Stalling, increase the eating even more?

[zhiplus]

Hello. I started SS about 3 months ago kind of half-assedly; I was lifting hard but not eating anywhere near enough (about 2500 calories) and stalled hard somewhere around 225/135/250 squat/bench/deadlift.

I did a complete reset and was eating 3500 kcal, gaining around 1/2-1lb a week. This worked great for about a month, but then I went from working (running around constantly) 20 hours a week to 40 hours a week. Sleep has been taking a bit of a hit too, since I go to school full time as well, and open (4am) or close (2am) work once a week. I've only gained a pound in the last two weeks, and once again I'm stalling hard on squats.

Before I list stats, another problem I have is that when I stall on squats, and can't complete my worksets, I'm so exhausted by the last fail rep that I feel lightheaded and unable to complete any of the other exercises. Is this normal? Maybe I'm being a pussy about it? I read in the book that I was supposed to be stalling on other lifts first generally, so I'm unsure what's going on.

Anyways: first stall stats - current stats

Height: 6' 1"
Weight 185-189
BF %: somewhere around 20 I'd say. Can just barely see abs.
Diet: 3500 cal, 394g carbs, 117g fat, 218g protein

SQ: 175 - 255 (failed at 265 and 260)
BP: 115 - 140
DL: 200 - 285
OP: 85 - 105
PC: 115 - 135

As a final note, I added 10 lbs to the squat every workout since I started eating more; the squats felt really good. It's just now that all of a sudden I started working a lot more, and I put 265 on the bar and progress fell flat. What to do?

[veryhrm]

Why the heck are you adding 10lbs a workout? add 5lbs.

[Brian Zahn]

yeah when it gets hard you switch to +5/WO then when that is slowing down you switch your 2nd workout of the week to a light day

[MikeC1]

In cases like these, you should PM pics of your abs to Rip, so he can see if you should increase your eating or not. Best of luck.

[zhiplus]

Will do and will also slow down the weight adding on the bar. I know I was supposed to slow down when progress slowed down, but it happened very abruptly; 255 felt fantastic, and then I couldn't do 265 at all. Guess I got a little greedy :P

[veryhrm]

Why the heck are you adding 10lbs a workout? add 5lbs.

yeah when it gets hard you switch to +5/WO then when that is slowing down you switch your 2nd workout of the week to a light day

In cases like these, you should PM pics of your abs to Rip, so he can see if you should increase your eating or not. Best of luck.

One of these things is not like the others.
One of these things will have a funny (but not for you) outcome.

[stonerider]

i kept my abs throughout the whole process, i don't see why others can't, as well


@zhiplus

- you're not eating enough, bump up calories by 500 and see if that helps; also, 190lbs @ 6'1" is pretty damn small, so you don't need to worry about watching your weight for the next 20lbs

- deload squat and start increasing by 5lbs once you get to the stalled weight

[zhiplus]

One of these things is not like the others.
One of these things will have a funny (but not for you) outcome.

Yeah, I figured Rip doesn't really enjoy spending his days examining random dude's abs or lack thereof on the internet.

[tzanghi]

i kept my abs throughout the whole process, i don't see why others can't, as well

What height and weight did you start and finish at? Not calling you out, I'm just curious 'cause this is the first I've heard of this.

[Brian Zahn]

Yeah, I figured Rip doesn't really enjoy spending his days examining random dude's abs or lack thereof on the internet.

Some of the things Rip does enjoy would surprise us