On ss for 6 months

Alright fellas i just tried OHP at home, basically i wrapped a towel around my bar to make it thicker.. what do you know i can go HEAVIER.

Yet when i take the bar off (it's thin) i feel like i cant lift as much, What the fuck? does bar thickness really matter or is this in my head? i just did 40kg.

Everybody has their own way of doing everything. If using a towel helps you, and you're still keeping your form, then just use a towel.

HALAL SNACK PACK ULEH?!?!?!

Are my stats fucked?
>130kg squat
>140kg bench
>180kg deadlift
>70kg OHP

Only 35kg. Even if you started with the bar, you should at least be at one plate/60kg!

Should be squating more than benching. So yeah, I guess.

off the top of my head it sounds like the towel may be cueing you to grip harder.

Maybe try gripping as hard as you can without the towel?

then;

Still gripping bar as tight as you can, try and 'bend' the bar.

Im in the same boat OP, 110kg bench, can barely do a 50kg OHP.
Some people just weren't meant for pressing heavy loads over your head. All depending on how your humerus is angled, you might be more suitable for pressing things down instead, like doing dips.
I can do dips with BW (85kg) + 30 kg in a belt, and punch out 5 reps.
While my 5 rep OHP is about 40kg

I swear to fucking god you are me, OP.
>245 lb squat
>215 lb bench
>365 lb deadline
>115 lb OHP
WHY

are you supposed to pack your shoulders when doing OHP?

Fucking A, I meant deadlift. Fuck you, autocorrect.

I do, and i've never hurt my shoulders in 4 years of lifting.

i wasn't and i hurt my left fucking shoulder... now the inside of my delt (front) hurts when i press.

you are NOT supposed to pack your shoulders when doing OHP. Your shoulder blades are a part of the OHP movement, this isn't benchpressing.
Move your shoulderblades when you press above your head, and shrug at the top above your head, to stabilize the weight.
You probably caused an impingement

Hey OP in seriously considering starting SS right off the sticky.

Does it really work? I need strength man, I feel like I'm such a weak ass.

Get microplates OP. Adding 5kg every session to OHP is fucking impossible. Even adding 2.5kg is a bitch. I just bought a set. Finally got my OHP to 37.5 kg. Also I've found out that keeping my whole body tight (core braced, quads and glutes squeezed) really helps

OHP is easy for me it's everything else that's hard

>you are NOT supposed to pack your shoulders when doing OHP.

yes you are

>program called Starting STRENGTH
>bunch of people on Veeky Forums swore in its effectiveness in increasing STRENGTH
>stated in the sticky that it increases STRENGTH

Are newfags incapable of reading and Google?

Wait, have you been shrugging your shoulders forward at the bottom?

why does this world hate us?

If you pack your shoulders, you aren't able to do a shrug at the top. This isn't benchpress, you WANT shoulder/scalupa movement when doing OHP.

Shrugging forward? I don't think you understand what i meant.
At the top of the movement, when the barbell is above your head, you are supposed to shrug your shoulders op, kinda like doing a barbell shrug, but with the bar above your head. This stabilizes it, and takes the stress off your shoulders at the top while you are holding it.

how do you keep your shoulders? do you push them back and hold them in place? I heard you are supposed to pack for stability.

shouldnt be benching that much tb h

also your ohp is half your bench is should be like 110kg

I don't keep my shoulders anywhere, i let them hang free, always keeping my elbows right below the barbell. I keep the bar on my chest.
Packing your shoulders (pushing back and keeping them in place) is for benchpressing or doing heavy curls etc, where you want to eliminate shoulder impact. Not for doing OHP. In OHP you shrug at the top of the movement to stabilize.

I'm pretty sure what he meant by packing shoulders is at the bottom. Yeah at the top you're supposed to shrug it up but at the bottom you're supposed to pack your shoulders and engage your lats for stability. Right?

Lucky fucker. I've always had big legs since I was a kid yet I OHP 175 but can only squat 285

Yea engaging the lats at the bottom for stabilizing is a smart idea, i agree on that.
I don't agree on packing the shoulders in order to optain that. You can squeeze and engage your lats without packing the shoulders.
Just like when you are doing hanging leg raises. You are engaging and squeezing your lats, in order to protect your shoulders, even tho your shoulderblades are apart and not packed together.
Or we might just have different opinions on what packing the shoulders mean.

230 kg sq
260 kg dl
97.5kg ohp
only 145 kg bench

why is benching so fucking hard?

For me OHP is very sensitive to form. If I am not doing it perfectly then I don't progress.

I find jumping up 5Kg (two 2.5Kg plates) [or ~10lbs (two 5lbs plates) in Amerifat units] too large. Using 1.25Kg plates to make 2.5Kg jumps helped me make consistent gains.

From memory I believe SS has OHP after deadlifts and bent over rows — I recall that when I did this I found my back was very tired when it came to shoulder press and that this resulted in me not standing up straight. This was detrimental to my OHP until I started using the Valsalva Manoeuvre which helped me stand more upright. Also using a belt really helped my OHP when I started lifting 60Kg plus.

Finally, if none of the above helps the try doing seated shoulder press too. It lets you focus more on actual shoulder movement without putting effort into standing whilst pressing. Don't stop doing the OHP though, the seated variant should compliment the OHP in your routine. It will help you progress in the OHP.

90 kg bench but 35kg OHP?

you're probably trampolining the bar off your chest on bench press, if it even makes it to your chest at all

Starting from nothing, you shouldn't be increasing your OHP by 5lbs every workout. Add more shoulder exercises, because my shoulders were not practiced enough to get my OHP anywhere decent and now I have a rotator cuff tear.

>160kg squat
>140kg dead
>bench still at 85kg
RRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

You definitely don't look like shit after 6 months if you progress to OP's lifts with Push/Pull/Legs, Upper/Lower etc.
Especially if you add Stomach Vaccums, Planks etc.

However if you just do Starting Legs for 6 months then you probably look very unbalanced.

that ohp is too low tb h

>tfw deadlifting 220kg yet struggle to squat 140kg
kill me

With SS you squat, OHP, deadlift for workout A then squat, bench, deadlift (or powerclean after 3 weeks) for workout B. They're is no barbell row in SS, that's in SL.

How do i into bench press

What do you expect? OHP has a much lower ceiling than other compound lifts.

I can rep 135 x5 for 3 sets on my heavy day and I've been lifting for almost 5 years now. Could I squeeze out a few more pounds? Sure, but the small increase in weight is not worth the loss of reps for me.

some people replace powerclean for bent over rows

Does packing your shoulders mean basically retracting back adn down the scapulae?
that sounds dumb