Stuck. What to do next?

[pastorgeoffb]

Hey SS community: I've been doing Starting Strength since February. I am 49, hurt my back last fall after a fall on a long trail run (L3 vertebra), went to a chiropractor who is also a powerlifter. She suggested Olympic lifts. So I started in Feb with nothing on the bar, and have worked a long time to get where I am now:

Squat worksets: 265
Bench worksets: 210
Press worksets: 145
Deadlift worksets: 275
I've tried Cleans and Snatches and found them incredibly frustrating, so I have not been doing them. I do chinups at every workout--3 sets of 10.

I've had to go back twice and re-do the deadlift and squat to make sure I had the form right. But in all 4, I'm now hitting a wall and not making progress. I do SS twice a week (not 3 times--that's a modification for my lower back and I've found this frequency to be better for me). But otherwise, I'm using the SS app and staying with the program. But at this point, I'm failing on the last workset to hit all 5--usually 4 reps. I have plateaued and don't know what to do. Any input?

Also, I swim twice a week, a mile at a time. This is also for my back. That's it.

[Zappey1]

You have to set your priorities when working out. If you want to get your lifts up that has to be your top priority. Try cutting out the swimming see if that helps with the lifts. 2 miles swimming a week is pretty far. Make sure you are doing a program with weights that are realistic starting off and slowly go up.

You did not mention your overall volume in a normal week. That might be either to low or to high for good recovery/ making enough stimulus. Nutrition is another big problem I see with lifters not making progress. If your not eating enough calories it is hard to make any gains.

I hope this helps.

[Nockian]

Manipulate diet, rest between sets, sleep, hydration. Micro load the bar if you aren't doing so. If the lifts continue to stall after a couple of back offs then move on to an intermediate program. The rapid gains on NLP run out eventually.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe