Shift work, starting strength, slow progress

Other Discussions Training Discussion
1

Hello there,
I’m having sum difficulties with the ss lp. I work swing shift, 12 hr shifts days and nights 6-6. 3on 1off 3on 3off 4on 7off 4on 3off switching between days and nights every time I go from off to on. I work outside with an equal amount of hard physical work and desk work. I have been able to keep my training days consistent even through the chaos that is shift work.

I did take 4 days off in May for a vacation, 16th-23rd. My squat was stalled at 180# before I left, and I deloaded all the lifts upon returning. This is where I am now. I’m 6’1, 193 pounds, 24 yrs old. lifts are squat-195, bench-150, oh press-95, all 3x5, deadlift-260 1x5. Rest times are at least 5 mins. I am now stalled out again on my squat and I believe the other lifts aren’t far from being stalled as well. Sunday I crushed the squat at 195#. Wednesday I only got 4 reps on the 1st set at 200#. Backed it down to #195 and struggled to get the other 2 sets. The weight felt so much heavier than before.

As you can see progress has been slow, I’m thinking do partly to lack of sleep? I struggle to get 6 hrs on work days. I take melatonin on work days in an effort to improve my sleep quality which seems to help a little. I started the program at the beginning of February weighing 180 pounds. Gained 10 pounds and then was eating at maintenance for a while, still putting weight on the bar just slowly. I recently started tracking my cal in my fitness pal, eating 3,000 cal/day. I’ve gained 3# in the last 2 weeks. Always hit my protein, usually wind up not getting quite enough carbs and a little over on my fat though.

How do do you think I should proceed? Obviously I should be getting more sleep but it’s tough with my schedule. Should I just continue deloading my squat and slowly progressing until I reach a reasonable level of strength. Or do you think it would be advantageous to change up the program now to the bridge or something else? I really love lifting, but my progress is disheartening.

2

Well judging by the post I just read “getting out of the lp zone”. I imagine you’ll tell me to do the bridge. Jordon wink once if this is true

3

I am also on LP, so I can’t help you much but here are some question to help you think. At 6’1, 193 lbs you must still not be very fat. 3000 (cal / day) / 193 lb = 15.54 cal / lb, so you are basically in weight maintenance nutrition? If you often work hard outside, are you even sure that 15.54 cal / lb / day is maintenance? Did you tried to adjust your calories up?

Then your work schedule is… a bit crazy? I mean, with this amount of work, isn’t possible that all your recovery resource are going toward the stress of the job? Personally , after a day of training + job I sometimes pass out and sleep 10 h. So… If I were you I’ll check into adjusting something for the work / sleep situation / calorie for a very short time to see if it’s doing something and then write for real on the moderated forum to have the opinion of a doctor ( they don’t come in this limbo). The point being that either A) you are done with LP (it’s been 5 month) or B) you are not doing the program by not giving yourself enough recovery ability and hence not making progress. If you augment your recovery and immediately see improvement, then you can be sure it’s not A). If you augment your recovery and don’t see any improvement, then you can be sure it’s not B).

Also, don’t forget that sometimes you are tired and you have a bad session, which sucks. Point, move on.

At the end of the day you should still check with the good doctors, or repost with another sexy title like “Is it time to move on from SSLP to The Bridge”?