Squat Adjustment

[sg10033]

Hi,
36yo M, 6'1", 238lbs about 6 months into NLP.
OHP-140 3x5
BP-170 3x5
Squat- 260 3x5
Deadlift -315 1x5
Chins-banded assist 3x4
Form is pretty solid on all, mostly thumbs up when I post on the forum. Everything is moving forward nicely.

Moving into early intermediate phase of squat, after seeing a stall at 265 3x5. Three questions asked and answered, sleep is pretty good, eating lots, 6-12min rest between sets. I've been struggling with light injuries around the 265 point and I'm back and I've had two workouts with failed sets. 5x1 then 2 more reps before I failed. First fair sets, luckily I listened to the safety episode recently.
I have been doing squats, MWF, heavy, light, heavy.
I was thinking I could do a heavy day 3x5 on Monday, no squat on Wednesday just deadlift and press, and 5x5 of 85% Monday's weight.
Thoughts?

[Mark Rippetoe]

These numbers don't make sense for a guy your age at 6'1" and 238. You must be missing a lot of workouts.

[sg10033]

I hear that and I've done my best to stay consistent. I'm doing it on a day-to-day basis but I've missed chunks of time because of tweaks and trips away from the gym.
I work hard and want to push through and follow the program. These weights is where I've been stuck a couple of times
I'm healthy and working to get through it and open to your advice.
Thanks

[Maybach]

I'm back and I've had two workouts with failed sets. 5x1 then 2 more reps before I failed. First fair sets, luckily I listened to the safety episode recently.

This is unclear. Describe exactly how the two workouts with failed sets happened and when.

This is a very light weight to be moving to HLM. "Pretty good" and "lots" might in absolute terms be equivalent to "could be better" and "not enough."

[sg10033]

To be clear, I'm not thrilled with where I am either.
Sleep is usually 6-7 hours. I work 50hrs a week with an hour commute and dad of 2 kids, I have to wake at 4am to get to the gym at 5am before work. It's almost impossible to get to sleep by 9pm.
Eating really isn't a problem. I regularly eat between 250-350g of protein and 3500-4500 calories a day.
The set backs have occurred around this strength point: 2 week camping trip, a bad tweak that took me out for 2 weeks, and another that took me out for a week.
Going for an MRI soon to look at a possible disc issue to address the tweaks.
The last two heavy squat days, I do 265 for 1x5 then on the 2nd set, I can't grind out and bail on the 2nd rep.

[sg10033]

Just got 3x5 of 265. Last few reps were a grind but got them up. If you don't think altering programming should happen now, then when?

[Mark Rippetoe]

The last few reps will always be a grind. If you are not prepared for this, just lift light weights and use RPE to justify it. This is how you alter your programming to make it easy.

[sg10033]

I don't know who RPE is, or what they did to you, but as God as my witness, I will get justice for you Rip.
But seriously, I've been working hard at this, pushing through set backs. I listened to Episode #59 with Nick D and he specifically mentioned 265lb as a point he sees people needing a change in their squat program. If I should still go up in weight, 3 times a week, fine. If there are other options, I'd like to know it.
Thanks for your time.

[Maybach]

Sleep is usually 6-7 hours. I work 50hrs a week with an hour commute and dad of 2 kids, I have to wake at 4am to get to the gym at 5am before work. It's almost impossible to get to sleep by 9pm.
Eating really isn't a problem. I regularly eat between 250-350g of protein and 3500-4500 calories a day.

While I understand your situation, 6-7 hours of sleep a night is not "pretty good." This may indeed be the problem. Your ability to get stronger is in some sense hard capped by your recovery ability: if the amount of stress required to force an adaptation can't be recovered from, well, then you can't adapt to it. Programming can only do so much.

Given that your stalls are not being hard pinned by your first set but rather you gassing out as the workout goes on, it's almost certainly an insufficient recovery/endurance issue, rather than an insufficient stress issue, especially since you got the 265x5x3 when you tried it again. Don't make any more changes until you're hard stuck (that is, you can't make an increase for two or three workouts).

Also: you're not working out fasted, are you? Insufficient carbs right around the workout is often responsible for single set gassing like this. Get like 100 grams of carbs right in you when you wake up or right before/during your workout and adjust down as necessary. If you don't have time to make a meal get some dextrose powder or orange juice or something. Might take care of it on its own.

[sg10033]

Thanks. I'll make adjustments in sleep a priority.
As for food, I eat oatmeal with honey/maple and a cup of berrys, plus about 10oz of coffee all on the train ride to the gym. I'll check the macros and increase if needed.
As always, thanks for the help.