Newbie question

[AColeman]

Hello all,

I just started my novice progression on Sunday( I'm 38),establishing my loads for the squat, bench, and dead. My squat felt pretty hard. The reps slowed considerably during my working sets.

I had to train Sunday because my daughter had been in the hospital the previous 6 days. I wound up having to re-admit her Monday night and only got 3 hours of sleep that night. I slept 5 hours last night then tried to train this morning(Wednesday). As per the novice progression protocol I bumped my load up in the squat by 10 pounds. During the 2nd rep of my first work set I failed.

My question is, was my failure a result of establishing to high an initial load or a result of stress and sleep deprivation? Should I decrease the load and if so by how much?

Thanks

Al

[Adam Skillin]

Hello all,

I just started my novice progression on Sunday( I'm 38),establishing my loads for the squat, bench, and dead. My squat felt pretty hard. The reps slowed considerably during my working sets.

I had to train Sunday because my daughter had been in the hospital the previous 6 days. I wound up having to re-admit her Monday night and only got 3 hours of sleep that night. I slept 5 hours last night then tried to train this morning(Wednesday). As per the novice progression protocol I bumped my load up in the squat by 10 pounds. During the 2nd rep of my first work set I failed.

My question is, was my failure a result of establishing to high an initial load or a result of stress and sleep deprivation? Should I decrease the load and if so by how much?

Thanks

Al

We can say 2 things for sure based on the data presented:

Failing on your second workout means you done messed up

Failing on the second rep of a workset of 5 means you done messed up

In other words, you need to re-establish a starting weight and follow the directions more carefully when you do so.

Did you actually fail the squat on rep 2 of workout 2? Was the bar loaded correctly? Do you, by any chance, have video?

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hello all

slightly OT, but ever so important: all the very best to your daughter.

IPB

[AColeman]

Thanks. I will re-establish a starting weight.

Yes, I did fail on the second rep of the second workout. The bar was loaded correctly. I don't have video.

[AColeman]

slightly OT, but ever so important: all the very best to your daughter.

IPB

Thank you IPB

[mcombs]

Hello all,

I just started my novice progression on Sunday( I'm 38),establishing my loads for the squat, bench, and dead. My squat felt pretty hard. The reps slowed considerably during my working sets.

I had to train Sunday because my daughter had been in the hospital the previous 6 days. I wound up having to re-admit her Monday night and only got 3 hours of sleep that night. I slept 5 hours last night then tried to train this morning(Wednesday). As per the novice progression protocol I bumped my load up in the squat by 10 pounds. During the 2nd rep of my first work set I failed.

My question is, was my failure a result of establishing to high an initial load or a result of stress and sleep deprivation? Should I decrease the load and if so by how much?

Thanks

Al

First, best wishes for your daughter. I hope she is out and recovering now.

You MAY have been able to complete the second session's 3x5 if you had less stress, slept better, and recovered completely. I'm gonna guess not, because failing rep 2 of the first set isn't a small miss. It's good to be hungry for progress, but that doesn't mean maxing out and failing sets in your first few sessions.

You know when they tell you that when you get a new car, you are supposed to drive it for 500 miles at an easy pace? Don't just open it up and kill it? Supposedly, that's because the engine needs time to get used to being an engine. Note: I have no idea if this entire idea is garbage, (it actually sounds like a load of crap to me), but I have heard it all my life.

You are telling your body it's going to be doing squats. Progressively heavier squats. Frequently and consistently. When, prior to now, you have not been doing this at all. Ease in to it. Take a few laps. Your body needs to get used to the fact that it's actually going to be squatting. I promise you, if you do it faithfully, it will get hard. Fast. Give yourself a running start to learn correct form, understand your body's response and recovery needs, and adjust to the entire new dynamic you are forcing upon your body.

Remember the whole "it's a marathon, not a race" idea. The weight on the bar, the actual poundage, does not matter. Don't try to "get as much as you can!!!!!" in your first few sessions. Try to apply a weight that will effectively train your body to squat correctly. If you do this consistently, you will be squatting some heavy-ass weight in two years. It is up to you whether the first month is a smooth transition into productive training, or a weird and frustrating grindfest filled with disappointment, failed reps, shattered dreams and crippling soreness.

Reset to a manageable weight. Use 10 pound jumps for the first few increases. When it's becoming grindy, switch to five pounds. The amount of increase doesn't matter; the fact that you are increasing every workout is the whole game. Consider this: if you squat 3 x per week (156 sessions per year), and you add two measly pounds every session, your 5 rep working weight would increase by 312 pounds in that first year. That's pretty good, right? So don't worry when progession falls from 10 pound increases to 5 pound increases. The only word that matters in any of the sentences I just typed is "increase".

Finally, focus on getting recovery lined up. Eat enough, get enough protein, and get sleep. You don't get strong from lifting weights. You get strong by recovering from lifting weights. It's a pithy maxim, but it's also 100% true.

[AColeman]

Wow guys! Thank you for all the informative help and sentiments regarding my daughter. I really really appreciate it.

[AColeman]

Wow guys! This is amazing. Thank you for all the informative comments and for the sentiments regarding my daughter.

[AColeman]

Sorry for the double post. I thought the first one didn't take.