Getting back into LP after 6 months off

[Jhj316]

Male 5’10” 205lbs 34yrs old
Squat 295x5
Press 135x5
Bench 190x5
Deadlift 305x5

These were my numbers left off 6 months ago doing LP. I had shoulder pain when performing squat and could not perform bench or press after squating 3 sets, so took some time off to recover. (Maybe too much time off). Have been lifting here and there but want to get into LP again and bring these numbers up. Wheres a good place to start?

[Michael Wolf]

73.276% is the scientifically proven place to start. This is assuming it's been exactly 6 months, down to the minute, since you left off - I assume you chose your words with due scientific precision. If it was 6 months and 3 days, or even worse, 6 months, 1 week, and 4 days, the algorithm is completely different, naturally.

I kid, I kid. The best thing to do is exactly the protocol described in SS for your first ever workout. It should be heavier than you actual first ever session, since some of that strength will remain even after 6 months off, but you do the same thing: work up to a moderately heavy set of 5 where the bar speed just barely starts to slow down involuntarily on the 5th rep, and you stop there - that's your working weight for that lift, and LP up from there. Assuming you haven't lost a lot of weight, or if you have but are willing to put it back on fairly quickly, you can usually handle bigger jumps back up for a while - no hard and fast rule, but at least a few workouts, and often till you're pretty close to where you were before, before switching back to small jumps.

A hypothetical example, that may not exactly be applicable but can illustrate the concept:

Previous squat: 295x5. New moderately hard squat found on first day back: 185x5. Workouts:
1. Work up to 185x5 and then stop
2. 185x5, 205x5
3. 205x5, 220x5x2
4. 235x5x3
5. 245x5x3
6. 255x5x3
7. 265x5x3
8. Reintroduce light squat midweek at 210x5x2
9. 275x5x3
10. 285x5x3
11. 215x5x2
12. 290x5x3
- so you hit your old number in about a month, whereas it probably took you around 3 months to get there the first time making mostly 5 lb jumps after a few initial bigger ones. If it took you only 1-2 months the first time, you can probably make more big jumps here too, and get back sooner than a month.

[Jhj316]

Thank you. I have followed your recommendation with starting weights.

Todays lift
Sq 275x5,5,5
Bench 170x5,5,5
Deadlift 290x4 (second time failing)

I am still deadlifting everyday and no light squat day yet. Will introduce light sq next week with deadlifting mon/ fri only (as mentioned in barbell logics with andy baker). However, not sure why my deadlift is stalling already while i feel my squat will still go up for couple more weeks. Is there any recommendation to increase deadlift strength while still running the LP (hopefully for another 4 weeks)?

[Michael Wolf]

Deadlift is, in most cases and yours, the heaviest lift and seems to tax the body more. While you can adjust to the need for more DL work as an intermediate and advanced lifter, there does seem to be some kind of deep fatigue associated with it. At least it hasn't effected your squat yet, at least not enough to miss.

The real answer is that you probably should have stopped deadlifting every workout about 2-3 weeks ago and switched to every other workout. This is what the book recommends, and in our over-simplified version here, we say that the "DL every day" phase is 1-3 weeks. You should assume on the lower side of that if you're making bigger jumps to re-cover ground more quickly.

So, ok, too late for that. I'd probably re-set down to 265 so you can continue progressing the other lifts without undue interference, but IMMEDIATELY switch to every other workout. So skip DL the next workout, then 265x5 the following, then skip, then 275, skip, 285, skip, 290 and go up by 5 lbs from there.

Note what we say about phase 2:

Phase 2’s length is variable, from several weeks to several months, depending on the individual trainee.

You'll have to actually start paying attention here, and not doing by rote what something on the internet or in a book says, even if those are good resources. There's individual variation that no amount of text can account for, and you want to prioritize NOT getting stuck, because it's much easier to stay unstuck than to get unstuck if you're already stuck.

[Jhj316]

Hi coach! Always thanks a ton for all the advices.

I took your recommendation with switching to deadlifting every other workout and it really worked wonders.

Last workout
Squat 310 x 5,5,5
Bench 200 x 4,3 185x3,3
Deadlift 320 x 5
Chins 7,7,6

Currently at body weight of 209 lbs ( 4 lbs increase from the restart in mid January)

Now it seems like my both press movement has hit a wall. Especially with heavier squatting seems to affect the press movement. At the moment, i do not intend to increase my calorie intake since i am near the upper range of my weight range. And i feel i can squeeze out 2-3 more weeks of LP squat and deadlift. Can you recommend a programming change for the OHP and BP?

[Michael Wolf]

Hi coach! Always thanks a ton for all the advices.

I took your recommendation with switching to deadlifting every other workout and it really worked wonders.

If only more people asked questions with the intent to really listen and follow through on the answers, they'd probably get similar results! I see you're up to 320x5 from 290x4, which is a solid increase and on the correct timeline for deadlifting ~6 times per month x 5 lb jumps.

Regarding your new Q: what do you mean upper end of your weight range? 5'10" 209 is not the upper end of anything. I can only guess without knowing or seeing you, but most likely yes, a calorie increase is in order.

[Jhj316]

Its solely based on my waist measurement nearing 37 inches and bmi nearing 30. Based on your recommendation, i will add about 50grams of carb (currently at near 250grams) and see where this will take me in terms of driving up those presses. Thank you!

[Michael Wolf]

You were only eating 250 grams of carbs on your LP as a 34 year old, 205 lb man with a squat well over 300 lbs? Oy vey. Yes, up that immediately, but not by 50. More like by 100-150.

A lot of people cite 40 inches as the number to keep it under. Remember two things:
1. You're still 3 inches away from that, which is conservatively around 30 lbs of weight gain even if you're not building muscle as fast as you were earlier in the LP.
2. Even assuming 40 inch waist is the red zone, I am pretty sure that's a chronic issue, if your waist is over 40 inches over a long period of time. Not if a 34 year old man who is training hard three days a week gets to 40 inches for a couple months while adding 75 to his squat and 35 to his bench.

Additionally, BMI is absolutely and utterly irrelevant for anyone who trains. I personally am not a paragon of leanness, I just like food too much and don't care enough to be lean - but you'd be hard pressed to say I'm obese bordering on morbidly obese. And yet that's exactly what the BMI chart says. What do you think? Does this look like someone who is a few lbs away from being morbidly obese?

Screen Shot 2019-03-22 at 9.49.08 AM.jpg

It doesn't take into account higher than normal amounts of muscle mass, and you can simply ignore it.

[Jr_Geezer]

Once again, I'm amazed at the quality and detail of information people can get here for free. Not the OP, but this is really useful stuff. Thanks to Coach Wolf and the others who post here.

[Jhj316]

Hi coach,

From the day you posted regarding upping carbs, i have been implementing 400g of carbs per day. Today i weighed in at 211 lbs (about 2 lbs increase in 10 days). The affect from this is tremendous in my squat (just completed 330x3x5) and deadlift (340x5). However bench press and press is still suffering (bp 205x4,3,3 and press 135x3,3,2). Is it time to move both press movement to texas method type of programming while keeping squat and deadlift in LP (with weds light day)? Or should i try deloading, which would be my first deload for pressing since restarting LP in january.

All in all i am still very happy with my 3 months progress and thank you for your help!