Good afternoon BBM,
Thanks for all you do. Your content and approach to training the hard cases like myself is a welcome shift from the curmudgeon from Wichita Falls. You know: “You’re a P**sy. Just do the program. Gain 40 lbs.” That’s great if the program works, except it doesn’t for everyone.
I’ll just say it; my lifts are embarrassing. The problem is: I know exactly how to get stronger, except my body just won’t cooperate. Before writing this, I made sure to up my calories (I eat very healthy) a bit and pay attention to sleep habits for a week to make sure recovery isn’t the reason for my lack of progress—it’s not.
I believe it’s a combination of having the neuromuscular efficiency of an 80-year-old woman, constant back pain, problems with leg drive while in hip flexion, and now zero motivation to train anymore due to spinning my wheels for years.
40M, 5’8”, 188lbs. (started at 165lb.) and training the lifts per the Blue Book for 8 years, and consistently for almost 3 years (missed maybe 3-5 workouts since 2019). Injuries: Bad daily bi-lateral QL spasms, 3 herniated lumbar discs and facet joint arthritis at L4/L5. Actually getting an RF ablation done in a couple weeks to hopefully alleviate the pain – albeit probably temporarily.
Current Lifts:
DL: Hard wall at ~225lb for about 7 years – seriously…I looked like Austin’s profile picture pulling 225 for a single the other day. Same for block pulls at various heights: much over 225 won’t budge. I’ve tried sumo. Not a huge fan, but I’m stuck around 155-165lb. Trap bar is a little better, but not much.
HBSQ: 185x1x5 Peaked around 205-210lb ; I’ve never felt what a 225 squat feels like; that’s actually a life goal I’d like to hit. Low Bar is out; with my back, I just can’t bend over with much weight. Same for the DL.
Bench: 195x3x5 (Best 275x1 a year ago) But I have constant upper trap pain so I can progress.
Strict OHP: 130x3x5 (Best 190x1 a year ago)
The only thing that’s gone up is my waist circumference which I’m not pleased about either.
I’ve used 3 SSCs which weren’t very helpful beyond refining my 4 lifts, so I let them go after a couple months. They’re all about a huge deload then build back up. Problem is, I get stuck at the same place each time. I estimate I’ve reset around 50-75 times, so resets don’t seem to be the solution.
With all that being said: When you’ve tried everything, at what point do you just accept you aren’t going to get any stronger and just “exercise” the lifts where you are?
Sorry for the War and Peace. But you can imagine my frustration. I’m on the east coast and was considering the seminar in Philly. Seems like my issues are way more systemic than could be addressed in 2 days though.
Thanks very much,
Ben
(Seriously, I’m not a troll. My lifts are this bad.)