Hey everyone. I’m on week 3 of the bridge. I love the program so far. I find that one thing I have been noticing is that my press and bench has gone down some. The bench isn’t as bad as the press. The press has always been a weak point to me but I wasn’t sure if this was normal for most people or if there was a protocol for something like this?
Week 1 I did 3x105@10
Week 2 5x85 @ 8
Week 3 5 x 80 @ 8
1 Like
It depends. There are a lot of variables that could be at play, and no where near enough info posted about you for us to be able to give any real direction. Sometimes these things are also simply random. I wouldn’t make any hard judgments off of just 3 weeks worth of data.
As PWard said, it can be highly variable. I was just going over my notebook from this time last year and trying to review the different factors that come into play from the weights I was using last year on a 5x5 program. Having gone through Bridge v1 last summer and going through Bridge v3 now I can say that I had some similar session to session variations. Press in particular doesn’t move up fast and I always found the exercises before it - depending on how they went could take just enough edge off your strength to have to go down to a weight I’d think was too easy.
Some of the factors I’m considering in judging the strength difference that may be applicable to you.
What workout stress differences are there from one session to the next for this particular exercise? (Eg: Increased pause squat volume prior to press on Bridge V1 week to week)
How much rest am I using between sets?
Has my technique changed between comparisons (Eg: Are you pausing at the bottom more/bouncing less/more strict?)
Am I more or less rested / stressed (life) overall compared to the previous session?
Any pain/soreness differences between sessions?
Calorie intake differences between sessions?
Rest is something I never give myself enough of. I know this is part of the issue but not enough to feel like I’m spinning my wheels. While doing the LP I was able to get to 95lbs than had to drop it to 80lbs build back up to failure than drop weight and start again. I tried the press progression outlined in a BBM article about the LP and the press. I started to lift more weight but I was also dropping reps. So instead of 5 reps of 95lbs I could handle 115 for 3 reps. I shortly than switched to the bridge but it still seems like my press has stayed around the same.