Military Press Problem

[timeister747]

Hey all,

I've been doing dumbbell military press recently and I've run into a problem. I can do 10 reps of 30 and 8 reps of 35 just fine, but once I try to do 40's I can't even lift the weights to my shoulders. Even if I have a friend help me get the weights to the starting position, I can't even do one rep. Does anyone have an ideas why I suddenly fail completely? Thanks.

-Tim

[bosquat]

ummm..... do you try the 40s on your last set? or you just straight cant lift um? i dont know man thats wierd.

[timeister747]

I do the forties in the last set, but you'd think that if I can do 8 35's I could at least get the 40's up.

[big g]

how intense are your sets before the 40s. you may lack the power to get the 40s up in position. i hard to give you advice without being there. maybe you are injured or overtrained. all i can give you is to see your doctor or have a pt session

[w0cyru01]

Do standing OHP.
Much better workout overall for your entire body then dumbell MP imo.

[Jake]

stop doing DB press and use a bar. I like standing military press, but you can also use a smith machine. In my opinion, you have to use more muscles when you do standing military press, as opposed to seated DB military press.

[timeister747]

Can someone outline the major advantages for using a barbell instead of dumbells? I figured it'd be better to use dumbells to make sure both of my arms develop equally.

[big g]

well an advantage with the bar is if you are strong at this then you can do more weight because the biggest dumbells ive seen in a regular gym are 120's. doing a standing press you also have to tighten your core muscles and not alot of room for cheating only can use your legs for a boost. using dumbells you have to use more smaller muscles to stabilize the weights and create "muscle memory" not a true term. but you can cheat more by abusing the use of the legs, serverly arching your back, and if you cant get the weights up you have to have someone there. your concern about equal development of the muscles used, simply one arm can lag behind if use the bar or dumbells. you just have to mentally channel into deep focus on form. you do that and eventually your form and development will be fine

[Chameleon]

I might suggest going a week or two without the pyramid scheme and focus on strength... pick up the 40's on your first set and see how many you can crank out.... right now your pre-fatiging befor you try the heaviest weight, and while that is one of many different training techniques it's not always the best way to build strength. When you fail with the 40's (no matter what set your in or what # of reps) drop the wight down to 35 and either finish the set your in, or use the 35's for your next set if you are already finished with the number of reps you're aiming for... basically you'll do drop sets until you are done with all three sets...

so for example I would pick up the 40's and start my first set of 8 reps and I'm able to get all 8 in.. then on the second set of 8 reps I fail at 5 I would set the 40's down, grab the 35's and finish the last 3 reps in that set, then I would start my third set with the 35's for 8 reps, if I fail before the full 8 reps I would drop to 30 to finish the set... then next week my goal would be to finish the second set without having to drop down, or to at least get one or two more reps in with the 40's

[Andrew]

Depends how many exercises you do first.

If I can't get on a bench straight away and do, say, the fly machine first I notice that I can't press the usual 25kg in each hand (50kg) as fluently and can only maybe manage about 5 of my 8 reps in the last set.