Hope it all works out man!

Always listen to your body - it will tell you whether or not what you are doing is right.

Jordan

Hey Tony,

You got great advice already.

One thing to add might be that you defenitally need deload times from time to time. You can't just always progressively overload your body. YOur nervous system will freak out at some point and strength will go down / energy be at loss.

And as Daniel already said too, when you have a high frequency the weigh / volume must be lower. If you go higher weight and high volume you will hit such brickwalls quite often and maybe even put your health at risk in the long run.

Try to vary between times where you train your strength / nervous system (1-5 Reps, high weight),

times where you train for hypertrophy / muscle mass (8-12 reps / lower weight)

And times where you deload on purpose for conditional training and to train propper form (max 60% of the weight you'd use normally and 10-20 reps)

You should feel much better, and less powered out and still seeing progress. Especially since the body has time to adjust and recover for the next big run, and all parts (muscle and nervous system) are trained in the way they need it, and not just overloaded continously :)

I'm tired of posting good or bad days. I'm doing best I can and won't give up, but I'm tired of the ups and downs swinging back and forth from one session to the next. Don't understand it.

I had 5 weeks off because of arm (hadn't been doing heavy sets was using dumbells upto ~45-50 pounds each MAX), 5x5 for 4 weeks then 1 full week of rest (didn't go to gym even though I planned on it) 2 weeks of doing full body 3 times a week using Pyramid sets for main lifts plus accessories and then 1 week where I split workouts into a pull, push, and leg day (still using Pyramid for main lifts), I haven't done cardio in ~5 weeks, and even though I thought I migit be able to I've yet to do again.

Have I made gains? Yes I see more on shoulders and abs for sure (even though I'm sure more fat I see abs better so know I have had gains), and bench has went up in weight. Squat and deadlifts however I'm struggling with them and haven't increased weight in weeks. Seems either low back and/or left hip pain keep me back. Been doing body weight box squats to work on form (box is 14" high) and even this causes me pain in hip which I think causes pain in low back. But who knows. (Left Shoulder still bugging me too but seems better) before anyone says I need to train core (back included) I do, cable crunches, rotational work with cable, hypertensions on bench and machine, bent over rows, etc... I also stretch 3-4 times a week, hip flexors, abductors, quads, ankles, (do static holds of squats 30 seconds at a time couple times) shoulders, biceps, triceps, etc...

Thank you all for help. I'm trying to figure it all out hard to do when one day seems easy then leg day comes and feel like I can barely do it. (Why would I increase weight when I can't do weight I'm using now correctly. I'm dropping weight to keep form in check. And 10 reps at 125 pounds takes a lot out of me. (But had no problem doing that weight on bench)

This is exactly what I was going to say. Might be time to really structure in a deload week every 4 - 6 weeks.

Thank you scott yes deload are planned every 6 weeks at least but sometimes sooner if needed.

I seen a video the other day that might actually explain what's going on with my squats. It clicked with me. See I'm falling forward or having to switch position at bottom (im switching to muscles that can move weight), which puts stress on low back/posterior because Quads Are weak. Deadlifts went good this last week, switched to sumo because found arms got in way which kept me from getting tight. Feels lot better in sumo and pulled 285 (only 120# from all time pr lol). So i have about 85 pounds over/ my squat at least and i dont struggle with working weights like i do with squats and deads are more posterior. I'm going to switch to front squats this week (get more of an idea) and see for sure if quads are limiting me but after thinking about it I really do think this is problem. And maybe hip flexor (whole hip aches but most of pain is in crease of hip on front, wrapping a little to outside of hip) is hurting because of this too. (Again makes sense to me, quads weak and stressing muscles that shouldn't be stressed)

Try and make sure you get the form down on those front squats, it can a pretty difficult exercise to perform.

If you are having trouble with your hip flexors, it could be a lack of stretching. Try some of these tips next time you warm up for your squats, as well as just generally outside of the gym to improve that flexibilty.

Jordan

Thank you Jordan and I do stretches several times a week. Can say ankle mobility is for sure a limiting factor. Also getting low and pushing knees out certainly stretches throughout hips.

Want to point out why I think quads are an issue, I go down into squat ok, but when I come out of hole my butt goes back then up. This causes a change in back angle and then my squat, imo turns into good morning. I'm not saying I'm going to stop training my posterior and/or core including abs and back and certainly continue with stretching (think it's helping). Also not increasing weight until form gets better (though I should point out even with body weight squats after so many reps it happens still). But want to work on quads. I added dumbell lunges (front, side, and back) and biggest thing I've noticed is hip flexor pain is a lot better now and I've only done twice now, perhaps stretching from lunges? Last Sunday I did squats pretty pain free and I recorded so I could review (want to upload so I can link here but gym has xm playing (can't turn volume down) and don't want to have videos blocked because of copyright, got to figure out just haven't had time.

Or perhaps hamstrings are tight? I'm stretching them but maybe not enough. I don't know.

Yeah stick with a light weight until your form is spot on, you don't want any injuries.

It could be a hamstring problem, but it's probably more your hip flexors. Give it time with stretching and practice of proper form and things should improve.

As for the ankle mobility, try doing some sideways jogging/shuffles on a treadmill at a slow speed. That could help. You could also try sticking a plate under each foot for slight elevation.

Jordan