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Thread: How far do people normally progress after a stall and deload on novice progression?

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    Default How far do people normally progress after a stall and deload on novice progression?

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    Hey all, I know this will be somewhat different for everyone, but trying to get an idea of what to expect. Started novice progression 4 months ago, 42 y.o. 5'8" 156 lbs. Squat went from 70 -285 before I stalled(285 x 5, 4, 4). Due to age and recovery I decided to deload right away to 255. Just wondering how much farther most people progress once they deload. Should I expect to make it to 300? 315? I know a lot depends on the individual, training intensity, diet, rest etc etc. But based on the above progress just wondering what some common experiences have been as far as how easily they surpass their first stall after deloading. The workout to workout progression was addictive, and I am hoping to be able to continue it as long as possible. Also, does/did anyone ever drop to 2.5lbs progression on squats, or just stick with 5 until it is time to change programming?

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    Consider moving to advanced novice programming where the middle day is a light squat for 2 sets of 5 around 80% of the previous heavy load. This should keep you going for a while. I think once I went advanced novice, I still had several weeks' worth of progress to go. Your mileage may vary.

    You can probably do fine with 2.5lb jumps, but mathematically it makes more sense just to program your squats with weekly (intermediate) periodization by this point. Plus, depending on how hard you decide to run your LP into the ground, your body will be ready for you to scale back by this point.

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    Change one of your workouts to be a light day, and keep the 5-lb increments. You'll probably make it past your first stalled weight (that's the whole point). 315 is a reasonable goalpost--push beyond it if you can, be reasonable if you can't. Gaining 10 pounds will help.

    I am 6' 0" and 28 years old. I stalled at 3x5x255 (squat) weighing 185, deloaded 10%, stalled again at 3x5x290 weighing 190, deloaded 10% and added a light day, stalled again at 3x5x320 weighing 195, then switched programs. If I had eaten more, I wouldn't have stalled as soon--but I only know this now that I'm 220.

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    Are you still so horribly underweight? You'll get farther if your deload is accompanied by some prolific eating and weight gain. Agree with the idea of adding the light day to maintain progress. But you may be near to becoming a "situational intermediate" if you opt not to weigh 185 or 200 lbs. I think advanced novice to HLM is a natural transition once you get stalled again.

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    Excellent replies so far, thanks. Funny thing is, I actually did start a light day yesterday for the first time lol. I am pretty sure I was running into recovery issues at the weight I stalled at, so I also came to the conclusion that making Wednesday a light day would prolong linear progression. Also, 255--->290---->320 sounds like good progress(from tmcnulty), I'll be very happy if I get past 315. My weight gain is going good, perhaps a bit too fast...currently around 180, up from 156 in 16 weeks. Like I said, I am so hooked on the progression I just hope it is not typical to stall again after another 10 lbs of progress or something.
    Last edited by BarryF; 10-30-2014 at 01:59 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Skillin View Post
    Are you still so horribly underweight?
    LOL, that made me laugh. Luckily, I slimmed down to a pretty low body fat percentage before discovering strength training, so gaining weight to aid progression has not been a concern. I have not quite decided what program to go to once I finish milking workout to workout progression. On another related note concerning progression/stalling, I have not stalled yet on dead lifts, but Mondays session was the first time that the last couple of reps felt a bit heavy @ 350 x 5. If I run into a stall/recovery issue in the upcoming weeks on DL, I had thought about alternating power cleans and DL. Currently DL'ing every other workout, so either Monday and Friday(this week for example), or just Wednesday. Have not done a power clean yet.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Got2squat View Post
    LOL, that made me laugh. Luckily, I slimmed down to a pretty low body fat percentage before discovering strength training, so gaining weight to aid progression has not been a concern. I have not quite decided what program to go to once I finish milking workout to workout progression. On another related note concerning progression/stalling, I have not stalled yet on dead lifts, but Mondays session was the first time that the last couple of reps felt a bit heavy @ 350 x 5. If I run into a stall/recovery issue in the upcoming weeks on DL, I had thought about alternating power cleans and DL. Currently DL'ing every other workout, so either Monday and Friday(this week for example), or just Wednesday. Have not done a power clean yet.
    Yeah, the "horribly underweight" thing was tongue-in-cheek. I weigh 156 myself, at 5'7. Working on it though. I think you already got good advice in here. Don't start thinking about deadlift stalling though. Wrong mindset. Not a bad idea to add power cleans if you're able to do them. But the words "stall" and "deadlift" shall never simultaneously occupy your mind from this point forward, do you hear me?! (I'm a very intimidating and imposing 5'7 and 156. Or let's at least pretend that I am)

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    Oh for sure, I go into every workout KNOWING the weight is going to go up. When I went down with my second set of squats at 285, and couldn't stand back up on the fifth rep, I was like....WTF is this bullshit??? Lol. At this point, I KNOW that I will get my working weight to 405 on DL before I stall for the first time.

    On a serious note though, I can usually tell when the shit starts to hit the fan so to speak.

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    If your first deload and rebuild only gets you 10 more pounds on your squat, you'll get a lot of questions next about diet, recovery, and what you've been doing on your off days. But it sounds to me like you're going about it the right way. I bet you'll be surprised how much the light day helps.

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    I sure hope so tmcnulty....it was VERY difficult to make myself take a light day yesterday...in fact I warmed up to 225 before deciding to go light, and did 3 sets at 155(probably a bit too light but meh.) I got to looking at my year end numbers, and twice a week progression will take me to 345 working sets(in a perfect world) by the end of the year, so it's not like I still won't be progressing quickly enough.

    As far as the advanced novice programming, is that simply a matter of the light day, and adding weight twice a week instead of every workout, and then proceeding to intermediate programming when progress stops?
    Last edited by BarryF; 10-30-2014 at 02:25 PM.

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