Stalling early in the deadlift, general advide after 6 weeks

[z.seb]

I'm a 36 yo male, 5'11'', 185 pounds, recently started the NLP after two years of 5/3/1 and GZCLP. I realized that I hadn't seen any progress at all and so I just decided to do starting strength 6 weeks ago instead, were I have seen progress.

Lifts are BP: 150 pounds, P: 95 pounds, SQ: 220, DL: 255 (these are converted from kilos), I just started power cleaning at 100 pounds, so I'm alternating DL and PC atm.

I am not sleeping enough for sure, and I'm not eating enough since I haven't gained at all as much as I think I would need to (0.5 to 1 pound per week). I'm also vegan so given that I'm not gaining enough weight I'm sure as hell not getting enough protein. I will work on that, I have never had problem at least gaining weight in the past, and I will just drink more protein shakes. I'm in a bit of a stressful situation right now where I'm also moving (so for at least two weeks I will just workout twice per week to make sure I don't add too much stress, but will go back to three times after the move).

I have realized that my time at 5/3/1 and GZCLP have made me form some bad form habits. I learnt the lifts through the starting strength videos so I have been doing the lift (or have tried to do the lifts) with the technique prescribed. But because I could just reset when things got heavy I never had to actually figure out technique errors.

I have stalled on the press and I have figured that has to do with not bracing correctly (I have noticed that I start pushing before I brace for some reason). I did reset the press from 100 pounds last week to work on that, I'm not sure that was right thing to do. In the squat I have some knee slide. In the bench press I have no idea since I haven't started videoing it, but I think it's doing fine.

I also decided to deload my squat by 10% after I noticed knee cave at 200 pounds. This was a mistake I think, but I'm not sure. I did fail my 220 squat, I just leaned over far too much on the second rep of the second set and set the bar on the pins. I'm not sure what happened, I finished the third set with no problems. I will repeat the 220 squat next time either way.

Currently though I have been stuck on the deadlift. I got stuck first at 245 because of what I figured was grip issues. I finally pulled 245 with hook grip after convincing myself it was grip issues at 235 using straps. Right now I'm stuck, last workout I couldn't pull the bar a second time. Part of that could've been that I wasn't willing to actually pull long enough, but I have realized that I am simply not using the lats to slide the bar on the shins. I think that's related to a fear of scraping my shins, but either way that is what I'm having to work on now.

Given all of this I wonder what I should do while I work on getting unstuck in the deadlift. Should I deload a little bit (remove 10 pounds?)? Should I do the deadlift every workout? What should I do with my squat here, I'm worried my squat numbers are too close to my DL numbers. Or should I just keep going? I think that if I fix my DL form issues (given that I've correcltly diagnosed them) and my diet and sleep I should start to smooth sailing. These are embarrasing numbers.

Any help would be appriciated. I will also post my last squat and deadlift videos in the technique board.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

You guys do the rest, please.

[z.seb]

I double posted because I didn't read the page after I submitted and I thought I hadn't submitted ��

[heinz83]

1. Kill a large animal and eat it at the rate of 250g per day. 4,000 total calories minimum.
2. Deadlift every workout for as long as you can stand it. Don't use straps.
3. Don't reset anymore lifts. Work on your technique as you add weight to the bar. Post those videos.

[Steven Kalin]

I’d like to see your press. Pushing before bracing? I’ve had people start the press before the bounce, is that what you mean?

The deadlift: wear sweat pants or knee socks. Not sure how you made a lift with a hook grip that straps cost you because of the grip. Do you have the blue book?

[Steven Kalin]

The vegan thing: not being a vegan, all I can say is that my understanding is that just loading on the protein won’t take care of all the deficiencies inherent in a vegan diet. It’s more complicated than just doubling down on protein shakes.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Not sure how you made a lift with a hook grip that straps cost you because of the grip.

He had the straps on the bar backwards. Because he doesn't have the book.

[z.seb]

> 1. Kill a large animal and eat it at the rate of 250g per day. 4,000 total calories minimum.

I'll see if I can get 200g per day and hope that's enough for now. I can eat enough peanut butter to get 4000 calories, no problem.

> 2. Deadlift every workout for as long as you can stand it. Don't use straps.
> 3. Don't reset anymore lifts. Work on your technique as you add weight to the bar. Post those videos.

I will do that then.

> Not sure how you made a lift with a hook grip that straps cost you because of the grip. Do you have the blue book?

Oh, it's the other way around, I wrote the post way too late at night, which is why I also never posted the videos. So I failed with a hook grip, but made the lift with straps. I have the blue book.

> The vegan thing: not being a vegan, all I can say is that my understanding is that just loading on the protein won’t take care of all the deficiencies inherent in a vegan diet. It’s more complicated than just doubling down on protein shakes.

For sure. Plant protein is less bioavaiable and is lacking in Leucine and Lysine in general. The only hope left is that enough protein from different sources can make up for those deficiencies. The vegan diet is also light in calories so you must eat a lot more volume. In general twice as much volume.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The first thing you need to do is get some counseling for this eating disorder. Everything else can wait until this is corrected. This is like complaining about no progress on your deadlift when you get up every morning and ritually cut your hands with a razor.

[Maybach]

The best thing you can do for your nutrition is start eating animal products.

If you're concerned with the morality of your consumption habits, eggs do a pretty good job of covering those bases: egg producing chickens live about as comfortable a life as an animal can. You can probably even find a neighbor/neighboring farm that raises them and sells the eggs. I don't know where you're from. Eat a dozen eggs a day. To start. You can also find a "responsible" dairy farm. If you're serious about doing this, this is possible.

If this really doesn't cover it, vegan nutrition for strength training leaves exactly zero room for fucking around. You HAVE TO take a creatine supplement. Not SHOULD. HAVE TO. You have to find one of those science experiment protein powders made out of peas and mushrooms. Consume 35g MINIMUM of protein from that every meal, during your workout, and before you go to bed. Take an EAA supplement at every meal. Good vegan ones are hard to find. These are not optional optimizations. They are the basic bare minimum. If you are not doing each and every one of these things, you are not going to make progress. Or you could just eat the damn eggs.

You are not lifting weights that you need to drop workouts to worry about accumulating stress. Missing a workout might be *forced* on you, but it should never be *chosen*. Ditto "deloading." You are not failing to lift these weights because you are under-recovered. You are failing them because you are not strong.

If your deadlift is not at least 50 pounds ahead of your squat, do not power clean. Deadlift every workout until it's like, *75* pounds ahead. Cleans are a *break* from deadlifting. You do not need to take breaks.