Stalling on lifts (and possibly scoliosis)

[coralex]

So I'm doing SS and have been for about a year. I can't seem to get past these lifts.

Squat - 85lbs
Bench - 50 lbs
Deadlift - 100lbs
Row - 60lbs
Overhead Press - 40lbs

Wow I didn't realize how poor my lifts were until I typed it all out. I guess it's my fault since I'm not really eating a lot. I just eat at maintenance. There were some instances where I had to stop and take a break because of travel for 1 month and health reasons for another month (not one after the other though).

So my question is, what should I do? Should I continue SS? Even though it might take a long time for me to increase the weights? What is the normal weight progression?

The other reason why I have been somewhat conservative with increasing my weights is because I might have scoliosis. I'm not entirely certain because I haven't gone to a doctor. (I will someday when I can afford to). My left shoulder is higher than the other and when I take a picture of myself, I can see that my upper body seems to be leaning a bit to one side. The good thing is I don't get any back pain when I'm lifting so I'm not really bothered by it.

I am worried though if I should be lifting really heavy weights and continuing to deadlift. I've used the search function regarding this but there weren't any clear facts about it.

Advice please? I'll eat it up with a spoon. :)

[Kemo1990]

1. check form
2. check form
3. eat more
4. accessory work
5. check form

[WariorGoddess]

Wow I didn't realize how poor my lifts were until I typed it all out. I guess it's my fault since I'm not really eating a lot.
I just eat at maintenance. There were some instances where I had to stop and take a break because of travel for 1 month and health reasons for another month (not one after the other though).
Advice please? I'll eat it up with a spoon. :)

The "not really eating a lot" could be your problem...I know for me when I decrease my cals my lifts are affected :( Do you know for sure that your eating at maintenance? Are you tracking? Have you figured out your caloric needs? What are your stats? Weight/height?

If you are worried about lifting heavy and scoliosis I'd suggest you see your doc...better safe than sorry.

[terracotta]

It may be because your weights are low, and the 5-10 lb increases in weights is too much for your rep range (it is 5 rep sets right?) since as a percentage of your total weight used it is high. Try doing 6-10 rep sets for a while until you break your plateau and can increase your weights.

and/OR make your own microloaders http://stronglifts.com/madcow/Topics/Microloading.htm

[wakechica]

The "not really eating a lot" could be your problem...I know for me when I decrease my cals my lifts are affected :( Do you know for sure that your eating at maintenance? Are you tracking? Have you figured out your caloric needs? What are your stats? Weight/height?

This. I find not eating enough makes me tired too. I fi don't eat enough, lifts go down and I often find myself bailing or getting stressed out about it (which doesn't help)

Lifting with correct form should help scoliosis. As long as you are building muscle correctly it should help any spinal imbalances.

[Amanda76]

I have slight scoliosis (had some physical therapy for it as a child) and it doesn't really affect my ability to lift heavy. I do have recurring injuries that I blame on my wonky spine (s curve at the bottom and it twists at the top) but I've learned how to train around them when I have to and, over the years, have continued to make progress. Back then, doctors suggested I never lift more than 40 pounds (obviously, I have been lifting more than that). As it turned out, not challenging myself for long periods of time causes aggravating dull aches deep enough inside my core that I felt like it was my organs aching...kinda like when you sleep for too long on one side but without relief that comes when you get up and move around. I am certain that weight training keeps the muscles that support my spine strong enough that I have better posture and that keeps the pressure off wherever I was feeling those aches (kinda hard to pinpoint) whenever I've been inactive in my life. Weight training isn't the only activity that has helped, but it is my favorite activity so that's what I do to stay strong these days.

Since you say you've been conservative about upping your weights, is it possible that you CAN increase your load but are just afraid to? If that's the case, I'd say you haven't been running SS correctly and could probably continue with that if you lose your fear of injuring yourself. OR, if you're a bit bored with the program, pick something else. Do you know how to use safety equipment (like the power rack) in the gym? That will help give you the courage to up those weights as well. If you think about it and have really have pushed yourself as much as possible and are truly stalled out, I would switch to a program that works within a higher rep range for a while.

Food (fuel) is also important. I had a really difficult time progressing until I did my first bulk/leaning up cycle and started to REALLY pay attention to what was going into my mouth. I've always eaten and enjoyed healthy food, but it wasn't until I started planning my meals that I realized I simply wasn't getting enough on a consistent basis.

[coralex]

1. check form
2. check form
3. eat more
4. accessory work
5. check form

Noted. Thanks :)



The "not really eating a lot" could be your problem...I know for me when I decrease my cals my lifts are affected :( Do you know for sure that your eating at maintenance? Are you tracking? Have you figured out your caloric needs? What are your stats? Weight/height?

If you are worried about lifting heavy and scoliosis I'd suggest you see your doc...better safe than sorry.

I'm 5'6 at 130 lbs by the way. I do track but there are days when I don't really reach my protein goals so that might be another factor. Thank you!




It may be because your weights are low, and the 5-10 lb increases in weights is too much for your rep range (it is 5 rep sets right?) since as a percentage of your total weight used it is high. Try doing 6-10 rep sets for a while until you break your plateau and can increase your weights.

and/OR make your own microloaders

Alright, I'll do higher reps for now and check out the site you gave. Thank you!

[coralex]

This. I find not eating enough makes me tired too. I fi don't eat enough, lifts go down and I often find myself bailing or getting stressed out about it (which doesn't help)

Lifting with correct form should help scoliosis. As long as you are building muscle correctly it should help any spinal imbalances.

I guess I should really be eating more if I want to increase my lifts. And I'm glad to know that lifting helps with the scoliosis. Thank you!



I have slight scoliosis (had some physical therapy for it as a child) and it doesn't really affect my ability to lift heavy. I do have recurring injuries that I blame on my wonky spine (s curve at the bottom and it twists at the top) but I've learned how to train around them when I have to and, over the years, have continued to make progress. Back then, doctors suggested I never lift more than 40 pounds (obviously, I have been lifting more than that). As it turned out, not challenging myself for long periods of time causes aggravating dull aches deep enough inside my core that I felt like it was my organs aching...kinda like when you sleep for too long on one side but without relief that comes when you get up and move around. I am certain that weight training keeps the muscles that support my spine strong enough that I have better posture and that keeps the pressure off wherever I was feeling those aches (kinda hard to pinpoint) whenever I've been inactive in my life. Weight training isn't the only activity that has helped, but it is my favorite activity so that's what I do to stay strong these days.

Since you say you've been conservative about upping your weights, is it possible that you CAN increase your load but are just afraid to? If that's the case, I'd say you haven't been running SS correctly and could probably continue with that if you lose your fear of injuring yourself. OR, if you're a bit bored with the program, pick something else. Do you know how to use safety equipment (like the power rack) in the gym? That will help give you the courage to up those weights as well. If you think about it and have really have pushed yourself as much as possible and are truly stalled out, I would switch to a program that works within a higher rep range for a while.

Food (fuel) is also important. I had a really difficult time progressing until I did my first bulk/leaning up cycle and started to REALLY pay attention to what was going into my mouth. I've always eaten and enjoyed healthy food, but it wasn't until I started planning my meals that I realized I simply wasn't getting enough on a consistent basis.


Thanks for typing out that lengthy reply! It's reassuring to know that there is someone who has scoliosis and lifts heavy. I also have a friend who was told by the doctor not to lift anything heavy. That's why I'm kind of paranoid about it. I was wondering whether the spine can really support the weight that's on my back when I squat. I'm just going to trust you on this lol

I guess I could still increase the weight for the squat but yes, I am kind of afraid to because 1) I don't really have those safety features since I work out at home 2) it's hard to keep my form in check if I increase the weights.

For the bench and the press, I'm already having trouble with getting to 5 reps as it is. :(

Ah well, I guess I should move on to a program with higher reps for a while. Plus, more food. Thanks again!

[wdmvp]

I'd be willing to bet it has something to do with your diet. Are you eating too few carbs? Carbs are a HUGE energy booster in the gym, yet it is usually sacrificed first from people's diets because it is an unessential macronutrient that is often tied to excess water retention and weight gain in general. What's your diet like (macros)?

[BitchBerserker]

Before assuming that you have scoliosis, you should get an xray... Your elevated left shoulder could be caused by a variety of things, such as heavy mouse use, overactive left trap, minor posture issue...whatever. Furthermore, nobody is completely symetrical.

[Amanda76]

I guess I should really be eating more if I want to increase my lifts. And I'm glad to know that lifting helps with the scoliosis. Thank you!





Thanks for typing out that lengthy reply! It's reassuring to know that there is someone who has scoliosis and lifts heavy. I also have a friend who was told by the doctor not to lift anything heavy. That's why I'm kind of paranoid about it. I was wondering whether the spine can really support the weight that's on my back when I squat. I'm just going to trust you on this lol

I guess I could still increase the weight for the squat but yes, I am kind of afraid to because 1) I don't really have those safety features since I work out at home 2) it's hard to keep my form in check if I increase the weights.

For the bench and the press, I'm already having trouble with getting to 5 reps as it is. :(

Ah well, I guess I should move on to a program with higher reps for a while. Plus, more food. Thanks again!

There are several people on this site who have a bit of scoliosis (I think it's really somewhat common among the population...no body is perfect. :p). Obviously, if you feel like you're hurting yourself (not just getting sore), back off the weights or find an alternate exercise to do for a while (just because you currently have a problem with an exercise doesn't mean you'll never be able to do it). On any compound movement, there are many muscle groups that can fail you before your target muscle group does (this would include your back when trying to increase the load you are moving doing squats, but people with scoliosis are not the only people who sometimes have to limit the weight they use until their core becomes more capable of supporting the load). What you are doing by increasing reps until those muscle groups catch up is the correct approach. And yeah, if you don't have any safety equipment to catch you if you fail, that's also an issue regardless of whether you have scoliosis.

There are obviously different severity levels of scoliosis. Definitely listen to your doctor and make your own choice, but ask LOTS of questions about why you can't work your way up to doing this or that if they place limitations on what you can do. Maybe if I would have thought to press the issue when I was a kid, they would have said they just didn't want me lifting heavy things at that time. That if I strengthened my core (all exercises I was given were for core and flexibility) and started light I could progress to doing whatever I wanted. That's really what I did (and what everyone who is training properly does). I just never asked anyone whether it would EVENTUALLY be okay. All I know is that now I'm glad I didn't live my life afraid to rearrange furniture, help on moving day, or accept a box from the UPS man because..."Oh, I don't know...30 pounds is pretty close to my limit..." Would have been a nice way to get out of having to be the meanie giving our sharpei a bath though. LOL