Overhead press is a humbling event every week. My progress and overall strength on bench and deadlift have been consistently satisfying. I’m just happy to be doing squats again at all, so I look forward to them every week. Overhead press has been, well, more realistic. I increase weight slowly, and my rep maxes have come in fits and starts.
For instance, today I did this weight, 115 lbs, 10 times on my last set. I did the same reps and weight January 20th. Does this mean I’ve plateaued? Well, not exactly. January 20th was week 3 of my 4 week cycle, which is the week I lift my heaviest and hardest. Today was the first day of week 1 of cycle 3, which is the week after a deload, and the first lift building up to the next week 3. All of that is to say that the overall trend is heavier weights, and a stronger me.
I’d do well to remember that, honestly. It’s easy to get discouraged sometimes, just looking at the numbers and not thinking about what they mean.