Building strength

DancingMoosie

I have been writing my own lifting routine for a while now. I have improved little by little, but would like some guidance and feedback on what has worked for you. I usually lift Mon/Wed/Thurs. The last 2 weeks look like this:
Monday
squat 155 2x6, 160 3x5
bench 105 2x6, 110 4x3
Deadlifts 170 2x5, 175 2x5
OHP 70 5x5
split lunge 45 3x7
pullups 3x5
Wednesday
squat 160 3x3, 165 3x3, 170 1x4+1
bench 105 3x3, 110 1x3, 115 2, 3x1
row 90 4x6
glute bridge 170 4x8
Thursday
deadlifts 170 2x3, 175 2x3, 180 2x4
OHP 70 5x5
hip thrust 180 3x10
pullups 6,5,4,3
lunge/bicep curl 2x12
plies tricep 2x12
This week:
Monday
squat 160 5x5
bench 105 2x6, 110 3x4
deadlifts 170 and 170 2x5
OHP 70 5x5
Split lunge 45 3x7
pullups 3x5
Wednesday
squat 165 5x3, 170 2x3
bench 110 4x4, 115 2x2
pullups 4x4
glute bridge 170 4x10
lunge/bicep curl 2x16
plie tricep 2x12
Thursday
Deadlifts 170 and 175 3x4, 180, 185, 195 1x1
OHP 75 5x3
hip thrust 195 3x8
pullups 3x5
good morning 55 2x8
hanging leg raise 2x5
I'm not sure what to do at this point. I have been bulking since November and have gained almost 4lbs. (5'3.5" trending at 118.1lb) I like to focus on strength, safety, fitness. Any advice or feedback on my routine?

Silkysausage

Those numbers tho 😍

Chieflrg

Without knowing more about your programming and response to the history it would hard pressed to give you solid advice.

Any body telling you what has worked for them isn't very useful. We are individuals built differently and respond differently.

That being said, its reasonable to say you "might" bring too much of the same main lift(s) and would respond to more variation.

Example instead of deaflift twice a week...deaflift once and do a variation of a deaflift more specific to the lift with the same ROM. Such as a paused or deficit deaflift. This can be done for squat, bench and OHP as well. Of course the dosage is unknown at this time.

In most cases, bridges and hip thrust are suboptimal compared to other movements you could perform. This is generally speaking with quite a bit of experience of removing these lifts from programming.

Bench singles, doubles, and triples I would like to know the RPE or % of 1RM specifically as well as the higher reps. They look reasonable for what we know generally, but could be less beneficial in the realm of how you program.

You have a decent base regardless. Once again not knowing your program specifically and how you respond make these points mute.

If you are still progressing, maybe try small adjustments of what I suggested and see how things move.

DancingMoosie

I added the glute bridge and hip thrusts when I had trouble with deadlifts and wanted to target the glutes more. I am finding them to be suboptimal now. Single leg squats/ split squats seem to target that area better for me at this time.
Bench 1RM is 120, doubles at 115. I still find that deadlifts seem to be my weaker lift. I can lift 195, but not 200 yet.

Chieflrg

DancingMoosie wrote: »

I added the glute bridge and hip thrusts when I had trouble with deadlifts and wanted to target the glutes more. I am finding them to be suboptimal now. Single leg squats/ split squats seem to target that area better for me at this time.
Bench 1RM is 120, doubles at 115. I still find that deadlifts seem to be my weaker lift. I can lift 195, but not 200 yet.

If you changed your Monday deaflift to a variation deaflift (paused or 2"deficit) at the appropriate weight I assure you you would pull 200 within 2-3 weeks. Because the variation requires a lower intensity but delivers a feel of higher, you simply would recover better but still get adequate stimulus.

This doesn't mean your stronger out of no where, just better trained/rested for the main lift theoretically.

Bench if your true max is 120 it pounds its likely your intensity is way too high for usefulness and progress.

I would suggest 4 rep schemes about 100lbs and 2 rep schemes no more than 107.5lbs. Add one set to start and be patient.

DancingMoosie

Even though my bench 5x5 is 105?

Chieflrg

5x5 at what exertion? How many left in tank?

Either your bench true 1RM is more than 120 or your grinding too hard on your volume.

DancingMoosie

Update... Monday 3/4:
Squats 160 2x5, 165 3x4, 1x2
Bench 105 2x6, 3x5, 110x2
Deadlifts 170 2x4, 175 4x4
OHP 70 4x6
Single leg/split squats 50 3x6
Pullups 3x5
I hate doing OHP that heavy. I'm going down next workout. Everything else was good.

DancingMoosie

Wed 3/6
squats 165 3x4, 170 3x3
bench 105 3x6, 110 2x4, 115 2,1,1
pull ups 4x4
lunge/bicep 20 3x12
bench dips 3x10
bench 95x5
squat 45x0

midwestj

this program literally works for ANYONE willing to follow it verbatim:

https://startingstrength.com/get-started

Talan79

Do you have cables at your gym?
I use the for glute cable kick back.

DancingMoosie

No cables. Bars, plates, squat rack, bench, and deadlift platform.

DancingMoosie

This week is spring break and the gym is closed. I also have a strained muscle in my neck. I've reached my bulk goal weight of 120. This week will be some cardio and light dumbbells (depending on how my neck feels). I'll start back at the gym the next week. I'm thinking of going back to 2 full body routines per week and add a day of running when the weather is nice.

Chieflrg

crossjj1 wrote: »

this program literally works for ANYONE willing to follow it verbatim:

https://startingstrength.com/get-started

It would work for any beginner. Though I believe only it's 2% of those novices who actually log on the site actually follow the program verbatim. Yet all the novices including the ones that bastardize the program gain strength because they are novel to lifting. This is documented on the site.

SS program wouldnt work well at all for a trained lifters. Its a LP and not written for post novice lifters. I wouldn't advice it for the OP with the info given.