Alright, let me tell ya how I messed up Greyskull Linear Progression at first and how these three stupid simple fixes saved my lifts. Just started GSLP last month thinking it’d be easy peasy – boy was I wrong.
First week felt great, throwing weights around like a gorilla. Then week two hit me like a truck. Failed reps everywhere, my bench press looked like a shaky bridge, and I almost dropped the barbell on my face. Felt like a total clown walking outta that gym.
After sulking for two days eating ice cream, I went digging for fixes. Found three things that actually worked:
Tip 1: Stop chasing failure every single workout
Used to grind every set till my eyeballs popped out. Dumb move. Now I leave 1-2 reps in the tank on lighter days. Feels weird backing off, but holy cow – suddenly my heavy days don’t feel like torture chambers anymore. Did just 3 clean reps at 185lb bench yesterday instead of dying on rep 4.
Tip 2: Quit being lazy with plate math
Always rounded up weights because I hated doing fractions. “Eh, just throw on another 5lb plate.” Yeah that adds up fast. Now I actually use those little 1.25lb plates like an adult. Micro-loading sounds fancy but it’s just “don’t be a math-avoiding dummy.” Squat went up 3lbs this week instead of stalling.
Tip 3: Stop skipping the dang neck harness work
Saw that weird neck thing in the program and thought “pfft, waste of time.” My posture looked like a question mark after desk work. Forced myself to do 3 sets with the harness between squats. Two weeks later? Shoulders stopped aching during presses. Seriously, just 5 minutes makes your whole upper body play nice.
Results so far? No more failed reps for three straight sessions. Added 8 real pounds to my deadlift without feeling like dying. Moral of the story? Greyskull ain’t broke – I was just being stubborn and cutting corners. Feels good to finally see that progress bar move.
