Re: Help with 5x5 plan
Very simplistic rules of thumb for dealing with your first stalls (assuming they are genuine and not the result of temporary poor diet/rest etc).
You know you've stalled when you cease being able to make linear progress from session to session. You add a couple of lbs to the bar and you consistently lose the last rep off the heaviest end of your program.
Basic remedy for this is to drop the weight by ~10% and ~halve the weight you were adding between sessions. This should give you time to recover and avoid over training. When you get back to the stall weight your muscles should be better rested this time around and the continued linear progress should put you in a better psychological position to tackle the new heavy lift.
If you find that you stall at the same weight again then it's likely that you need to change your training schedule to allow for heavier lifts with greater recovery time.
Most/all of this is paraphrased (and likely out of context) from Mark Rippetoe's Practical Programming.
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