My lifting situation

[Gordon Bombay]

Hey Mark, how's it going?

I hope you can give me some input on my situation. For the record, I'm 23, 5'10" and weigh just over 160 lbs at around 10 or 11% bodyfat.

This is the routine I've been following for about three months now:

A: Squats 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Weighted Chins 3x5.

B: Squats 3x5, Press 3x5, Rows 3x5.

This has made me a lot stronger and bigger (used to weigh 140 lbs before I started this routine) but now I've stalled on most of my lifts, with pretty weird numbers too; 230lbs 5RM for Squats, 210lbs 5RM for Bench and 120 lbs 5RM for Press.

I haven't been doing Deadlifts and Cleans like you prescribe, and this is because when I started lifting I had a lot of lower back pain, and doing Deads just destroyed it (my body proportions don't help either). However, I am looking to implement them into my workouts as Low Bar Squats have strengthened my lower back a hell of a lot and I hardly ever get back pain any more. I figure doing these will help me get better at Squats too.

So basically, at this moment in time I would consider myself almost intermediate in some lifts (Bench, Press, Squats to a lesser extent perhaps), but a stone cold novice in others (Deads and Cleans).

What sort of routine do you think I should use from now on?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Damn, I don't know. You have so thoroughly fucked up the initial novice period that your pulling strength never developed and never contributed to your squats, or consequently to your bodyweight apparently. Go back and start deadlifting in a normal workout sequence with as little reset of the squat and see what happens as your pull strengthens.