Squat and Press stalled, please help.

[guiTarmaN]

Hello, I'm in Week 8 of Phase 2 of Starting Strength.
I'm 36 years old, 6'3'' and 290lbs.
My numbers as of today are:
Squat: 300lb
Press: 145lb
Bench press: 160lb
Power clean: 150lb
Deadlift: 350lb

I know my numbers are pitiful, the thing is today I stalled on the Squat, I can only perform 2 or 3 reps a set...
Same with the Standing Press, 2 or 3 reps per set...
Bench feels good as well as Deadlift and power clean.
Is worth mentioning that Squat reps at 300lb are kind of grinders...
What can I do to keep progressing???
Thank you in advance.
-Jonathan.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

[guiTarmaN]

I rest almost 10 minutes between each set of squats, sleep enough and eat enough...
I did the 10 lb jump twice on the squat in phase 1 and a couple 20 lb jumps on the deadlift in phase 1.
Since phase 2 I've done 3lb jumps on the Press, and 5lb on the Squat, Deadlift, Bench and Power clean, respectively.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Are you stuck? If so, describe. And post a squat video.

[guiTarmaN]

I could do 5 reps a set at 295lb squat but when I jumped up to 300 I could only do 2 or 3 per set.
Will post a squat video tomorrow, I go to the gym tomorrow. I'll try 300lb again.

[Maybach]

There's a bit of a difference in stalls that come from failure to produce the strength adaptation and those that come from fatigue. It sounds like you just didn't produce the strength adaptation. If this is just the one workout, just repeat the weight until you get the 3x5. You're not really "stuck" until that lasts more than two workouts: just pick up the volume (if you can only do 3 reps, do 5x3 that workout) and see if it gets back on track. For the squat, it usually does. The press might hang out in the "15 total reps" vs. "3x5" regime for a good while.

However, what's actually probably the problem on the press is your bench. Those are crazy close. Maybe bench twice a week for a little bit and take some big bites and see if that gets the press moving. No way you're pressing 150 with a 165 bench.

[guiTarmaN]

"Bench twice a week for a little bit", "take some big bites", you mean more than 5lb increments? Bench twice a week for let's say ONE month?

[Maybach]

Yeah, try to push it up closer to 200.

You probably don't even need to spend a whole month on it. One or two weeks might be enough. You might try something like, your next bench-biased week, bench instead of press. Take a ten pound jump on Monday, a ten pound jump on Wednesday, and then a five pound jump on Friday, and resume pressing the following Monday. That'll put your bench forty pounds ahead of your press, at a ratio of around 4/5. That's still close but it should move more. You might repeat ten pound jumps on all of those four workouts, getting all the way to a 50 pound spread. You're a big guy and can probably handle it.

For perspective, guys around your level usually have something in the neighborhood of a 2/3 ratio, with the press lagging by 50 pounds or more behind the bench. When I hit 150 on the press I was benching 215, and both were still advancing steadily. These are just data points to give you an idea, not something you need to be married to. Microloading on the press before the bench means you're on track to push the two further apart but it sounds like you need more upper body poundage.

The press is heavily technique dependent and that does start to creep in around 150. At later levels the prescription is to up press frequency, but the bench is the lift that's the most behind here.

[guiTarmaN]

Well, I don't know what happened but today I was able to squat 300lb...
Here's a video of my first set of five.

[CommanderFun]

There's a bit of a difference in stalls that come from failure to produce the strength adaptation and those that come from fatigue. It sounds like you just didn't produce the strength adaptation. If this is just the one workout, just repeat the weight until you get the 3x5. You're not really "stuck" until that lasts more than two workouts: just pick up the volume (if you can only do 3 reps, do 5x3 that workout) and see if it gets back on track. For the squat, it usually does. The press might hang out in the "15 total reps" vs. "3x5" regime for a good while.

However, what's actually probably the problem on the press is your bench. Those are crazy close. Maybe bench twice a week for a little bit and take some big bites and see if that gets the press moving. No way you're pressing 150 with a 165 bench.

Going from completing 3 sets of 5 to not even getting one full set of 5 with an appropriate weight increase doesn't seem like a failure to produce a training stress to me. That usually shows up more like a missed rep on the last set. If he's missing 2 or 3 reps right out of the start, that is a pretty big drop in performance. From what OP details I think there's either a recovery issue or some really nasty acute life stressor at play here. Even if you fail to adapt any, a 295 for 3 sets of 5 won't turn into a 300 for 3 sets of 3.