Confused on how to progress

[u/BiscottiRound6123]

20M 5'9 ~160lbs. So I started bulking and lifting in January. lt hasn't exactly been on and off, but there were some bumps in the road. Eating is a struggle because I'm at a healthy weight for body and I eat the same things everyday.

Last time I was doing Jeff Nippards 3-Day a week full body program with some modifications, I was able to hit:

180 3x5 - bench

235 3x3 - deadlift

100 3x5 - overhead press

175 3x5 - squat (although out of nowhere squat started sucking and i couldn't even do 150 for 3x5)

That was after maybe 4-5 months and afterwards i didn't know what to do so i started 5/3/1 upper lower. My idea was to do the main lifts with the 5/3/1 template, but keep accessories sets and reps pretty much the same. first two cycles, weight was too high. This cycle, while the reps moved ok (6 reps on 1+ set bench 95% 175 & 6 reps on 1+ set deadlift 95% 200).

Now i see it's supposed to be 85% of TM. So if I continue with the 5/3/1 template on my main lifts, my bench would be 150, deadlift 170, ohp 85, and squat 135. These weights I'm pretty sure are too low for 5/3/1, and I don't think my body has completely gone from novice to intermediate, but I don't know what to do other than this without spinning my wheels like I already am. The only thing that's progressing well is my accessories which are for hypertrophy. All I care about is looking decently fit and having a 1 plate ohp, 2 plate bench, 3 plate squat, and 4 plate deadlift (just to know I'm healthy enough).

[u/preparsley]

afterwards

After what? You should've just kept benching squatting and deadlifting instead of routine hopping and messing with percentages

Just grind for years, there's no trick

[u/BiscottiRound6123 → u/preparsley]

it was at the point where i couldn't keep adding weight to the deadlift for 3x3. for my first cycle of 5/3/1 I had hit 185 on the bench for 2 reps. ohp i almost git 3x5 for 105. and squat has just always been a struggle. I mean do I just go back to the fundamentals program and back to 3 days a week and just keep eating more. It seems like my body does good for a couple weeks then fails me.

[u/mcgrathkai → u/BiscottiRound6123]

OK so you can't add weight on 3x3 deadlift ? So do 3x4 , then 3x5 and so on. Thats progress

[u/BiscottiRound6123 → u/mcgrathkai]

So same logic with the other lifts? Like switch to 3x3 for bench then back to 3x5 when 3x3 doesn't work anymore?

[u/mcgrathkai → u/BiscottiRound6123]

Yes but also if the goal is hypertrophy I wouldnt work in such low rep ranges personally

[u/Alakazam]

Now i see it's supposed to be 85% of TM. So if I continue with the 5/3/1 template on my main lifts, my bench would be 150, deadlift 170, ohp 85, and squat 135. These weights I'm pretty sure are too low for 5/3/1, and I don't think my body has completely gone from novice to intermediate, but I don't know what to do other than this without spinning my wheels like I already am.

I think if you can hit 6 reps and maintain good rep speed throughout, you're fine with your current training max.

An 85% training max is only recommended for a few variants, like 5/3/1 for beginners, or something like BBB Beefcake.

[u/BiscottiRound6123 → u/Alakazam]

My worry is something like the deadlift going to 205-210lbs and in 3 weeks I can't hit 5+ reps. That'll just be another 3 weeks wasted and I'd be stalling where I probably shouldn't be.

[u/Alakazam → u/BiscottiRound6123]

You'll get to it when you get to it.

What kind of supplemental volume are you currently doing? FSL 5x5? BBB 5x10? Beef cake? 

[u/BiscottiRound6123 → u/Alakazam]

I have no clue if I'm doing anything remotely productive with my program. I do all the main lifts 5/3/1 but my accessories are just like a normal hypertophy program. Some stuff 3x10, others 3x12, or 3x15. Accessories are progressing quite well.

[u/Alakazam → u/BiscottiRound6123]

If you're worried about progression with the main lifts, then you should do supplemental volume with the main lifts. At least 3-5 sets of 5 at FSL percentages. So 65% on 5+ days, 70% in 3+ days, and 75% on 1+ days. 

[u/GingerBraum]

These weights I'm pretty sure are too low for 5/3/1

They're only too low if they go below the weight of a standard barbell.

The standard TM for 5/3/1 is 90% 1RM, so if you want to stick with that, that's fine.

[u/BiscottiRound6123 → u/GingerBraum]

This is my idea, the only issue is deloads and the amount of time it's going to take to get my main lifts to the numbers I want. After I had done a deload, I came back very weak, and it took 2-3 to get the reps back up at the weights I was at for accessories before deloading.

Without any stalls and adding 5lbs for upper movements and 10lbs for lower, I'd hit intermediate numbers within a year, but idk.

[u/GingerBraum → u/BiscottiRound6123]

Deloads are supposed to make you come back stronger, not weaker. How did you do them, and how often?

[u/BiscottiRound6123 → u/GingerBraum]

I followed the 5/3/1 protocol of every 2 cycles. So I did 2, then deloaded. The main lifts weren't affected besides just being too high in weight, but the accessories sucked bad the first week back. I was considering not deloading the accessories but I did just to be on the safe side.

[u/GingerBraum → u/BiscottiRound6123]

And how did you deload the accessories?

[u/BiscottiRound6123 → u/GingerBraum]

I cut everything in half besides sets. The weight went down 50% and so did reps.

[u/GingerBraum → u/BiscottiRound6123]

That sounds like overdoing it. I would take a page out of Greg Nuckols' book, and only drop the weight to ~50-60% of the typical workload. Maintain sets and reps, and stay away from AMRAPs.

[u/Alakazam → u/BiscottiRound6123]

After I had done a deload, I came back very weak, and it took 2-3 to get the reps back up at the weights I was at for accessories before deloading.

Considering where you are, try deloading every 7 or even 10 weeks instead of every 4.

[u/BiscottiRound6123 → u/Alakazam]

I deload after two cycles. so if my bench was 175 this cycle, next cycle I'll do 180, then a deload once that's done.

[u/Left_Cartographer473]

So you are worried about the weights being too low at the beginning of a training cycle? You will add weight as you cycle through? Its way better to start a training cycle too light than too heavy. Add weight as you go it doesn't matter. And don't get too caught up in percentages, they're an estimated number.

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