Changing Routines

SuperSexyDork

For ~3 months I've been following this plan (based on Nerdfitness's beginner's weight training)

Monday (day 1)- 10-15 minute elliptical (warm up), inverted rows, barbell rows, squats, bench press, planks, 10-15 minute elliptical (cool down)

Wednesday (day 2) – walk/jog to gym with 4 year old (warm up), dumbbell rows, deadlifts, overhead press, reverse crunches, 10-15 minute elliptical (cool down), walk home

Friday (day 3) – 10-15 minute elliptical (warm up), inverted rows, dumbbell rows, lunges (weighted), bench press, planks, 10-15 minute elliptical (cool down)

I've made some great progress but my lifting progress is starting to slow to a crawl in all but my squats.

I am a 215-217lb female. Currently my stats are:

Bench 135x5
Squat 205x5
OHP 115x5
Deadlift 225x5

(and no, I haven't tested 1RM's yet as I don't have a spotter)

With these numbers and my slowed progression, I no longer feel that a beginners routine is cutting it for me so I've been looking into intermediate routines.

Today I read 5/3/1 and really liked the layout (minus the eating part because I have a solid handle on nutrition.) I think I'd like to do Wendler's 4 day program with Dave Tate's periodization bible for assists.

It would have me doing (I'm choosing assists from a list)

Day 1: Warm-Up, OHP, Dips or push-ups, bent over rows, skull crushers

Day 2: Warm-Up, Deadlift, leg curls, lunges, hanging leg raises

Day 3: Warm-Up, Bench Press, dips or push-ups, Lat Pulldowns, tricep pushdowns

Day 4: Warm-Up, Squats, Glut-Ham Raises, leg press, DB side bends

Is this appropriate? Would you recommend this or is there something else I'm missing that you'd like to point me in the direction of?

Sarauk2sf

How long have you been lifting?

Have you tried deloading?

When you say your lifts have started to slow to a crawl, what were you doing say a month ago with respect to lifts?

What are your goals?

n3ver3nder

5/3/1 is meant to be an advanced program - you'll only be increasing the weight of your heaviest set once every 4 weeks (3 if you don't include the deload week). What you might want to look into first, is an intermediate routine such as Madcow 5x5 (lots of info available online) or the Texas Method (Justin Lascek's ebook is the best material you'll find on this).

Why? As a beginner you should rely on your noob gains to follow linear progression. This means adding weight every time you train a lift. So for a lift like the squat (which I'll use as an example for the rest of this post), which Ideally should be trained a minimum of twice a week in the beginner stage. So this means that you add say +5kg to your squat, twice a week. Following linear progression this takes you from a 40kg squat to 75kg in 4 weeks. You keep up this pattern until you can't add +5kg every time, and begin with +2.5kg each time.
Eventually this is too much to recover from, so we change routines.

At this point following an intermediate routine will have you add +2.5kg to your heaviest work set of squats a week. So that's an increase of +7.5kg after 4 weeks of training.

With 5/3/1, you'll only have increased your heaviest work set by 2.5kg

Now, there are beginner progressions/setups that can be used with 5/3/1, but they will still allow for slower progress than following an intermediate program.

5/3/1 is really for people who are lifting at a point where they physically cannot recover from adding weight any faster. This is in the area of 2.5xbw squat, 2xbw bench, 3xbw deadlift.

By all means go for it, but it will mean slower than optimal progress, and with your lifts where they are, there might not actually be enough training stimulus for you to progress.

ilovedeadlifts

I agree with n3ver3nder. 5/3/1 is a great program, but you're much better off by following something like Madcow's 5x5. You'll progress much faster

BikerGirlElaine

bump to follow answers

Sarauk2sf

I agree with n3ver3nder. 5/3/1 is a great program, but you're much better off by following something like Madcow's 5x5. You'll progress much faster

^^agreed, with the added comment that you should look to move to something like Madcow when you have gone through the steps in SL 5 x 5 when you hit a stall and are still having problems progressing.

SuperSexyDork

How long have you been lifting?

Have you tried deloading?

When you say your lifts have started to slow to a crawl, what were you doing say a month ago with respect to lifts?

What are your goals?

Free weights with this program about 3 months. Before that I was doing Body Pump 2x a week and using machines for about 4 months. (I know pretty lame but I was scared to move over to the free weights area)

1 month ago

Bench- 135x3
Squat- 180x5 (I told you this one hasn't slowed down)
OHP- 115x3
Deadlift- 220x5

Goals-
-Increase raw strength to a point where I can compete in powerlifting competitions
-Correct some muscle imbalances that are beginning to become glaringly obvious to me (which is why I was so interested in a program with assistance work)
-Continue to become faster with my running and run a 5K and a 10K this year
-Flexibility (yoga several times a week)
-Keep active to maintain overall good mental health

When picking a program originally, I didn't go with Stronglifts for 2 reasons. Squats 3x a week is way too much on my knees (I have issues with them and also recently had bursitis). Also, I tried out Stronglifts and I don't recover well from having that many big lifts on one day. Eating at a deficit, makes it too much on my CNS. I know this isn't true for everyone but it is for me. I was finding that I needed more than 1 rest day in between and it made it next to impossible to run at all. I'm unsure if this is a normal response.

Edit: Yes, I've deloaded.

Sarauk2sf

How many sets/reps do you do in your current routine?

SuperSexyDork

How many sets/reps do you do in your current routine?

2 warm up sets 3-5 working sets depending on how my body is feeling that day.

Edit: I'm not sure if this matters but I also used to lift during track season in Jr. High/High school as I did shotput and discus.

Sarauk2sf

How many sets/reps do you do in your current routine?

2 warm up sets 3-5 working sets depending on how my body is feeling that day.

Edit: I'm not sure if this matters but I also used to lift during track season in Jr. High/High school as I did shotput and discus.

How many reps?

SuperSexyDork

How many sets/reps do you do in your current routine?

2 warm up sets 3-5 working sets depending on how my body is feeling that day.

Edit: I'm not sure if this matters but I also used to lift during track season in Jr. High/High school as I did shotput and discus.

How many reps?

I started out doing 5-10, now I do 5.

Sarauk2sf

I would do an adapted version of StrongLifts. Depending on what works with your running schedule. Just do squats 2 x a week. You can add assists on the day you drop squats (although you can add assistance work to SL anyway).

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Bumping to follow

n3ver3nder

Goals-
-Increase raw strength to a point where I can compete in powerlifting competitions

-Continue to become faster with my running and run a 5K and a 10K this year

These two goals, while not having to be mutually exclusive, will make it harder to achieve either. Focus on one thing whilst maintaining the other, the switch focus. Strength training will make you tired for running, running will slow your muscles recovering for lifting.

So, decide what your goals are, and periodise accordingly. If you must train for both sports, I'd do it like this;
When focusing on running, run the 5/3/1 2 day split, and focus in doing whatever programming you need for your running. When focussing on lifting do a 3 day program, cut running down to 2 days of LISS. Program either block for a minimum of 8 weeks.

As for assistance, add in whatever you need to address your issues but don't overdo it.
Might be an idea to make your deficit a bit milder. Unless you need to hit a weight class by a certain date, weight loss isn't a race.

ilovedeadlifts

These two goals, while not having to be mutually exclusive, will make it harder to achieve either. Focus on one thing whilst maintaining the other, the switch focus. Strength training will make you tired for running, running will slow your muscles recovering for lifting.

So, decide what your goals are, and periodise accordingly. If you must train for both sports, I'd do it like this;
When focusing on running, run the 5/3/1 2 day split, and focus in doing whatever programming you need for your running. When focussing on lifting do a 3 day program, cut running down to 2 days of LISS. Program either block for a minimum of 8 weeks.

As for assistance, add in whatever you need to address your issues but don't overdo it.
Might be an idea to make your deficit a bit milder. Unless you need to hit a weight class by a certain date, weight loss isn't a race.

For the most part, I agree here.
However with shorter distances like a 5k, I don't think it's going to take away from your lifting much.

I'd change my training depending on what was coming up. If you have a meet in 12 weeks, lower the running and prioritize strength. If you have a race coming up, strength train 2x a week (enough to maintain) and focus on running more.

Sarauk2sf

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