There are far better voices in here to give you advice regarding progression, but the basic answer is, “it doesn’t matter”. There’s tradeoffs with all of the approaches, but doing whichever to continue driving progress over time is the right one.
Progress can be measured in a lot of ways: more weight, more reps, more total volume (reps x sets), more density (volume per time / less rest time).
As far as specific answers, I think dropping to 75% or even 60% does work as long as you’re getting back up to 100% within a week or three. But it doesn’t do a good job at teaching you how to push when you’re near that 100% level.
Sticking with a weight/rep combination for a few sessions works too. And so does slowing down the progression. If you’re working with 3x 8-12, it might look like: 8,8,8 the first session; then 9, 9, 8; then 9,9,9. Eventually you’ll get to 12,12,12 and you can increase the weight and start over. Try to get at least one more rep in at least one of the sets, every time you go to the gym.
This may do a better job at learning to push harder. I’d probably suggest this is the route you take. Psychologically, “at least one more rep than last time” works pretty well. You’ve already done most of the work, it’s just one more rep.
So many options here and it largely depends on your goals. @LoRez is not wrong when he says it doesn’t really matter which path you take.
You could do:
Rep progression - if you are doing 3 sets of 5 with a weight, then go to 3 sets of 6, then 7, then 8. Then up the weight and drop back to five.
Drop the weight and repeat the last few weeks with an extra rep. Say you did 150 x 5 , then 160 x 5 then 170 x 5 and now you have stalled, drop back to 150 but do 6 reps. Then 160 then 170. You get the idea
You could add volume so do an extra set at the same weight.
Or have a read if the link above and listen to a very experienced coach. What ever way you go the only real secret js effort, consistency and time.
I used to see a physical therapist for lower back pain and knee pain, which I unfortunately did not see much progress from/did not end up sticking with. With my work schedule it’s difficult to get on a consistent PT schedule which is obviously very important. As I’m getting older I’m beginning to notice the whole right side of my lower body is giving me issues from the foot to the lower back which I think might be a helpful clue to what is going on. I used to play baseball and that was my dominant side so I think that might somehow be related. I tweaked something a little bit doing medium weight RDL’s so the issue has been forced again. I’m planning on meeting with my doctor soon for a PT referral so I can try and get this sorted out.
Hey Emily, thanks for checking in! Things are continuing to go well. Weight has remained steady around 280 lbs +/- 3, but all lifts have essentially gone up by 5-10 lbs every workout, so I am content with gaining strength/muscle while maintaining weight as I am sure I am going through positive re-composition. Muscles are currently pretty full, so if I were to stop regularly lifting (which I don’t plan on), I’d estimate I’d be under 275. I am beginning to see physical changes in my body (flatter stomach and fuller muscles) and am getting close to reaching or have surpassed my peak strength on many lifts. Appetite has regulated itself and I haven’t really had any bad binge eating episodes since starting lifting. Currently dealing with a minor “injury”, but nothing I can’t train around and am planning on seeing a doctor about it as soon as possible. I am feeling very disciplined regarding my training currently and am beginning to enjoy going to the gym 2-3 times a week. This is one of the first times in my life that I have not lifted on a massive caloric deficit, and the difference in mood and motivation is stark. Confidence has also been increasing which is a plus! Excited to see what months 2 and 3 have in store, as I know these are typically the months where you really start to see the changes setting in.
I can certainly identify with this – I went to PT for many years for knee pain. I was religious about going, doing my stretches, etc. It definitely helped. Losing bodyweight and specifically bodyfat has also made a big impact for me. So, I’d go see the PT to see if that helps – you’ll probably get some pain relief, identify any movement restrictions that might be making things worse, etc. – and keep focusing on losing the bodyfat.
Significant milestone for me yesterday. For the first time since 2018, I was able to move 225 lbs on bench press for multiple reps (3). From what I can find in my old records (I kept training logs in my phone notes with no dates like a moron) , the most I ever bench pressed for reps was 225x5. This was also the time when I met my most recent ex girlfriend, a relationship that I will admit I am still not fully recovered from. While I was likely approximately 55-60 lbs lighter at the time, this milestone is important to me in that it is my first concrete proof my training is beginning to transition from reacquisition to legitimate progression. While there is still much work to do in the fat loss department, this achievement yesterday brought me great satisfaction. Thank you to everyone here, you guys really helped get the ball rolling on this. Also, planning on meeting with a physical therapist on Thursday, so hopefully will start getting the lower body issues sorted out!
In the beginning of January I was feeling overwhelmed. I didn’t know where to start. Eating “better” and starting to exercise were a manageable set of tasks that got my ass in the gym again. Over the past two months I’ve seen positive results in strength, body fat %, and confidence and found an acceptance of training for the sake of “maintenance”.
While these were all positive developments in my journey, I’m still clocking in at ~280 lbs. A strict recomposition can have positive benefits I’m sure, but it is ultimately not going to get me to where I want to go. I will never be sitting at 280 lbs and lean/healthy as a natural lifter. I need to diet down at some point. With winter drawing to a close in the Northeast, I’m starting to feel ready to take my training a step further and begin to focus on more aggressive weight/fat reduction.
Dieting is a scary thing for me and part of the reason I felt so overwhelmed about getting back into fitness. Back in my mid 20’s I was obsessed with my weight. If the scale wasn’t moving down I wasn’t happy. Whenever I would train, I was almost always at a caloric deficit. I always felt tired and lethargic. Training is not fun when you are fighting to get through every single rep at all times. I was afraid to eat, because I knew how much work losing weight takes. There was a cycle I fell into many many times back then. Train and lose ~30ish lbs, fall out of training for whatever reason (injury, depression, other priorities) and binge eat and gain all the weight back. I would then panic at my weight and the process would repeat itself. It was very rare I would be training and eating at maintenance/surplus. The whole ordeal was exhausting. Binge eating has been a problem even before trying to lose weight, but the dieting certainly made it worse.
This time, and with the help of the T-Nation community, things are going to be different though. I am going to be less aggressive with my cut and I am going to do it in much shorter and realistic phases. In the past, my mindset would have been to cut from 280 down to whatever I perceived as a healthy weight for me (225?) in one straight shot. My plan this time is to lose the weight in phases. Over the course of March and April, I will shoot to lose anywhere between 10-20 lbs. I am going to start at 2500 calories instead of the 2000 I used to do, and if I am not satisfied with the way things are going, I will add extra exercise instead of cutting more calories. After April ends, I will return to my current workout protocol - eyeballing ~3000 calories, getting lots of protein in, and continuing to lift a minimum of 2 times per week (something I have found to be sustainable for me). At the end of May, I will post my transformation pics for the challenge and if the phase training feels right, I will continue from there.
Looking forward to this next phase of my training. It is long overdue.
Have been see-sawing between two potential starting points for my cut. Half of me wanted to wait until I hit a 275 PR on my bench press and the other half wanted to start at the beginning of March. During my last upper body lift I hit 230x5. I have been shoveling down a bit more food than I should be in recent weeks to hit this goal, and it seems like it won’t be in the cards for another month or so realistically. The excess food and bloat is starting to get to me mentally, so today I will officially be starting my spring cut. Current plan is to keep the routine I’ve been working on, drop sets from 3 to 2, lower the rep range into the lower end of the suggested spectrum, and add in some intentional walking a couple of days per week.
Start Weight: 289.0
Week 2 Weight: 281.6
Weekly Loss: 7.4
Spring Cut Total Loss: 7.4
The first week of the cut ended up being very successful. Energy levels have remained high, and I have found some foods I enjoy eating that can get me to ~200g protein daily. 7.4 lbs was a lot more than I thought I would drop the first week considering carbs are still relatively high. While yesterday was technically the start of week 2, I hit 225x7 on bench press, which is another PR and I had one of my best workouts to date in general. Looking forward to seeing how much fat I am actually losing now that a lot of the water weight is likely gone.
In addition to week 2 of the cut, I am also entering week 3 of physical therapy training. The PT has identified some unilateral weakness, particularly in the right glute/leg in general. Feeling optimistic about my chances of getting back under the bar on leg day in a couple weeks to months.
Start Weight: 289.0
Week 2 Weight: 282.4
Weekly Loss: +0.8
Spring Cut Total Loss: 6.6
Week two was a challenge. I ended up working close to a sixty hour week over the course of five days, so unfortunately, my routine had to take a bit of a hit. I wasn’t as strict with my diet as I would have liked, although I was able to still get my two weekly lifts in. My official Sunday morning weigh-in was higher than last week, but Saturday morning as well as this morning I weighed in lower than last week so I think I still realistically ended up losing weight this week. I ate a lot of high sodium foods Saturday night as well. Hit 240x5 on bench press yesterday which I was very excited about. 275 seems to be just around the corner for bench. Back on track with 2500 calories today and should have a relatively easy time maintaining that number this week. Next week and the week after I will be traveling on the road and probably working long days again. Need to make sure I make the most of this weekend and go into the next two weeks strong. Got a compliment yesterday that it looked like the gym was paying off which was nice to hear. Resolve remains high. Looking forward to seeing the payoff and posting my transformation photos at the end of May.
Start Weight: 289.0
Week 2 Weight: 277.6
Weekly Loss: 4.8
Spring Cut Total Loss: 11.4
Excited to report the additional weight I lost “last” week on this week’s weigh in. Struggled through an incredibly laborious leg day yesterday, but managed to get every exercise in that I needed to. As I mentioned last week, I will be traveling for the next two weeks, so I need to be sure I remain diligent and make good decisions. I have been eating ~1 lb of chicken a day, so I will need to be sure that I am getting this protein in from other sources. Noticing some severe anxiety beginning to settle in, which was a frequent companion on my prior cuts pre-covid. Wondering if my daily calorie limit is too low right now. Considering tinkering with it and possibly increasing calories, but I feel as though it is still too early to determine how much weight I am actually losing from week to week.
Start Weight: 289.0
Week 5 Weight: 274.4
Weekly Loss: 3.2
Spring Cut Total Loss: 14.6
Late check in because my schedule has been absolutely INSANE. Ended up working something like 28 hours of overtime last week, Easter came around, I got food poisoning, then had to complete 40 hours of work outside in a torrential downpour so I could make an interview today at 2:30. So essentially my schedule has been either work or recovery or interview prep. I was able to get one lift in last week, but have fallen behind on my goal of 2 lifts per week. My diet hasn’t been particularly dialed in either. I PRd on bench last week (250), but I did it for 2 reps so I probably could have hit something a bit higher than that. On the plus side, even though I have not been able to lift and my diet has been less than ideal, I managed to lose significant weight last week, and I think when I weigh in on Sunday, I will probably be down significant weight as well. The past two weeks have been pretty physical and I was at least mindful of how much I was consuming if not the quality of it. Next week will ease back up significantly, so I am looking forward to getting back into a solid routine. As I stated early in this journey, it’s all about sustainability. The past two weeks were not perfect, but the general trend is still positive so I can’t complain too much.