5pointer

I am nearing the end of my novice stage, I have been doing a HLM type set up for the squat for about 2 months now, making steady progress of 5 lb /week. However the past 2 weeks I have started to regress. 2 weeks ago on the medium day I squatted 270x5x3, then I had to miss a training day that week, so last week did 270 again and only got 5,4,4 (I thought perhaps this was due to missing a day) and then yesterday attempted 270 again and only got 4 reps then backed off to 250 for the last 2 sets.

So now I am wondering if I am starting to get overtrained on the squat... and what to tweak next? Looking at the gray book at the end of the novice chapter, should I just back off the squat 20 lbs and then keep going? Switch training to every 3 days? or do 3x3? I am already doing top set and 2 back off sets on Friday, light day 2x5 on Wednesday and then normal 3x5 monday.

My presses are still moving forward normally with 1-2 lb jumps and sets of 3

Age 33 male, 6ft, BW low 170s
Squat 270x5x3
Bench 202x3x5
Press 135x3x5
Deadlift 320x5

PS I know I still need to gain weight, trying my best but it is slow

Mark Rippetoe

Your bodyweight is the obvious problem.

5pointer

What bodyweight should I be at before I can expect to put any more weight on the bar?

Mark Rippetoe

268.5 pounds.

Alexander Dargatz

You didn't overtrain, you failed to recover.

Gaining bodyweight is not only part of the program because heavier = stronger, but also because it is an indicator whether you've eaten enough to recover from the strength training. If you didn't gain weight, you didn't eat enough, simple as that.

5pointer

That is a fair point, let me then ask a different question than before: how much weight do I need to be gaining per week in order to continue making progress? No one has asked yet how much I am gaining, I have only said my current weight. Granted you are probably right and I am probably not gaining enough, at only about 1lb per week currently.

I will probably lower the 3x5 squat day by about 20 lbs and march on with the same programming. I have taken everyone's feedback to eat more food in order to make sure I recover properly.

keiithg8

Hey Rip, it has probably been answered before, but what are the best sets of 5 you have seen from someone on the NLP?

Mark Rippetoe

Squats in the 500s, presses in the 200s, benches in the high 300s, deadlifts in the high 500s.

JFord

Some egos just got deflated. Some of us mortals however will be inspired by what a few rare humans are capable accomplishing.