Headed back to SS after going to 531 too soon

26 male, 5'5, 205 lbs. Got on 531 a few years back with terrible numbers (1RM 245 bench, 195x5x3 squat, approx. 135x5x3 OHP, 1RM deadlift 325 with AWFUL form). Progressively overloaded isolation movements as well and have decently sized arms and chest but a severely lagging back.

Week 1/Day 1:

Squat 195x5x3 (5 sets of 3 for future reference)
Deadlift 235x5x1
OHP 135x5x1 (surprisingly fatigued, was in time pinch)

Week 1/Day 2:

Squat 205x5x3
Deadlift 245x5x1
Bench 165x5x3
This workout was great. Squat and bench speed was particularly fast.

Welcome back. I wish I had been aware of a program like SS when I was your age. I did not start until I was 66. Still it's a wonderful program. Keep at it.

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Originally Posted by carson

Welcome back. I wish I had been aware of a program like SS when I was your age. I did not start until I was 66. Still it's a wonderful program. Keep at it.

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Thanks, Carson. I hope you've been making gains as well! I do plan on keeping at it this time, I severely underestimated by strength potential and got carried away with doing isolation movements when I could have milked SS for many months more.

Week 1/Day 3

Squat 215x5x3
Deadlift 255x5x1
Bench 175x5x3

Squats and bench have been going great. I am benching 3x a week rather than doing any OHP as I am happy with my OHP progress. Deadlifts are going up fine but I feel like I can tighten my technique, I feel like my hips should stay higher. I also made the adjustment of not starting the deadlift with my shins too close to the bar; rather I have the bar resting over midfoot. This seemed to help prevent hitching forward at the start of the pull.

Also of note, I did deadlift 3x this week as I was eager to test out my strength and improved form. Week 2/Day 2 I anticipate having a back hypertrophy session rather than deadlifting after squatting and benching.

Week 2/Day 1

Squat 225x5x3
Deadlift 265x5x1
Bench 185 (No available benches at the time, and I can't stay in the gym forever because I have a morning class immediately after)
Seated MAG grip row 160x10x2, 160x8x1

Squats felt super easy, especially the last set. My bar path is also a lot better now, less back rounding from getting shoved forward like a good morning. Deadlifts went up quicker and bar path was better but I am still getting pulled forward a bit. My hips are a bit higher but I think I can get my arms to be more vertical. Disappointed I couldn't bench but I added in a few sets of MAG grip rows for some extra back work. Sets of 160 lbs felt super easy as compared to before I got back on SS when I was struggling with sets of 140 lbs. I will edit this post if I can think of any more thoughts regarding this training session.

Week 2/Day 2

Squats 235x5x3
Deadlift 275x5x1
Bench 185x5x3
MAG grip row 160x3x10

Once again, squats and bench went amazingly well, bar speed was great. On deadlifts I really focused on getting my lats tight and pulling the slack out of the bar. The set was slower but my form was much tighter. Overall, a great session.

Week 2/Day 3

Squats 245x5x3
Bench 195x5x3
Deadlift 285x3x1
MAG grip row 160x10x3
Triceps pushdown (rope) 50x12, 50x8, 50x6

Squats felt a bit heavier but I am very happy with my form and progress on them. My lower back was a bit fatigued afterwards so I decided to bench before deadlifting. 195 on the bench flew up, so I am happy with that as well.

Deadlifts today, however, were garbage. The amount of forward lean at the beginning of the lift was way too much, but I was able to keep my lower back straight. I only did 3 reps, I think I psyched myself out when I noticed how much I was leaning forward. My grip didn't feel as strong as well, but I feel like I should have pushed for the 5 reps. Not sure if benching before deadlifting had that much of an effect, just gotta toughen up and get stronger I think. Next session I will repeat 285, I think this is too early to stall on the deadlift.

MAG grip rows and triceps pushdowns were added at the end for hypertrophy work. Besides the deadlift, another session I am happy with. I'm going to try my best to eat and rest up this weekend.

Week 3/Day 1

Squat 255x5x3
Bench 200x5x3
Deadlift - will be done on separate days from squatting from now on, lower back was too fatigued from squats even after benching
MAG grip row 160x12x1, 160x10x1, 160x8x1

Besides my lower back fatiguing after squats (which were the toughest sets I've had yet since hopping back on SS), this was a good session. Squats were tough but I was happy with my form and with how I pushed through. I wore a belt for the last set. Benching went amazingly once again.

Week 3/Day 2

Deadlift 275x5x1
MAG grip row 180x8x2, 180x6x1

I decided to go down 10 lbs for the deadlift to really work on form. They went up quick, but I am really starting to see the disadvantage of having T-rex arms when it comes to deadlifting. I had success starting with lower hips and using more quads. Definitely the ugliest looking form out of the big 3 lifts for me, but on film my back is straight and the weight went up just fine so I will call this deadlift session a success.

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Originally Posted by Zurg

I am benching 3x a week rather than doing any OHP as I am happy with my OHP progress.

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You might want to reconsider this for shoulder health reasons (and this is coming from a former Bench Bro here).. The Press tends to strengthen the entire shoulder musculature while the Bench doesn't, and as you start to struggle with the Bench progression your Bench might actually benefit from alternating the two, I think mine did.. I got my lifetime best Bench programming as they do on here - roughly alternating both - and helped out some long-term shoulder problems at the same time. I believe Rip has said that one of his biggest mistakes is not Pressing during his powerlifting days and he paid for it in poor shoulder health later in life.

Once you're done with SSLP, the book on Programming says you can skew your intermediate programming toward more Bench volume if you want or need for competitive reasons, but even then it's generally not recommended that you stop Pressing altogether. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by DaveJF

You might want to reconsider this for shoulder health reasons (and this is coming from a former Bench Bro here).. The Press tends to strengthen the entire shoulder musculature while the Bench doesn't, and as you start to struggle with the Bench progression your Bench might actually benefit from alternating the two, I think mine did.. I got my lifetime best Bench programming as they do on here - roughly alternating both - and helped out some long-term shoulder problems at the same time. I believe Rip has said that one of his biggest mistakes is not Pressing during his powerlifting days and he paid for it in poor shoulder health later in life.

Once you're done with SSLP, the book on Programming says you can skew your intermediate programming toward more Bench volume if you want or need for competitive reasons, but even then it's generally not recommended that you stop Pressing altogether. Good luck!

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Thanks for the insight, Dave. I hadn't even thought about shoulder health much, tbh. I had omitted OHP from my program based on how much better it was in comparison to all my other lifts, but I will give it a second thought now. Perhaps starting next week I will do bench/OHP/bench then vice versa the next week. I will say before I hopped back on SS I was doing OHP frequently and I feel that has had carryover to how good benching feels right now.