No strength progress after 3 weeks on Jeff Nippard’s Pure Bodybuilding Program, recovery issue?
I’ve been running Jeff Nippard’s Pure Bodybuilding Program for about three weeks now. I’m enjoying it and the workouts are definitely challenging, but I haven’t been able to increase the weight on any of my lifts since starting. I came from the Min-Max Program where in the beginning, even though I was cutting, was making a lot of strength gains.
On a few exercises, it actually feels like I’m gradually losing reps while using the same weight. I know three weeks isn’t very long, but I expected to at least maintain my performance or see a small improvement.
I know that I have been pushing hard and to failure on most lifts actually, even though some advice to leave 1 or 2 reps in the tank.
I’m wondering whether this could be a recovery issue. My tendons and joints have also been feeling vaguely sore or uncomfortable lately, not severe pain, but more than normal muscle soreness.
Has anyone else experienced this with the program? Should I reduce the volume, take a deload, or just give my body more time to adapt? My sleep and nutrition is reasonably consistent, but I might be underestimating the recovery demands.