Possible Hiatus in Linear Progression

[JustinK]

Hey all. After f*cking aroung with weights for ten or so years, I finally was smartened up and went to a linear progression and have been on the SS novice program for a few months; it's gone according to plan--up triple digits on squat, just recently downgraded the bench and press to 2 lb jumps.

However, due to two factors, I'm thinking a pause may be in order:
1) Squatting 3x/wk is tearing me hips up. Form is pretty solid--knees not travelling forward at bottom. I think this is just the coin of the realm for me once the weight gets heavy and I push the knees out aggressively and sit back.
and more to the point
2) I need to drop some fat, like post haste, for job reasons. Am working with Shelby Starnes over at Troponin on a nutrition plan that calls for some pretty aggressive cardio 3x/wk on off days, and I know that's utterly incompatible with the SS novice program as RX'd.

So...any recs on a program I could look at while I'm away from the SS Novice? I'd like to maintain as much strength as possible, and would love to see if I could squat 2x/wk (else I'd just go straight to Wendler's 5-3-1). Justin's old CFWF program with some of the cardio subbing in for metcons?

[scoppi]

move to the advanced novice linear progression, screw cardio (you could do some light conditioning 1-2 days/week if you wanted to), and just adjust your diet. body composition will take care of itself.

zone+crossfit is one of the quickest ways to lose fat tho, if you really need to do it fast. but its also a very good way of losing any strength gains youve made.

[JustinK]

zone+crossfit is one of the quickest ways to lose fat tho, if you really need to do it fast. but its also a very good way of losing any strength gains youve made.

yeah, i'd sooner chew my leg off than go down that route. (i know you weren't advocating it per se)...thanks for the reply. i'll take a look at adv novice.

[gzt]

See what Shelby advises in terms of strength training if you're paying for his advice. While trying to lose weight, I've heard quite a bit that the variable you should cut back on is volume, not intensity. You need heavy weight to tell your body it still needs the muscle and high volume will just tire you out. Depending how aggressive you are on the fat loss and how you're feeling, you may want to forget about progression right now and just try to preserve strength. 2x per week might be the prescription. Maybe one day a 3x5 and one day a quite heavy set of 5, but I haven't really done it so I don't know what works best.