2 5x5 (advanced) questions re: injury & missed goal

[2.5 Years]

Hi,

I'm dealing with 2 issues:

1) Recurring injury to what I believe is my left leg hip flexor or the muscles at the top of my quad. I feel the pain off and on during the day and while not excruciating, it is noticeable - especially if while squatting, I point my feet a bit outward and I go down wide - when I keep my legs a little closer to my shoulders I don't notice it as much - I took a week off 4 weeks ago to let it heal and that worked for awhile and I have been stretching it as often as possible but it’s back and lingering.

Has anyone else had this and is there any other solution aside from taking time off? I'm in my 3rd week of my 3rd run through the 5x5 and really want to push through it.


2) This is my 3rd week of the 5x5 and I hit everything (squats, bench, rows) with the exception of hitting my last set on bench (build up day for bench - start at 200 and went to 295 lbs). I only got 2 out of 5 on 295 although I think 3 was a definite possibility but I wussed out.

I cannot recall and have tried searching but for some reason cannot find what you are supposed to do when you miss a portion of one set while hitting everything else
- do I move on or keep doing the same bench next Monday and the Monday after that until I hit it?
- should I have taken a break and tried again or at least just get the last 3 no matter how long it took?



Thanks to all

 

[Xlajbf]

1) I have what I believe is probably the exact same pain. I just deal with it. Hopefully someone can offer you (and me!) better advice than that.

2) I missed a portion of a set once and just tried the same weight the next workout. Hit it and moved up.

If you fail 2-3 weeks in a row you may want to consider dropping back one week.

If you still can't hit it after a month, it might be time to plug in the weight just before that one as your new 5RM in the spreadsheet and ramp your way back up (only for that weight though - no need to reset everything).

 

[blut wump]

No, you blew the weight on bench. From the sound of it, either you didn't rest enough between sets to have a decent attempt at the weight or you just buried yourself with a bar that's simply too heavy for you. You should have adjusted down after a decent rest there and then. Turning it into three singles and a double isn't part of the plan.

Don't increase the weight since you didn't earn it by making the weight this week. If you'd managed four reps then I'd suggest keeping the same weight again. Only getting two reps indicates that five reps is out of your current scope and you should drop the weight and try to get it right on your next run.

If you feel confident (which you don't seem to be here) that you should have had it and just didn't rest enough then attempt the weight again and rest enough this time.

Some failure is expected on PR weeks and the straining is part of what makes you stronger but it's better to use weight you can just make rather than ones that bury you. For next week just make a better job of weight selection unless you were just having an off day etc.

Regarding your injury, that's always a tough call. If you have a stance that's pain-free then stick with that stance. Work within the limits your body imposes by giving you pain and discomfort. Have you sought professional medical attention? Use the discomfort as your guide. It's better to abort a run of a program than to turn a minor injury into a major one and have to take several months out.

 

[ar6]

Well I thought at the fourth week you should be doing your previous x5 maxes. So if this is only your third perhaps you jumped the weights too fast? Also are you using the excel file to calculate your weights? Cause this week i went for 300x5 and started at 150 cause that's what the calculator told me. I don't know just throwing out some ideas for you.

 

[ar6]

oops sry just noticed you were on the advanced program

 

[2.5 Years]

No, you blew the weight on bench. From the sound of it, either you didn't rest enough between sets to have a decent attempt at the weight or you just buried yourself with a bar that's simply too heavy for you. You should have adjusted down after a decent rest there and then. Turning it into three singles and a double isn't part of the plan.

Don't increase the weight since you didn't earn it by making the weight this week. If you'd managed four reps then I'd suggest keeping the same weight again. Only getting two reps indicates that five reps is out of your current scope and you should drop the weight and try to get it right on your next run.

If you feel confident (which you don't seem to be here) that you should have had it and just didn't rest enough then attempt the weight again and rest enough this time.

Some failure is expected on PR weeks and the straining is part of what makes you stronger but it's better to use weight you can just make rather than ones that bury you. For next week just make a better job of weight selection unless you were just having an off day etc.

Regarding your injury, that's always a tough call. If you have a stance that's pain-free then stick with that stance. Work within the limits your body imposes by giving you pain and discomfort. Have you sought professional medical attention? Use the discomfort as your guide. It's better to abort a run of a program than to turn a minor injury into a major one and have to take several months out.

Thanks - I'll drop down to 180 and see if that works although I hit 175 without any issue so it'll be interesting to see how things work - so keep the same patterns of weights up until the last set and lower the 295 - correct?

The pain is not overwhelming but I worry that it'll get worse with time - it's a good thing to use to improve form and like Xlajbf said, I'll try dealing with it.