I agree..

I quoted it in reference to Eric's feeling that I had been told again and again and again about warm-up reps and weights..

That's the only one I could find, so far..

But again, it wasn't me bashing any of you for not spoon feeding me, or me whining..

I admit I haven't been reading the threads I should (other journals, etc), and have been pretty loosy-goosy with my workout regimen of late..

That's my fault, no question..

No excuses, but honestly it's been all I can do, lately, to get to the gym even, and write in this journal..

As for Ross set me straight a while back about busting the weight down and building up from there, so that's what I've been doing..

I broke it down from 160 to 140, then went to 150, next 155, then try 160 again..

There's been progress..

Not so long ago I was stuck at 140..

I've only been noticing the missed reps as of late. If you're not able to progress then its time to make an adjustment.

If you go back to point I made about the program. If you're getting stuck alot then maybe its time to loosen up your program.

There is more than one way to skin a cat and there is more than one way to make progression. :)

One route is to break up the sets. Instead of doing 160 for all the sets, do 160 for the first 2 and 155 for the last. Follow that up next week by doing 160 for all 3 sets of 5.

You could even do 165 for 3 reps, 160 for 5 and 155 for 5. Follow that up with 165 for 4, 160 for 5 and 155 for 6 or 160 for 6.

Even if you take the last workout and add a rep to the last set you're progressing.

Dropping the weight down isn't the only answer, but its usually the easiest one. Not all easy solutions are the best one though.

BUT if you're looking for strength gains then you're looking for intensity.

The intensity you're using for a 5 rep set is not very high and, if you look at the difference between 150/155/160 the intensity is about the same (for arguments sake). And I would guess intensity is no higher than 80% but probably lower than that (70-75%).

SO if you're getting 155 but struggling with 160...It may be time to drop your rep range a bit and increase the intensity. I'm not saying you should start doing maximal singles, but maybe a few triples.

Hopefully you're starting to get the general idea and realizing that everything I've suggested breaks poor Ripps program rules. Send hatemail to me :biglaugh:

Well, I only had problems when I hit 140..

Now I'm hitting the wall, but I think this knocking weight off and creeping back up 5lbs at a time will work..

Not ready to give up on it yet, anyways.. :)

Knock on wood, the problem with my knees seems to have resolved itself, so I can back to squats, thankfully..

Just have to get a handle on deadlifts, now..

heavy doubles/triples always helped me get passed sticking points.

I did a google search, but it didn't help much..

What are heavy doubles/triples?

Heavy sets of 2 or 3 reps

But heavier than the weight I'm trying for?

ie. if I'm going for working sets (3) of 160x5, do I do 2-3 sets of 170-180x3?

Yes heavier. But not 20lbs heavier :arg:

Start off at 160, if thats super easy you can try 165, but I'd say stick to 160 for the workout when you first try them.

How often do you do them before you return to the 5x3 regimen?

2 weeks or so....so...3 workouts.

when i got stuck at 165 x 5 on bench...i would hit up 175 - 180 for doubles or triples...whatever i could manage. 3 or 4 sets. then i would drop back down and do a backoff set at like 155 for as many reps as i could. then the next workout for bench i would up both by 5 pounds.