Am I stalling this early (is it early?) or just being a wuss?

[Bilan]

Height roughly 6 foot give or take a few inches, weight like 200 pounds give or take 5 pounds.

I'm still just doing basic LP on the SS program

Squat 240x5
Deadlift 250x5
OHP 85x5
Bench 135x5
PC's 100x5 (but my form is probably such shit I shouldn't even list this, I'm working on it)

I have attempted to squat 245 three times now and have failed to make 3 sets of 5 every time, from what I understand that means its time for a 10% deload. For these squats, I feel like I barely failed, my form was fine on the first set, the fith rep of the second set my knees were caving in on the ascent but not terribly so, and the third rep of the third set mimicked the last rep of the second set, and the fourth rep of the final set had serious knees caving in and general loss of back angle shooting forward etc. so I wouldn't bother with the fith rep.

This thread has a video of my form for squats. http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=38301

I don't know if it matters, but I have gotten to about 230 pounds on squat before, but had such poor form with knees not flaring out that I impinged my hip and did a major deload down to 135 pounds to work on form, and now I'm at my current numbers with better form (hopefully), but still breaking down with knees caving in.

I weigh 200 pounds or so and have a gut, so I seriously doubt I'm not eating enough, and I've been getting very good sleep lately so it's not that, am I simply stalling this early? or is this early to stall or what.

I've failed at progressing to 140 pounds on bench twice now, and by a large margin the first time, only managed one rep on the last set, and a smaller margin the second time I think the third time I might get it. OHP has progressed fine, I failed today to progress to 90 pounds, but only barely I've got that next time for sure. I also failed today to progress deadlift to 255, but that's because I ate too recently before-hand and for some reason nearly threw-up everywhere after my second rep and decided to call it quits.

[Subsistence]

240lbs isn't a particularly weird place to hit your first stall on squats. Sure, lots of people push it further, but it isn't bizarre for it to be your first real stall. I'd deload the 10%. Even if you were "close" to getting it, failing 3 times in a row shows that you need to step back. If you are failing due to form them the deload will help you work on form.

The bench seems too light to be failing, but maybe you were just beaten to hell due to the squats. See if it is any better on the deload. If it keeps sucking then look into your form or something. You shouldn't be failing benches or presses when they are so light.

Deadlift should be able to continue progressing.

[Bilan]

Thanks for the response, if I deload now, how much more LP can I expect to get before having to move to an intermediate program?

I've always had horrible trouble with the bench press and OHP, I have terrible upper body strength, can't even do a single pull-up or chin-up.

[Subsistence]

Thanks for the response, if I deload now, how much more LP can I expect to get before having to move to an intermediate program?

I've always had horrible trouble with the bench press and OHP, I have terrible upper body strength, can't even do a single pull-up or chin-up.

No one can really know that. Just deload the once, push as hard as you can going back up, and if you stall again switch to advanced novice.

[kessg]

I believe it's your form that's holding you back. You look way up, lead with your chest, and overextend your back. This is probably interfering with your hip drive. You need to stay tighter -- and re-read the squat chapter :-)

[Brodie Butland]

I believe it's your form that's holding you back. You look way up, lead with your chest, and overextend your back. This is probably interfering with your hip drive. You need to stay tighter -- and re-read the squat chapter :-)

^Yep.

How are your other lifts progressing? If they're all stalling, it's a recovery issue. If it's just the squat, it's probably a form issue. If you still keep hitting a wall after the deload, and your form is decent, try putting a light day in the middle--that should let you continue LP for a while.

[Bilan]

I believe it's your form that's holding you back. You look way up, lead with your chest, and overextend your back. This is probably interfering with your hip drive. You need to stay tighter -- and re-read the squat chapter :-)

Thanks for the comment,

Luckily I've had the genius move to relocate the pins to the other side and have a convenient floor to stare at now to prevent looking up, pesky mirrors.

What do you mean by leading with my chest? When I squat I feel like I'm really fighting to avoid shooting forward and thus coming all the way up with my hips and GMing the bar the rest of the way up, I've cued myself to lead with my chest so I don't doubt that I am since I've told myself to, but that leaves me curious as to why it's bad to lead with my chest, I'm just trying to maintain my back angle. How should I then attempt to maintain my back angle? Will simply fixing the below issue work?

I don't actively try and extend my lower back any, should I combat this just by remaining tighter, keeping the glutes and such flexed?

How are your other lifts progressing? If they're all stalling, it's a recovery issue. If it's just the squat, it's probably a form issue. If you still keep hitting a wall after the deload, and your form is decent, try putting a light day in the middle--that should let you continue LP for a while.

What further details could I provide other than what I posted in the OP?

"I've failed at progressing to 140 pounds on bench twice now, and by a large margin the first time, only managed one rep on the last set, and a smaller margin the second time I think the third time I might get it. OHP has progressed fine, I failed today to progress to 90 pounds, but only barely I've got that next time for sure. I also failed today to progress deadlift to 255, but that's because I ate too recently before-hand and for some reason nearly threw-up everywhere after my second rep and decided to call it quits. "

Thanks for all the feedback again.

[Bilan]

Sorry for the double post, but I'm also not even sure how to avoid "over-extending" my back. I squatted 215 today and during warm-ups I experimented with sitting back less, but found that this gave me the feeling similar to when I impinged (or so I think) my hip.

[Subsistence]

Sorry for the double post, but I'm also not even sure how to avoid "over-extending" my back. I squatted 215 today and during warm-ups I experimented with sitting back less, but found that this gave me the feeling similar to when I impinged (or so I think) my hip.

To avoid overextending the back think about squeezing the abs out really tight. If you abs are tight your back has to be held in place and can't over extent. You still want to sit back, just keep the back rigid when doing so.

[PackMule]

You could also probably stand to gain at least 20-30 pounds.