Mehdi, the guy behind the Stronglifts 5×5 program that I’ve been using shared this video of what it looked like when he failed his squat sets.
I know the feeling. As I’ve gotten higher and higher in weight with the various movements, I’ve encountered failure more and more. It only makes sense, because the body’s capacity to deal with progressive increases in weight is finite.
The Stronglifts 5×5 protocol for dealing with failure is to try again with the same weight during the next session. If you fail again, you still try one more time the following session. If you fail that time, then that’s your body’s way of telling you that you need more time to recover, so you should deload by 10% of the weight.
As the weights have gotten heavier, I’ve found that I need 3 minutes of rest between sets instead of the 1:30 min, and sometimes when I feel burned out I need 5 minutes.
I’ve also found that I do better with 2 days of rest between sessions instead of the 1. As I’m getting closer and closer to the 300 lb mark in my squats I need more rest between sets, more rest between sessions, and I’ve been failing more frequently. I haven’t hit the point where I’ve had to deload yet…. but I’m getting close.
I’m also encountering a bit of a mental block before each session, because I feel a little fear and intimidation from the squats. These weights are getting damn heavy. This is also a good thing because it means I get to test the limits of what my body is capable of.
Another thing I’ve found that helps is music. I used to listen to podcasts when I worked out… but with the constant progressions in this program I found that I wasn’t really paying attention to what was being said and instead I was focused on surviving through my sets. So I’ve put together a nice play list that gets me pumped every time.
Here’s the first song that I like to start it all off with: