Even though I’m not back squatting currently (still working on hammy/calve mobility) I feel these are all REALLY low to stall on. So I’m guessing one of 3 things are happening:
Not eating enough
Not getting sufficient rest
It is just hard to increase front squats, DL, OHP alone with no assistance.
I’m thinking it is probably 98% that is more like a combination of # 1 and 2. I average 7 hrs of sleep a night, which 6 is probably FULL ON sleep.
My weight has stayed the same (I’m 5’6 161 lbs) and I’m eating roughly:
275.7g Carbs
62.6g Fat
175.7g Protein
2336.3 Calories
I eat basically the same thing everyday with exceptions on Saturday nights.
This is my maintenance calories. My form feels good on everything. Is it just I need to up my calories a bit more? Maybe take it up to 2500-2700 to start with and see how it goes?
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Did you end up following your program you posted here?
Yes. The only thing is we found out I don’t have the proper mobility to do the Snatch pulls/dl and I still get butt wink when doing BS, so I’m continuing to aggressively go after my mobility (2 sessions a day) so I can fully follow the program. So in the meantime I’m doing Clean DL on Monday and Clean pulls on Friday and heavy FS 3 days a week for now.
Given your bodyweight they’re not that low to stall on.
Honestly, not too sure what it’d be. You get as much or more sleep than I do, and sleep has never been a limiter for me so far. You could always try eating more, of course. It isn’t going to hurt.
You could try dropping the reps and upping the load to see how that works for you, even if just for a week or two.
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Given your bodyweight they’re not that low to stall on.
Honestly, not too sure what it’d be. You get as much or more sleep than I do, and sleep has never been a limiter for me so far. You could always try eating more, of course. It isn’t going to hurt.
You could try dropping the reps and upping the load to see how that works for you, even if just for a week or two. [/quote]
I’ll try both to see if it can help me break through my plateau. If neither works, do you think it’s time I move to a 4 day push/pull split?
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Given your bodyweight they’re not that low to stall on.
Honestly, not too sure what it’d be. You get as much or more sleep than I do, and sleep has never been a limiter for me so far. You could always try eating more, of course. It isn’t going to hurt.
You could try dropping the reps and upping the load to see how that works for you, even if just for a week or two. [/quote]
I’ll try both to see if it can help me break through my plateau. If neither works, do you think it’s time I move to a 4 day push/pull split?
[/quote]
Honestly, no. If this program has been working for you until now, keep at it with as minimal changes as possible. I actually kind of like it: IMO it hits all the key points (personally I’d include more deadlifting, but that’s just me).
One thing you could do would be to vary the set/rep scheme and loading for front squats and OHP along these lines:
[quote]MarkKO wrote:
Honestly, no. If this program has been working for you until now, keep at it with as minimal changes as possible. I actually kind of like it: IMO it hits all the key points (personally I’d include more deadlifting, but that’s just me).
One thing you could do would be to vary the set/rep scheme and loading for front squats and OHP along these lines:
Leave the other stuff as is, or change a little. You see what I’m getting at with the loading?[/quote]
I get what you are saying. I’ll try something like this for 2 weeks and then on the 3rd week go back to my program to see what happens. My only question is what if I still stall at that point?
My only goal is to get stronger, but while staying as light (weight wise) as possible.
I think 2 weeks without increasing weight on the bar is not yet anything to worry about. In all likelihood, the reps this week where probably much cleaner and crisper than 2 weeks ago, maybe you took less rest or psyched yourself up less. There are many ways that the same reps at the same weight could be improved. If you still aren’t moving in another 2 weeks, you may have an issue.
[quote]dagill2 wrote:
I think 2 weeks without increasing weight on the bar is not yet anything to worry about. In all likelihood, the reps this week where probably much cleaner and crisper than 2 weeks ago, maybe you took less rest or psyched yourself up less. There are many ways that the same reps at the same weight could be improved. If you still aren’t moving in another 2 weeks, you may have an issue.[/quote]
You know come to think of it, yesterday I only FS 155 3x5, but I did feel MUCH more powerful coming out the hole and my legs felt pretty secure. But the second I tried to do 160 it felt a lot different lol.
[quote]craze9 wrote:
If your goal is muscle gain you need to increase calories. I would add 40 g carbs and 15 g fat.[/quote]
I’m going to up my cals to 2500 and see if that helps. But if I still stall for another month doing all these things, idk what I’m going to do.
[/quote]
I would consider varying the rep range. From what I can see, there is no variety to your approach, and no real discernible progression model.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I would consider varying the rep range. From what I can see, there is no variety to your approach, and no real discernible progression model.[/quote]
Sounds good man. I’ll try that as well, like do 5x3 Monday, 3x5 Wednesday, and maybe push for heavy singles or doubles on Friday for 2 weeks and then come back to mine.
I was just doing a basic weekly linear progression. Trying to add 5 lbs to UB lifts and 10 lbs to LB lifts.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I would consider varying the rep range. From what I can see, there is no variety to your approach, and no real discernible progression model.[/quote]
Sounds good man. I’ll try that as well, like do 5x3 Monday, 3x5 Wednesday, and maybe push for heavy singles or doubles on Friday for 2 weeks and then come back to mine.
I was just doing a basic weekly linear progression. Trying to add 5 lbs to UB lifts and 10 lbs to LB lifts.
[/quote]
That sounds like not varying the rep range at all. You’re still training very low reps there. I would include a variety of rep ranges, from 1-20.
That sounds like not varying the rep range at all. You’re still training very low reps there. I would include a variety of rep ranges, from 1-20.
[/quote]
So I’m guessing you mean something more along the lines of this:
That sounds like not varying the rep range at all. You’re still training very low reps there. I would include a variety of rep ranges, from 1-20.
[/quote]
So I’m guessing you mean something more along the lines of this:
MON - 5x5
WED - 3x10
FRI - 4x6[/quote]
I wouldn’t just carpet bomb a day with a rep scheme, but instead work with a variety of ranges for the movements.
For example
Here is your day 1
Front Squat 3x5
OHP 3x5
Clean DL 3x5
Pull Ups 4xF
Snatch (Just the bar until technique and positioning is SOLID)
Abs
Instead, it could be
Front squat: Work up to a heavy set of 5, take 80% of that weight and perform 2-3 sets of 8-10 rep. For the final set, perform as many reps as possible
OHP: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Clean DL: 1x5 one week, 1x10-15 the next, alternate
Pull ups: As many sets as necessary to reach 50 reps
I find that rigidity and training all movements exactly the same leaves little room for progression.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I find that rigidity and training all movements exactly the same leaves little room for progression.[/quote]
Adding to this, trying a variety of different rep ranges for different exercises will give you more of a feel for how different approaches work for you. This will be invaluable to help expand your toolkit.
Thanks guys. I’ll try a few of these things for a few weeks and see what happens.
I reason I didn’t want to change rep schemes and all that originally is because I’ve always sort of been a program hopper. This first time in my life I stayed with a program and have gotten results. So I feel like I shouldn’t change anything, but I am hitting this plateau. I know the first things people say to look at is form, diet, and rest and I feel all those are pretty good. So I guess I’ll mess with the rep scheme and loads for a bit to see what happens.
[quote]isdatnutty wrote:
Thanks guys. I’ll try a few of these things for a few weeks and see what happens.
I reason I didn’t want to change rep schemes and all that originally is because I’ve always sort of been a program hopper. This first time in my life I stayed with a program and have gotten results. So I feel like I shouldn’t change anything, but I am hitting this plateau. I know the first things people say to look at is form, diet, and rest and I feel all those are pretty good. So I guess I’ll mess with the rep scheme and loads for a bit to see what happens.
Thanks for all your insight fellas![/quote]
I’m still of the opinion that this isn’t a full on stall and only a cause for concern if you still see no improvements in a few weeks