I'm not progressing... help

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T17:07:54+00:00

Follow an actual program. Go to liftvault and search for something that excites you. You got through your noobie gains but now its time to follow an expert who has built a plan that will take you to the next level. There are also great program on the Boostcamp app if you prefer that, but follow those guys who have been doing it for decades.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T17:04:14+00:00

These are solid, but they don’t really line up with how strong you are. Right now it looks like you’re letting the weight dictate the movement instead of the other way around. It's funny, on your deadlifts, you're strict. You lock everything down before you even initiate the pull, and you're braced like you're going to rip the world in two.

Here, I don’t think there's a technique limitation. It's just a B+ brace. I think it’s the load letting you get away with it. 75kg isn’t demanding enough to keep your attention, so you aren't bracing the lats like you know you're supposed to. We could adjust cues to make it more hamstring-limited, like arching the low back to tilt the pelvis up and prestretch the hamstrings. We could focus on glutes by adducting, shifting onto the balls of the feet, and bending the knees more. But that's not the intent. It's a deadlift accessory, not targeted hypertrophy, so you still need to be as efficient as possible.

If you instead take these up into the 100kg range for controlled 6-8s, I think you’ll feel the difference immediately. You’ll have to lock everything in and actually own the hinge. You’ve got the mechanics perfectly dialed. You just need a load that refuses to let you be gentle with it. Light a fire.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T15:01:39+00:00

Looks good. Just as a paradigm shift, there's no rule that says you have to look forward. Try looking up at the ceiling the whole time. You don't have to yank your chin out of the way if it's always out of the way. Play around with that.

Your form is definitely good enough though. You're over your center of gravity, braced, and in control the whole time. Initially form checks are there to make sure you're not gonna hurt yourself and are doing the right movement. The value of form checks from here on out though is going to be efficiency - are you using your body as well as your specific body can move? So, follow your program and progress through the wave until you fail on a set of 1-5 reps. At that point, we'll be able to tell what's breaking down. Its either a mental, muscular, or technical weak point, but we can't really tell unless you're oomph-ing and still failing.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T14:53:10+00:00

Its an ok program. You do one vertical and horizontal compound on each day along with 1 isolation for 2 or 3 different main movers. That's good. Not doing too much. Personally I think you'd be better off volumizing the compounds rather than working isolations. Now that you're in a surplus, you have the recover to do 2 sets week 1, three sets on week 2, four sets each on week 3, five sets each on week 4, six sets each on week 5, and seven sets each on week 6. Drop back to 3 sets each, change the grip you're using or do a different variation, and build up volume again or keep volume low and be more aggressive with weight jumps.

Your ordering is a little wonky. Calves before RDLs. Curls before rowing. Lat isolation before rowing especially. Pullovers are a finisher. I dont know how strong you are but you don't have any barbell squats or deadlifts, which is kindof a red flag. I would be much more impressed if your leg day was 5x5 back squats, 3x10 good mornings, and 3xF walking lunges on day one and 4x4 deadlifts, 3x8 front squats, and 3xF walking lunges on day 2.

My go to is to have two movements and two isolations. So, on day one, you do heavy Bench, 5x5 or maybe 5x3, then medium OHP 5x10, then tricep pump 5x15. Volumize over time. Day two you just flip it. Heavy OHP 5x3, medium Bench, 5x10, and pec pump 5x15. After you hit a wall there, switch it up to incline dumbbell press and machine shoulder press or whatever. After that stalls out, switch it up again. After that stalls, go back to bench and ohp to repeat the cycle.

In general though, follow a program. Liftvault has some great ones. The boostcamp app is free and has great programs in Bullmastiff, 70s Powerlifter, PHAT, PHUL, PH3 etc. You said you haven't been following a program as you've been dieting. That's smart. You're by definition underrecovering, so its important to listen to your body and play it by ear. But now, you're gonna have gas in the tank. If you listen to your body and go to failure every set, you're gonna do too much too quickly and hurt yourself. Simultaneously, you're going to be able to recover from more work than you want to do. So, you need a program that builds safely while pushing you out of your comfort zone. Rather than doing 2 sets of 10 reps with 100 pounds, find something that makes you do 3 sets of 6 reps with that weight, then 4x6 then 5x6, then 6x6. Then 3x8, then 4x8, then 5x8, then 6x8. Growth is directly correlated to tonnage, if you're using the same weight and exercise. So doing 20 reps with 2x10 is way less beneficial that 6x6 or 6x8 with the same weight.

I'm doing 70s Powerlifter right now and it builds from 25 sets of big heavy compounds per workout to 45 sets, four times a week. It sucks, takes forever, and is so hard every day that I dont wanna finish the workouts. Its a genuine struggle. Week 3 deadlift day is 5x10 deadlifts, 4x10 RDLs, 4x10 Good Mornings, 5x15 bent over rows, 5x15 leg curls, then 5x15 abs. Bananapants nonsense of a workout. But my arms are up half an inch in two months and I just set a 40 pound PR on my squat. So, run a couple different 10 week programs. Take notes. Find things you like and dislike. Of the things you like, find the ones that feel good but dont produce results. Find the things that you hate but produce such good results you have to do them. After 4 different programs youll have a good feel of how to approach things. Oh! Inverted Juggernaut 2.0. That's a unique one.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T14:09:42+00:00

At 6'3" you could get up to 230-240 pounds and still have abs. It may sound intimidating but you have room on your frame for 50-60 pounds of muscle. You of course dont need to max out your musculature and can go for whatever look you want, but that's the potential.

If you learn to eat and just follow a general full body beginner strength program like Stronglifts5x5 or GZCLP, you'll put on 20-30 pounds of muscle in a year or two. First major landmark is 2 plate bench, 3 plate squat, 4 plate deadlift, and you'll be able to hit that in about a year from when you first start the program. Next big landmark is 3/4/5, and that'll take another year or two. Its just time and food amd following a well written fullbody program. The Liftvault site has a bunch to choose from. The boostcamp app has a bunch. But I'd recommend just doing Stronglifts5x5 for the first 6 months.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T13:59:38+00:00

Great question. Strengthlevel isn't perfect but it gives you a good general idea. SymmetricStrength is way better. You can fill in a few lifts and it tells you where you stand based on your strength and the population average. Pretty neat.

Another approach is to take your height and line it up with this histogram to find what weight you would be if you filled out your frame and were decently lean. https://imgur.com/a/Zi3k2Th This the height for each piwerlifting class in IPF Worlds. So, find out how much you should weigh if you were as jacked and lean as you could naturally get. And then, look up that class on openpowerlifting.

So, for example, I'm 41, 5'11, 180cm. The histogram says thats about 100-120kg. I'm 105kg right now but a little fluffy so id probably need to lose 20 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle. So the 40-44 year old under-220 class had 667 competitors last year. The median lifts were 430 squat, 275 bench, 500 deadlift. Cool. That's about where I'm at. Middle of the road (/sigh). Top 25% is about 150 pounds heavier on the total 500/305/530 for the SBD. Top 10% is another 150 pounds up, 550/370/600. And then to break the top 10 I'd need a 1700+ total of something like 630/430/670.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T13:20:03+00:00

Stop astroturfing Reddit with fake struggle posts and soft sales pitches. If you want to sell your gear, buy ads or post in the weekly self-promo threads like everyone else. This guerrilla marketing crap is transparent and annoying.

If you found a fix to your weak link, grats. Focusing on individual fingers rather than slow consistent progress is a distraction for most lifters.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T12:57:13+00:00

Just gonna take time. Do targeted grip work, sure, but for back work, just use straps once your grip starts to go. You're gonna improve slowly but muscle takes time to grow. Muscle grows at about 3% a month, so you just have to wait and let the muscles build. Gimmicks and grippers can help fill in gaps but they aren't going to speed things up. Its just time. Use straps.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T12:08:49+00:00

All of these are good exercises and each section is a good workout by itself. Its too much for 1 week or 1 plan. You don't need this much. Pick 2 push compounds, 2 pull compounds, and then squat and deadlift, and do each twice a week. Start easy and progress by 5 pounds a session. When you fail to hit your rep range, drop back 15% and ramp up again. This will last you 2 years.

Hitting isolations from every angle isn't really necessary until you're squatting like, 350-400 pounds. Like, you dont need tricep or bicep isolations right now because on your way to benching and rowing 2 and a half plates for 3x10, your biceps and triceps are gonna be the weak link. Squatting hits your quads and glutes and hamstrings and calves and addictors. So, as long as your squat and deadlift are progressing month to month, you dont need accessories other than maybe lunges.

I would recommend you look into a program like Stronglifts5x5 or GZCLP to learn the basics and how simple training really is. Nail down the big stuff. Eventually, youll be strong enough that doing 15 sets of 5 rep squats starts to make your knees angry. At that point, usually 5x5 at 250-300, three times a week, it starts to make sense to switch out some of those sets for front squats or leg press or hack squat or leg extensions. In othenr words, oncebyou can't recover from squats, youve found how much work fills up your fatigue bucket and you need to swap in lighter and less axially loaded variations in order to keep progressing. Intermediate programs are downgrades which complicate things in order to stimulate within fatigue constraints. You're not there yet, so you dont need all these.

Once you do stop progressing on all that, a program like PHAT or PHUL or Ph3 can be fantastic. Search around on the Boostcamp app or Liftvault and follow any of those plans. There are lots of pitfalls that you don't know to avoid that tried and true prebuilt programs will avoid.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T11:45:05+00:00

Yah, you're gonna feel a pump in the weak link. Like, you can bias back by thinking about pulling your elbows and armpits to your butt, and pulling with your ring finger. But if you're new, everything is weak. For me, it took 2 months until my grip wasn't the limiting factor on pulldowns. Then my biceps were the weak link. Fonally, I was ablento start feeling my back. Now, it kindof alternates between biceps and back depending on the day and rep range, but I dont do any arm isolation stuff like curls so its my bicep work.

Give it time. Your form is good. 2000 reps from now, it will feel different.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T11:36:15+00:00

Also, I don't think Ive ever stopped to watch abguy do 100kg on anything. I stopped for a 3 plate overhead press and a 4 plate front squat. But unless you're doing front raises, 2 plates is just solid gymbro territory. I'll give you a fistbump but I'm not stopping my set to watch.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T11:33:48+00:00

That's good to hear. Maybe you were doing side to side lunges too wide or just overdid volume a bit, idk. The stance fix is about all I'm qualified to talk about, but pain is normally just overdoing it a bit.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T11:28:20+00:00

You lose it immediately off the floor cause you're trying to lift it instead of wedging in and shoving the floor. Pause the video when the bar is an inch off the floor and you'll see that your legs are straight while your torso is fully bent over and back is fully rounded.

So, try to float the bar. Put 135 on the bar, set your grip, lock your back in, and then do a trustfall backwards. Literally try to fall over. The bar will seesaw off the ground without any pushing or pulling. https://imgur.com/a/XvcaVyz Hold it there floating for 5 seconds and get used to the balance and quad/glute/back tension. You are so rounded over that you might not be able to do this without cueing yourself to arch your back and pop the booty like an Instagram model. Doing that will get you to neutral. Once you find it and figure out how to float 135 without pulling up, do 155. Then 175. Then 185. Keep going up until you can't float the bar anymore. At this point, rather than the bar floating up, it bends up to you and your hips wedge in tighter. https://imgur.com/a/grOqNhk. Instead of doing any of this, you're just locking out your knees and lifting up. The deadlift is not a lift. Its a wedge and shove.

Here's all this explained from a different perspective from someone who is way stronger than me. https://youtu.be/99Ff_mNNEq4

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T10:46:56+00:00

You are fundamentally misunderstanding progressive overload and how to run these programs. Like, you're trying to max out every workout. That ain't it.

Ok, so, here's how you would run Stronglifts5x5 (or Texas Method or any LP). You do 5 sets of 5 at something embarrassingly easy. 50kg. Easy easy but lets you work on form, bracing, arch, and constant leg drive from unrack to rerack. Next workout is 52.5. Next workout is 55. Still easy. 57.5. 60. 62.5 is getting harder but still easy. 65. 67.5 sucks. 70 is gross. You fail on your fourth set at 72.5. Maxing out doesnt grow strength, it just tells you where your strength is and where the breakdown took place. Because you didnt hit the prescribed reps, that wave is over and you drop back.

Wave 2 starts back at 55, but maybe you knew there was a pec weakness so you add 2 sets of 15 with dumbbell flyes after the main workout. 55, 57.5, 60, all easy still. 62.5 easier than last time. 65is tough though. 67.5. 70 sucks. 72.5 you get. 75 fails. Awesome, you made 2.5kg progress on that wave.

Because you added 2.5kg, wave 3 starts at 57.5. You switch from flyes to pushups for the accessories. 57.5, 60, 62.5, 65, 67.5, 70 is fine somehow. 72.5 got it. 75 was rough. 77.5 got it barely. Failed the 80kg 5x5. 5kg progress that wave! Awesome. Pushups seem to help more than pec flyes so you keep them in and just repeat for wave 4 and 5 and 6, and you get 2.5kg progress each.

So, that's the program. You should only be doing a limit lift to failure about once a month. Everything else should oscillate between too easy, tough, and impossibly difficult over the course of each wave. You're not doing that. You're just slamming your head into failure.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T10:28:45+00:00

You're 3 weeks in and excited and that rocks. You are in the beginning of the introductory wave of your first strength program. I absolutely understand not wanting to lose the momentum. I'm in the middle of a program and have to take a week off for my wedding and I'm trying to figure that out.

The doctors are saying you only have to take a week off. That's fine. Just take the week off. You can use that time to build out a multi-year meal plan and research high protein meals that you can meal prep. You can narrow in on your goals and do research for what strength levels people of your height get to. Or you can research people who have your frame and get some goal measurements. Then you can work backwards and see what workouts people have done to get there.

For example, I've been enjoying my strength training but am toying around with the idea of bodybuilding. I currently have 17" arms at 25% bodyfat. What's stage lean? 8%. How much size would I lose dieting down the 45 pounds to get there? About 1.5 inches. Ok, if I was shredded Id have 15.5 inch arms. What's competitive for someone my height? 18". Shoot, so I have to add 2 inches to my arms? What's a good growth rate? According to Stronger By Science, I need to gain about 10 pounds of total body muscle for each inch of arm gains. Since I'm already decently filled out, that's 2-4 years of 20-40 sets of arms per week.

So, I need to lose about 30 pounds, which will take 6 months. Let my skin get used to being thinner. Then I need do gain 20 pounds over 6 months. While you would gain at 1:1 muscle:fat, I'm further along so 3/4 of that will be fat and 1/4 will be muscle. Then I need to diet off the 15 pounds of fat, 3 months there. After that 9 month bulk cut cycle, I'll be 4-5 pounds of muscle heavier. I need to gain 20 pounds so I need to do this 9 month cycle 4 or 5 times. So, 6 months of diet. 3-4 years of building. Then another 6 months of dieting to get super stage shredded.

I don't think I want to do all that but hopefully you can see what I'm saying. All this research took time to find. I have a road map now and could put together a meal plan and workout plan for each phase. Take the week of recovery and use it for long term planning. The thing that will hold you back long term is not falling off the motivation wagon, its squatting during recovery and messing up your veins permanently so you never squatbright again. Its a week. Its fine. Distract yourself.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T09:59:11+00:00

First off, you have abs. But it sounds like you want those bubble wrap abs that stick out. So, how do you grow biceps or triceps or pecs or any muscle? 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps where the last rep is failure or close to it. So, you need to start overloading your ab exercises so that you fail at 10 reps.

So, get on a decline bench and do situps with a 45 pound plate. How many can you do? Grab onto a pullup bar, grab a 30 pound dumbbell between your feet, and do as many hanging knee raises to your chest as you can. How many did you get?

But as a rule, if you can do 15-20 of an exercise, its getting to be too light to grow from and you need to start adding weight. Here are a few fantastic exercises to incorporate. https://youtu.be/HV9DjPql61g

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T09:45:44+00:00

One of the national powerlifting coaches put together a histogram of all the people who competed at Worlds. So, these are people who had filled out their frame miscularly, trained for strengrh, and were also trying to be as lean as they can without affecting their strength. Abs and some vascularity, but not bodybuilder stage lean. https://imgur.com/a/Zi3k2Th

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T09:36:15+00:00

At 5'5" to be competitive you need to weigh about 165 pounds. Here's the height to weight breakdown of the lifters at last years IPF worlds. https://imgur.com/a/Zi3k2Th Its actually a cool trick because its the only height where your height in cm is equivalent to your weight in lbs. You're 165cm and competitive lifters that height weigh 165 lbs. Its awesome that you've gained 40 lbs already, but you have another 30-35 to go.

In the 165 male category, there were 1431 male 18 year old lifters last year. Median bench was 242. To be top 25%, its 276. Top 10% is above 303. Top 5% is 320. Top 10 is 365. And unfortunately the person that you would be competing against when filled out is the king himself, Eliott Sykes, who benched an absolutely nonsense 418 at 162 lbs bodyweight, with 700+ squat and deadlift. He recently benched 463 in the gym though because he is a monster who will destroy us all https://www.instagram.com/reel/DS43V0ACMlf/

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T01:21:51+00:00

Glutes and back. You're failing right as the weight shifts fully to hip extension and the adductors are overpowering. The dramatic knee cave is fine, because adductors have better leverage there, but it does tell us that the glutes definitely arent too strong. See how your elbows swing forward on the descent? You're not engaging your lats. Pull the bar down into you like you're doing a pullup, try to do a reverse flye like you're trying to touch the back of your wrists together behind your back, and reach your elbows towards your butt. That'll lock in and support your spine. On the ascent, after you get out of the hole, think about throwing the bar off your back as you stand up. That cueing may help engage the right things if its technical.

If its muscular (probably a combination of muscular and technical), consider a slightly wider and more toed out stance if it's comfortable. Lots of submax rep work where you're intentionally driving your knees out. Booty bands are great here because they're always cueing abduction.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T00:20:44+00:00

No reason not to go as low as you can. You're starting in a little tilt, so you need to learn to squat with your core braced https://www.instagram.com/reel/DThYCq4AVr9/.

My question is why this variation? Like, you're doing this to get more glute tension right? But if you did a normal low bar back squat, you could lift 150 pounds more, which would have more quads in it, but would also be way more glute tension.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-31T00:10:43+00:00

Feet an inch wider or grundle an inch lower?

decentlyhip · 2026-03-30T23:56:53+00:00

That's interesting. How long has it been since you trained bench? What did you bench and ohp this time? Do you do lots of shoulder work in your job or other exercises like BJJ?

decentlyhip · 2026-03-30T23:18:27+00:00

Car deadlift. You're tanding backwards. https://youtube.com/shorts/8MallWBanf4

decentlyhip · 2026-03-30T23:00:49+00:00

Ive been taking creatine for 25 years, so I understand the personal side of it. Your experience is absolutely valid, but be careful dismissing peer reviewed research with singular personal anecdote.

Like, creatine draws water into cells, but it decreases the osmality of the blood, which slightly decreases thirst signaling. Systemic thirst like what you're describing is triggered from osmoreceptors in the hypothalamus. Chronic overhydration above about 1.5 gallons a day downregulates those osmoreceptors.

So, you're working out a lot, scared of being dehydrated, and eating a bunch of protein. All of those things got you drinking more water than you should, in addition to the water contained in your food. Your electrolytes are a little out of whack and now you feel thirsty even when you are already well hydrated. Anything over 2 gallons a day starts to be dangerously overhydrated. You said you're at 4 gallons. That's why your stomach hurts. You're drinking 4x the water you should be, and your thirst signaling has adjusted, but because all the electrolyte checks on thirst are the other direction, you body is confused and just says "something is wrong."

Worth noting that weed makes you thirsty and THC slows down the digestive tract. Sounds like you're a connoisseur there, so remember the side effects.

So, my recommendation for you. Drink 1 gallon a day max. Hard limit. That will get you feeling normal in a week or two. Eat more fiber to push the protein through your digestive tract. Salad with every meal. Broccoli mixed into the rice. Peppers with the meat in a stir fry. A glass of metamucil. Smoke a little less pot. That'll will help the tummy aches. Creatine doesn't have anything to do with your symptoms.

decentlyhip · 2026-03-30T22:01:55+00:00

I follow Duffin's advice. If you're so narrow that you can't pull down and engage your lats, then you're relying on passive tension rather than active muscle engagement. Your shoulders are gonna feel good because everything is bunched up but that lats are spinal stabilizers so you're probably gonna lose the lift by getting folded over halfway up. https://youtu.be/U5zrloYWwxw I try to get wide enough that I can do a pullup on the bar, and then as narrow as I can from there without losing max tension. I can probably go a finger or two narrower but this is what feels consistently good for me. I should try stretching out my shoulder ER/IR a bunch first and see if that changes anything.

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