5x5 + Hitting a wall, variations..

[HitMan-sC]

Well, I started a 5x5 program back in November, and I've had some great results! I added around 30 lbs to my bench, 50lbs on squat, 40 lbs on rows all by the end of December. At that time, I hurt (destroyed) my arm playing basketball, so I had to take two weeks off to recover. After that, I reset the entire cycle, and some more great progress on my squats and rows, but my bench got stuck around 205 (I was only able to get 210 for 4). I tried resetting just my bench, and my other lifts kept progressing, but I ended up hitting the same wall with my chest. This time, the same weight was harder to get up.

Starting a few weeks ago, I began to feel really fatigued in the gym. I decided to take a week and a half off because the stress of school is really getting to me as well; I'm going back to the gym this monday. I'm wondering what I should do here... should I add some variety to the program? What would you guys recommend?

My current 5RM's:

Squat: 250
Deadlift: 225
Row: 190
Bench: 205

 

[mad dipz]

Well, I started a 5x5 program back in November, and I've had some great results! I added around 30 lbs to my bench, 50lbs on squat, 40 lbs on rows all by the end of December. At that time, I hurt (destroyed) my arm playing basketball, so I had to take two weeks off to recover. After that, I reset the entire cycle, and some more great progress on my squats and rows, but my bench got stuck around 205 (I was only able to get 210 for 4). I tried resetting just my bench, and my other lifts kept progressing, but I ended up hitting the same wall with my chest. This time, the same weight was harder to get up.

Starting a few weeks ago, I began to feel really fatigued in the gym. I decided to take a week and a half off because the stress of school is really getting to me as well; I'm going back to the gym this monday. I'm wondering what I should do here... should I add some variety to the program? What would you guys recommend?

My current 5RM's:

Squat: 250
Deadlift: 225
Row: 190
Bench: 205

reset the bench again and progress using microloading. Your 5RM for bench is a little too close to your squats and deadlifts IMO.

 

[Sigbjørn]

Yeah, try to make really small jumps, like 2.5 lbs or so.

 

[Protobuilder]

You could try the 2.5 pound increments and when you hit the wall, switch that lift over to the 3x3 format and peak. See what happens. Then look at either trying the same pattern again, or switching to sets of 8 or even swapping flat bench out for flat DB bench, or slight decline or something w/ carryover to flat bench. Maybe go to two overhead press days, and only one bench day . . .

 

[HitMan-sC]

You could try the 2.5 pound increments and when you hit the wall, switch that lift over to the 3x3 format and peak. See what happens. Then look at either trying the same pattern again, or switching to sets of 8 or even swapping flat bench out for flat DB bench, or slight decline or something w/ carryover to flat bench. Maybe go to two overhead press days, and only one bench day . . .

What is this 3x3 format? It looks like I'm going to be taking another week off because I nearly sprained my ankle slipping on black ice. When I go back, should I reset the entire cycle, or just my bench cycle?

 

[SpyWizard]

for the last set, do a drop set..

 

[HitMan-sC]

for the last set, do a drop set..

Do you recommend this for each bench workout? If so, drop from my 5RM to what weight?

 

[SgtSlaughter]

Great progress!

How's your food intake? ... eating more makes progressing a bit easier.

Using alternating rep schemes but still progressing weekly worked for me when I tweaked my 5x5 basic template.

week 1: bench to a top set of 5
week 2: bench to a top set of 3 (a triple)
week 3: bench to a top set of 1 (a heavy single)

and keep cycling that and PRing.

 

[HitMan-sC]

Great progress!

How's your food intake? ... eating more makes progressing a bit easier.

Using alternating rep schemes but still progressing weekly worked for me when I tweaked my 5x5 basic template.

week 1: bench to a top set of 5
week 2: bench to a top set of 3 (a triple)
week 3: bench to a top set of 1 (a heavy single)

and keep cycling that and PRing.

Well, I wouldn't consider my food intake a great caloric excess, but I do eat plenty throughout the day. I've tried adding a few more sets of assistance exercises like dips throughout the week, but last workout day I did 205 for 5 but it feels like I'm hitting the same wall. Would changing one variable right now necessarily have an effect? If there was one thing I could benefit the most from changing, would it be rep scheme, intensity or changing the exercise all-together?

 

[HitMan-sC]

Update: Cut a little bit of warm-up volume and benched 205 for 5 again today, but this time it was more difficult. At this point, I definitely won't get 210 for 5.