Upper Body Lifts with 6'10" Wingspan

Hi Barbell Medicine,

I did SS LP and got to:

Squat: 365 (3x5)
Deadlift: 370 (1x5)
Bench: 189 (3x5)
Press: 149 (3x5)

I am a 28 year old, 6’7" male and when I hit these numbers I weighed around 250. Do my press and bench numbers sound relatively low to my squat and deadlift numbers? It seems like most guys at my age/weight can get their bench at least to 225, but I had a big struggle with the upper body lifts. I recently watched The Bench Press prescription and you mentioned those who complain about long arms—that’s me. I have a 6’10" wingspan. What recommendations would you have for someone with my dimensions and build who is struggling on their upper body lifts? I don’t have that much muscle mass up top, so maybe increasing the volume/frequency would help these lifts more?

Arete,

They look low for your weight, yes, but I wouldn’t say there’s something concerning me for an outside contributing factor like disease or injury. Rather, I think the program you were on was heavily biased towards squats and you have evidence that you need a bigger (and perhaps) different dose of upper body work to see results.

You and I share the same affliction re: wingspan. I am 5’10.5 and have a 6’3 wingspan. I still managed to bench 440 though. I think you’ll be fine once you drop kick LP and move on to better programming.

Hey Jordan,

Thanks so much for getting back to me. It’s encouraging to know we share the same affliction but to know that it shouldn’t be a hindrance.

I just watched The Programming Podcast Part 2—Why running it out and getting fat is a bad idea. It really helped me understand some of my problems doing LP for the first time. I was definitely “out-recovering my training” as y’all said. I ate a ton (and drank tons of milk) and my waist got up to like 43"—all in the name of gainz—but I wasn’t getting near enough volume in, especially for my upper body lifts. I always focused exclusively on intensity, thinking just 1 more pound on my bench and press (done 1.5x a week) would give me great progress. I look forward to changing things up in the proper programming way. I got my waist down to 38" and will now program with this new understanding. You and Austin are very clear and it makes a lot of sense. Seriously, the last 10-15 min of that podcast completely changed my way of thinking. Keep up the superb work!

Thanks man. Glad you’re on the right side here :slight_smile: .