Should I change something up?

[Cole Gorton]

Thanks doesn’t that seem like a lot of heavy sets of squats? I die just doing 3 sets of 5 squats! 5 sets of 5 heavy squats would be taxing! But if that’s a good intermediate program I’ll have a look at maybe trying that out. Thanks again.

This is the HLM laid out in PPST grey book and is the default program seen on pg 163 I believe. You need enough stress to disrupt homeostasis. Since you have already been doing 3 sets of 5 and are getting stuck, my first intervention would be to have you deload by 10%, and start doing 5 sets of 5 on you Heavy day. Then, please dont get creative...You want to do 2 sets of 5 (-20% of H day) on L day, and 3 sets of 5 (-10% from H day) on M day. Do one day off in between ie: M-W-F.

If 5x5 gets to be too much, you can drop a set or two eventually, but I have no reason to believe you would not benefit from the increase in volume especially with a load reduction at first.

[Bill Anders]

Well, the correct answer is to put on 20lbs of bodyweight, which will still look good on a 5'11" frame while your NLP continues to progress.

[sportslifter]

My starting point was

Deadlift 315
Squat 245
Press 115
Bench 185
Clean 115

I think once I rehab a bit I will continue to do starting strength it’s just so intense at those higher weights. Maybe I need to rest even longer. Right now my rest is like 7 or 8 minutes but maybe I need even longer. Thanks again for the input!

I definitely get a bit scared of adding 20 pounds as that would put me at 220 but if that’s what needs to be done then I would do it

Is that just for squats or for all lifts?

[heinz83]

Squats require more rest time than other lifts. Adjust as you see fit. If you miss reps, refer to this article:

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

[Satch12879]

Pretty high starting weights.

[Bill Anders]

Honestly, it's just a start. If you call Rip on one of his call-in shows, he'd likely tell you that you need to get to 240-245 (or more). You'll just need to decide what your goals are.

[Jovan Dragisic]

You need to change this to a 420 deadlift as soon as you can. Everything else will fall into place.

[sportslifter]

Squats require more rest time than other lifts. Adjust as you see fit. If you miss reps, refer to this article:

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

He talks about waiting 7 minutes to continue sometimes but sometimes I go with 8 minutes. I've never waited longer than that. I'm not sure if it would be helpful or not. Worth a shot I guess!

Honestly, it's just a start. If you call Rip on one of his call-in shows, he'd likely tell you that you need to get to 240-245 (or more). You'll just need to decide what your goals are.

That is pretty heavy for my size. I get what you mean though. I want to be strong but I don't want to be fat and have health risks and look fat just to be strong.

You need to change this to a 420 deadlift as soon as you can. Everything else will fall into place.

What do you mean by that? And how can I just change this to a 420 deadlift?

[Matt James]

That is pretty heavy for my size. I get what you mean though. I want to be strong but I don't want to be fat and have health risks and look fat just to be strong.

200 is also pretty light for 5'11". Why don't you split the difference and try to get to 220 and see what happens.

And how can I just change this to a 420 deadlift?

Add 5 pounds a week.

[Nicholas Laureys]

He talks about waiting 7 minutes to continue sometimes but sometimes I go with 8 minutes. I've never waited longer than that. I'm not sure if it would be helpful or not. Worth a shot I guess!

Why NOT wait even longer? If you could hit your next attempt of 3*5 by resting 15 minutes between sets, why wouldn't you do it? There's nothing in The Book that suggests that reduced rest time between sets is an indicator of increased strength: that's most likely the mindset of the functional fitness crowd creeping into your subconscious. You could try at your next training session to not to focus on resting XX minutes or less, but rather rest long enough so that you feel confident that you'll get the next set. I thought that 8 minutes was a long enough rest period until things felt heavy enough that only 11+ minutes helped me feel confident enough to hit the next set.