End of NLP ?

[Josselin]

Dear all,


I'm 30yo french male, 6'2ft 244lbs, I think I'm close to the end of my NLP and I would like your advises on programming and technique (lifts in videos below). I mostly train in France in a powerlifting gym. To answer the first three questions, I sleep between 7 and 8hrs, eat around 4000kcal with 250g of protein and I rest about 10min inbetween working sets.

Numbers :
Squat 5x175kg (386lbs) - 20240426 Squat 175kgx5 - YouTube
Deadlift 5x195kg (430lbs) - 20240426 Deadlift 195kgx5 - YouTube
Bench 4x133kg (293lbs) - 20240426 Bench 133kgx4 - YouTube
Press 5x99kg (218lbs)
Power Clean 3x115kg (254lbs)
BW chins - 12reps

I have now troubles to recover inbetween workouts (3days per week ABA/BAB) and add weigths each time especially for Bench and Press. I often find myself sore in the triceps/delts and quads.
As I've read grey book I've now switch to 1 top set of 5 and 2 back off sets with 10% load reduction.
I've started to micro load Press and Bench (1kg - half pound).
I Squat heavy every 5days and I do 2x5 with 70% of previous top set of 5 load the light day. The soreness in my quads prevent me to control the excentric part of the movement And i cannot squat heavy on Friday and again on Monday.
My deadlift is not stalling and I still add weigth each time. I chin on monday, power clean on Wednesday and Deadlift on Friday (2days of recovery after it feels better).

I would like your advises on what to do now - switch to 3x3 ?


Many thanks,

Josselin

[Maybach]

If you can't squat heavy on both Friday and Monday, just squat heavy on Monday. Congratulations, you are now doing an intermediate squat program. No need to go to 3x3 as long as that is working.

[Yngvi]

Do not hyperextend your back when locking out the deadlift.

You might benefit from running out triples on the squat before intermediate programming.

[Josselin]

Thank you, what do you think should I do for Press and Bench ? I was thinking about 3x3 because pressing heavy on Monday and Benching heavy on Wednesday (or the opposite) is hard on recovery for me (sore delts and triceps, even with mirco loading (1kg - 2.2lbs), so reducing the volume and increasing the intensity sounds a good idea, isn't it ?

For the squat, I'm still able to add 2.5kg (5lbs) but once a week or once every 5 days (sometimes the top set of 5 is grueling on Friday, I skip the squat on Monday and do 2x5 with 30% less weight on wednesday and I add 2.5kg on the next Friday).
When you look at the grey book for the "advanced novice", it is written that you should be able to squat one top set of 5 on Friday and add weight on the next Monday and it is impossible for me, my quads hurt just standing back off the toilet).
Like Rip said once in a SS Radio : "No you are not special''. As I'm telling this to myself I wonder why I have this problem with squat frequency.

[Maybach]

If you are an intermediate, you can only add weight to your topsets once per week. You aren't special because this eventually happens to everyone. Just do a topset of 5 on Monday, followed by 2x5 aylt 90%, then on Friday, just do 3x5 at 90%. The next week, add five pounds to all weights.

Your presses are not harming your recovery. If you start to miss reps, look at the compressed Texas method: Intermediate Programming for the Upper Body Lifts | Nick Delgadillo

[Yngvi]

There is one main reason to move to 3s at the advanced NLP stage:
At this stage, you may be feeling constantly sore, tired or beat up; 3s will let you to keep pushing the numbers up for a while while also allowing overall stress/fatigue to dissipate before beginning intermediate programming.

3X3 will not be enough to drive adaptation for more than a short period of time, especially on the upper body lifts.

Second option is as Maybach described; just move on to intermediate programming.

[Josselin]

According to what you all said I consider switching to this type of 4day split. Several questions:
image.png

Is 5x5 at 80% of 5RM not too light ? If I'm squatting 180kg x 5reps (397lbs) it means doing 5x5 at 140kg (309lbs). It appears very light but maybe this is because I've never experienced doing five sets of five, isn't it ?
I guess I do not need to add extra back off sets for deadlift until 1x5 stalls, right ?
I guess I do not need assistance exercises until I get stuck, do I ?
I plan to add 1kg (2.2lbs) each week on bench and press, and 2.5kg (4.4lbs) on squat and deadlift.

Also:

I'm a former rugby player and I was running quite a bit before NLP (I stopped completely), 10km (6.2miles) in 55min was my regular sunday jog. I found now myself a bit less conditionned and I would like to add 20min of assault bike high intensity intervals on Saturday and Monday after the workout, I guess there is no problem with this ? Unfortunatly I don't have access to a prowler in my gym...

Remark : What is interesting to see is that my heart rate was 48-52bpm before NLP and it remained the same after without any cardio (my NLP took 3months and I add 5kg (11lbs) of body weight.

Summer is coming, I leave in a mountain area and I would like to be able to enjoy hiking in the nature without being out of breath

Thank you for you precious advices

[Josselin]

Apparently the screenshot of the program didn't worked :

Day1 : Squat 5x5
Day 2 : Press 1x5 - Bench 5x5 - Barbell rows 5x5
Day 3 : rest
Day 4 : Squat 1x5 - Deadlift 1x5
Day 5 : Bench 1x5 - Press 5x5 - Chins 3 sets
Day 6 and 7 : rest

[asm44]

I'll never understand the appeal of making a work set a group activity instead of just using the available safeties.

Anyway -- Back-off sets for deadlifts are more likely to harm than help. You have a ways to go before any alteration from the 1x5 is needed.

[Maybach]

80% is indeed too light. Topsets and backoffs feed nicely into the Texas method as described in the book. Just do whatever you are doing as backoff weight as your volume work, then do your topsets as your intensity work.

Learn to power clean. Learn to power clean. Learn to power clean.