starting strength gym
Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 36

Thread: Strength plateau - begging for help at this point

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Posts
    33

    Default Strength plateau - begging for help at this point

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
    • starting strength seminar jume 2024
    • starting strength seminar august 2024
    Sorry if this is tldr. A little bit of background on me, im currently 6'3 and ~220lbs. Ive been training for upwards of 6 years and have only been serious about getting stronger the past couple of years. I've had stints with 5/3/1, PHAT, and PH3, but now im currently training with a competitive powerlifter in my uni gym and he has me training every day, with 9 total sessions with a linear based approached (adding 5-10lbs a week with a lot of accessory work).

    The problem is, I have been stuck around the same numbers for practically 2 years. 440/300/485 seems to be what ive been stuck around. Recently ive been gaining weight but im still making zero strength gains. I get bigger, but strength seems to just not come to me anymore. I dont know if its a psychological problem or if my training is bad, nutrition...? I figured if im putting on weight i would be getting stronger, but im not. I dont want to go to upwards of 20% bf to get stronger but at this point im thinking that this is the only thing that will get me passed this intermediate stage. I really need some insight on how to break past this intermediate level of strength.

    tldr: been stuck at intermediate lifts for several years, cant get stronger despite gaining weight, what should i be looking at fixing.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Posts
    62

    Default

    5/3/1, PHAT and PH3 are all suboptimal programs. I'd say training 5 days a week with 9 total sessions also sounds suboptimal, but there's no way for me to really know what this guy's got you doing. Look into The Bridge by Jordan Feigenbaum and Austin Baraki over at Barbell Medicine. Probably a program better suited to your needs, can also be run on a slight deficit if you want to. Good luck man

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    45

    Default

    Do you own Practical Programming?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Location
    Atlanta, Georgia
    Posts
    549

    Default

    Training 9 sessions a week is moronic. I don't care how good he is, nobody has any business doing that. It may work for him, but it is most certainly not what you need right now. Most likely your lifts haven't gone up because you are always tired. You can't display maximum effort when you've trained 8 other times that week.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    5,557

    Default

    You have a coach already, are you looking to fire him and hire someone else? Or to learn to program for yourself?

    This site sells coaching services, they are expensive but good.

    Much cheaper is the book Practical Programming for Strength Training v3, but I warn you that many (most?) people lack the real-world coaching experience to apply it effectively. Certainly I screwed up my own programming quite a bit despite reading it carefully.
    There's a lot of good judgement required to fine-tune the various training templates for particular lifters.

    I know a lot of guys with similar stats to yours have made good progress on templates described in PPSTv3 such as HLM, TM, and HL-split.

    But a properly customized 5-3-1 works too. What program were you running, that got you to where you are now? Why did you stop doing that one?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Posts
    33

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Dalton Clark View Post
    Training 9 sessions a week is moronic. I don't care how good he is, nobody has any business doing that. It may work for him, but it is most certainly not what you need right now. Most likely your lifts haven't gone up because you are always tired. You can't display maximum effort when you've trained 8 other times that week.
    I didnt know what else to do, hes quite literally one of the strongest kids in my gym and he has seen pretty good results training this often. I asked him why he trains this much, as it was amazing to me that someone strength training trains everyday (let alone 9 total sessions a week) and his response was "I just love to train". He seems intelligent and i figured just lifting and hanging around the kid would get me stronger but i still dont see the practicality of lifting this much. I was also amazed to see that someone who is putting up pretty advanced lifts was running essentially a linear progression program and is just trying to add weight on the bar each week? I was under the impression that this is not likely doable for anyone thats not a novice?

    Below is the hypertrophy block he has me doing right now

    Screen Shot 2017-11-16 at 1.27.59 PM.jpgScreen Shot 2017-11-16 at 1.28.24 PM.jpgScreen Shot 2017-11-16 at 1.28.51 PM.jpg

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Posts
    33

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Davies View Post
    You have a coach already, are you looking to fire him and hire someone else? Or to learn to program for yourself?

    This site sells coaching services, they are expensive but good.

    Much cheaper is the book Practical Programming for Strength Training v3, but I warn you that many (most?) people lack the real-world coaching experience to apply it effectively. Certainly I screwed up my own programming quite a bit despite reading it carefully.
    There's a lot of good judgement required to fine-tune the various training templates for particular lifters.

    I know a lot of guys with similar stats to yours have made good progress on templates described in PPSTv3 such as HLM, TM, and HL-split.

    But a properly customized 5-3-1 works too. What program were you running, that got you to where you are now? Why did you stop doing that one?
    Im not looking to hire a coach because im a broke college kid. Im just confused all together, I found some success with 5/3/1 for my squat and dead but bench went no where and even regressed a little. PH3 was quite possibly the most pathetic experience in my lifting career considering I ran it through and through and made zero progress. There seems to be a reoccurring theme of me running a program and it working for one or two of my lifts but not all 3 so im assuming that im at a point where I have no choice but to program for myself and try to learn how I personally can progress. I just dont feel very confident in my ability to analyze my training from an objective standpoint and make adjustments accordingly. I'm just tired of spending so much time looking for the right program for me and spinning my wheels. The idea of RPE style training seems attractive to me and I was looking into feigenbaums the bridge and even RTS but I thought the general idea of RPE based training wasn't generally accepted by rippetoe or the SS community

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Fort Worth
    Posts
    4,830

    Default

    Stop.
    A few post in a forum are not going to be inadequate after 6 years of stagnation.

    I highly recommend that you consider some coaching associated with this site or “barbell medicine” until you learn what a good program for you looks like.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Fort Worth
    Posts
    4,830

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RatDog View Post
    Im not looking to hire a coach because im a broke college kid. Im just confused all together, I found some success with 5/3/1 for my squat and dead but bench went no where and even regressed a little. PH3 was quite possibly the most pathetic experience in my lifting career considering I ran it through and through and made zero progress. There seems to be a reoccurring theme of me running a program and it working for one or two of my lifts but not all 3 so im assuming that im at a point where I have no choice but to program for myself and try to learn how I personally can progress. I just dont feel very confident in my ability to analyze my training from an objective standpoint and make adjustments accordingly. I'm just tired of spending so much time looking for the right program for me and spinning my wheels. The idea of RPE style training seems attractive to me and I was looking into feigenbaums the bridge and even RTS but I thought the general idea of RPE based training wasn't generally accepted by rippetoe or the SS community
    Ok seeing this do the bridge. Don’t worry about the differences in opinion among coaches regarding post novice training.
    You need a different mindset and that program will help get you there.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    327

    Default

    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by RatDog View Post
    I asked him why he trains this much, as it was amazing to me that someone strength training trains everyday (let alone 9 total sessions a week) and his response was "I just love to train". He seems intelligent and i figured just lifting and hanging around the kid would get me stronger but i still dont see the practicality of lifting this much. I was also amazed to see that someone who is putting up pretty advanced lifts was running essentially a linear progression program and is just trying to add weight on the bar each week? I was under the impression that this is not likely doable for anyone thats not a novice?
    "I just love to train" as an explanation for a big strong guy being able to avoid overtraining while lifting daily is a little suspicious, and following that program is a recipe for burnout.

Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •