Stalled - just eat more?

[PersonaNonGrata]

So i've been doing a kind of recomp/IF thing for about 6 months since ending my previous 10 years of not lifting/doing cardio/flapping about like an eejit.

Scale weight has stayed the same around 75-77kg (170lbs or so), body fat has dropped to 10-12% ish. My lifts have been progressing pretty well - I'm deadlifting 400lbs (just), doing dips with 90lbs strapped to me, chins with 50lbs+..... However in the last month i have stalled on standing press, weighed chins, squats. The only lifts i'm still progressing on are weighted dips and deadlifts.

My instinct is telling me i should keep on with the routine I have and just add a small calorie surplus. I am happy to go slower on progress to avoid excessive fat gain. My routine is essentially reverse-pyramid, minimalist, high intensity/long rest periods/heavy.

If i'm adding calories should i add volume/sets too? I'm probably doing 10 sets total in a workout, averaging 5-8 reps per set (reverse pyramid i would typically do a set of 4-5, take 10% off the bar, do a set of 6-8, another 10% off and do a set of 7-10). Training Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri.

[drudixon]

So i've been doing a kind of recomp/IF thing for about 6 months since ending my previous 10 years of not lifting/doing cardio/flapping about like an eejit.

Scale weight has stayed the same around 75-77kg (170lbs or so), body fat has dropped to 10-12% ish. My lifts have been progressing pretty well - I'm deadlifting 400lbs (just), doing dips with 90lbs strapped to me, chins with 50lbs+..... However in the last month i have stalled on standing press, weighed chins, squats. The only lifts i'm still progressing on are weighted dips and deadlifts.

My instinct is telling me i should keep on with the routine I have and just add a small calorie surplus. I am happy to go slower on progress to avoid excessive fat gain. My routine is essentially reverse-pyramid, minimalist, high intensity/long rest periods/heavy.

If i'm adding calories should i add volume/sets too? I'm probably doing 10 sets total in a workout, averaging 5-8 reps per set (reverse pyramid i would typically do a set of 4-5, take 10% off the bar, do a set of 6-8, another 10% off and do a set of 7-10). Training Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri.

Sounds like you're not a beginner anymore. It's likely to look at intermediate and/or advanced routines. When was your last deload? Could be you simply need a reset.

Regarding your rep scheme, it looks like your goal is size moreso than strength. have you looked at higher volume straight set programs?

I'm not a fan of recomps. I can slow bulk and diet back down faster than I can recomp. The dietary precision required to successfully recomp is very difficult, hence why I just err on excess and diet it off later. To be scientific, add a 300 cal / day surplus, log macros and cals, monitor lifts, and adjust accordingly. Do this for at least 6 weeks to be sure that what you've done made a difference.


GL.

[PersonaNonGrata]

Sounds like you're not a beginner anymore. It's likely to look at intermediate and/or advanced routines. When was your last deload? Could be you simply need a reset.

Regarding your rep scheme, it looks like your goal is size moreso than strength. have you looked at higher volume straight set programs?

I'm not a fan of recomps. I can slow bulk and diet back down faster than I can recomp. The dietary precision required to successfully recomp is very difficult, hence why I just err on excess and diet it off later. To be scientific, add a 300 cal / day surplus, log macros and cals, monitor lifts, and adjust accordingly. Do this for at least 6 weeks to be sure that what you've done made a difference.


GL.

I have been mostly strength focused, so using a low/rep/low volume/heavy approach. I guess i could use some more size in order to get stronger now, but size isn't my number 1 goal. I have switched to sets-across for squats and deadlifts now because with RPT my heavy set was too heavy, and the last set too light.

My last bulk was a dirty affair and i put on a lot of fat, so maybe you are right and i should pay a bit more attention to the fine numbers and go for 3-400 cals/day

So switching to sets-across for chins, i currently do something like
+30kg/66lbs - 5 reps
+20kg/44lbs - 7 reps
+10kg/22lbs - 10 reps
all to failure

With sets across I would aim for 3 sets of 8 at +20kg? the first set would be easy so should i stop before failure or just knock out 10-12..... and then my last set i'd probably only get 5

[bucktownmassive]

Nice tips...I thought I was a beginner, but seeing your strategy lets me know I haven't even reached the beginner phase yet.

[ironwill2008]

So i've been doing a kind of recomp/IF thing for about 6 months since ending my previous 10 years of not lifting/doing cardio/flapping about like an eejit.

Scale weight has stayed the same around 75-77kg (170lbs or so), body fat has dropped to 10-12% ish. My lifts have been progressing pretty well - I'm deadlifting 400lbs (just), doing dips with 90lbs strapped to me, chins with 50lbs+..... However in the last month i have stalled on standing press, weighed chins, squats. The only lifts i'm still progressing on are weighted dips and deadlifts.

My instinct is telling me i should keep on with the routine I have and just add a small calorie surplus. I am happy to go slower on progress to avoid excessive fat gain. My routine is essentially reverse-pyramid, minimalist, high intensity/long rest periods/heavy.

If i'm adding calories should i add volume/sets too? I'm probably doing 10 sets total in a workout, averaging 5-8 reps per set (reverse pyramid i would typically do a set of 4-5, take 10% off the bar, do a set of 6-8, another 10% off and do a set of 7-10). Training Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri.

A good strategy to get stalled lift(s) moving again is to cut the weight on all the work sets by about 10% and then work it back up.


If you 'suspect' you might need to increase your calories, do so; intuition has value. Just continue to monitor the mirror as well as your logbook.



Probably not a good idea to add more volume, or make any other changes, at this time; make too many changes at once, and you'll lose your baseline from which to judge the effectiveness of those changes. Try the above for several weeks, and then see where you're at.