My workouts include squats, rows, pressing and a few accessory movements. Everything progresses slowly except overhead pressing, where even a tiny weight increase makes the set feel impossible. It's frustrating because I assume every lift should improve at the same pace. Is it normal for smaller muscle groups and different movement patterns to need much smaller jumps? I'm considering adding reps before weight, but don't know when to stop forcing linear progression.
Handling a routine where one exercise consistently feels much harder than the rest
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You don’t have to stop linear progression everywhere just because one lift is lagging. I’d keep progressing where it’s working and switch th...
You don’t have to stop linear progression everywhere just because one lift is lagging. I’d keep progressing where it’s working and switch the press to smaller jumps or double progression.
That was my experience too. I could add weight to rows forever, but pressing wanted fractions of a jump and a lot more recovery.
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I’m with the people saying smaller jumps. It felt counterintuitive at first, but the lift improved once I stopped asking it to behave like t...
I’m with the people saying smaller jumps. It felt counterintuitive at first, but the lift improved once I stopped asking it to behave like the others.
1 reply
Yep, overhead press often needs tiny jumps or more patience than the bigger lifts. I’d use reps first, then add weight only when the reps ar...
Yep, overhead press often needs tiny jumps or more patience than the bigger lifts. I’d use reps first, then add weight only when the reps are solid instead of forcing the same progression as squats.
I stalled there until I stopped treating every lift like it had to move weekly. Once I gave press a slower lane, it stopped feeling like a failure every session.