TLDR: At what point is grinding out reps on the Starting Strength Linear Progression not worth the potential risks (e.g. injury, making better / more sustained progress on intermediate programming)? Furthermore, is there any value – mental or physical – of grinding out maximal or near-maximal sets of 5 on SSLP (RPE 9.5-10)?
I posted in this forum approximately 2 weeks ago for an opinion regarding the transition phase from novice to intermediate programming. I was advised to follow the Bridge program just on the “intermediate-level” lifts, while running the SSLP on the other “novice-level” lifts.
I am “feeling” like my squat is about to stall anytime now, but I have doubts on my ability to accurately rate RPE for this particular movement. Here’s the last set of squats for my most recent workout. They definitely felt like an RPE 9 or higher, and I definitely think that the set was a max effort, but I can’t say my eyeballs were about to pop out (e.g. Dr. Baraki’s profile photo). I’m already resting 5-6 minutes between sets (First of First 3 Questions)
Background:
As mentioned in the previous post, I am a sixteen-year-old male with approximately 1.5 years of resistance training experience, a portion of which was not the most productive. I was pretty sure that my bench, press, and deadlift were at the “intermediate” level prior to starting SSLP. This was not based on arbitrary strength standards, but based on the fact that I had obviously already attempted to progress linearly with very similar volumes as found in SSLP. Furthermore, these lifts had been trained consistently throughout my 1.5 years of training experience. However, my low-bar squat was not, and therefore I knew that I would benefit at least to some degree from SSLP (which also explains why I have trouble rating RPE on the squat, but not the upper body lifts).
Starting SSLP January 1/9 with conservative weights (Second of the First 3 Questions)
Height: 5’9" Weight: 138lb
Squat: 155 (previous high bar squat was 195x5x5)
Bench: 125x3x5 (previous PR was 140x3x5)
OHP: 77.5x3x5 (previous PR was 89x5x5)
Deadlift: 225x5 (could do 275x5 fresh at RPE of around 6)
As of 2/7:
Height: 5’9" Weight: 140lb
I’m confident that the 2lb increase is not just “noise” from weight fluctuation. I’m definitely in a net hypercaloric state, so Question 3 is taken care of (eating enough).
Squat: 220x3x5 (definitely made progress here)
Note that after 215x3x5, I started progressing up 2.5lb 3 times per week, as per the instruction of an SSC
Bench: Did 140x2x5 on 2/5 → no significant improvement, but cannot say any regression (meaning 3 sets of bench press every 4-5 days is my “Maintenance Volume”)
Knew I would not get third set, so dropped load to 133 for 3x5 (first workout moving from 3x5 to 5x5)
OHP: Was up to 87.5x3x5, just reseted weight to fix my form*
Deadlift: 280x5 (after 275x5 SSC told me to switch to 5lb increases)
*I saw an SSC in person twice (Kelly) – all my lifts were correct for the most part, except my OHP definitely had to be fixed
Long story short, what’s the “cost” of leaving some gains – say 5-10lbs – on the SSLP? Does that even matter, if all other lifts would benefit from intermediate-level programming?
Furthermore, have I just not handled any near-maximal loads on the squat, and therefore am reporting RPE 9 on something that should be more like a 7?
I apologize for the long-winded response, and I greatly appreciate your help (and nuance)!