Add powercleans? Light day for Squats?

[Kevin_H]

Hey all-

I’ve been doing the SSLP for about a month. It’s not a true LP since I’ve been barbell training for about 10 months now. Long story short, “true LP” meaning eating enough calories, protein, etc and sticking to the program, improved form. I’ve made all the mistakes in the book, but from Oct to now have done a decent job of LP.

For background:

Name: Kevin
H: 5’10”
W: 183
Age: 33

Oct 1 to Present (SSLP)
Squats: 230 - 275
Deadlift: 255 - 300
Bench: 170 - 195
Press: 105 - 117

Calories: 3000+
Protein: 200 - 225
Carbs: 300+
Fat: <100

Anyway, made good jumps every workout but have started to slow down. I’m still deadlifting 3x a week, and obv squatting 3x and alternating press/bench.

My question is should I be adding the power clean in at this point? Or more specifically at what point should I add it?

Also, at what point would you suggest doing a light day for Squats?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Brian Goldstein]

Morning Kevin.

Generally speaking, yes, by now is an appropriate time to add the power clean to the "B" workout. For many people, this is sometime between 1-3 weeks after starting, because DLs have become too taxing. It is not a function of how much weight one is DL'ing per se - not "once you're DL'ing 300, add in Power Cleans", more "the next time I can't DL 5 pounds more, I need a longer time between DLs". It's all relative to your response to the training.

Same thing with the light squat workout - the consensus opinion is when all 15 reps are a true grind - bar speed slows down greatly - and the first three questions can be answered correctly. It isn't "When you hit 285x5x3, change to X" or along those lines. If you're not sure if you're at that point, the best suggestions are to see a coach in person or record your last set, per the recommendations in the sticky of the SS Coaches forum, and ask for a technique check there. They won't steer you wrong.

There's a really great article in the training log section called "Can I get strong and also..." that I think has the most straightforward example of progression in the LP, especially for someone who isn't a true rank novice. It's been very helpful for me as I, like you, give the SSLP another try.

I'm your age, height and weight, so I'm going to be interested in your progress. Good lifting so far, keep it up man!

[Kevin_H]

Thanks for the response Brian. Yeah that makes sense. I live fairly close to a SS gym and am gonna do a check up sometime in the near future... but it’ll prob be a couple months from now.

Totally agree...Absolute weight doesn’t matter but the progress/weight added...so if I’m making 5 lb jumps “per workout” on DL and squat i should keep going. But what if I’m still adding 10 lbs per week on those lifts? Or just 5lbs per week?

I have practical programming and have read many of the forums, but what’s hard for me is indentfying where i am in the LP. In the past I’ve waffled between getting too aggressive and not aggressive enough with weight.

So I’m hesistant to add power clean and LT Squats day if my progress is actually sufficient... or would my LP continue faster with these additions?

Obv it’s hard to say w/o more details and seeing my lifts.

[Brian Goldstein]

right; an actual coach is the best here.

I think you're on firm ground for the Power Cleans. Alternating DL with PC (i.e. each 3x in 2 weeks) at 5 pounds per time is 15 pounds every 2 weeks, or 7.5 each week averaged. That's more than 5 pounds per week (i.e. the same *rate* of progress you could achieve with only 1 DL per week, assuming you're doing 5 pound jumps). Different lifts will require different programming at different times - and since you *started* with higher weights than most you might get there sooner.

For Squats are you saying you're ending up repeating weights? like

Week 1
Monday
SQ 275x5,5,4

Wed
SQ 275x5,5,5

Fri
SQ 280x5,5,5

Week 2
Mon
SQ 285x5,5,5

Wed
SQ 290x5,5,4

Fri
Sq 290x5,5,5

or something to that effect?

You wouldn't be losing any efficiency in your progression if you made Wednesday the light squat workout. If your log looks like the example above, because you're making 10 pounds/week (275->285, 285->295).

At the point you're adding 5 pounds per week to SQ or DL you're looking at weekly progress, i.e. early intermediate progress. Does that help?

[Kevin_H]

Yeah that def helps. recently caught a cold from my daughters so I’m gonna get back on track to see if I’ve truly stalled out. I was adding 5 lbs per workout and 15lbs per week to my Squat and Deadlift thru October. Have a feeling it was slowing down regardless of the cold, but either way it’s getting close to that point.

Thanks Brian