January 25th, Thursday - Nice enough OHP for 4 sets of 3

 25.01.2024

Yesterday was a high exhaustion day. I had way too much fun. Sleep has been weird. I can't sleep, but I feel sleepy during the day. Food is decent, above average for once. I'd like to do OHP today, if possible.

Week 6, Session 1 - 4 sets of 3 with 82,5%. So around 105-108 kgs. Sounds reasonable.

Workout

Much later. Warmup - a little, just upper body

Overhead press

20 for 20

50 for 10

70 for 5 was still wearing flat shoes here

90 for 5 okay. Knowing and believing that it's a light weight for me really helped

105,3 for 3 okay

108 for 3 nice, right arm uneven in the third rep, but all difficulties today are more about balance than strength, which seems sufficient. Left eye is popping. I have to learn to press from a stable position on the third rep heh. Funny how technique comes and goes sometimes, even if you are very learned.

108 for 3 nice too

Smart observation - a small thing we don't often realise is that if a muscle is weaker than it can either be working harder than it should OR easier than it should. In my case it's not just a muscle, but my whole left side, and it's not just weaker than right but it's above it. In the second set I put less weight on the right and was very unbalanced. In the third set (right above this paragraph) I did the opposite and moved right hand closer to the middle (by a few millimeters, but still) - putting more weight on it. I'm not completely sure, but it seems that this set was more even.

108 for 3 - done as 2+1, so it's actually 3.5 overall. Well, I just couldn't avoid experimenting a little "too much", could I? I shifted the bar even more onto the right, and that did indeed produce a much more even press, but it got too weak; on the first attempt at the third rep my arm drifted forward too much - it was working statically while my left arm was close to full extension. I took a more conventional even but wide grip and did a conventional rep.

Today's reps were powerful and I utilized about 70% of the olympic technique. I'm glad about my workout. The thing about olympic technique is that it helps you arch your torso and angle your upper pecs. You sort of kick into your spine to make it curl back so that you can use your pecs on the start of the movement. Ideally, of course, you don't want to make it too obvious. But what's important is that you are not pushing your whole torso with your legs. I'm coping xD But I rationally know it's a good technique for lifting and for development. I can't let my ego force me into pure "strict" ohp - because it's not an advantageous movement. Same way as if you were not allowed to use anything besides your pecs and arms on bench. You know very well you need it for bench. It's all about ratio above ego.

Chinese yam, a tuber plant