stalling on a deficit?

Sweet_Heresy

Hey everyone!
So I've been running SS (essentially the same thing as SL only 3x5 instead of 5x5) for 3 months now...and the weight I've been able to add every workout has slowed to a crawl.

I'm 5'8, 189 (down from 210 woohoo!) Eating about ~2000 cals a day. Active job, walk everywhere cause no car ATM, if that matters.

My question is, should I deload by 10% and work my way up to try and break the plateau, or accept the fact that there's only so much I will be able to do on a deficit and just work on maintaining the weights I'm at now?

Thanks!!

canadianlbs

you could do both? deload, work your way back and if you don't progress past your original point assume that this is your maintenance level and it's the deficit that is holding you back.

Sweet_Heresy

That's a good idea. It's just getting really frustrating cause I don't feel like I'm making much progress.

Llamapants86

Congrats on the loss first of all!

In my experience the first deload was not my stopping point. Some things (like ohp) I deloaded and worked up to and passed many times. I highly doubt that you have hit your max after only 3 months. There are also other things that you can try, like using fractionals or increasing reps (or sets depending on where you stall out at).

Remember that after noobie gains, every gain is going slow and while a deficit doesn't help that keeping up with noob gains just isn't realistic.

awkwardsoul

Have you tried using smaller plates since you've been stalling? Like drop down to 1.25lbs or 2lbs increases instead of 2.5lbs or 5lbs?

I think a big thing to consider in your case, which I heard some ladies report on reddit/xxfitness, especially if your body weight dropping fast is that you might not be able to lift as much previously since you weigh less.

Plug your stats in to http://www.strstd.com/ and gauge your progress that way instead of how much are actually moving. You're probably making progress since you weigh less but moving just as much.

mirrim52

I second deloading and working back up and see how it goes.
My progress really slowed down after a few months. Now I only increase weights every 2-3 weeks or so. Still going, just very slowly.

I like that site It makes me feel much better about my lifts But it really shows what I already knew, my lower body is much stronger than my upper body.

canadianlbs

Ryudori wrote: »

That's a good idea. It's just getting really frustrating cause I don't feel like I'm making much progress.

i had that same feeling last year after 3 or 4 months of stronglifts on a deficit, plus bike commuting. not that i made very much progress during that time, but there were additional reasons for that.

thing is, it's such a personal call and has so many factors bystanders can't know about that you're probably not going to get any very specific answers. for myself, i stuck with the deficit until i really started to feel like i was getting nowhere with either of them. at that point i could have picked either one to concentrate on while i backburnered the other one. i happened to pick the lifting, but that's what was more compelling to me at the time. ymmv because you're not me.

canadianlbs

also, oy. if that's a russian blue cat i'm going to slay you with envy from right where i sit.

DawnEmbers

Agreed on the both. It also depends on the lift. I found that during SL, I had to de-load a couple times on bench and well OHP is a pain for almost everyone, but squats I just did the one when my back acted up and I didn't really have issues with deadlift until I switch to NROLFW as stage one it's 2 sets of 15 reps, which is way different that 1 set of 5. I didn't feel the 12 weeks of SL had much struggle beyond OHP for me, all done on a deficit. Now, since I've been in a deficit since September, and in NROLFW since February, I'm feeling it's a little harder to progress but there are other factors too. Still plugging along and that's worth it just as well.

SideSteel

First thing I would do would be to evaluate your body composition goals and let that primarily dictate what you do with calorie and macronutrient intake. So for example if your body composition and your goals dictate that you cut, I'd keep cutting and adjust programming variables accordingly as needed.

As far as addressing the stall, there's a number of possibilities. With my clients the two things I tend to look at primarily are technique issues and I also tend to lean on deloads as the first option. If the deload works and they get past previous sticking points, I'll keep to that tactic until it appears to no longer work.

At that point, your choices are to stop adding weight to the bar or to change programs.

The reality might be that you simply can't add weight to the bar every session with that particular program layout. You may need to switch programs (look at MadCow or Texas Method next) but I would deload first, ramp back up, and see where you are at next time you reach those weights.

TravelsWithHuckleberry

I'm doing a significant deload at the moment because life got in the way, but before I was buried under, I got to the point where I wasn't comfortable adding weight to the bar every time I did squats, even if I completed the 5x5 successfully. I would stay at a weight for a week, then add 5 lbs. on Mondays, do that for the week, repeat. It's something to consider if you're not ready to change to a whole new program, but also can't progress every workout. Good luck!

psych101

OMG @SideSteel is that Alan Aragon in your profile pic - swoon!!!

Sweet_Heresy

canadianlbs wrote: »

also, oy. if that's a russian blue cat i'm going to slay you with envy from right where i sit.

Lol not a Russian blue, just a normal gray cat, hehe.

And thanks for your input everyone. I did plug my stats into strstd, and I'm at Intermediate for everything except my bench, so maybe I'm not doing TOO horrible.

I ordered a set of fractional plates. They just came in so that'll probably make weight increases ALOT easier lol. Also gonna try switching to front squats for my 2nd workout of the week. I'm thinking a lighter squat day might help cause at a deficit, heavy squats 3x A week is a b**** to recover from.

Using chalk on my deadlift also really helped break that plateau. My hands would be so sweaty by the time I got to my work set that I was failing reps cause the bar kept slipping.