Progression Summary: Comments?

[ShashankD]

Name: Shashank Deshpande
Height: 5' 8"/174
Current BodyWeight: 105.3/231
Bodyfat: 22-24%
BodyWeight at the start of the program:101/222
Have trained for 6 months, was not exactly a novice when started.
Starting lifts(3 sets of 5): Squat, Deadlift 80/176 . Bench: 60/135 Press 40/88
Current lifts(3 sets of 5): Squat, Deadlift: 165/360 Bench: 95/208 Press 65/143, Can do chins, 3 sets of 5, but the last set is pretty hard.
Have not tried one rep maxes.

Reason for lower upper body progression: Lockdown cut down gym time, so squatted and bailed to learn volleyball for a while.
Status: Bench and Press now progressing fast enough(5paw). Press is getting harder, still linear. Squat is very hard every time fucks me up and knocks me out of breath every workset, but still faahve pounds a workout.

Sleep: Amount I can manage with a STEM degree in the top college of India (~6.5 hours).
Nutrition: Real bad. Vegetarian home, I am vicious non-vegetarian so eat whatever I can sneak in, with restaurants closed all around. 8-9 eggs a week. Whey one scoop with 400 ml of milk. Rest real bad diet, when comes to protein content.

Goals: Want to get into the Olympic lifting team of my college. Will go on NLP for a while though, and see what happens. Professionally planning a Systems BioPhysics PhD.

PS: Will really go mad if you comment here Rip, Huge fan.

Greetings from India.

[carson]

Welcome.

I don't understand what you mean by "Squat,Deadlift 8/176" and "Squat, Deadlift: 165/360" Could you clarify?

[ShashankD]

Those are the numbers in kilograms and pounds at the start of the program and now.

[BastiatBB]

This is decent progress, assuming you were slowed down by the lockdown. But if I am understanding what you wrote, your squat and deadlift both started at the same place, progressed at the same rate, and are now at the same 5RM. Squats are supposed to be hard. But if I read you correctly, you have made them harder by not getting your deadlift out ahead of your squat. Your deadlift should probably be around ~405# right now.

[Geoff Bischoff]

Hey brother. Glad you're doing this. You've gotten yourself middlin' strong on a low protein diet, that's good news!

I'm trying to read between the lines here, but it sounds like you are due for some programming changes.

Squat: Assuming 3/week, you are likely due for Light Day and Top Set protocols immediately. Meaning (all weights in pounds because I'm a lazy Yank):

D1: 365x5, 330x5x2. D2: 315x5x2 (2 sets only). D3: 370x5, 335x5x2. And so forth for as many weeks as you can punch that out.

Bench: If your 3x5s are still letting you add 5lbs per session, excellent. If not: Add 2.5lbs and keep going. When that dies down, you can Top Set it: 210x5, 200x5x2; next time 212.5x5, 202.5x5x2.

Press: Same.

Deadlift: How often are you deadlifting? Are you working in the power clean? After 6 months (understood with some time off) you can probably go either:

a) D1: 365x5, D2: 315x5x2, D3: Power Clean

or

b) D1: 365x5, D2: 315x5x2, D3: Row

or

c) D1: 365x5, D2: 315x5x2, D3: Chins

This still perpetuates the problem of your squat outpacing your deadlift, since you'll be going +10/wk on squat and +5/wk on deadlift. Long term that problem will work itself out, though. Some version of Texas Method for squat while still doing LP for deadlift for awhile would fix it, but I wouldn't recommend going straight to TM type work on squat if you can still punch out new 5RMs twice a week.

All around, good work, man. Keep at it.

[ShashankD]

This is decent progress, assuming you were slowed down by the lockdown. But if I am understanding what you wrote, your squat and deadlift both started at the same place, progressed at the same rate, and are now at the same 5RM. Squats are supposed to be hard. But if I read you correctly, you have made them harder by not getting your deadlift out ahead of your squat. Your deadlift should probably be around ~405# right now.

You are definitely right sir, I can pull 405 for 5 reps when fresh. But like the phase 3 of the NLP program, Friday is when I deadlift, and Squats drain out a lot of energy, thus reducing the deadlift workset. I am waiting on a college application result, if that works out, I will have to start training the front squat for the team, and I think that will pair well with the Deadlift.
I was indeed slowed by the lockdown, and another setback was Dengue fever. Ate away 7 pounds of body mass, and about 2 weeks of training.

[ShashankD]

Hey brother. Glad you're doing this. You've gotten yourself middlin' strong on a low protein diet, that's good news!

I'm trying to read between the lines here, but it sounds like you are due for some programming changes.

Squat: Assuming 3/week, you are likely due for Light Day and Top Set protocols immediately. Meaning (all weights in pounds because I'm a lazy Yank):

D1: 365x5, 330x5x2. D2: 315x5x2 (2 sets only). D3: 370x5, 335x5x2. And so forth for as many weeks as you can punch that out.

Bench: If your 3x5s are still letting you add 5lbs per session, excellent. If not: Add 2.5lbs and keep going. When that dies down, you can Top Set it: 210x5, 200x5x2; next time 212.5x5, 202.5x5x2.

Press: Same.

Deadlift: How often are you deadlifting? Are you working in the power clean? After 6 months (understood with some time off) you can probably go either:

a) D1: 365x5, D2: 315x5x2, D3: Power Clean

or

b) D1: 365x5, D2: 315x5x2, D3: Row

or

c) D1: 365x5, D2: 315x5x2, D3: Chins

This still perpetuates the problem of your squat outpacing your deadlift, since you'll be going +10/wk on squat and +5/wk on deadlift. Long term that problem will work itself out, though. Some version of Texas Method for squat while still doing LP for deadlift for awhile would fix it, but I wouldn't recommend going straight to TM type work on squat if you can still punch out new 5RMs twice a week.

All around, good work, man. Keep at it.

I always understood the program as 5 pounds a workout, so I add 15 pounds to the deadlift each session. I work in the phase 3 of the NLP now.
Your topset--lightday suggestion is an excellent idea. I think I can get by upto 405 by current program, I think. This is important to me because I want a good squat for the OlyLifts.
I am practicing the power clean but cannot do more than 176lbs because there is nothing to drop the weight on, in the gym. Waiting for returning to the college for the same.
I think you are right about me having shifted to phase 3 too quickly, I should increase deadlift frequency as soon as the 1.5 hour restriction is off.

Thanks for your input sir. Once the restaurants reopen, I can fix the protein problem I suppose.