Would it be better to change program?

[confused_enthusiast]

Hi,

I've been running SS for the past couple months with great results. I used to be a sedentary, computer guy with horrible fitness and even though I might not be the strongest guy in the town - heck, even in the street - nowadays I feel strong compared to regular people my age.

However, I feel like SS starts taking too much out of me. I feel a little beat up from heavy squats even the day after workout. I need less aggressive progression. I eat at a 3-400kcal surplus a day. I could up my calories by a thousand, but it's not my aim to progress as fast as I can. I'm just an average guy, I don't lift for any sports. My main goal is to keep increasing my strength somewhat and still have energy for basic things outside the gym.

Here are my stats btw:
Male, 16yrs old, 6' tall, 170lbs
Squat - 260lbsx5
Deadlift - 286lbsx5
Bench - 165lbsx5
OHP - 126lbsx5

You can see that my deadlift is (also) quite weak. I'd chalk it up to squats in the beginning of the workout. It has always been hard to progress on DL because of that. One day I had to skip squats and hit an easy 5rm deadlift PR, so...

Do you think it would be advisable to move on to TM or any other intermediate program? What would you do in my situation?

[confused_enthusiast]

I forgot to mention that before discovering SS, I did ICF 5x5 for a while.

My 5x5 numbers when starting ICF:
Squat - 160lbs
Deadlift - 180lbs
Bench - around 90lbs or less
OHP - around 60lbs or less

My 3x5 numbers when starting SS:
Squat -180lbs
Deadlift - 200lbs
Bench - 130lbs
OHP - around 90lbs

[Adam Skillin]

Hi,

I've been running SS for the past couple months with great results. I used to be a sedentary, computer guy with horrible fitness and even though I might not be the strongest guy in the town - heck, even in the street - nowadays I feel strong compared to regular people my age.

However, I feel like SS starts taking too much out of me. I feel a little beat up from heavy squats even the day after workout. I need less aggressive progression. I eat at a 3-400kcal surplus a day. I could up my calories by a thousand, but it's not my aim to progress as fast as I can. I'm just an average guy, I don't lift for any sports. My main goal is to keep increasing my strength somewhat and still have energy for basic things outside the gym.

Here are my stats btw:
Male, 16yrs old, 6' tall, 170lbs
Squat - 260lbsx5
Deadlift - 286lbsx5
Bench - 165lbsx5
OHP - 126lbsx5

You can see that my deadlift is (also) quite weak. I'd chalk it up to squats in the beginning of the workout. It has always been hard to progress on DL because of that. One day I had to skip squats and hit an easy 5rm deadlift PR, so...

Do you think it would be advisable to move on to TM or any other intermediate program? What would you do in my situation?

How much weight have you gained? (Hint: not enough) Do you have Practical Programming? You've made some excellent progress, but in addition to eating more, there are some modifications that are highly advised between the initial phase of the novice LP (in which you're deadlifting every workout and adding weight to the squat thrice weekly) that may help you make a lot more gains before you need to choose a true intermediate program.

[confused_enthusiast]

How much weight have you gained? (Hint: not enough) Do you have Practical Programming? You've made some excellent progress, but in addition to eating more, there are some modifications that are highly advised between the initial phase of the novice LP (in which you're deadlifting every workout and adding weight to the squat thrice weekly)

I've gained 37 lbs since I started working out, but 20 of is from SS progression. Also, I only deadlift every second workout, but what makes it hard to increase it is squatting prior to that.

Furthermore, is it generally expected to eat a lot in order to keep up the strength progression or is it only because of the rapid progression? I mean if I changed to weekly progressing, would it be sufficient to eat at 300-400kcal above surplus?

[Adam Skillin]

I've gained 37 lbs since I started working out, but 20 of is from SS progression. Also, I only deadlift every second workout, but what makes it hard to increase it is squatting prior to that.

Furthermore, is it generally expected to eat a lot in order to keep up the strength progression or is it only because of the rapid progression? I mean if I changed to weekly progressing, would it be sufficient to eat at 300-400kcal above surplus?

I'm not sure I understand the question. If you have to do 3 workouts to create the amount of stress that allows you to squat 5 more pounds on the bar, you will still be underweight. I'm suggesting that at your age and weight, it would very likely be appropriate to accelerate weight gain and run the linear progression for quite a while yet, and that there are many useful steps between squatting a PR 3x5 thrice weekly and squatting a PR 1x5 once weekly, and that you'll get stronger more quickly if you go through the later permutations of what we still consider novice programming. Does that make sense?

[whale]

You are 16, you should probably gain more weight. One of the things you can do is 1 heavy set, and 2 back off sets at 90-95%. You increase the heavy set every workout and calculate the back offs based on that heavy set. After you miss a rep you could throw in a light day on wednesday and progress only on monday and friday.

All this assumes you are gaining weight. Measure your weight every day.

If you really are reluctant to gain weight, and your girlfriend will leave you if you lose your abs, you will have to move to intermediate program sooner. This will obviously produce slower gains. I would not do Texas Method, ever. Read the article "Into the great wide open" by Jordan. Also read his free ebook The Bridge and do the program. If you don't like all the fancy stuff in there and you didn't read PPST, watch one of the Andy Baker's youtube videos on how to set up an HLM program.

[CrouchingWayne]

Are you tracking your waist measurement (round your belly button)?

[Gibby]

Just do your heavy DL on Weds and do a Light Squat day?