Reader,
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When Nathan came to me in early September, he was already a serious lifter but was stuck in the all too common rut of not knowing how to progress post novice programming.
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Now often when I onboard someone new, the reason they are stalled is due to atrocious form and them thinking they need more advanced programming. So we end up fixing the lifts and pulling their programming back to novice stage.
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But Nathan was already a pretty solid lifter — some minor form errors here and there, but nothing crazy.
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He began last September with a 355 squat. 445 deadlift. 235 bench. 175 press. Running sub-7:30 miles at 250 lbs.
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Nathan knew how to work. What he didn't know was that he had outgrown the NLP. It had already stopped working, he kept trying to bang ahead with it, and he had no clear picture of what should come next and didn't want to bother trying to figure it out himself.
He also had a hard deadline bearing down on him — a military selection course he needed to show up to as strong as possible and healthy. The course is known to whittle away candidates quickly who aren't able to keep up. So the stakes weren't abstract.
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Most lifters who plateau after a year or two are in the same spot. The program they're running doesn't match their training advancement. That mismatch is where progress goes to die.
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When we looked at his training together, the diagnosis was straightforward. His deadlift had more in it than he was accessing. His bench, press and squat had stalled because the program had nowhere left to take him.
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We moved him to an intermediate framework — Heavy-Light-Medium structure, volume and intensity work separated, deadlift prioritized as his primary strength indicator and set a clear target:
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Standards 2.0
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405 squat. 500 deadlift. 315 bench. 225 press.
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Six months later, with the clock running, he hit all four on the same day.
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Squat: 355 → 405
Deadlift: 445 → 500
Bench: 235 → 315
Press: 175 → 225
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Here are his lifts:

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If you've been training consistently and progress has stalled, the question worth asking is whether your program matches where you are, and whether you're executing it with intent. Most of the time, that's the whole answer.
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If you've outgrown or not sure on your program and you're ready to do something about it, the application to work with me is below. We will get you real clear on what you need to do to advance your lifts higher than you ever thought imaginable. Takes two minutes.

Talk soon,

Sam Krapf, SSC
Ground Zero Strength
Starting Strength Coach