Programming for 49yo...

[Gforce]

Hi, I am willing to do whatever it takes. TLR I dont know why I am not jacked and lifting more yet....
Me. New Yorker living in Oslo Norway.
Male 49 yo. Healthy with normal aches and nocebo related crap.
178cm
weight 81k
waist 98 cm

Macros training days 2310 cpf 180/240/70

defecit days 1950-2000 100/250/67
been tracking for 4 weeks and always get at least 40g of protein per meal.

SSLP Nov 17 -jan 18 looked like this. 3 sets of 5:

Squat 102.5 kg
Bench 65
press 42
DL 122.5 one set of 5
pull ups are pretty poverty AMRAP sets are ca 4 , 3, 2, ,1,1 etc. For now.

I train consistently and rarely miss a day. Have never been so consistent ever. I am now on my second time through the Bridge and seem to have gotten a little stronger. Bench and press up a few kilos @9and DL is up to ca 127.5 for 3 sets of 4 @8. So yeah I see that.

My squat though has been squat. I get up to 105 for sets of 4-5 and it feels like a grind. From 90-100 I am golden.
I just started week 7 of the Bridge and my [email protected] was 107.5 and the [email protected] 102.5. I just dont get why I can not get a bigger squat. Especially when my diet and slepp have pretty much been on point for months.
I will admit my GPP is lacking and have just obtained a rowing machine so I will add to -three days conditioning per week.

My goals for now are to get as strong as possible without getting too big around the waist. I have a tendency to accumulate fat around the waist very easily but LBM is difficult. Apparently...

Thank you so much for whatever you can point me to.

I also would like to thank you and the whole BBM team for all this amazing information and help.. I have learned so much.

Cheers,
Glenn

[Austin Baraki]

Hi Glenn,

Welcome to the forum. While we appreciate the detail you've provided here, there are still a ton of things that could be going on to explain this. I'd first advise patience, as you've only been training since November, but (hopefully jokingly) are saying "I don't know why I'm not jacked yet" ... this process takes a long time, and it takes even longer for people who do not respond very robustly to training stimuli.

I'd recommend posting a squat video to our FB group for a form check, to make sure there isn't anything egregious going on there, and to assess your rating of difficulty compared to the apparent bar speed (as this can sometimes be "off" substantially, leading to an inappropriate hesitancy to add weight to the bar).

It's not entirely clear what you're doing with your diet - are you intentionally gaining weight with that macro setup? Losing weight? Maintaining? With a 38.5" (98 cm) waist I probably wouldn't be too aggressive with weight gain at this point.

Finally, if everything else checks out, this may be a programming issue, where you aren't responding as robustly as we'd like to the prescribed training, and you may need an adjustment in training variables that I can't necessarily predict for you here.

[Gforce]

Dr Baraki, Thank you so much for the reply. Yes,I was joking about being jacked.
I will post asap on the FB page.

As for my diet I am presently trying to get my waist down without losing too much or any strength. I have lost 6.5 lb the last 4 weeks and 1.5" off my waist from the above mentioned macros. I see how tracking is so important for me. It´s confusing. I listen to MR and I read in the SS forums "Dont worry about your weight until you are pulling 400 off the floor" And that was a comment to another older guy. Then I read all of Barbell Prescription feeling even older and I don´t even want to go to the gym for fear of overdoing it because I should be so sensitive to volume....lol.

My lifts have not gone down as I lost the latest lbs and btw in my last training I went up in some lifts albeit small. so there is that.
Also checked out Test levels in Feb. No problem there.

After listening to Jordans livestream #7 many of my questions were answered.

BTW. The articles and information on pain are amazing.

Have a great day and please come to europe....

[Austin Baraki]

It´s confusing. I listen to MR and I read in the SS forums "Dont worry about your weight until you are pulling 400 off the floor" And that was a comment to another older guy. Then I read all of Barbell Prescription feeling even older and I don´t even want to go to the gym for fear of overdoing it because I should be so sensitive to volume....lol.

Sigh.

My lifts have not gone down as I lost the latest lbs and btw in my last training I went up in some lifts albeit small. so there is that.
Also checked out Test levels in Feb. No problem there.

This is great.

[SquatGimp]

Hello Austin and Gforce,

I have similar issues as OP and I will post here instead of making a new thread, hope that's OK!

Been training for over one year now, first 6 months was starting strength and grinding fahves with bad form and went from BW of 68to 95kg and just got fat and bloated (Listened to Rip's diet advice ). Only squatted 105kg 3x5 with horrible form and took 10 min rest etc. Luckily found BBM and The Bridge and changed my approach to training over the last 6 months. Lost weight to 90kg and kept strength, improved conditioning etc on The Bridge and felt much better. I also fixed my horrible form when I started with RPE because I didn't grind out reps with my knees all over the place etc, so that was nice!

Now I'm down to 88kg and 37.4" waist and I'm eating at / slightly below maintenance and the goal is to lean out slowly and replace the fat with muscle over time.

I'm doing the 12 week program (week 5 now) and my [email protected]'s are turning into @9/10's. I want to add 2.5kg each week and it works, but the RPE goes up.

Example squat:
Week 1: 120kg @8
Week2: 122.5 @8.5
Week 3: 125 @9
Week 4: 127.5 @9
Week 5: 130 @ 9.5 grindy with form breakdown...
Week 6: TBD ???

So I add 2.5kg each week and it works, and I also increase the volume work by 2.5kg as long as it's in the 76-81% range. But as you see, the RPE is creeping up and I'm not sure if this is maintainable in the long run. The deadlift is similar to the squat and it can go up slightly each week. But the bench / ohp is stalling and if I add weight I'm doing work in the 80-85% range and I get burned out.

I was thinking about adding 1-2 extra back-off sets to the competition lifts, at 70% just to accumulate more volume. Or how would you alter the program in my case? I feel like I'm improving at the rate of someones who's already been lifting for 5+ years and I'm worried about my long term progress.

Thank you very much for reading and answering our questions, much appreciated.

[Austin Baraki]

Been training for over one year now, first 6 months was starting strength and grinding fahves with bad form and went from BW of 68to 95kg and just got fat and bloated (Listened to Rip's diet advice ). Only squatted 105kg 3x5 with horrible form and took 10 min rest etc. Luckily found BBM and The Bridge and changed my approach to training over the last 6 months. Lost weight to 90kg and kept strength, improved conditioning etc on The Bridge and felt much better. I also fixed my horrible form when I started with RPE because I didn't grind out reps with my knees all over the place etc, so that was nice!

Now I'm down to 88kg and 37.4" waist and I'm eating at / slightly below maintenance and the goal is to lean out slowly and replace the fat with muscle over time.

Glad you've gotten on track.

I'm doing the 12 week program (week 5 now) and my [email protected]'s are turning into @9/10's. I want to add 2.5kg each week and it works, but the RPE goes up.

So I add 2.5kg each week and it works, and I also increase the volume work by 2.5kg as long as it's in the 76-81% range. But as you see, the RPE is creeping up and I'm not sure if this is maintainable in the long run. The deadlift is similar to the squat and it can go up slightly each week. But the bench / ohp is stalling and if I add weight I'm doing work in the 80-85% range and I get burned out.

I was thinking about adding 1-2 extra back-off sets to the competition lifts, at 70% just to accumulate more volume. Or how would you alter the program in my case?

It is not sustainable to keep forcing 5 lbs onto the bar week after week over the long term. I think the idea that you "should" be able to do that as a post-novice trainee is unrealistic. The further you get from novice land, the more often you see the ebbs and flows of training and performance. Your numbers may hold steady for a few weeks, or may transiently drop here and there, alternating with surges in performance. I had something like this a couple months ago, for example, where I had a streak of 5-6 weeks straight of rep PRs on the deadlift. Then, the next month, things slowed down substantially and may have even regressed a bit - and it will be okay.

It's important to be patient and realistic with the process if you plan to continue doing this for the rest of your life. I'd probably stick with the RPEs and prescribed workloads for now, and after you finish the program (remember that 8-12 weeks is a drop in the bucket of a whole training career), you can assess your response and plan modifications from there.

I feel like I'm improving at the rate of someones who's already been lifting for 5+ years and I'm worried about my long term progress.

Make sure you maintain your perspective here, dude. There is nothing to be worried about -- remember that it's just lifting weights, and that we get to do this. Not everyone has the health or circumstances allowing them to train. As long as you keep training hard, you will be able to make progress - even if it's not at the rate you'd like. For example, I set new PRs about 3 times per year if I'm lucky, and I have to be ok with that.

[SquatGimp]

Thank you for replying and giving advice here, you're awesome.

I love the process of training and can't see a future without it now. I know that I'm getting stronger and I'm moving in the right direction, that's what matters the most I guess. If I compare myself to one year ago, I've improved a lot.