Only my squat and bench are progressing

[Mr.City]

Hey guys,

I got a weird problem. Only my bench and squat are progressing. Everything has hit a stall. I'm at a loss here. My stats are as follows

6'3 232 lbs

SQ: 335 5x3
OHP: 127.5 5x3
BP: 222.5 5x3
DL: 340 5x1
PC: 160 3x5

What could I be doing wrong? If it were a recovery issue, wouldn't my squats stall? You might be wondering why I haven't used 1 lb jumps on my press if it has stalled, however should I be able to make 2.5 lb jumps on it since I'm still able on my bench? I always seem able to make one of the sets of 5 on my presses, however the number of reps that I'm able to complete goes down the next pressing session.

My deadlift situation is odd. I could do 340 for a not too difficult set of 5, but 350 just feels glued to the floor. I'm making 10 lb jumps still, however I would assume that my squat strength would carry over to my ability to make 10 lbs in my deadlift. The bar never gets off the ground either.

I feel frustrated, depressed, and moody since Wednesday session. These are symptoms of overtraining according to PPT2, however I don't see how I can be overtraining. I deadlift every other week and have programmed a light squat day into my training. In fact, I pull on the days I squat light. I feel like I should be able to progress further on as a novice lifter. I mean, there's a huge gap between my press and bench and my squat and deadlift are almost neck and neck. Something's off here.

[nisora33]

Hey, try five sets of 3 reps on the press from now on. Focus on bar speed being high across all five sets. Add a little weight the next time. When five sets of 3 becomes too much, start doing 3 sets of three. When that becomes too much, switch to intermediate programming on the press.

It's completely possible to overtrain lifts but not become overtrained in a more general sense. This might be just the sort of change you need for your press, both psychologically and physically. As for the deadlift, why don't you start deadlifting once a week again but start doing sets of 3 instead of five? The adaptation to threes insn't that different from fives, and switching to threes might take a little bit of the psychological pressure off you, which also might just be the sort of change you need, know what I mean?

On a related note, do you think you're squats might be too high, resulting in the closing gap between deadlift poundage and squat poundage?
-S.

[gzt]

Are you still double-overhanding the deadlift? I had this same problem, I found out it was just my body refusing to pick up something my hands couldn't hold. I alternated and then it just flew up.

[Mr.City]

Squat has been fine for me. Here's me at 325: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oEgf6M1_yQ

As for my current stall, should I deload and work back up with your prescribed rep scheme? I'm currently trying to make 2.5 lb jumps on my press. However, I think those are over. Another thing that I neglected to mention is my chin/pull up volume. I do sets with 2-3 min rests until I can't make anymore reps. Could this lead to overtraining somehow?

As for the deadlifts stall, they seem to come so suddenly. The first rep of the workset just doesn't budge at all. I'll definitely give it a try though

[Mr.City]

Nope, I use a mixed grip. My double overhand grip cut out around 290-300.

[Locutus]

On a related note, do you think you're squats might be too high, resulting in the closing gap between deadlift poundage and squat poundage?
-S.

No, I don't think depth is the problem here - his squats from his other recent post were clearly below parallel.

And yes to nisora's other points - really simple changes can make a world of difference.

I, for whatever reason, changed my bench and press on the TM method to 5x2 from 5x5, and have gotten quite a bit of press progress out of it, without messing with my micro plates.

(On a side note: I think I'll do something like 5x5->3x5->5x3->3x3 after my next reset, just to keep progress going and avoid stagnation. Resetting is rather annoying.)

[nisora33]

Squat has been fine for me. Here's me at 325: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oEgf6M1_yQ

As for my current stall, should I deload and work back up with your prescribed rep scheme? I'm currently trying to make 2.5 lb jumps on my press. However, I think those are over. Another thing that I neglected to mention is my chin/pull up volume. I do sets with 2-3 min rests until I can't make anymore reps. Could this lead to overtraining somehow?

As for the deadlifts stall, they seem to come so suddenly. The first rep of the workset just doesn't budge at all. I'll definitely give it a try though

Don't deload the press yet. My gut says that switching to threes will feel like such a "breath of fresh air" that it'll kickstart your progress again. If it doesn't, do a short deload, then ramp back up using the new rep scheme.

The deadlift sounds like more of a CNS thing to me, though. When I'm really maxed out on the deadlift CNS-wise, my normal weight seems like it weighs fifty pounds more. This is gonna sound like heresy, but I'm a little inclined to suggest that you deload the deadlift, then replace powercleans with speed deadlifts for a while, while you work back up to your old deadlift PR. It's just a suggestion, and you don't have to take it, so see what others have to say first.

-S.

[nisora33]

Resetting is rather annoying.)

Yes, resetting can feel a lot like defeat, can't it? And I don't like that feeling--tends to piss me off and frustrate my progress.

[Mr.City]

Thanks for the advice, Stacey. I've been video taping my presses and deadlifts. I have this weird habit of not having an even grip no matter what I do. My deadlift warm ups show me with a slightly rounded back on my warm up sets. Could this have anything to do with the stall?

Also, could my deadlift warmup scheme be affecting me negatively? It's like this:

135x5
225x3
275x1
315x1

[nisora33]

Thanks for the advice, Stacey. I've been video taping my presses and deadlifts. I have this weird habit of not having an even grip no matter what I do. My deadlift warm ups show me with a slightly rounded back on my warm up sets. Could this have anything to do with the stall?

How rounded? Upper back or lower, or both?

Besides that, I think that the mental pressure you're applying to yourself is crippling your ability to lift. This is coming from someone who know this all too well :)

[Mr.City]

I was reviewing the videos and I look like a hunch back before I start the pull.

[stl rick]

How long are you waiting between work sets?

[Mr.City]

Squats: 8-10 mins
Bench: 4-6 mins
Press: 5 mins
Cleans: 3-4 mins

[hatmanii]

I can attest to the efficacy of switching out Power Cleans with RE/DE deadlifts. It helped me out a lot. However, if your deads are starting to go to piss, it sounds like a technique/form issue rather than overtraining or a CNS recovery issue.

I know that when I don't hit my "groove" and my form breaks down I have a hard time breaking weights off the floor.

[Mr.City]

What's the protocol on DE deadlifts?

[SamGriffin]

I think your press stall is form related. Hopefully more experienced members will comment.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainSuckysuck#p/u/2/CW-y27z-btw

Set 1: pretty obvious--neither forearm is verticle; not much else we can tell from this angle,

Set 2: Shitty camera angle. Rep 1,4 aren't bad. The others have the bar too far infront at the bottom. You would have gotten #5 if it looked like #4.

Set 3: Not worth commenting on


http://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainSuckysuck#p/u/8/GT_VW3bSZjA


Set 1: Bar is infront at bottom on reps 2-5. you quit pretty early on #5.

Set 2: Same problems. Maybe you had last rep if you stayed with it.

Set 3: Better, but bar is still a bit out infront at bottom. Pussed out on last rep?

Any reason you don't wear your belt while pressing?

[WatsupHannity]

I had a weird plateau a few months ago on deadlifts... you may remember it from my log. It was similar to yours in the sense that I knew I was capable of lifting a lot more but it just wasn't happening. I tried deficit pulls, and it really helped. I used one of those aerobic steps, and I did them as warmups. 5 at 135, 3-4 at 185, 2-3 at 225, and then regular DLs at 275 and up until the main set.

I think it helped in two ways: boosting strength off the floor, but also stretching me out and forcing me to get my starting position better aligned. When I went from the deficit pulls to regular DLs it felt like a breeze to set up.

As with all this stuff, your mileage may vary.

[Mr.City]

To answer your question Sam, the reason I quit so early is because my strength seems to vanish very quickly.

[hatmanii]

What's the protocol on DE deadlifts?

I'd go with 8-10 sets of 2-3 reps at 60%-80% of your max. Focus on setting up perfectly, and then exploding up with the weight. 30-60 seconds of rest between sets.

You will kind of need to figure out what will work for you and not cut into your recovery efforts. It's really a whole different animal.

Also, the suggestion on trying defecit deads is a very good one.

First though, you have to fix your form issues.

Good luck!

[Mr.City]

I uploaded my warm up sets with 315 on the deadlift. I had no idea my back was this bad on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgl10kEarU0

[SamGriffin]

To answer your question Sam, the reason I quit so early is because my strength seems to vanish very quickly.

I think, maybe, you are not driving though the bar once you get it moving out of the hole.

I used to do this all the time in the press and the squat. The bar seems to be moving plenty fast out of the hole so you ease off a bit. Then it hits the sticking point, slows, and getting the fucker moving again takes a huge effort. I had a few squat reps where the bar actually stopped and started to go back down but I was able to recover. Obviously, if you do this with your top weight, your going to fail.


She may have hinted at this already.

...Focus on bar speed...

Edit: Your deadlift video is set on private

[CThomas]

You're pressing and deadlifitng on your light squat day, right? Try doing them in this order: press -> deadlift -> squat. This way you will be able to go into both lifts completely fresh, and better focus on the form.

[Mr.City]

Fixed video settings.

[hatmanii]

If your warm-up sets are any indicator as to how your working set(s) look, you need a major adjustment to your form and setup. I think that once you do this, you will see the weights increase again. If you look at 0:41-42, that is what you should look like before you even initiate the pull. If you can get that setup lower to the ground, you should be golden.

I know that I can't pull nearly as much when my form goes to shit.

Good Luck.

EDIT: Also, your last rep wasn't TOO terrible. Some minor lumbar rounding but nothing extraordinary. Work on setting that back.

[Mr.City]

Thanks, hat. I'm going to try out your advice about DE deadlifts tomorrow. Also, been rereading the deadlift chapter of SS and think I might know how to fix a few things.

[hatmanii]

To be fair, it wasn't my advice. But good luck nonetheless. Let us know in a few weeks how things have gone.

[Mr.City]

My first attempt at DE deadlifts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LZttwY8tco

Any comments welcome

[hatmanii]

How did you go about doing these? It was hard to count the sets and rest periods because of the edited video.

List Weight X Reps X Sets with rest periods so we can better help you.

[Mr.City]

Ah, sorry. That was 225 for 5 sets of 3 reps with a 30-45 rest time inbetween. The variation was due to my inability to keep track of time between sets.

[hatmanii]

I'd lower the weight to something like 205 for 8-10 sets of 2 with 30-45 seconds of rest and progress from there.

Something just seemed off on rep three throughout.

[Mr.City]

Like what? I'm not seeing it?

[hatmanii]

I watched the video again and rep three looks just like the first two in every set, it must have been a function of me only getting 4 hours of interrupted sleep last night at work.

However, I don't know if its a function of the angle of the camera or what, but I see noticeable lumbar curvature (rather than flexion) in every set. This might be what your lumbar looks like when it's set and "flat", only your know your body.

Also, I still recommend lowering the weights and going with 8-10 sets of 2 reps. Your last two sets were very slow and non explosive. This is your first crack at RE Deads, go easy until you think you can start to really push the weight.

[Mr.City]

Okay, this is bullshit. I missed my Friday and Monday session due to the break, and my deadlifts are still decaying horribly. I decided to deload and do 315 for a set 3. My warm up set of 265 felt heavier than usual, and I couldn't even break 315 lbs off the floor. What the hell is this?