Starting Strength linear progression - 1. workout that went down the drain, now what?

[alex.starbuck]

Hi all!

Today was the first day that my workout went down the drain, completely, so I am wondering what to do. A bit of background info:

General:

• age: 38 y.o.
• weight: 90 kg | 198 lbs
• height: 191 cm | 6'3 ft
• program: SSLP (modifications: no power clean because it bothers my knee so I do barbell rows and chin-ups);
• training period: Aug 2018 - now;
• training log and timing: use Android SS app;

Medical conditions:

• none of the "internal" nature, that I know of;
• broken lateral femoral condyle, operated 12 years ago;
• low back pain for a year prior to starting SSLP, now mild only in the morning after waking up;

Lifts (last successful recorded):

• squat: 80 kg | 176 lbs
• deadlift: 80 kg | 176 lbs
• press: 35 kg | 77 lbs
• bench: 60 kg | 135 lbs

Nutrition and recovery:

• MyFitnessPal notes between 3,000 - 3,500 kCal per day, about 3 solid meals + 2 whey shakes with milk and bananas/peant butter;
• sleep is problematic, I wake up at least 3 times a night (it's either bleeding the lizard, or some ache wakes me up or my wife goes to work at 5AM so her alarm clock disturbs my deep sleep);

What is happening:

I am starting to feel generally tired during my workouts. I yawn a lot through the day (if that matters at all) and now I started to miss my lifts. Monday I squatted 80kgx4x3 (I sometimes cut the volume on purpose since I found out that it helps my knee tolerate the intensity better) thinking that on Wednesday (today) I'd easily do a full 80x5x3, even though the app told me I should squat 85 kg today.

First set and I barely do a 80x3! Second set - the same, I feel like the weight will crush me to the ground. An interesting thing happened - this time I did the squat in front of the mirror. You would not believe how much I shift to the right (healthy leg), probably, wanting to protect the left, weaker one. Last set I do a 70x5 and call it a day for the squat.

I did push through my bench at 60kgx5x3 and that was pretty decent but I didn't go through with the BBL row and the chinups as I was simply too fatigued.


Would you guys:

1. de-load (reset)?
2. sort out the sleep (that one might be insolvable for now)
3. beat my head against the wall so that it stops messin with me and "protecting" the knee against more force production?
4. call it quits with SSLP?

Many thanks for all the replies in advance!

[Dave Hahn]

Hey alex,

So you've been doing SSLP for about 3 months. I wouldn't be afraid to move on to different programming.

Have you gained any weight since you started training? At 6'3", 200 lbs it might benefit you to gain some weight slowly. I'm only 5'8" and I weigh around 200.

[alex.starbuck]

Hello Dave, thanks for the reply!

Yes, in fact I got to 200 from about, oh 185 or so. My homeostasis is unfortunately at this low-ish level of bodyweight... meaning, if I eat like a bird and not train or train, I meander around 185. For the past 3 months I have been eating like an animal and barely got to 200 where I am now

[rayo77]

Not too sure how you're at the weight you're at now yet have been doing an LP for three months. Something doesn't add up. My guess is you really haven't been doing an LP for that whole time and since you're stalling now it's time to move on to the Bridge.

[Dave Hahn]

Not too sure how you're at the weight you're at now yet have been doing an LP for three months. Something doesn't add up. My guess is you really haven't been doing an LP for that whole time and since you're stalling now it's time to move on to the Bridge.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. How would the programming affect the OP's body weight?

[rayo77]

Oops sorry I wasn't clear - meant weight on the bar. Without a bunch of previous resets or extreme microloading don't see how this is possible. But perhaps I'm missing something.

[alex.starbuck]

Hey guys thanks for the replies, much appreciated!

For the first month or so I took it really slowly, because my back was in nasty pain (all year long actually). Plus, there is a history of left knee injury so I wasn't keen on pushing things. Once pain started to subside, I really started doing the program properly.

My guess is it must be one of two things:

1. my brain is messing with me (trying to subconsciously "protect" the injured area by reducing the force production);
2. there is something really wrong with my endocrine system (like low test levels or similar, even though low T levels have been debunked by some of the top level athletes with low levels of testosterone);

I am clueless here. My lifts should have been at least 100kg squat, over 100 kg deadlift... I might try reset once and continue for a couple of weeks more. If this doesn't work - switching to Bridge.

[rho]

• sleep is problematic, I wake up at least 3 times a night (it's either bleeding the lizard, or some ache wakes me up or my wife goes to work at 5AM so her alarm clock disturbs my deep sleep);

1st thing I would do is try to get some better sleep.

2nd thing I would try to do is eat more and gain some weight. Do it slowly.
Try to add some liquid foods. You can pack quite some calories in shake or smoothy.

I wouldn't try to run SSLP for as long as possible. If you keep stalling on your lifts just switch programs. No need to force your LP any further.

[rayo77]

Sounds good -- reset once and make sure you add weight to the bar each and every session. That's the "LP" part. When you stall out the next time head straight to the Bridge and don't look back. It will be a bunch more volume at a somewhat lesser intensity. You might find that you respond a ton better to this kind of programming. Good luck!