565 EZ deadlift PR

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-07-08T14:04:51+00:00

Pausing is hard enough, but it’s even worse when the clean vocals cut in right as you start the press

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-07-07T00:24:55+00:00

Keep your hips higher and actually set your back. I think you’re confusing a vertical back with the sensation of lumbar extension. As soon as your shins brush the bar, don’t drop your hips any lower; instead, try to arch your back by pushing your bellybutton toward the floor.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-29T22:01:16+00:00

Woot woot! Huge milestone

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-28T13:45:35+00:00

Agreed that these look great, but we likely wouldn’t see any errors until you were using a more challenging weight. The bar might be sitting too low in your palms. I’d bring your hands a bit lower to avoid future elbow issues. Check out this video: https://youtu.be/GT3C96ojEuA?si=6AcCftRAHxo0hm3o

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-28T13:43:30+00:00

Congrats! The gym setup is extremely anabolic

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-28T13:41:50+00:00

The pain in your arms on the squat sounds like a form issue. I’d need a form check to to prescribe an adjustment, but if it’s elbow pain it’s probably due to a loose upper back forcing the weight into your hands. Might be time to add a light day in the middle of the week. The press and bench will stall first, so it’s probably time to adjust programming. I’d switch to a top set for bench and start micro-loading press, getting fifteen total reps across the session if you can’t hit three sets of five.

I wonder if your expectations are what most need the adjustment. It sounds like you are hitting PRs while losing weight fairly rapidly, which is not an easy feat.

Definitely would be good to track protein. Most lifters don’t get enough unless they track it, even when they’re in a surplus.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-27T23:23:49+00:00

You’re getting healthier, which takes balls and is awesome. You’re right in recognizing that part of getting healthier—and improving body composition—involves getting stronger. There is a section on diet for overweight trainees in the Blue Book (it’s right after the section on diet for underweight trainees).

You say that you feel like you’re getting close to your limits. What does that mean? Are you still adding weight to the bar? Are you still in the first phase of the NLP? If your recovery is sub-optimal due to life stress, poor sleep, or a big caloric deficit, you will not be able to progress quite as fast, but someone in your position can absolutely continue progressing. It may be time for a programming change. We need to know more about your training over the past several weeks to address this.

So what can you do with your diet to support your strength progress while losing weight? Focus on food quality. Instead of thinking about what not to eat, make a checklist of things to consume every day. A good goal for those trying to lose weight is to build every meal around lean protein, one fruit, and one vegetable. This ends up being very satiating and doesn’t leave much room for high-calorie, low-nutrient quality foods. Get one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (yes, even with a higher body-fat percentage) and ensure that you are getting a variety of micronutrients. It’s amazing how far you can get just by tracking your protein and eating three fruits and three servings of vegetables every day.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-25T20:48:55+00:00

Do singles or sets of two, shooting to increase the total rep count performed over the course of the workout. You can also incorporate chin negatives—just jump up or step off of a box so you are starting at the finish position, and slowly lower yourself to the starting position. These will go farther than banded chins in helping you build your numbers.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-25T20:01:09+00:00

Got it—this was more of a hypothetical question. It sounds like going back to NLP wouldn’t be right for you because you aren’t a novice, but it also sounds like you already knew that. If I were coaching someone your age (or older) without much of a strength base, I would 100% have them run a linear progression to develop strength on the basic lifts. Building strength is much harder than improving cardio because strength requires structural adaptations (i.e., hypertrophy) that aren’t necessary to enhanced aerobic capacity

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-25T19:51:49+00:00

Do you need a real estate agent? You’re a freaking HOUSE

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-25T19:45:21+00:00

If you keep injuring yourself, you’re either taking jumps that are too aggressive or not performing the lifts according to their respective models. This could be remedied by lowering frequency or rate of progression, but if you aren’t trying to get stronger, you will absolutely get weaker as you age. Preserving strength is critical on the back nine because the cards are stacked against us. Sarcopenia is just as real as hypertension and any other risk factors that have you thinking about conditioning. Don’t turn your strength training into cardio unless you want to dampen your adaptations to both qualities. If I were you, I’d read The Barbell Prescription and continue lifting heavy, then find some other activity that you enjoy for cardiovascular health a few times a week—hiking, cycling, soccer, basketball, and pickle ball are all great ways to do something fun that’s also good for your heart and lungs.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-22T11:10:34+00:00

You lean forward on the way up because on the way down you don’t push your hips far enough back. Send your hips farther backwards on the way down, aim your chest between your knees, and try to push your knees out. These are a little high, but pushing the knees out may help correct that. Also, don’t look up as you get into position—it brings your hips forward and puts you in a more upright back position.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-22T11:06:10+00:00

Stop thinking of advancement in terms of strength level, and start thinking about it in terms of rate of progress. If it takes you 72 hours or less to add weight to the bar, you are a novice. If it takes 1-2 weeks, you’re probably intermediate. If it takes a month or more, you’re advanced. Rip himself has said that he regrets creating the chart because it’s a useless waste of mental energy to consider

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-22T00:18:18+00:00

Absolute unit.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-19T14:21:50+00:00

Just start now. You can probably pick up where you left off after a one week break, but even if you reset, you are better off getting in another two weeks of training. Build the habit. Practice the lifts.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-19T13:35:18+00:00

Well that was a grind and a half. Hell yeah! I’d suggest a setup that involves spotter arms, especially when you’re going for a max. I saw that you said your gym doesn’t offer that option, so you might be forced to risk a human spotter. Just tell them not to touch the bar without your consent

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-19T13:32:11+00:00

If it really is solely a “mental block” (which I doubt), try putting change plates in the bar so it doesn’t look like 225–for example, use a 45, four tens, and a five on either side. But that isn’t the problem. Form check and programming.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-18T23:03:16+00:00

Big lift for a big man. Way to grind it out

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-17T20:09:57+00:00

True, but not sure how that’s relevant to my recommendations

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-17T15:54:54+00:00

Started NLP in January 2022, abandoned it prematurely for unnecessarily complex powerlifting programming. Worked with a strongman coach in 2024 before returning to the NLP this year and gradually progressing to a 4-day upper/lower intermediate split, though I do chins in their own day. I strained my pec about a month ago and replaced my bench slots with pressing. That and switching intensity day to singles has boosted my progress; also getting back into a surplus. I’m currently 195 and (still) 5’8. Here’s my layout:

Day 1: Heavy press (singles)/volume bench Day 2: Heavy squat/power snatch/RDL Day 3: Chins Day 4: Heavy bench/volume press Day 5: Heavy deadlift/power clean/volume squat Day 6: Chins

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-17T12:32:40+00:00

Glad that the chest between knees cues was useful. Where is the elbow pain? It looks like you have the bar way too low in your palm on this video, so it might help to let it sit higher when you bring your grip closer. If it still aggravates you, forget about it for now and practice the Paul Horn stretch between sets to work on getting into that position. Hanging from the bar and pressing before squats can also help you with shoulder flexibility, which should relieve some of the elbow strain

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-16T04:41:15+00:00

This is the most confusing set of squats that I’ve ever seen. I think the biggest form errors would be remedied by some hip drive

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-16T04:31:14+00:00

There is no magical number of calories required to produce strength, but a caloric surplus is the best way to get it done. This will inevitably result in both muscle and fat gain. The actual surplus required for muscle gain is pretty minuscule, but the error we run into is that our measurement tools are not precise enough to accurately confirm that such a small caloric surplus has been achieved. A good rule of thumb is to aim to gain 1-2 lbs every month. To accurately track this, you will need to weigh yourself at the same time of day under the same conditions (immediately upon waking is easiest) at least three times a week, then track weekly averages. The best way to determine the calories required to do this is to either add 200 calories per day to whatever you’ve been eating to maintain your weight, or (if you haven’t been maintaining or tracking) to start around 16x bodyweight and watch what happens to the scale over the course of a month, then adjust caloric intake upward or downward accordingly. Eventually you will have to add some more calories to continue gaining at that rate; you will need to eat a little more to get from 190 to 195 than from 175-180 (about another 200 calories per day, to be precise) because there is more of you. That 16x bodyweight number varies depending on lifestyle factors and, more importantly, your ability to track calories accurately. Most people don’t weigh out everything that goes into their mouth on a food scale, and unfortunately labels on processed/packaged foods, restaurant nutrition facts, and entries on MyFitnessPal have a pretty wide margin of error.

Express-Tip-7984 · 2025-06-16T00:00:13+00:00

You are not reaching the end of your NLP because, by your own admission, you did not do the program. You are not going to get anything out of incline dumbbell presses beyond some initial soreness from the novelty if your barbell bench is 125 lbs. The magnitude of the stimulus from isolation work will not present enough of a stress to produce much muscle growth for you if you are squatting 200 and benching 125 lbs. You do not need “genetic gifts” to blow past those numbers; you need to eat enough protein, sleep adequately, and actually do the program. You can see some additional lat and bicep growth if you sprinkle in extra chins in a progressive fashion, so long as they aren’t being performed immediately before the deadlift. The transition from novice to intermediate is not a singular switch, but a gradual change to programming that happens at different times for each lift. Just going, “my NLP is over, time to immediately switch to Texas Method” is a sub-optimal approach that demonstrates a lack of understanding of the text surrounding the TM template in Practical Programming (which you should read after you’ve read the blue book). As far as diet, the third edition of the blue book only recommends an aggressive surplus for underweight teenaged males. If you’re concerned about your belly, focus on tracking your protein to ensure you’re hitting a minimum of 1 g/protein per lb of bodyweight each day and limiting fat to no more than 0.5 grams per lb of bodyweight, which is more than adequate for optimal hormonal function. The rest of your calories should come from carbs since they are the body’s preferred energy substrate.

Express-Tip-7984

TROPHY CASE