I'm still a scrawn.

5x5 isn't really that much volume imo

I think it's mostly just the frequency of doing squats 3x a week that causes people to burnout if they start with too much weight.

Quick little update:

Squat is up to 200 lbs now, so it's starting to get kind of tough.

Also, experienced my first failed set on 85 OHP. This is good news, because now my OHP is at the point where it should start real progression from where it was before I started SL.

Got a bit sick. Postponed workout by a day but I'm in the gym now and I still feel like garbage. OHP is worse than last workout but it's whatever. Getting sick is inevitable, no reason to stress over it.

Ended up taking almost two weeks off; one from being sick and one from dealing with some personal stuff. When I got to the gym and opened my strong lifts app it said "we see it's been a week since you last worked out, you should really deload by 10%". So that's what I did. Not worried about it, because i really needed the deload. Just gotta remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

As a beginner I loved 5/3/1 as long as you at least double the frequency. IIRC there were times when I was lifting a lot that I would triple the frequency of 5/3/1 lol + I'd try all sorts of ways to add in volume to the major lifts

This post was edited by tommyd323 on Sep 18 2017 01:24pm

At a little bit of an impasse right now. Starting taking Lexapro for anxiety and depression, and it has some side effects that are making progress very difficult.

First of all, nausea. Just doing my warm up as a type this and I feel like puking. Did three sets of squats on Monday of 195 and I was dry heaving.

Secondly, loss of appetite. I have zero desire to eat breakfast and even feel like skipping dinner some days. Hard to bulk without eating a lot.

Third, insomnia. I wake up after like 5-6 hours of sleep and can't get back to bed. This could be worse I guess but it's not ideal.

So I'm going to try to keep up with the workouts, even if it's at lower weight without progressing. The exercise is still good for me and to help with the depression, and it will keep my muscles used to the frequency. If things don't change with my appetite then I'll also look into changing up my diet and not eating as cleanly. That's not what I want to do but it might be what I have to do. And lastly I'm going to just try to work on changing up my daily habits to allow for better sleep, like weaning myself off of caffeine. I just gotta stay positive and know that it's not worth giving up just because this medication is making things difficult. It might make my goals take a lot longer, but I still want to be in good shape, even if I don't look like a fitness model.

Have you spoken to your doc about a prn anxiety med? Most physicians are quick to slam an antidepressant down your throat. But I don't know your situation

I was prescribed this by my primary care physician while waiting to get a psychiatrist appointment so that's something I can bring up with him when we finally meet.