Need help with my programming and recovery

[Flavius]

Hello guys,

My name is Flavius, am a 33 old male, 165 cm(5.4 feet, I think), 78 kg(171 lbs); long torso, short femurs; medium arms
My current numbers are(in lbs) squat 1x5x313, deadlift 1x5x297, bench 1x4x231, bench 5x5x216, press 5x1x134, press 5x5x121(I din manage to pul of a 5x5x132 before march), 5x3x156 powerclean

Some background, I did some swimming and cycling before strength training, and stupid shit in the weight room(what I now would call exercise, not training); my body type would be more of a runner than a lifter(natural skinny man); I've always struggled to gain weight, and not a naturally strong person by any means;
I started hearing about starting strength trough Alan Thrall's channel a few years back, I started strength training, but did not actually do the program(there were to many youtube channels out there, to many distractions); so even thou I did not do the program, I did add some strength with other programs; but I did not eat enough to gain weigh because I think I have some food sensitivities(I have low energy, I sleep bad, I recover poorly, kinda feel like an old man, always been this way) so I was mostly on low-carb; finally last year I said, fuck it, and started actually eating to gain weight, and from august to about january I went from 132 to 176 lbs; but, as I've said I have low energy, I sleep badly(It take long for me to get to sleep and I sleep shallow, I wake up at any sound, and fall back asleep hard) and I have poor recovery, so I couldn't PR every workout, I would PR maybe weakly or even every 2,3 weeks, and would have setbacks, aches and pains that would set me back on my progression; because of that, and because I didn't track my macros(I think I might have eaten to much fat, and to little carbs), I gained a lot of fat and not so much muscle; so starting in july I decided to cut some weight, my plan is to cut to 165-160 lbs until october, and then start a more consciences bulk, get to about 200 lbs, and not gain so much fat.
I have begun tracking my macros and calories, and will try to up my carbs to 450-500 g and keep my fat about 100-120 g, and my protein about 140-150 g during my next bulking stage

My current program is:

Monday:
5x1 press intensity
5x5 bench volume -5-10% of my intensity bench
5x5 chins

Tuesday:
1x5 squat
5x3 powerclean

Thursday:
1x5 bench intensity
5x5 press volume -5-10% of my intensity bench
5x5 chins
3x10 curls

Friday:
5x5 squat - 20% of intensity
1x5 deadlift intensity

I currently eat about 2500-2700 kcals on my upper body days, and 2700-3000 on my lower body days, and about 2000-2300 on my off days; I try to keep my fat below 70-80 g, and my protein about 140g, rest is carbs;
I PR every 2 weeks(one week on press and squat, the next bench and deadlift,powerclean)

Regarding programming, given the fact that I am only 33, but feel and recover like an old man, on my next bulk I would like to add more assistance exercises for the upper body, so I would gain a bit more muscle mass upper body wise; I have tried to add more assistance (incline bench, incline bench with dumbbells, flyes, rows,etc) in april, march, when I was training at home because of the lockdown, but I have discovered that I don't tolerate volume and a higher rep range(8-12) because I have pretty fucked up shoulders (its the reason why I gave up swimming), but I did see an increse in my upper body muscle mass, and I kind of liked that

- So my question is, how can I add more volume and assistance, how can I increase my working capacity, even if I am only 33, but my recovery is shit?
- What would you advise I do different programming wise?
- When can I start adding some conditioning?; If I don't have access to a prowler, what can I do other that that to get some conditioning?; I have access to elliptical and swimming

I plan on going up to 200 lbs this time, and then cut to 185 and stay there; at my height I guess its should be enough; I don't necessary want visible abbs, but if I can get them at 185 it would be a bonus (given my skinny man genes, I think I can pull it off)
I plan on getting a 2,5xbodyweight squat, 2,5 deadlift, 1,5 bench, and 1 times bodyweight press, and just do maintenance(or PR less frequently anyway) after that; do a 3 day strength and 2 day conditioning split
I would like very much to add more weightlifting exercises(more powerclean and powersnach) and eventually transition into clean and snach, although I don't think that my current shitty recovery, and bad shoulders will alow me to do that

Does anybody have any ideea why at 33 years old I feel so low energy, have brain fog, lack of concentration, bad sleep( I sleep 10-11 hours but wake up tired), frequent aches/inflammation, can't tolerate volume/reps, felling like an old man practically; in the last podcast Rip was talking about his training and giving advice to a 62 year old about training when your old, and I felt exactly the same way in that I don't tolerate a bunch of volume and lots of exercises,reps per session; can it be some sort of food sensitivity as I have suspected?; I did do an IgG food sensitivity test and it said I had high sensitivity to eggs and dairy, so when I was low-carb I also excluded eggs and dairy, eat mostly meat and veggies, but still didn't help, so I think that test was shit; I was drinking about 2,3 coffees a day just so I could have the energy to do anything; I gave up coffee now, as I have more calories, but still feel low energy and my recovery is bad

Also english isn't my first language, so I'm sorry if I misspelled or made grammar errors; I'm from Romania, eastern Europe;

Also I want to thank uncle Rip and starting strength staff for all the quality information that you guys put out; it has really helped a lot with all the bullshit that is out there, just wish I had found you guys sooner

Thank you!

[Robert Santana]

How much are you lifting?

[Flavius]

as ive said:

My current numbers are(in lbs) squat 1x5x313, deadlift 1x5x297, bench 1x4x231, bench 5x5x216, press 5x1x134, press 5x5x121(I din manage to pul of a 5x5x132 before march), 5x3x156 powerclean

My current program is:

Monday:
5x1 press intensity
5x5 bench volume -5-10% of my intensity bench
5x5 chins

Tuesday:
1x5 squat
5x3 powerclean

Thursday:
1x5 bench intensity
5x5 press volume -5-10% of my intensity bench
5x5 chins
3x10 curls

Friday:
5x5 squat - 20% of intensity
1x5 deadlift intensity

[Robert Santana]

Next time organize it that way in your OP.

You mentioned upping your carbs. How many grams were you consuming before increasing them? Have you noticed a difference going to 450-500 grams. If you still feel like dirt, try 4 x 5 squats instead of 5 x 5. Regardless of how "light" it is, you can still accumulate fatigue from the volume especially after you've added weight for several weeks or months. 5 x 5 squats are a lot of work. Keep this in mind.

Your deadlift appears undertrained too, what's going there?

[Flavius]

Thanks for the reply; sorry, I don't know what OP means;

I didn't increase my carbs yet, I am still on a cut, I want to cut down to 165 until end of september, and from october I will increse my carbs to 450-500g for the next bulk
I eat about 200-300g of carbs per day, 70-80g of fat, and about140-150g of protein(2500-2700 kcal on my upperbody, 2700-3000 lowerbody, 2200 offdays)

my deadlift is behind because I use to tweak my back often when I was lighter, but as I have gained weight my back is much better;
also I have a long torso and short arms, so I don't have the best leverage for the deadlift

I will try 4x5 on squat volume rather than 5x5, thanks for that

But even before I was doing strength training I had low energy levels;

I sleep about 10-11 hours a day, but when I wake up I feel tired, I don't feel rested; can some sort of food sensitivity have an affect on my energy levels?; if not what should I think about?;

Thanks!

[Robert Santana]

If you are still on a cut that would explain why your recovery is smoked. Training while cutting is training under-recovered. So you'll have to apply less stress if you can't recover from the stress you are applying. Typically, that would be done by reducing intensity and keeping volume at a pace that you can both recover from and preserve muscle mass with. OP means original post or poster depending on the context