[Johny Cash]

I'm posting this on warriortraining and fkuk

Basically I'm fed up of my strength gains stalling when I hit the 80-90kg mark. I do what is recommended and reset the weight and move up again but it keeps happening. Fair enough I hit a 100kg max last CF Total but I want to be hitting that 3x5's especially when I see people hitting 120kg 3x5's. Last session I squatted 80kg and again I began to struggle but I am loathe to reset as this would be the third or fourth time in as many months.

My focus has been reducing BF the past few months eating paleoish and I've managed to reduce my weight from 74.2kg (17th May) to 70.6kg (7th August) and while I am looking better I'm still not what I'd class as "lean" as I can still pinch an inch around my belly button, infact my scales say my BF has only reduced from 21.2% to 19.9%.

I want to get ripped basically reducing my BF while adding lean mass but I'm afraid that I'm also going to lose more strength if I lose more weight. In fact while my torso is leaning out I feel my arms are getting smaller.

I do feel that for someone my height 5'10 sub 70kg can't be great (can anyone clarify this please?) for my body or performance.

So what options are there?

Should I switch to 5x3's instead?

Should I reset the weight and hit higher volumes of reps similar to Schwinners?

Should I abandon my Bf stripping goal and eat for mass?

Should I maybe try a CF strength challenge such as squatting 21 reps mon, 15 reps weds, 9 reps fri before going up in weight.

Sorry for the long post but this is something that has been on my mind quite a lot lately and there's not really anyone at home I can talk to about these kind of things.

Any advice most welcome.

Johna

[Franz29]

How is your squat form? I often find those guys in the gym that get stuck at a weight that should be doable have inherent flaws in technique that hold them back (chest collapsing, knees travelling in etc). Can you video your squat and stick it in the Vid coaching section?

How low are you resetting each time too? Maybe you are going back too low? When I have a sticking weight I usually train right around that weight, as close as I can until I make a gain then carry on as usual.

As for the BF question, it could be a factor if you aren't eating enough to maintain any gains. What is your diet like in your attempts to lean out? Overly restricted calories are not the way forward!

[Johny Cash]

Will try and film some squats tomorrow. Cheers.

[Ed Flood]

also, are ya gettin' decent sleep and how're the stress levels?

Re: BF%: Scales are s***e for measuring BF% as they rely in electrical impedance . this'll vary according to hydration levels etc. Apparently calipers are the way to go here. They might not be 100% accurate but the results are repeatable. The only way ro accurately measure BF% is to cut ya up!

You could also be working out too much or not eating enough...

[Gubernatrix]

Franz29, on Aug 11 2009, 08:41 PM, said:

How is your squat form? I often find those guys in the gym that get stuck at a weight that should be doable have inherent flaws in technique that hold them back (chest collapsing, knees travelling in etc). Can you video your squat and stick it in the Vid coaching section?

How low are you resetting each time too? Maybe you are going back too low? When I have a sticking weight I usually train right around that weight, as close as I can until I make a gain then carry on as usual.

Agree with both of those as good places to start.

A third option is that you may be lacking strength in key areas (e.g. glutes or hams) that are holding your squat back. But start with those other two and see how you go.