Is my job hurting my progress? And needing general advice

[ChsBkr]

I'm 38, 6'0" started SS in October 2023 at 165-170lbs, currently 190. I've had good muscle growth especially the quads/glutes. I average 4300 calories and 200g protein a day, and I meticulously track. Considering bumping up to 4500 calories. My lifts started at, Squat 130, Bench 90, OHP 65, DL 150. Squat climbed great until 215 then deepth/form was getting bad, backed off to 195 and now I'm at 237.5 and it's going well. DL stalled at 300, I backed off to 270 and now I'm at 312.5 but it's been a real struggle to go upbsince 300, and grip is starting to be a real issue too. I think my DL needs reprogramming, I think I'm not recovering enough between days. Now the real reason I'm here is my presses. My bench took forever to start moving over 105, currently at 140 and I feel it's going to stall and my OHP won't break 90, I stall, miss 3 days in a row, at 88 back off to 80 or so and climb again but never get 90. I've been an automotive mechanic for 18 years and do a lot of fairly heavy push/pull at work a lot of times over my head. I've done this long enough my arms are rarely if ever noticeably fatigued from working, but I'm wondering if my job is what's hurting my progress on my presses. Is it hurting recovery or equating to overtraining? I don't know. How can I get these lifts to start moving again? Sometimes I think I should just focus on one instead of flip flopping workout A/B. Any advice would be appreciated. Also advise on DL, not really wanting to go to power clean, but will, should I do light/volume/heavy for the DL? Thanks

[heinz83]

How long are you resting between sets?
How many days per week do you deadlift?
Have you started the light squat day on Wednesday?

[Griffin727]

I mean your bench has went up 50 pounds in almost 4 months. Seems like that's going well. The press is usually 60 to 70 precent of the bench so that checks off. The squat and deadlift seem to echo each other fine as well. I think the word you need to here is time. This stuff takes time, if you keep doing this at least half way right for a year and some change you will wish you could gain 20 pounds a month at your bench and 40 pounds to your pull. I think about it like this, 20 a month at bench times 12 months is 240 pounds. If this happened over and over everyone would bench record numbers. I'm telling you, this will slow down even more from 5 pounds a week to 5 pounds a month to 5 pounds every 3 months if you do this long enough. As for recovery and your job I think you are fine since you are making gains. The most anabolic thing you can do is 8 hours of sleep and naps on the weekends and eat calories with a good nutritional supply. Keep doing the novice program in about 9 months if halfway done right you will have drained all benefits and will need a Texas method or a HLM basic split.

[Satch12879]

Show us all your lifts.

[ChsBkr]

How long are you resting between sets?
How many days per week do you deadlift?
Have you started the light squat day on Wednesday?

3 minutes between work sets sometimes 4 for the last set on my presses, and 5 min between warm up lifts and work set for the deadlift. I'm using the SS app which has you do 5 warm up lifts from empty bar to like 80%, all warmups are 90sec rest.
Deadlifting 3 days a week MWF, and no I haven't started the light squat.

[ChsBkr]

I mean your bench has went up 50 pounds in almost 4 months. Seems like that's going well. The press is usually 60 to 70 precent of the bench so that checks off. The squat and deadlift seem to echo each other fine as well. I think the word you need to here is time. This stuff takes time, if you keep doing this at least half way right for a year and some change you will wish you could gain 20 pounds a month at your bench and 40 pounds to your pull. I think about it like this, 20 a month at bench times 12 months is 240 pounds. If this happened over and over everyone would bench record numbers. I'm telling you, this will slow down even more from 5 pounds a week to 5 pounds a month to 5 pounds every 3 months if you do this long enough. As for recovery and your job I think you are fine since you are making gains. The most anabolic thing you can do is 8 hours of sleep and naps on the weekends and eat calories with a good nutritional supply. Keep doing the novice program in about 9 months if halfway done right you will have drained all benefits and will need a Texas method or a HLM basic split.

Well what can I do to stop failing reps four and five on sets two and three all the time. Should I be going up a half pound of the time? It's just discouraging to fail so often I don't mind the slow progress

[Mark Rippetoe]

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

[Griffin727]

The press you are going to stall early. Yet I feel you shouldn't be stalling this early. You aren't doing anything stupid like cardio right now are you? Also are you trying add 5 pounds to your bench and press per work out. They will come a point as a novice where you put 5 pound on the bench every week and 5 pounds on the press every 2 weeks. I would stay at what you are doing for a 3x5 for 2 weeks at a time on the press before tying to add 5 pounds. A good way to know if you can get more weight on upper body lifts, is that the bar speed increases slightly. With squats and deads you can bull through weight. A press you really can't bull through it. As I said earlier you won't be able to add 5 pounds to your press every workout for long. It will go 5 pounds a workout, 5 pounds a week and so on. I'm not saying dont put weight on the bar, but make sure you are ready. This may mean staying at the same weight for a extra week at this phase. Also buy some micro plates. The first 3 question bellow is a great go to when any lifting is stuck in any phase.

[ChsBkr]

Show us all your lifts.

Where would I post videos of my lifts? I might be able to record and upload tomorrows workout. I'm sure my presses don't have the best form

Also I hit 315 on my deadlift yesterday, all of a sudden it was much easier than it had been

[Matt James]

3 minutes between work sets sometimes 4 for the last set on my presses.

Nowhere near enough. Double it, at least, and see what happens.