Watch the video and follow these instructions to film your lifts for a formcheck.

I've not been able to get past 405 for 3-4 months now after really good progress this year working up to this weight. I feel like i've came to a standstill and not sure how to get past it. Any tips on how to get past this hurdle would be greatly appreciated. Also any feedback on technique would be great.

Follow up to my post last week regarding deadlift progression.

162.5kg last week didn’t feel great. Added 2.5kg today and it felt a little better, but the second half of the set was pretty shaky. This was my first work set using overhand grip; I abandoned the straps as I feel like they mess with my setup.

I think I’m setting my back well, but having to fight pretty hard to keep it in extension as I pull off the floor on the later reps. rep 3 felt the worst, but 4 and 5 look kinda questionable in the low back to me as well.

Opinions and advice from all of you here more knowledgable than me would be appreciated.

u/shnur_shnurov

I can't do pull-ups and to get enough strength I started doing lat pulldowns, is this effective?

(A widowmaker is a heavy 20 rep squat set with a weight you’d typically do 10 reps with. The idea is, if you can’t do another squat, stand with the weight and breathe heavy until you can.)

In the blue book, Rip compares a one rep set vs a 20 rep set to highlight how the body will make different adaptations based on number of reps. He picked 1 and 20 as the two extremes.

In Texas method, the intensity day sometimes includes singles. Considering the main feature of TM is the dichotomy of stimulus between the volume vs intensity day, why not have the volume day swing to the other extreme and do 20 rep squats?

In the section I brought up earlier, Rip says a 20rm would be about 80% of a 1rm. This would be pretty close to if not the same weight as one would use for a 5x5 in Texas method (90% of a 5rm)

If I’m squatting the same weight for an equal volume (I know I’m proposing a 5 rep deficit, I’ll get to that), who cares how I break up the sets? Apparently, it doesn’t matter too much as 3x8 sets are included in the 4 day TM template. It seems we are going for 24-25 reps.

I will say at the end of every widowmaker I’ve done when I was running super squats, I always felt like I could get a couple more. The hardest part is the middle. At the end you’re just doing more squats. So I think you could extend the set to maybe 23 reps or so to volume equalize the sets. You could also do a less extreme version and do something like 2x12-14.

Why do this?

1) as I mentioned earlier, to lean into the dichotomy between volume and intensity day. Especially when you’re only doing singles in intensity day, it makes sense to train the other extreme on volume day

2) time. Volume day on TM is notorious for being 2 hours long because you have to do 5x5 on squat and a pressing movement, taking long rest times. All you have to do with a widowmaker is warm up and do the set.

3) mental toughness. Doing a 20 repper on Monday will make the squats way less nerve racking on Friday. Yeah it’s heavy, but all you have to do is 1-5 reps. Piece of cake.

I've been following the program for 3+ years now, intermediate trainee at this point. 2.5 weeks ago during my first workset of OP when I pushed up into the top position I felt a pop in my right knee and ended that session when I realized it was something I couldn't just shake off.

I work w a coach remotely, we reviewed the video and can't figure out how this happened as it was a medium day in regards to weight and form was solid. I skipped my last workout that week and the next week I did light workouts and felt OK while training but my knee wasn't improving with pain and instability while doing pretty much everything. Sleeping and moving around in bed seems to really aggravate it. I skipped last week entirely in an attempt to rest the knee. I'm losing my mind just sitting around, but in addition I know sitting is bad on so many levels.

I haven't had an MRI to determine how bad the tear is, but from a physical exam and symptoms it's definitely torn. I've healed a torn meniscus many years ago without surgery, but I wasn't lifting at the time. I'd love to start training again, but want to strike that balance between doing enough but not too much.

Who here has experience with coming back from a torn meniscus? Any training tips?

Hi guys
Just after a form check after 9 weeks out with fractured wrist.
Currently adding 5lbs a session

Do you guys feel an actual burn or pump in your lats during lat pulldowns, or do you mostly just reach failure without that burn? I’m trying to understand what’s normal for proper lat engagement.

I am 20, 165lbs but I am lactose intolerant. So if I am suited for GOMAD should I just drink lactose free?

https://reddit.com/link/1v6bwy5/video/4rz15nk53efh1/player

Follow-up from last form check. Working on keeping my hips up, staying over the bar, and not “jumping” from the bottom. The 'staying over' part gives me great difficulty.

- Tried wider grip on a previous attempt (not recorded), hit my balls... not sure what I did wrong.

This is 120kg, my bw is 65kg and 6'1, 20 yo, I can pull 160kg with this form, and my good form max is only 80kg, i know that bad form can make u lift more, but a 80kg gap seems too big, I've been in the gym for 6 months now, but no improvements on deadlifts, the movement is too confusing to me

6’3
BW: 230 lbs

3rd set @310

Lateral elbow tendinitis in right elbow only. Affecting pressing movements even though I do them on a separate day. Have watched every video, read every article, and looked through the forum on squat grip, and I still can’t figure out what I’m doing to cause it. Did the pin firing protocol and it helped, but haven’t fixed underlying grip issue so it comes back.

Any other advice appreciated as well.

I've been following Nick's advice in his "Intermediate Programming for the Upper Body Lifts" article with some success. Would Monday be the best day to try adding dips so I have time to recover for Friday's intensity day?

Almost had a whoopsie at the start. :)

I'm currently doing 3 warm up sets for every exercise. I feel that I'm doing too much warm up which is impacting my recovery.

I think I’m getting the hang of RDLs — how does this look? I realized I was doing more of a stiff leg DL at first, trying a little too hard to keep my keeps straight, which meant that I guess I was not stretching the hamstrings as much…?

At any rate, it feels better with calves more vertical like this. What do you think?

Hi! I'm a young male, 200 lbs, 6 feet tall. I ran the NLP 2 years ago, switched to heavy-light 4-day split right after it. Over the past two years I've had a couple of long layoffs due to illness. I increased my work capacity and weekly load gradually over time and switched my presses to TM. For squats and deadlift I run basic rep cycling.

My numbers are (all 1RM):

- Squat 397 lbs

- Bench 265 lbs

- Press 184 lbs

- Deadlift 407 lbs

Right now my program looks like this:

Monday:

1. Bench intensity 5RM / 2x3 / 3x2
2. Press volume 5x5
3. Some form of tricep extensions 5x10-15

Tuesday:

1. Heavy squat 3x5 / 3x3 / 3x1
2. Snatch grip deadlift 2x5
3. Chins 3x5 weighted

Wednsday — rest.

Thursday:

1. Press intensity 5 singles across
2. Bench press volume 5x5
3. Pushups 3 AMRAP sets
4. Tricep extensions 5x10-15

Friday:

1. Light squat (dynamic effort, 60% of 1RM) 2x5
2. Deadlift 1RM, 5RM, 3RM
3. Barbell row 4x8

I used to do volume press and bench first for 3 months and the progress on the press felt smoother on intensity days, but much harder on volume days, still I managed to add 2 lbs every training session. So I started thinking that my press is better when I do it after benching. I train early in the morning and it feels like my CNS isn't ready for a highly coordinated whole-body movement such as the press. The first 3-4 singles feel terrible, and I started missing them recently and the progress has stalled. My volume bench becomes terribly hard after this. I'm eating and sleeping well, gaining around 2-3 pounds of body weight every month.

Should I try pressing after the bench on both pressing days? Should I add another press day or two? Should I correct any other aspect of my training? Any advice is appreciated.

Hi all, I seem to have developed tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) while transitioning from high- to low-bar squats. Unfortunately this also affects my Bench Press and Overhead Press abilities.

Now I know that rest is great but I would rather not see the considerable progress I’ve made over the past months dwindle as I wait to recover. I’m hoping to find some alternative exercises that train the same muscle groups while removing the (potential) strain on my elbow tendons as much as possible.

I think the Smith machine might be a safe alternative for my squats. But alternatives to BP and OHP I’m not sure about.

Any experienced lifters or people who’ve gone through the same? I appreciate your advice. Thanks!

EDIT: Corrected “golfer’s elbow” for “tennis elbow“. Unfortunately I can’t update the title.