No strength gains for 2 months ?

NovemberJune

I'm on a calorie deficit so it might just be that but I wanted to ask here in case there is something I could change.

Female
Weight:131 lbs
Height: 5'3.75
Age: 29
Approx TDEE 2100
Approx LBM 101 lbs

For the first 4 weeks of April, I averaged 99.9 g of protein per day and 54.5 g of fat per day. Average calories 1860.

In April I did have a few issues. Kids got sick, I got sick, joint pain which I finally got diagnosed as bursitis (so maybe resolving that will help too...) and then this past week I was out of town for a conference so my nutrition wasn't the greatest

I'm feeling like I'm not gaining any strength. I started lifting almost a year ago. But then I took a 3 month break from lower body lifts at least because of my hip joint issues. I was still doing bench press and OHP and rows. I re-started in March and haven't gone up at all on squats. I haven't started dead lifts again and I've been doing romanian dead lifts and they have actually gone up but I figured that's because I started low with it being a new thing. DLs have always really hurt my hips. OHP has not gone up at all really since February. Bench press not really increasing either.

I was eating around TDEE but started this small deficit in March so I'm really wondering if I'm just stuck on strength until I up my calories again?

My training is
Monday and Thursday -- Bench press (stuck at 60), OHP (stuck at 45), and 1 arm dumbbell rows (stuck at 30) 5x5
Tuesday and Wednesday -- squat (stuck at 85) and RDL 5x5

I usually do 20 minutes of walking and about 10 minutes of cardio on those 4 days and some walking on the other 3 days. Sometimes on Sundays I'll get my dumbbells out and do some lunges and glute bridges.

Ok please let me know if you see anything that could be changed or if I just need to be patient. Thanks for any input. I have lost 3-4 lbs in this time so that's a good sign that I'm right about TDEE.

ETA goals!
I'd like to gain strength. I don't know that I'll ever squat 200 lbs, but I'd love to work up to squat my BW and maybe OHP half that, if I get stronger AWESOME.
Lower body fat percentage. I think once I get some fat off, I'll have some decent definition maybe... hopefully! If not, I can think about gaining in the future. I was planning to be on this small deficit for just a couple more months (maybe shorter....)

Chief_Rocka

-try switching to 3x5
-Do one lower body lift and one upper body lift per day, rather than rotating between upper and lower
-post videos to check your form

NovemberJune

-try switching to 3x5
-Do one lower body lift and one upper body lift per day, rather than rotating between upper and lower
-post videos to check your form

Thanks! So would you advise something like Monday/Thursday-squat and OHP & Tuesday/Friday-DL and bench press? If so I'm wondering about recovery time between Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday.

SideSteel

-try switching to 3x5
-Do one lower body lift and one upper body lift per day, rather than rotating between upper and lower
-post videos to check your form

Thanks! So would you advise something like Monday/Thursday-squat and OHP & Tuesday/Friday-DL and bench press? If so I'm wondering about recovery time between Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday.

I would expect some recovery issues especially with pressing exercises on back to back days.

Are you squatting and doing RDLs on both tuesday and wednesday (back to back)?

NovemberJune

-try switching to 3x5
-Do one lower body lift and one upper body lift per day, rather than rotating between upper and lower
-post videos to check your form

Thanks! So would you advise something like Monday/Thursday-squat and OHP & Tuesday/Friday-DL and bench press? If so I'm wondering about recovery time between Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday.

I would expect some recovery issues especially with pressing exercises on back to back days.

Are you squatting and doing RDLs on both tuesday and wednesday (back to back)?

No, I'm sorry! That should have said

My training is
Monday and Thursday -- Bench press (stuck at 60), OHP (stuck at 45), and 1 arm dumbbell rows (stuck at 30) 5x5
Tuesday and *FRIDAY*-- squat (stuck at 85) and RDL 5x5

I typically can't go to the gym on Wednesdays because of work schedule/kid stuff

SideSteel

I would first suggest moving to 3x5 and posting some form vids to our form vid thread like Rock suggests.

Moving to a full body routine might not work schedule wise as you'd want to avoid lifting on back to back days.

NovemberJune

I would first suggest moving to 3x5 and posting some form vids to our form vid thread like Rock suggests.

Moving to a full body routine might not work schedule wise as you'd want to avoid lifting on back to back days.

Ok thanks Rock and SS!

I may be able to work it so I can go to the gym Mon/Wed/Friday through the summer so I will think about doing that and full body 3x5 those 3 days and alternate between squat/OHP and DL/bench so I'm getting 2 of each each week? Like

Mon--squat/OHP
Wed--DL/bench
Fri--squat/OHP
Mon--DL/bench
Wed--squat/OHP
Fri--DL/bench

repeat

Once school starts in the fall I'll have to go back to no gym Wednesdays for sure but for the next 3 months, starting next week, this could work! :happy:

Tomorrow I'm off for my son's field trip so I'm going to the gym in the AM so I'll try to get some videos. Thanks again.

ETA I'd probably do dumbbell rows on Mon, Wed, and Fri then. Sound good?

Sarauk2sf

Tagging for follow up on clarifying questions.

NovemberJune

Tagging for follow up on clarifying questions.

Thanks Sara! What I ended up deciding to do is to do something very similar to Stronglifts 5x5, only as 3x5 and assisted pull ups instead of squats on workout b (so no DL and squat on the same day). But feedback would be awesome.

So the plan for now is M/W/F of ABA then BAB with A being squat, bench, row and B being DL, OHP, and (assisted) pull up.

I'm also thinking about taking a "diet break" for a week or 2. I feel like I'm struggling mentally with slow progress & comparing myself to others too much... but I know that at 131 lbs the fat is going to come off slooooooowly. bla bla bla. Maybe a couple of weeks at 2000+ calories would help me keep it together mentally and help with this too.

Thanks again !

xidia

Tagging to read replies

NovemberJune

bump

chrisdavey

switching to 3x5 is a good idea IMO if you've stalled a few times on 5x5. I would also add another variation of the main lift at a higher rep range e.g.

Squats 3x5, Bulgarian split squats 3x10 (you can alternate these too with whatever). Other options, front squats, goblet squats, db step ups.

SOHP 3x5, DB SOHP 3x10. (kettlebell presses are cool too if your gym has them. Bottoms up KB presses are hard!)

DL 3x5, single leg RDL 3x10, (barbell hip thrusts, good mornings, GHR)

Bench 3x5, db bench 3x10 (incline bench (db or BB)

Basically, although strength gains are typically made in the lower rep ranges, mixing it up and including some more hypertrophy targetted rep ranges can definitely help break plateaus. And if you post vids or let us know exactly where you are failing on your lifts we may be able to be more specific with what sort of assistance exercises may help to break those plateaus. Hope that helps

NovemberJune

switching to 3x5 is a good idea IMO if you've stalled a few times on 5x5. I would also add another variation of the main lift at a higher rep range e.g.

Squats 3x5, Bulgarian split squats 3x10 (you can alternate these too with whatever). Other options, front squats, goblet squats, db step ups.

SOHP 3x5, DB SOHP 3x10. (kettlebell presses are cool too if your gym has them. Bottoms up KB presses are hard!)

DL 3x5, single leg RDL 3x10, (barbell hip thrusts, good mornings, GHR)

Bench 3x5, db bench 3x10 (incline bench (db or BB)

Basically, although strength gains are typically made in the lower rep ranges, mixing it up and including some more hypertrophy targetted rep ranges can definitely help break plateaus. And if you post vids or let us know exactly where you are failing on your lifts we may be able to be more specific with what sort of assistance exercises may help to break those plateaus. Hope that helps

I like all of that because I always like to do MORE at the gym but I want to be sure what I'm doing is helping and not hindering, kwim? I also think it fits well with some advice I got in the form video forum for working on strength imbalance on OHP and extra glute work. Ok thanks!

chrisdavey

as long as you are getting adequate recovery for the additional volume then I can only see good things happening

Sarauk2sf

Locking so we can keep track of active threads. If you wish for the thread to be unlocked if you have further questions, please feel free to PM either myself or SideSteel, including a link to this thread and we will unlock it so you can.