Going Back to Linear Progression. Need Help

I managed to make sure that I didnt gain too much fat, but that was only till a certain point.

I can still run, jump and move or whatever, but I just feel that I’m too heavy for my lifts.

For the cutting part, I wasnt going to take anything out of my diet, but rather do a little extra cardio (10 minutes of walking on a high incline) and let winter take care of the rest (i walk 1.5 miles to the gym 4x a week)

I will take cut my fat intake down though, been getting alot of lately…

Cant be bothered about abs or anything. I just want to be big and strong without a huge gut.

I guess I’ll reset my max and go down 2-3 cycles and change my assistance. I’ve run the same thing for a little over 4 months now

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I hear ya. It sounds like you’ve got your head in the right place just be patient. This shit takes a while and noone does it without help. Its best to make small changes with programming, not drastic ones, so that you can see what works and what doesn’t. At the end of the day if you train consistently and add weight to the bar you will get stronger.

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I’m not a 531 nutlicker but did you analyze why you stalled? I would have you do a mock meet where you go heavy enough to see issues before you design a program from scratch.

That being said it seems like you’re doing everything but the kitchen sink.

Try the following after testing per the first paragraph.

  1. Major movement - comp lift or variation
  2. Major assistance work - GM, SLDL, RDL, Floor press, etc. based on results of weakness test.
  3. Major muscle work (rows, chins, extensions, close grips, etc)
  4. Prehab/rehap - face pulls, GHR, reverse hyper etc.

4 movements per day - done. If you feel recovered add more weight per week. You’re 19, take advantage of it and pile the weight on the bar.

I started grinding in 2 month or the 2nd cycle. The differences then were that my SLDL got stuck at 325 for 5x3 and the belt started feeling feeling really tight. It’s been the same since then. My SLDL has gone nowhere and I’ve had to loosen my belt which actually helped.

My previous template was

  1. main lift 5/3/1
  2. heavy assistance work- 5x3, 5x5 on SLDLs, bb rows, Close grip bench, pause squats
  3. high rep work- 3x15, 4x10 on the same movements as the heavy work

I havent done a whole lot of prehab work. A new assistance template would do me good…

Way too much assistance volume if you want the main lifts to go up. Work some different intensities and rep ranges on the main lift over the course of your training.

Don’t bother with AMRAP. It’s a waste of time done week in and week out. It’s fine once in a while as a strength tester, but too hard on the body when done regularly.

You’d be better off doing the main lift and a variation after the main lift with just one or at the most two assistance exercises if you’re going to do a lot of volume on the main lift.

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I just want to point out that there are many different ways that Jim Wendlers says you can do your main 5/3/1 sets.

There’s Jokers where you do or don’t do AMRAP and then up the weight and do another sets and may do it again or not, first set last set, heavy singles after doing the 5/3/1 without AMRAP. His books have great information on this and his forum here on T-nation is an amazing resource for people following his program. He has really helped people out here.

And AMRAP doesn’t have to be literally that. You can leave reps in the tank and that’s just fine.

If you really do indeed have glaring weaknesses, you may want to omit AMRAP and just do the bare bones required reps and really hammer quality assistance work that’ll cover those issues.

And you really only need 3-5 exercises per training session.

The conventional DL, high bar squat, and floor press you mentioned are solid choices. Just vary the rep schemes and maybe intensities. You can even wave them. Since weak points are your main focus, you can go harder on these than the 5/3/1 work.

This ditch the barbell and work on stuff like midsection, lats/upper back, biceps (keep the elbows, shoulders, and wrists healthy), light triceps work. Stuff just to balance out the work your doing with the main lifts.

Example:
Squat day
5/3/1 only required reps with your comp squat
High Bar Squat sets of 5 reps starting at 60% bumping up the wieght 5% each set until you only have around 2 reps left in the tank
Bodyweight Leg Extensions (you mentioned weak quads)
Decline Crunches with weight over head supersetted with 45 degree hyper

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  1. Forget about the terms and way of thinking in the traditional bulk and cut. If you think you are too weak for your lifts now what’s gonna happen when you lose 10-20lbs… Your lifts will go down and you will be weaker all around, weaker relative to bw, and probably look worse appearance wise (which I know isn’t a huge priority for you but, come on… Yes it is). Eat good food, stay “clean” 90% of the time and grow into your body weight. I AM NOT TELLING YOU TO GAIN WEIGHT OR FAT. Simply continue to get stronger and just hover in the same area. I promise you will “recomp”, grow faster, improve lifts, and all around look and feel better.

  2. If you are in for the long haul why are you setting your program up for PRing every 6 weeks? PRing in general should be done on the platform unless you are talking technique PRs, volume PRs, Speed PRs, and the such. If here is one thing I have learned about this sport it is that simply piling weight in the bar will only take you so far… Generally it isn’t very far either.

  3. Any chance you can afford a coach? Whether online or in person? Online is drastically cheaper but, has more issues to work around often. But, you could be not progressing because of technique issues. For example my first meet I Squat 500 and pulled 540. 3 years later I am just shy of a 800 Squat and have only put 80lbs on my deadlift in that time. One from not focusing on it extremely hard but, the biggest reason is due to technical issues because I don’t focus on it much. Even though you train your pull often it could have stalled because of a technique issue that you can’t get around with out addressing. Same for your other lifts.

  4. Injuries from what exactly? Lifting? Other sports? Drinking? What? All this could factor in to the above plateau.

  5. Why do you want to PR in the floor press?

The PR I was hoping to hit in 6 weeks was a rep PR on squats. My original set up on 531 required me to attempt a max lift on the 3rd week of every cycle, which in retrospect was probably why I started grinding in the 2 month.

Some of my injuries (patellar tendonitis, hip flexor strain) came from the starting of this year as I wasnt stretching or doing any mobility work. Some came from direct impacts to certain parts (sprained ankle and direct hit to the knee). A few came from over use of a movement (bicep femoris strain and some high hamstring/glute injury from overdoing SLDLs and hyper extensions)

I’m just desperate to get my numbers up, especially my squat. I’ve been lifting for strength for almost 2 years and I’m still weak.

I cant really afford coaching. Cant afford protein shakes as well…

Well coaching far out weighs protein shakes so if you find your self in a better position that you can spare roughly $25-35 a weeks we can probably help find you a coach online.

As for the two year thing I have been training for close to 10 years and I still suck so, gonna be a while lol.

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Really, you think you suck? What’s a good squat (out of a monolift, with wraps) to you, 1000lbs?

How do you pull a hip flexor?

I’m not quite sure what I did, but I injured my left hip flexor while doing some paused squats after deadlifting. I injured the other one 2 weeks later by suddenly switching from sumo to conventional and maxing out on that day. Stupid stuff…

I have had issues with hip flexors myself but I don’t often hear of anyone actually pulling one. It’s possible that yours are just tight, look up myofascial release for hip flexors. Personally I don’t like to actually stretch them because sometimes that will cause them to cramp up later. Doing lots of ab work, especially stuff like sit ups and leg raises can make your hip flexors get tight too.

This happened in June, and it isnt that bad now. Started doing defranco agile 8 and it feels alot better now.

Speaking of ab work, never did any and relied on beltless work to work my core. Lately, I’ve noticed that my upper back is rounding on squats, even with a belt. Some one said I should do more ab work and high bar squats to fix this. Is this right?

Actually, I find the thing that works my abs the hardest is high rep squats with a belt on, especially SSB squats. Squatting without a belt doesn’t make your abs work harder, it just forces you to consciously use them.

I don’t see how ab work will stop your upper back from rounding, if you can’t brace properly or your abs are just weak then that will affect your lower back. What you need to do is build up the spinal erectors in your upper back, high bar squats will work them more than a low bar squat but front squats and SSB squats are even better. I prefer SSB squats because technique is less of a limitng factor than in front squats and you can also handle a lot more weight. If your upper back is really bad then you could try upper back good mornings, they have some videos of those on EliteFTS. Fred Hatfield said he did a lot of those leading up to his 1000lbs. squat.

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Another thing, for your abs look up Stuart McGill’s Big 3. That’s also what Chris Duffin recommends for ab work. I was doing those for a while as a circuit, got my abs working harder than ever.

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In the 220 or up weight class any thing under 800 in my opinion is subpar and mind you still 100plus away from the all time. 600 plus very respectable, 700 is definitely “elite” but, in the grand scheme of powerlifting (not general population or athletes) and specifically powerlifting 700 is damn near expected of a good 220 guy now.

Once again mind you I say I suck compared to men I compare my self to that I am chasing in the Squat such as Sam Byrd and Chris Duffin. At most powerlifting meets Id be one of the biggest squatters regardless of weight class or gear but, on that all time list I am no body who isn’t even close.

Lastly though a 1000lbs is the number I am striving for. I won’t quit til I hit it and no matter the weight class till I hit it I suck.

If your setup was to hit maxes every third week on 5/3/1 that and hitting the AMRAP’s too hard are very possibly where the grinding has come from. It may have been wendlers book, it may have been another article of his but i very solidly remember that he advises the AMRAP be done while leaving 1-2 reps in the tank.

Dont AMRAP a deadlift til you drop it and are shaking, did you hit the 5 or 3 or 1? Keep going til you got about 1 left and be done. Also, as far as maxing on week 3, i dont believe I ever saw anywhere that advises that either. Plain and simple if you expect to be able to max your lifts every 3rd week or even stagger them to max something every week, you would pretty much need to be juicing to keep that up for long. 5/3/1 is typically a time game, don’t worry about maxing unless you haven’t for awhile and feel good, worry about accumulating cycle after cycle because with standard jumps, you’ll be repping your original TM by round 6 or 7.

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Move on to Westside or try this…

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