Starting out, what should I do about this?

[gauntlad]

Hi, I'm 37yo male, just starting out.

I found an especially weak area from first attempts to do overhead press on starting strength with just the bar, which failed(!)

I want to fix that.

My question is, how would you go about doing so in my position?

I don't have such difficulty in any other exercise, and I'm definitely an ectomorph type build having focused on sub-2 hour half marathons in the past.

I know my time is very limited with family and a full time job, so my goal isn't to reach peak fitness here to be realistic... I reached that as my younger self at this point, and need a plan to stay on track.

Just interested in the health benefit of training here, any advice or suggestions appreciated.

[air2fakie]

Lift under a proper novice program. Eat like a typical American. Don’t assume you have special needs, limitations or time constraints.

[gauntlad]

Lift under a proper novice program. Eat like a typical American. Don’t assume you have special needs, limitations or time constraints.

Thanks for your response.

I feel fortunate to have access to a decent gym with free weights, which I can go to during the day to make time for training.

[paulinkansas]

Do your OHP with dumb bells instead of a straight bar. You have a better range of motion with wrist flexion and are not constrained by the vertical plane with your spinal cord. You can also do Arnold presses.

2 guys are sitting at a park and they see a dog licking its balls. One guy says to the other "I wish I could do that". The other guy says "You'd better pet him first".

Don't be that guy.

[air2fakie]

Thanks for your response.

I feel fortunate to have access to a decent gym with free weights, which I can go to during the day to make time for training.

Sounds good... if you've been on this site for 10 years and still "just starting out", I'm sure you know that in the end it's just about getting into the gym with consistency under a sensible program and increasing the weights you lift over time.

Anything short of that - which in the initial stages only takes a few days/week - isn't going to get the job done.

[gauntlad]

Do your OHP with dumb bells instead of a straight bar. You have a better range of motion with wrist flexion and are not constrained by the vertical plane with your spinal cord. You can also do Arnold presses.

2 guys are sitting at a park and they see a dog licking its balls. One guy says to the other "I wish I could do that". The other guy says "You'd better pet him first".

Don't be that guy.

Thank you for the answer, just getting back to confirm that dumb bells work really well in this case.

[coachcalande]

Hi, I'm 37yo male, just starting out.

I found an especially weak area from first attempts to do overhead press on starting strength with just the bar, which failed(!)

I want to fix that.

My question is, how would you go about doing so in my position?

I don't have such difficulty in any other exercise, and I'm definitely an ectomorph type build having focused on sub-2 hour half marathons in the past.

I know my time is very limited with family and a full time job, so my goal isn't to reach peak fitness here to be realistic... I reached that as my younger self at this point, and need a plan to stay on track.

Just interested in the health benefit of training here, any advice or suggestions appreciated.

Focus on bench press and incline bench press during your push days. Finish with over head work on a machine. Your overhead pressing will improve rapidly this way without hampering progress on bench and incline.

If you are a newbie, 2-3 sets each is a good start.

Make sure your pulls are equal or superior in number.

[gauntlad]

Focus on bench press and incline bench press during your push days. Finish with over head work on a machine. Your overhead pressing will improve rapidly this way without hampering progress on bench and incline.

If you are a newbie, 2-3 sets each is a good start.

Make sure your pulls are equal or superior in number.

Thanks.

[Jtrain71]

Hi, I'm 37yo male, just starting out.

I found an especially weak area from first attempts to do overhead press on starting strength with just the bar, which failed(!)

I want to fix that.

My question is, how would you go about doing so in my position?

I don't have such difficulty in any other exercise, and I'm definitely an ectomorph type build having focused on sub-2 hour half marathons in the past.

I know my time is very limited with family and a full time job, so my goal isn't to reach peak fitness here to be realistic... I reached that as my younger self at this point, and need a plan to stay on track.

Just interested in the health benefit of training here, any advice or suggestions appreciated.

Hello Gauntlad,
It sounds like you want to develop overall general strength. Here are some general thoughts you should consider in your training. I know you mentioned that your goal is mainly sub 2-hour half marathon, which is a great goal.

First, to build strength, you need to train with specificity. That's a fancy way of saying that your training needs to be designed to your goal, just like you would train for a half marathon (i.e., adding miles each week).

However, with strength training, it's not as straightforward.

I believe in the tenets of Dr. Mike Stone, who is one of the founders of modern periodization, who states, "first get the muscle bigger, then get the muscle stronger."

For you, this means that you ideally need to begin with a hypertrophy program. This will be your base for developing strength later down the line.

After you have completed one or two hypertrophy blocks (4 to 8 weeks of hypertrophy training), then move on to a starting strength block.

What this looks like in practice is below:

Weeks 1 to 4 - Resistance train 3x/ week (ideally full body in this scenario); your reps and sets should be 3 sets x 8 - 12 repetitions. Your weights here will be on the lighter side but you should come close to failing on your last set of each exercise.
- this will help you build your base level of conditioning and also dial in your form and technique

Next,
Weeks 5 - 8: Your focus should now be on developing strength. The sets and reps will be 3 sets x 3 to 5 repetitions. Your weights will be considerably heavier here, but your volume will be much lower.

With that said, without being too long of a post, that should get you started. I know that doesn't address exercise selection, frequency, progression, etc.

If you need a workout program, I have a FREE feature on my website, www.countingkilos.com. I have a FREE feature that will create a 12-week periodized training program that is based on your input. It will provide you with exercises, sets, reps, and suggested weights. Additionally, it has an AI chat feature that will allow you to update your training, ask for tips, and get a progression of your training. Again, it's free to use.

I hope this helps!