new old guy needs some help

[rimack]

Hello all.
Been lurking for some time now and I really do enjoy this forum..(Thanks Rip) I'm way over due for a post so here goes. I was running 5/3/1 about a year and a half ago for about 6 months and seriously overstrained so I stopped training all together until Nov. 15 2012 when I started training SS. LP, I did read the book and still do.

53y/o
5`8`` on a good day
213lbs
BMI 28.9% hydro...not good
LBM 151.4 Lbs hydro...very good

Lifts; Nov. 15. 2012...213LBS
SQ 155 3X5
BP 135 3X5
DL 180 1X5
OHP 75 3X5

Lifts; Mar. 14 1013...213LBS
SQ 265 3X5
BP 185 3X5....sooooo sad
DL 315 1X5 (every 4th training day)
OHP 120 3X5
Chins to failure X 3
P/U to failure X 3
No PC yet

Lift every 3rd day and get about 8 hrs of sleep per night, aprox 2500-3000 cals
190 protein, 300carbs plenty of H20 and to much fat.... don't care to get much fatter
I am near the end of a week long recovery for the second time since I started SS.
All my lifts where reset 20% ish on Feb 8 after 9 days off

Frankly I am beat to shit mentally and physically. I am on a TRT through my GP,,
I couldn't imagine how much worse I would feel with out it! my recovery sucks

I sure could use a bit of advise on how to proceed with my training,,,cant keep this up for much longer.

Thanks

[veryhrm]

i assume you mean "body fat %" where you say bmi.

How strong were you when you were doing 5/3/1 last time? Have you considered going back to that?

Also, maybe take some time to lose ~ 20 lbs o fat?

[rimack]

veryhrm
Yes the bmi is fat%, if my lbm (lean body mass 151 lbs) wasn't as good as it is I would have went ahead and tried to lose 20lbs or more however my lbm is well above normal and this is a good thing, my lifts are still going up at a steady pace albeit not as fast as a couple months ago,,,trying to lose 20lbs and gain strength is a sharp edge to walk.
When I was running 5/3/1 I didn't get as strong as I am now, my 2 RM is 305lb and
while on 5/3/1 my 2RM was 255lb...ya don't get to squat much on 5/3/1 and I enjoy squatting. I'm sure Ill be getting in touch with Jordan in a few more weeks to cut some fat. Im going to rest a couble more days (10 total) and hit it again.

Thanks

[veryhrm]

That sounds good.

I was asking about 5/3/1 because i get the impression it works a lot better for once you're into the intermediate ranges and you need to take more time off for recovery anyway. And at some point it's nice to get some higher rep sets in there too.

Also do you do any cardio type stuff at all ? I find that walking, while it doesn't actually feel like exercise, helps my recovery some.

[rimack]

I did some cardio 30 minutes twice a week when I first started SS LP
It got in the way of recovery when the barbell weight started to increase significantly.
5/3/1 Is a viable option just not one I'm ready to exercise yet.
Rip mentioned something to the effect of 20 rep squats are a living hell,,, And they are

[rimack]

I'll get a little more rest, Up my calories by about 500 to 800 per Rip
And milk LP for as many ounces of weight I can get.
I'm not quite sure if I'm a intermediate lifter right now.

[Greg Esres]

I sure could use a bit of advise on how to proceed with my training, cant keep this up for much longer.

How can you overtrain with 5/3/1? (or was that "overStrained"?) Seems that SS would hardly be the solution to that problem. I'm 50 yo, and started having recovery issues with SS after about 3 months. Making steady, but slow progress with 5/3/1. The only recovery issues I have are when I do the wrong assistance exercise too close to a main lift. LTE's the day before the Press isn't a good idea.

[Walter Palmer]

I'll get a little more rest, Up my calories by about 500 to 800 per Rip
And milk LP for as many ounces of weight I can get.
I'm not quite sure if I'm a intermediate lifter right now.

Older lifters have to move to intermediate programming quicker than younger ones. I'm 49 and last year, after stalling out on novice LP, I moved to TM but only got about 4 weeks out of that before I stalled again. I was going into the gym for each session beat up and sore. Rip moved me to a four day split in November and I made a commitment to eating a bit more and it has been all the difference in the world.

Basically I was doing this (just changed programming a bit for an upcoming competition, but got 5 months of progession out of this):

M - Upper body volume
T - Lower body volume
W - off
Th - Upper body intensity
F - Lower body intensity
Sa - Prowler
Su - Off

Spreading out the work this way got me recovering properly.

[Charlie Davies]

A lot of old beginners have good luck doing SS novice on a 9-day "week" so there are 2 days off after each workout.

[rimack]

In retrospect I was not eating enough, way too much assistants work and poor sleeping habits. Always seemed to have a lot of inflammation.
The wheels just came of and I crashed and burned. I'm sure I complicated the program(I can be good at that)
I've been taking 9 to 10 days to complete 3 training sessions on SS, eating more has helped quite a bit.
I keep adding more weight to the bar and it keeps going up, I do put a couple lite squat days in every month... especially on dead lift days.