*** The 2017 Gym Rats Thread ***
- Thread starter mrthingyx
- Start date
Soldato
One thing to remember is that if you're new to a lift like the squat,
There's loads of improvement you'll make week on week just getting technically better at the lift, and eventually you get to the point you're fully utilizing your muscles with correct form.
This might be where you're at, when there's no 'gains' to be made by form and you're waiting on muscle development.
SL is a beginner plan, it doesn't work forever, you've already adapted it to a weekly step up.
Yeah squat and deadlift were completely new to me and I hadn't trained for about 7 years before starting ( I did some really light starter weights before starting SL so I had some basis before starting)
It felt good each week increasing weight - now everything feels like a huge struggle and trying to keep form correct is very hard
OHP - back moving slightly backwards
BOR not fully touching lower chest each rep or raising body a little to aid rep
Bench seems okay until I hit the 4th rep of 4th set where I feel like all my strength is gone and lift it a few inches of my chest and struggle eventually having to give up and rerack for 5th set...
Deadlift feels very tough and I really worry about form and doing my back in...
Squat I know I'm not getting as low as I do at lighter weights but my leg is horizontal so should be fine.
It felt good each week increasing weight - now everything feels like a huge struggle and trying to keep form correct is very hard
OHP - back moving slightly backwards
BOR not fully touching lower chest each rep or raising body a little to aid rep
Bench seems okay until I hit the 4th rep of 4th set where I feel like all my strength is gone and lift it a few inches of my chest and struggle eventually having to give up and rerack for 5th set...
Deadlift feels very tough and I really worry about form and doing my back in...
Squat I know I'm not getting as low as I do at lighter weights but my leg is horizontal so should be fine.
Thanks for the messages guys. Started getting quite painful a while after I posted, so I took a couple Ibuprofen and it was fine. Woke up this morning and it was not too bad, decided to try out a bit of yoga (been thinking about yoga for a while), and did a bit of foam roller. Now it's only a mild discomfort, so that's good news. Hopefully be fine for gym tomorrow!
That may well have been the issue. I noticed watching a video earlier, that the bottom two ribs are free-floating (I'm no expert on anatomy, I just do whatever Mark Rippetoe tells me to do!), so the ribs have maybe undergone a larger movement than they should.
Can't say I have, but it certainly sounds like a mild intercostal strain.
No, I don't have a gym buddy unfortunately.
That may well have been the issue. I noticed watching a video earlier, that the bottom two ribs are free-floating (I'm no expert on anatomy, I just do whatever Mark Rippetoe tells me to do!), so the ribs have maybe undergone a larger movement than they should.
Can't say I have, but it certainly sounds like a mild intercostal strain.
No, I don't have a gym buddy unfortunately.
Man of Honour
EAT MOAR!!!
From the weights you've given in your earlier post I think you're safe when it comes to putting on too much fat so if you're starting to stall and struggle, first deload. Pretty sure that's accounted for in SL program and if still struggling then start ramping up your food intake.
OHP - I hurt my lower back about a year ago because I didn't realise how much I was leaning backwards. Brace your core and squeeze your glutes hard and you'll be good
Soldato
OHP - I hurt my lower back about a year ago because I didn't realise how much I was leaning backwards. Brace your core and squeeze your glutes hard and you'll be good
And test to make sure you can actually put your arms straight up above your head and get your head 'through' without your ribs lifting up. This not this sort of thing. Leaning back is often as much of a compensation thing as it reverting to an incline because it's easier to lift more.
yeah I try and lift it above my head more but my form starts to fail more in later sets....
Squat I managed 3 sets of 102.5 last night but failed on my 4th and 5th set - feeling very tough and tiring - energy drained for my bench Might drop it back 10kg and work back up again... ? good idea?
On a positive note I completed 5x5 80kg bench - 5minutes rest needed and on last rep of 4th and 5th set were a struggle to get up and needed to arch into it more to get it up.... will stick to 80kg - want to feel comfortable before going up....
Squat I managed 3 sets of 102.5 last night but failed on my 4th and 5th set - feeling very tough and tiring - energy drained for my bench
Might drop it back 10kg and work back up again... ? good idea?On a positive note I completed 5x5 80kg bench - 5minutes rest needed and on last rep of 4th and 5th set were a struggle to get up and needed to arch into it more to get it up.... will stick to 80kg - want to feel comfortable before going up....
Soldato
I'm taking 5min rests and still struggling to 5x5 80 Kg on the squat 
Though I think I might have bottled it rather than failed last time haha
I braced, and nothing felt right about it so I decided against going down
Though I think I might have bottled it rather than failed last time haha
I braced, and nothing felt right about it so I decided against going down
Soldato
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Just split your stance for OHP, it will help take some load off the lower back as it removes the tendency to lean. One foot forward, one foot back.
Thanks will try that and see how I get on.... I know I have poor shoulder flexibility so that probably doesn't help
Rib was feeling significantly better today, very minor discomfort so I went to the gym and did my routine as normal. When working up through the weights I was just under working weight and had a twinge in the rib and suddenly realised what happened the other day. I've been releasing the Valsalva manoeuvre slightly before I lock out the squat. Whether this is every time, or just the odd occasion I have no idea. So I upped the weight as per usual, ensuring I keep my lungs full and core braced until I completely lock out the squat, and there was no repeat of the injury. Live and learn!
5x5 is a lot of volume for a beginner. I'm far from the most experienced on here, but I think you'd be better off following Starting Strength than Stronglifts.
I'm taking 5min rests and still struggling to 5x5 80 Kg on the squat
Though I think I might have bottled it rather than failed last time haha
I braced, and nothing felt right about it so I decided against going down
5x5 is a lot of volume for a beginner. I'm far from the most experienced on here, but I think you'd be better off following Starting Strength than Stronglifts.
Soldato
I hadn't looked into SS that much, I'd assumed from what I read that SL was a ripoff,
I didn't realize it'd changed the reps.
From a quick gleen of forums, it seems people prefer SS to SL for the reason I feel I'm at, Stalling on lifts.
I would say from my vids my 5th set is less than a shadow of my first set most of the time haha, so maybe 3x5 would be better.
Anyone else got any thoughts on this
That's why intermediate lifters use 5x5 (such as the Texas method). For a beginner who is still perfecting their form, and progressing linearly, 5x5 is usually considered too much volume. As giraffe said, his form is out the window by the fifth set, so he's accomplishing very little by doing it.
Soldato
You could counter that 3x5 is typically done at a higher intensity/% of 1RM than 5x5 though, which places different demands on the lifter and that 5x5 = more reps per session = more practice at the lift = get better at it quicker. If your form is cack by the 5th set you're trying to move too much weight and would be better off reducing weight on the bar so that you can complete every rep with at least acceptable form before overloading further. It's something everyone is probably guilty of at some point in their lifting career; you got max reps on a given exercise/load and ignore the fact it was sloppy and stick more on next time rather than being strict and not allowing too much form degredation.
Also if your solution is to just lift even less reps by dropping to 3x5 your work capacity is going to go down, which is the opposite of what you need to progress beyond the beginner stages. 5x5 is hardly high volume when you compare it to other programs on a per-body-part basis too (especially upper body). Don't forget the 5's programs are largely derived from on-the-side strength work for American athletes who already had a high training workload and while something like Texas Method can work for intermediates, the more modern evidence-informed periodised approaches like DUP or block periodisation seem to work WAY better... (something even actual SS coaches concede if you peruse the Starting Strength forums).
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/m...aining-routine-more-effective-two-quick-tips/
http://masterbenchpress.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/beginner-and-intermediate-lifters-need.html
Also if your solution is to just lift even less reps by dropping to 3x5 your work capacity is going to go down, which is the opposite of what you need to progress beyond the beginner stages. 5x5 is hardly high volume when you compare it to other programs on a per-body-part basis too (especially upper body). Don't forget the 5's programs are largely derived from on-the-side strength work for American athletes who already had a high training workload and while something like Texas Method can work for intermediates, the more modern evidence-informed periodised approaches like DUP or block periodisation seem to work WAY better... (something even actual SS coaches concede if you peruse the Starting Strength forums).
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/m...aining-routine-more-effective-two-quick-tips/
http://masterbenchpress.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/beginner-and-intermediate-lifters-need.html
Man of Honour
If you want high volume check out Smolov 
*not recommended for beginners or the mentally stable*
*not recommended for beginners or the mentally stable*
Soldato
Well, I wasn't considering dropping SL today, just looking at options for if I keep stalling.
I'm going to drop back to 77.5kg and move when I'm happy I'm doing it right
I'm going to drop back to 77.5kg and move when I'm happy I'm doing it right
Interesting reading
I have started doing a set at 80% my 5X weight for each exercise and do as many I can do until failure..... This hopefully is adding some extra type of training (i.e. doing more than 5)
Is this okay?
Soldato
When I was doing SL I moved onto 3x5 on the squats at around 80kg (bear in mind my first failure and deload was at about 55kg!) as squatting 3x per week, with each and every rep being a MASSIVE effort, it was just too much for me - I got close to 90kg, think I stopped at 87.5kg, which was more than my bodyweight (tall and skinny, 6ft 3, 185lbs at my heaviest, have since cut some fat off).
I moved onto a 5 day split which was far more enjoyable, I do legs one day a week now and my squats are rubbish vs when I was doing SL but squatting that much a week will do that. I might go back to SL at some point, my upper body is a fair bit stronger now than it was but my legs are lagging behind somewhat.
I moved onto a 5 day split which was far more enjoyable, I do legs one day a week now and my squats are rubbish vs when I was doing SL but squatting that much a week will do that. I might go back to SL at some point, my upper body is a fair bit stronger now than it was but my legs are lagging behind somewhat.