Progress with weights is stalling out

cnbbnc

I've been lifting for 8mos ago now. I did ICF for 6, and then started PUHL two months ago. The reasons I switched are: 1) I started feeling a little bored. 2) I liked the 4 day setup of PUHL. 3) I felt like I wasn't progressing much anymore on ICF and thought maybe switching things up would help somehow.

I think I'm going to just go back to ICF again because after doing some reading I see where this program is designed to get your strength up, which I need. I've improved a great deal but I'm still weak.

My issue is...I just can't increase by 5lbs anymore. It's gotten sooooo much harder. I've been trying to increase as I can, or at the very least add another set or few additional reps. Anything so I feel like I'm doing more. But I'm feeling a bit discouraged and lost because I don't know what I'm supposed to do once progress starts slowing down like this.

wilsoncl6

How long have you stalled out? Hitting strength plateaus is pretty common.

kathrynjean_

With PHUL, how often were you increasing weight? If you've been lifting for 8 months, the reality is that you won't be able to add 5 lbs/every workout forever.

I switched to 5/3/1 programming when I stalled out on SL on a deficit. The progression is slower but the program is designed to minimize failure and I'm still seeing progress.

luciroo

I had a hard time increasing by 5 lbs. on my bench and overhead press so I bought a pair of 1.25 plates from Amazon so I could increase the weight by 2.5 lbs since my gym's smallest plates are 2.5 (5 lb total). My increases have slowed tremendously since I started eating in deficit again (trying to lose some body fat).

cnbbnc

With PHUL...maybe I could increase somewhere every other week? Ive been struggling for a couple months, but...I'm still trying to keep it going.

And yeah...being in a deficit did me no good. I'm back on maintenance now so that'll help. I was completely screwed while the deficit was going on.

I know it's normal for things to slow down. I just want to feel like I'm not wasting my time and Im still moving along though.

I'll buy some small plates. Great idea.
Should I try a 5/3/1????

Sumiblue

I have fractional weights and they come in handy when I can't move up a full 5lbs. I have no problem staying at a weight until I feel like I can move up, too.

SonyaCele

at some point you hit your physical max, which is where strength building and technique comes in. Sometimes you can clean up your form and squeeze some more weight out. Isn't PHUL a body building program? If your goal is to continue adding weight you might need to switch to a strength program and then relish the couple times a year that you get to add a few pounds to your PR. If your goal is bodybuilding , then you would measure progress with a tape measure or the mirror rather than if you can lift more weight.

quiksylver296

Sumiblue wrote: »

I have fractional weights and they come in handy when I can't move up a full 5lbs. I have no problem staying at a weight until I feel like I can move up, too.

I just bought fractional plates and am busting them out for my bench tomorrow!

kathrynjean_

I also have fractional weights, but I really only use them for OHP ... Because F overhead press

LazSommer

Get smaller increments and don't jump around with routines. Read up, most plans have instructions on stalling, be it deloading or otherwise.

cgvet37

My opinion, eight months is a long time to be on one program. Your muscles will become used to doing the same thing over and over. When I used to do the same routine for long periods of time. I would plateau very quickly. Now I switch programs after no more then four weeks on my previous program. It keeps me from getting bored, and I continue to progress. That has been my experience.

hill8570

ICF is a strength program with a hypertrophy (muscle size) bias -- that's the point of all the accessory work. For more of a pure strength bias, Starting Strength or Stronglifts are closer.

Most 5x5 programs have you switch to 3x5, and later 1x5, for your working weights when recovery from 5x5 at working weights gets to be too much (and ICF already requires a lot of recovery time due to the large amount of accessory work). Also, the adding 5 lbs a workout to the overhead lifts is a bit much for a lot of people...the microplates @luciroo mentions help out a lot in that regard.

At some point you'll probably want to switch to an intermediate program that dials down the increases even further. Madcow being an easy transition from most of the 5x5 programs. Continuing after that, an advanced program like 5/3/1 (which has a gazillion possible variations) dials down the progress even further.

Given that you've been lifting less than a year, I'd first make sure your form is dialed in on the lifts and that you're eating and sleeping enough. If both of those are spot on, then go with the microplates for the overhead lifts. Then consider dropping your working sets down to 3x5.

SonyaCele

a good program will have training cycles built into it, to ideally keep you from plateauing. I've been on my current program for many many years and get a few PR's a year.

LazSommer

cgvet37 wrote: »

My opinion, eight months is a long time to be on one program. Your muscles will become used to doing the same thing over and over. When I used to do the same routine for long periods of time. I would plateau very quickly. Now I switch programs after no more then four weeks on my previous program. It keeps me from getting bored, and I continue to progress. That has been my experience.

Aren't you a little past beginner, though? First year you can really ride out a solid routine if you haven't lifted much before. Emphasis on solid.

LazSommer

To elaborate for OP - while the current advice given is decent, I wouldn't jump to an intermediate program yet. You haven't said what your lifts are, but about 2 years ago I had decided to take my weight lifting more seriously. I had lifted since high school, but my dedication was on and off. I ended up calling myself a beginner and followed SL 5x5 religiously. I don't recall how many months I did it, but I took my Squat to about 350, Deadlifts ~300, and bench to ~205 or so before I really started to stall hard. These aren't really super heavy lifts, but just a personal reference point - I was 5'8", and hovering around 185-195 towards the end.

I got super frustrated, and thought I needed to jump to an intermediate program - first tried Madcow version of SL - wasn't ready. I think I tried one more because I got frustrated with Madcow, didn't work out. In hindsight, had I not been so desperate to keep adding those 5lbs per workout (or even week), I probably could have eked out some more results with SL 5x5 beginner. The biggest thing is that it's NOT a race. I ended up frustrated, messed up my eating so that even though my lifts went up, so did my chub. While it's not a bad idea to switch programs if you get really bored or cannot get past a stall no matter what the recommendations are for the program, try to stick with it as long as you can.

Not that all genders aren't equal, but many strength programs recommend 2.5lb increases for women as is. You can do 5lbs, but there's no shame in man or woman dropping to 2.5lb increases if you are able to indeed increase at that rate.

SezxyStef

I did SL 5x5 for 8 months...then switched to 3x5. 5/3/1 is a good one as well that I did for another year.

Kept building strength but did move to fractional plates for my OHP and Bench at a point.

I am currently building endurance by staying at the same weight but upping reps. Each cycle takes about 3 months. Then I add weight repeat.

OP there are deload standards in all programs and you can follow that....and get fractional plates. You don't have to go up 5lbs every time...