Well, eventually my goal is to see just how far I can take this old meatsack of mine. So far I haven't hit any major sticking points or plateaus, but if someone told me that switching to a different bar could potentially add 50 pounds to my squat at some point because it's stiffer/less whip/less rotation on the plates, I'm gonna do it.

Agreed. I just don't know dick about the bars and haven't noticed any advantage when I have used "nicer" bars.

That's fair. They sure do look nice though.

Mostly the same things, and for deadlifts, just to have an alternate grip, but that'd be more of a luxury purchase in the end, and I don't have any room for even a safety squat bar so it's just dreaming. I recently added power blocks and love the accessory work I'm able to hit.

I've been in a similar boat as you, pushing 40, trying to get in shape, been trying to cut, but thinking of doing more of a bulk to start to put on muscle and then try to lose the fat.

Embrace the bulk!

I can honestly say that I am tired of eating and am actually looking forward to trying to lose some weight. I may feel differently in a month, but it's gonna be nice to not try to get in 240 grams of protein a day.

I imagine you're pretty tired of milk at this point!

Regarding bars, to be honest, I never really thought about it. I've always just used whatever bars were available where I was lifting. In my opinion, unless you're someone like an advanced powerlifter that is trying to do anything they can to get a little bit more of an edge and move slightly more weight, I don't see the need. Or, you have some physical limitation or injury that necessitates a specialty bar. Don't get me wrong, when I powerlifted, everyone used suits, shirts, knee wraps, etc., as it helps you move more weight. But then if you did not use it, you were at a disadvantage in completions.

I told myself if I could get 5 plates on squat & deadlift sometime next year, I might consider doing a powerlifting meet just for fun. I wouldn't do any of the equipped lifting or wraps or anything, just raw. That is another reason I am asking, is I'm not sure what bar they use for squats.

Honestly the thing I am most sick of is my overnight oats every morning. I've never been a big breakfast person, so I am ready to get back to just mixing up a quick protein shake and downing it and going on my way.

Blasphemy. I could eat over night oats twice a day.

I don't eat my first real meal until 1ish most days. It's a miracle I'm managing to keep 220 on.

sanitariex said:

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Mostly the same things, and for deadlifts, just to have an alternate grip, but that'd be more of a luxury purchase in the end, and I don't have any room for even a safety squat bar so it's just dreaming. I recently added power blocks and love the accessory work I'm able to hit.

I've been in a similar boat as you, pushing 40, trying to get in shape, been trying to cut, but thinking of doing more of a bulk to start to put on muscle and then try to lose the fat.

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BULK BABY! (But really, your window of being able to more easily build muscle is starting to decline. I would posture your time would be better spent now getting as much strength and muscle as you can (without blowing up fat), and then start a cut.

You are going to be stronger and healthier in the end. Plus, that cut will go much easier if you have that much more muscle.

I love my overnight oats!

CC09LawAg said:

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Embrace the bulk!

I can honestly say that I am tired of eating and am actually looking forward to trying to lose some weight. I may feel differently in a month, but it's gonna be nice to not try to get in 240 grams of protein a day.

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If anything, research says higher protein intake is MORE important for muscle retention on a cut than it is necessary in a calorie surplus.

I've certainly found that to be true

Oh, I am going to continue to aim for about 200g a day.

I'm losing about 64g from ditching the milk. I'm just not sure I'm ready to commit to trying to get in 240g eating on lean protein. I'd have to either eat a ton of egg whites or add another half pound or so of meat to my diet and I already eat a half pound as an afternoon snack now, plus lunch, dinner, and a couple of protein shakes.

We will see how hungry I am; maybe I can just add another half pound to my afternoon snack.

CC09LawAg said:

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Oh, I am going to continue to aim for about 200g a day.

I'm losing about 64g from ditching the milk. I'm just not sure I'm ready to commit to trying to get in 240g eating on lean protein. I'd have to either eat a ton of egg whites or add another half pound or so of meat to my diet and I already eat a half pound as an afternoon snack now, plus lunch, dinner, and a couple of protein shakes.

We will see how hungry I am; maybe I can just add another half pound to my afternoon snack.

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Why not try supplementing with some protein snacks instead so you don't go crazy from having to eat so much lean protein? As long as the protein snack is a complete protein, it should still work as intended

What do you have in mind? I'm always looking for more convenient options for work and what not.

CC09LawAg said:

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Max update: Still need to do overhead press but I'm not too worried about that one.

Got 425 squat, 300 bench, 425 deadlift this week. Up from 360, 275, and 365 in September. Pretty incredible how it lines up almost exactly to 10 pounds and 5 pounds a month in gains, just like the program says.

Weight got up to about 245, gonna aim to get back to my starting weight of 220 over the next 2 months and then see how I feel and what I want to do next. Goal is to maintain my current strength level and focus on some more iso movements and neglected muscles while slightly decreasing volume on main lifts to account for the calorie deficit.

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Nice gains!

Well done.

CC09LawAg said:

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What do you have in mind? I'm always looking for more convenient options for work and what not.

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If you're thinking savory snacks, I'm a huge fan of the Quest chips- 140 cals and 18 grams of protein per bag. The nacho cheese ones are the best. They are extremely flimsy though

Some chips with a little more heft are the Legendary brand. They have a texture like a "pop chip". This is their BBQ flavor, but I've also had their pizza flavored ones and they're not bad. They're 150 calories for 20 grams of protein

Quest also makes some Cheez-It style crackers that are pretty good

The caveat with all of these is that they're not gonna taste exactly like the originals, but if I'm having a sandwich or something similar for a meal and I want chips, stuff like this hits the spot for me and just adds more protein to my overall daily intake. Win-win to me.

Amazon has so many different protein snacks that it's worth trying a few and seeing what you like

Plus 1 in the quest chips. We prefer the bbq in our house but get cheese, taco, ranch, and a few others occasionally.

I will check them out - I always avoided them because of the perceived cost but when I crunch the numbers on the price per gram of protein it's actually a pretty viable option.

We buy from Amazon via subscription so we get 15%. Someone posted a 40% sale so we loaded up.

I enjoy the Legendary Foods sweet rolls and pastries too, but they're more 40% protein than the chips at like 60%. I like the blueberry and strawberry pastries, and all 3 of the sweet rolls are good (cinnamon roll, mixed berry and then chocolate are my favorite in order tho).

They're more of a protein bar replacement (something that kicks your macros down the road).

NoHo, I couldn't stomach the price and shipping on a fourth pair of 45s just yet, but keep an eye on the scratch and dent 35 pound bumpers from Titan - I picked up 2 for $107.94 and it's free shipping.

And congrats on the 1000 pounds! That is a great feeling and a major milestone.

I'd like to get some advice on programming from some of yall that are more advanced in your training than I am. I've been running Stronglifts, but 3x5 lifts for all except deadlifts which I kept at 1x5. I got to 285 lb on squats, 205 bench, 185 row, 135 press, and 350 deadlift.

Around that point, the workouts were becoming a beating and were getting very long. Over the last few weeks, I've been basically doing one lift a day - something like Squats 3x5 Monday, Bench 3x5 Tuesday, Deadlift Thursday, Press Friday. I just throw rows in wherever I can. One problem I have is I will miss days here and there so sometimes it's more like 8 days until I get back around to a given lift on this split. And my total of heavy sets in a given week is much lower. Numbers now are about 310 for squat (only got one set of 5 last workout), 212.5 bench 3x5, 142.5 press 3x5, row 195 3x5, deadlift 360.

I think my options are:
1. Keep plugging away on this one 3x5 lift plan. But am I about to crater due to lack of frequency on each lift?
2. Lower weights and try to progress again on the 3 day per week stronglifts / starting strength program. (I suspect I would just run into a wall again.)
3. Try 5/3/1 program. I think it's similar to the one lift a day focus I'm running now, but not as many sets across at the top weight. I did try 5/3/1 briefly in the past, but it seemed like I wasn't able to get new PR's for 5 reps when I got back to them on the heavy week on that program. I may not have done it in an optimal way with assistant exercises on my previous 531 attempt, in fact it seemed like most of the workouts were assistance lifts (very different in that way from SL/ SS).

When you ran 5/3/1, did you read any of the books or look at the different programs for accessory work?

It's what I'm doing now and I love it. There are a couple of other options I see mentioned, like Texas Method and Madcow. I tried Madcow as it was most similar to Stronglifts but it's pretty intense and I found myself plateauing after just a couple months. I've run 5/3/1 for about 6 months now and I am really liking it.

There are options for your main lift accessory work and then recommendations for how much push/pull/core work you should program for your other accessory work.

Look up 5/3/1 FSL, SSL, joker sets, widow maker sets, and Boring But Big to give you an idea of some of the "extra" work you do beyond the 5/3/1. I would suggest starting with FSL since you're familiar and comfortable with the 5x5 structure.

A dirty secret (that I hate to admit to myself or believe) is once you start getting up to speed weights that are maximizing your body's current potential, you don't really need to do those lifts so routinely. A lot of champion deadlifters don't do it every week. I've recently gone from doing 65% of my current weights during deloads to not doing them at all and just doing machines.

Consistency in the aggregate is the most important thing. If you miss a day here or there, I would just keep going with the rest of your routine/week like nothing happened.

I would try the 5/3/1 if only because what will actually crater or plateau you eventually is the body not getting new stimulus. I recently went from the T Nation cluster program to one of my own design that has more volume just for that reason.

Thanks for the responses. I think I understand the 531 program (had previously read one of Wendler's books).

I thinks it's just hard for me to imagine my squat going up after 2-3 weeks of training with 10-20% lower weights. I'll probably try switching to the madcow 5x5 program or the 531 with FSL sets. Looks like I would need to give either program about 6-8 weeks before I see any real improvement.

Every evidence-based fitness expert I'm familiar with, like Layne Norton, says the research suggests the numbers on weight or reps are far less important than going to near-failure, whatever you're doing.

If you're at RPE 8+ on 20% lower weight but more reps, you'll continue to progress regardless. Total volume is what I'd keep in mind.

Try Madcow and see how you respond. You may be able to milk a couple months out of it.

I get the hesitation with 5/3/1 but the last set where you go for AMRAP adds up. It's worked great for me so far.

I hear ya! I'm right about where you're at (175-180) 1RM and it's the one lift I probably want the most improvement on.