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Thread: Beginning to plateau, tips?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2021
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    3

    Default Beginning to plateau, tips?

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    Hi,

    First time poster, newcomer to weightlifting. I've started to run into plateaus in overhead press and squats, and was hoping for some advice on how to keep progressing. My bench is still progressing, although it's starting to slow down and as for deadlifts, my poor form was setting progress back way more than I would like to admit, however I have finally clocked onto it and they are progressing yet again. Granted I have not been doing the program to the letter but here's some context:

    Started lifting in 12/04/21 when gyms in UK reopened, details as follows:
    Age 22
    Height 173cm / 5'8"

    OHP 30kg / 66 lbs 3x5
    Bench 50kg / 110lbs 3x5
    Squats 45kg / 99lbs 3x5
    Deadlifts 55kg / 121lbs 1x5
    Body weight 62kg / 136 lbs

    As of my last week's sessions
    OHP 65kg / 143 lbs 3x5
    Bench 97.5kg / 214lbs 3x5
    Squats 145kg / 319lbs 3x5
    Deadlifts 150kg / 330lbs 1x5
    Body weight 80kg / 176lbs
    Calorie intake is near 3000kcal per day, with a split of at least 200g protein, approximately 100g fat and 300g of carbs. It mainly consists of dairy, meat, fruit, potatoes and the occasional home made pizza/protein bread.
    Sleep ranges between 7-9 hours per day. I've also replaced barbell row with chin-ups, which have gone from 3x5 bodyweight to 3x5 with 35kg / 77lbs strapped onto me. As another modification, I go every other day as opposed to mon/wed/fri. On top of weight training, I also train BJJ and Muay Thai once a week each, and light cardio in preparation to joining the army.

    Should I incorporate a lighter squat day? Would increasing my calorie intake by another 1000-2000kcal allow me to keep progressing with NLP? What about adding heavy/light days for OHP? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    Posts
    94

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dio View Post
    Hi,

    First time poster, newcomer to weightlifting. I've started to run into plateaus in overhead press and squats, and was hoping for some advice on how to keep progressing. My bench is still progressing, although it's starting to slow down and as for deadlifts, my poor form was setting progress back way more than I would like to admit, however I have finally clocked onto it and they are progressing yet again. Granted I have not been doing the program to the letter but here's some context:

    Started lifting in 12/04/21 when gyms in UK reopened, details as follows:
    Age 22
    Height 173cm / 5'8"

    OHP 30kg / 66 lbs 3x5
    Bench 50kg / 110lbs 3x5
    Squats 45kg / 99lbs 3x5
    Deadlifts 55kg / 121lbs 1x5
    Body weight 62kg / 136 lbs

    As of my last week's sessions
    OHP 65kg / 143 lbs 3x5
    Bench 97.5kg / 214lbs 3x5
    Squats 145kg / 319lbs 3x5
    Deadlifts 150kg / 330lbs 1x5
    Body weight 80kg / 176lbs
    Calorie intake is near 3000kcal per day, with a split of at least 200g protein, approximately 100g fat and 300g of carbs. It mainly consists of dairy, meat, fruit, potatoes and the occasional home made pizza/protein bread.
    Sleep ranges between 7-9 hours per day. I've also replaced barbell row with chin-ups, which have gone from 3x5 bodyweight to 3x5 with 35kg / 77lbs strapped onto me. As another modification, I go every other day as opposed to mon/wed/fri. On top of weight training, I also train BJJ and Muay Thai once a week each, and light cardio in preparation to joining the army.

    Should I incorporate a lighter squat day? Would increasing my calorie intake by another 1000-2000kcal allow me to keep progressing with NLP? What about adding heavy/light days for OHP? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!
    From my personal experience, 300g carbs was not enough for NLP. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but the end of my NLP was discernibly more grueling than my first round of an intermediate 4-day split. So if I were in your shoes, I would try increasing carbs to 350 or more, and maybe even convert ~20g of your daily fat into carbs, as I believe Robert Santana generally recommends something more like 80-90g fat per day. (Someone please correct me if that’s wrong.)

    Also, as you mentioned, I would incorporate a mid-week light squat day if I were you. For me, slightly slowing squat progress was well worth what I gained psychology. Three heavy, grindy squat days each week is a half-step up from medieval torture. And if you do a light day, maybe consider reorganizing your week to include deadlifts that day, because you’re right, it’s low compared to your other lifts. Back to the mental aspects of this, when I incorporated a light squat day, I would go in on those days feeling really excited to do good work on those second and third lifts.

    A real coach might advise differently and if so, listen to them, but what I mentioned above allowed me to continue putting weight on the bar for a while longer.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2021
    Posts
    3

    Default

    Thanks man, I'll boost up calories big time as it appears I've started losing weight (belt needs to be set a notch tighter).

    For programming squats, would you recommend sticking to 3x5, light 3x5, 3x5

    or 5x5, then 20% of day 1 weight for 2x5 and finally 1x5 for 10 pounds heavier than day 1. Then repeating the same next week but increasing day 1 weight by 5 pounds?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    Posts
    94

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    Quote Originally Posted by dio View Post
    Thanks man, I'll boost up calories big time as it appears I've started losing weight (belt needs to be set a notch tighter).

    For programming squats, would you recommend sticking to 3x5, light 3x5, 3x5

    or 5x5, then 20% of day 1 weight for 2x5 and finally 1x5 for 10 pounds heavier than day 1. Then repeating the same next week but increasing day 1 weight by 5 pounds?
    [insert obligatory “read the gray book” here]

    But quick spoiler, yes, when you first incorporate light days into your NLP, you’ll keep the 3x5s for all three days. For my light days, I knocked off 20% of my heavy 3x5s. You won’t need 5x5s until you wrap up your advanced novice phase and move on to an intermediate program. Things start getting a bit more complicated at this point, so again, keep Practical Programming handy.

    If you’re losing weight and you aren’t fat, then yeah you need to change that. Not that this is necessarily right, but for reference, I gained about 1/2lbs/week throughout the second half of my NLP. SS coaches would probably say I wasn’t gaining enough weight, but whatever I have babies and sometimes they complicate things. Point is, you probably shouldn’t be losing weight right now.

    But also, you say “it appears” you’re losing weight, judging by your belt. Keep in mind that the belt loops don’t necessarily tell you what you’re weight is doing. If you went into this undertrained (as most of us do) and/or fat, you could be slimming in your mid-section but possibly maintaining or even gaining weight. Highly recommend you track weight and measurements.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    1,912

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    Quote Originally Posted by oface View Post
    [insert obligatory “read the gray book” here]
    There is that, but you already identified the most likely culprit - calories. Or the lack thereof.

    As you progress, make only minor changes so that you know what's working and what isn't. If you change diet and programming at the same time, how will you know what worked? You're still young enough and have a lot of NLP in front of you, if you do it smartly. Boost your calorie intake for a few weeks while maintaining your programming. If you're inhaling 5-6,000kcal/day and you're starting to stall on your lifts, then consider adding a light squat day.

    Take advantage of being 22—suck in the food, crank up the lifts. Complicating things now will only slow your progression. Take it from a 53 year old guy whose lifts are currently right with yours across the board, one who cannot inhale that same 5-6,000kcal and expect the same results.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2021
    Posts
    3

    Default

    starting strength coach development program
    Lil update,

    Went over my squat depth and it was a few inches off. dropped weight by 10% and rebuilt back to 140kg with correct depth this time. Calories have been upped to 5000kcal - in turn recovery has increased to the point where a light day is not needed yet. Once I'm accustomed to 5k, will increase to 6k instead (inhaling 5k was a struggle by itself although nothing good comes easy). Ordering both the gray book and a physical version of the blue book shortly as blue audiobook seems better to be read than listened to.

    Thanks for the help guys!

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