What to do when you've tried everything...

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.)

Hi Ben,

I’m sorry to hear about your struggles. I think there is probably a lot more to unpack here than is feasible for us to adequately address via a forum post. But a couple things did jump out at me:

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.

This suggests that you’ve been excessively “bought in” to the SS training approach for years now.

It also suggests that you have hardly “tried everything”, but rather you have repeatedly tried the same thing … upwards of 50-75 times, without results. It is long past time to throw that book away and stop listening to them, and to use a completely different training approach. This is also obvious given your ongoing pain and injury issues, since training should improve your quality of life and physical function, not worsen it.

To the extent you’d like to tackle this on your own, we have boatloads of free content on our approach to rehab training, programming (podcasts/videos), and strength/powerlifting-specific performance. However, if I were in your shoes right now I would be pursuing a consultation (and likely coaching) with our rehab team in order to provide a completely new/different perspective on your training and your injury situation without just telling you to “reset and work back up” for the 100th time. Our rehab team is very familiar with helping people manage the types of issues you describe here, and getting people back to (and beyond) their prior levels of performance. However, it doesn’t have to be us either – another alternative would be to consult with literally any other coach in the world outside of the SS sphere, for alternative perspectives.

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Thanks for the thoughtful response Austin; as I know time is a commodity. Apologies again for the thesis, needed to throw in some context. I think a fresh set of eyes on this situation was really what I needed vs. a complete solution. That and when my 120lb wife, who won’t eat enough, out squats and deadlifts me, it’s time to reassess the approach.

I will take another read/listen through the rehab material. And likely reach out for a consult.

I think that is one of the greatest advises ever given on any strength board. It is funny that consuming the SS material does make one believe that this is the “only” or “right” way to become stronger. And that doing “the program” over and over again constitutes to having done “everything” when indeed one has only done one out of almost infinitely many possible things.

Don’t worry, I and many others have been stuck in exact the same pattern for years, as well.

First of all, you are falsely convinced that you have “the neuromuscular efficiency of an 80-year-old woman”. Have you ever seen a 80-year-old woman Benching 270 lbs or Pressing 190 lbs? Those are pretty decent numbers you don’t see people do in a regular commercial gym every day (especially considering your age and bw).

Without being an expert by any means I believe most of your struggles in the Squat and Deadlift are mental and triggered from your pain & injury history. I am positive that a consult with the rehab team giving you totally different perspective on and a novel approach to your training.

I wish you success!

4 Likes

Yeah I think you’re right. I think it’s time to break down and get a coach who knows how to prescribe something other than 4 exercises of 5s 3s and 1s. I’m probably just scarred from the SSCs which turned out to be a waste of time, but I suppose you never know unless you try. I’ve been trying to make a go of it on my own with a layout like the Pain in Training article, but still not getting anywhere. And still have not brought my upper body lifts back to previous levels either as a result of the last reset.

Well I finally sprung for the pain and rehab coaching. I now have more pain in more places and thoroughly dislike training more now than when I started.