A few thoughts–
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You’re really light. I mean, REALLY light for your height. I think you should gain mass, but as long as you are making strength gains, you don’t have to take that advice. If you are not gaining strength, you will absolutely need to gain muscle, as you are probably not a freak in the superlight weightclass like some athletes.
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I make a lot of good progress with pulling 1 or 2 times, sometimes even 3+ times a week. A lot of people make progress doing Trinsey’s and elitefts’s thing–no straight deadlifting for extended periods of time. I love it, I don’t want to live without it, even if I can make progress that way. I don’t feel comfortable that way. If there ever comes a time when I have to stop pulling weekly in order to gain strength, I’ll do it. But until that day, I love me some deadlifts. It’s really workable either way. Personal preference. So no! you won’t lose anything by pulling every 8 days.
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In order to progress without pulling for weeks or months on end, you need to have a firm mastery of technique and be able to feel the groove. Otherwise you’ll lose the ability to efficiently pull by letting the DL sit out of your training for a couple months.
Also, you need to have a firm command of how to address your weak points/muscles in the lift. AND you must never lose sight of those weaknesses and training them throughout the months. If you get distracted or lose sight of what you are doing, you will regress fast! Also, you have to know HOW to attack said weak points/muscles. Without that knowledge you’ll probably regress as well.
- I echo above poster’s feelings–You don’t seem to be training very hard. Following is my current training, pretty much WSB template suited to fit my needs/wants. Even if you don’t pull every week, you’re still on the low side of undertraining. Also, YOU HAVE TO EAT A TRUCKLOAD to be able to handle increased volume–even without gaining weight. You have to be able to recover from the workouts. It’s not a matter of overtraining at your weight–it’s undereating. Unless you have some serious prior injuries.
Keep in mind my goal is to STAY in the present weightclass (198 lb), and not move up. The only real difference for me between cutting and gaining is calories, and maybe some GPP/strongman stuff on off days. My current focus is on bettering squat.
Monday–ME LOWER
ME box squat–work up to 1RM in 6-8 sets. Make sure to have at least 3 pulls at 90% 1RM or higher (including successful PR attempts)
Heavy Supports 120-125% 1RM held for 10, 15, and 20 seconds
Olympic squats 3-5 sets of 5 reps, maybe a top single if I feel good
Dimel Deadlifts 4 sets of 6 reps (1 warmup set)
45 degree weighted back extension 3x8-10
heavy incline abs–about 3 sets of 5-8
a couple sets of side bends
Wed. ME Upper
ME bench variation–work up to 1 or 3 RM
db lat rows-- work up to 2 heavy sets of 5 or more, usually takes 6-7 sets x 5 reps
****(sometimes bent barbell row instead, for 4-6 sets)
A1) Overhead neutral grip db press–3-4 x of 6-8
A2) Pull-ups 3-4 sets, just short of failure
Dips–2-3 sets of 8-12
some lighter ab work or heavier oblique work
Thurs. HSS-100 ARMS
It pains me to say I now have an arm day. I haven’t had one in 4+ years, and made great progress. I just came realization I probably could use some more work on them. I really don’t know why I decided to do it, I don’t really need it. But it’s working for me to actually have training partners one day a week, and I’m still getting stronger. This is the first day to be dropped during a down/recovery week.
5x5 barbell curls
5x5 close grip bench
superset 1 compound and 1 isolation bicep exercise 4x6-8
specialty bicep 3x8
set of 100 reps
superset tricep 1 compound/1 isolation 4x6-8
specialty tricep 3x8
set of 100 reps
Fri. DE Lower
DE box squat + usually add chains. 3 week wave from 55%-66% 1RM 8-10 sets x 2 reps. 45sec rest or so. Quick.
DL from deficit 3x5 after warmup, working up in weight
natural GHRs 4x 6-8
pull-throughs 3-4x6-8
incline abs 3x6-8 reps
side bends 2-3x5 heavy
Sun. DE/RE Upper
A1) DE or RE incline bench 8x3 or 4x8
A2) incline low trap shrugs, dumbell 4x8-12
B1) cable rows 3x12 or so
B2) tricep pushdowns
C1) lat pulldowns or pull-ups, depends on how I feel
C2) 10-2 low trap raises, dumbell. 3x8
That is my training to stay in my same weightclass.
YOUR TRAINING–
Mon–deadlift - chain pushup - power clean -farmers walk
Sat.–military press - squat - pull up