recommends to aim for increases 1-5% per week, whereas my press went up 8.5% over 13 weeks :slight_smile: Putting this next to my ~30% increases in the lower body lifts I feel I should be able to get more out of this? I’d be interested in rerunning the second block, I don’t really feel the urge to hurry through the program.

If I had to guess, I think we’re likely training too close to failure, too frequently for the compound lifts (with the microloading). I’d prefer to be more conservative on the compound lifts and more aggressive on the accessory/isolation lifts. I could be wrong, of course.

Ultimately, we’re trying to figure out if there’s a problem with the formulation (exercises, rep schemes, etc.), dose (volume, intensity, etc.), or both. I’d alter the formulation first, then go from there.

How would you go about rerunning? (I currently selected Standing OHP; Touch-and-Go Bench Press and Dips. Maybe dips was a poor choice in hindsight since I’m only at bodyweight+11kg now, I just like doing them :).) I would have time for a fourth day of training, would it make sense to add an extra upper body lift or two (at low intensity/high rep range) to the pile and then smear everything out over four days? Or would you just restart the second block and let the deload resolve things?

Thanks!

PS one thing I wanted to mention in my initial post – my upper body lifts might not have changed much, but I can definitely see more musculature in the shoulders/chest when I look in the mirror, and it’s not just because of the fat loss. So there is definitely something happening up there, it’s just not translating into kilograms.

4

In weight on the bar, not e1RM. These aren’t the same things, of course.

I would do Bench, Press, and close grip bench and restart the second block. I would not add training volume now.

5

I mean they are right? RPE conversion and percentages are both multiplicative terms so they should be interchangeable.

Thanks! I’ll reply back in a month or two :slight_smile:

6

If the rep/rpe scheme stays the same week to week and you increase the weight on the bar 1%, then your e1RM goes up 1%. If you increase weight on the bar by 1% and the rep/set scheme changes, the e1RM may not reflect that.

In any case a ~10% increase over 3 months seems pretty good to me. I would err towards the lower interval in progression, of course.

1 Like
7

Hi! Just finished the 4th week so still in the middle, but: OHP e1RM is now 56kg, and Bench e1RM is 77kg.

However I noticed something weird, I did touch-and-go bench 4x 67.5kg at 9.5 RPE, which gives the 77kg e1RM, and I did my close grip bench 10x 57.5kg at 9.5 RPE, which gives an 80kg e1RM. (I also do the close grip bench in touch-and-go format FWIW.) What could that indicate?