Progression Model Past Linear Progression

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

I have stalled on my pressing movements for a while now. Did resets and deloads but 3x5 LP doesn’t do the trick anymore. Squat and deadlift are progressing fine (probably due to the fact that I stopped doing those for a while after a hip injury so they have some catching up to do).

My lifts are (starting point)

  • Bench 145lbs x 5 (45lbs x 8)
  • OHP 95lbs x 8 (probably couldn’t lift the bar overhead)
  • Squat 160lbs x 5 (45lbs x 10)
  • Deadlift 200 x 5 (95lbs x 5)
  • Bodyweight 165lbs (127lbs)
  • Height 6ft

What progression method do you recommend after LP?

  • Linear periodisation
  • Double progression
  • …

PS: accidentally posted too early

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5/3/1

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Your numbers are no where near the point that linear progression should not be working.

What does you split/sessions look like?

How is your sleep/recovery?

How much are you eating?

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Agree with @T3hPwnisher and @sparkyo your numbers are still quite low (no offense) to be at a sticking point. Many people on his forum are firm believers in 5/3/1. Don’t try to change it, just follow the program.

Also good points made above are you’re likely not eating enough OR training too frequently/bad recovery.

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2 day A/B split (bench/SQ and OHP/DL) done 3-4 times a week. Basically 1, sometimes 2, rest day(s).

3x5+, like greyskull LP with added accessories (rows/pulldowns/incline bench…), 3 per day so a total of 5 exercises per day inluding the two main lifts. Adding 5lbs a week (not per workout). Have been stuck with bench for 3 weeks now at the same weight, same reps. SQ and DL still going up.

Sleep is good, recovery aswel. Low stress atm.

Have been tracking again these last 2 months, gained 5lbs so far. 2600-2700 calories a day with at least 150g protein (most days 160-180). Eating mostly clean, same meals morning/noon/bedtime ‘snack’. Only thing that changes each day is diner (always contains a big portion of protein, veggies and carbs).

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Age?

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Double progression is definitely cool for these problems. Slow the progression down and give yourself some tie to get stronger before you add weight.

5/3/1 is good and will teach you a lot.

Linear periodization with dropping reps and increasing weight over a 8-10 week period may be better saved for your Next plateau.

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How is your appetite? Has your weight increased in the past 3 weeks? Calories seem a bit low for your height and weight. Looks like the lower end of maintenance to me.

What does a bench/squat day look like? Exercises, sets, reps.

And what does the second bench/squat look like when hitting it, the same week? Could be you are not giving yourself enough rest between sessions.

I personally can not train muscles groups 2x a week as I prefer to train to failure (progressive overload and intensity over volume) I burnout and regress on 2x a week.

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28 y/o

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Used to be very skinny, always had low appetite, but now I have to keep an eye on my diet to make sure I don’t overeat. I can easily down 1k calories worth of plain rice and chicken and do the same thing 3 hours later. Made the mistake in the past of eating too much and added 10lbs of just fat… I learnt that I REALLY do not like cutting.

Was gaining about 0.5lbs a week before, only gained about 0.5-1lb in the past 3 weeks. I’m aiming for a 200-300 surplus.

Bench 2x5 & 1x5+, adding 5lbs if I get 5+ on the last set, if I don’t I reset by 15%.
SQ same
Accessories: cable row 4x10 (double progression), incline db press 2x10, bicep curls 3x15

OHP same
DL same
Accessories: lat pulldown 4x10, incline db press 2x10, bicep curls 3x15

No accessories for legs b/c 1) training at home, 2) still progressing just fine (size/strength wise), 3) always had proportionally bigger legs which respond to training very well (played soccer whole my life)

I alternate between those two workouts, same ones each time. I feel recovered between my sessions, might be like you said that I’m slightly under recovered and residual fatigue hinders progression just enough. I also like to train with high intensity (close to failure), but I need to keep myself in check. I have a tendency to go balls out on my first set, which makes the rest of my workout suffer.

I tried upper/lower before, done 3 times a week instead of 4. Made great progress on that until I injured myself. If I recall correctly, I used to pyramid up to 1 all out set of 5-8 reps on the main compound of the day (BP/SQ/DL) and then did a few back off sets at -15-20%. after that it was just typical accessories 3x8-12 double progression (dynamic - so not the typical 3x12 and then up the weight).

I thought that since my lifts are still low, I’d benefit more from higher frequency with a FB split. My main goal is still hypertrophy, but my goals shifted a bit lately towards strength aswel. I’d like to hit 225x5 SQ 315x5 deadlift and a 185x5 bench, which would be HUGE for me looking back at my starting point.

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Which template do you recommend? The beginner one with 2 main lifts a day or the regular 531?

As I said in the post above, my main goal is still hypertrophy and strength should be taken care off by doing 531. The ones I know of and are most popular for my goals are ‘building the monolith’, BBB, 531 bodybuilding, FSL, …?

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None taken, I know they’re low… sadly.

Training too frequently is something I didn’t think off really… Since my numbers are that low I should be able to recover just fine (as I read everywhere). Some people are even squatting their way up to 315 by squatting 3x a week. I’ve never done great on those aggressive LP programs.

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If high frequency, limited rest and multiple big lifts per day is sucking for you, make a change.

Each lift on it’s own day. That means More time in the gym, More focused work and Still More time to recover between workouts. With no draw backs. It’s so much better, it’s like cheating.

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Some good options…

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Thib also has an article on his own site about “one lift a day”. It’s pretty much the only way we knew how to do it 20 years ago. Might be worth a read.

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At this stage, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s a fairly sensible progression. Just find something that excites you and focus on the basics (training with intensity, recovery etc).

I love going for rep PRs. It makes me excited about training. The thought of doing double progression for a long time bores me and I would unlikely stick to it.
At your stage, I did something similar to this How to Use Linear Periodization. I did it before this article came out, but it was very close to it. If my memory is right, I did 5 cycles and consistently beat rep PRs.