Dom

It's counterintuitive but blood flow is the thing. Doesn't have to be exercise, a long walk to the shops counts.

Normal, and the timing you describe is textbook. Delayed onset soreness usually starts 12 to 24 hours after, peaks somewhere around 48, and can hang around for three or four days after a genuinely novel session. Being fine on Tuesday and destroyed on Wednesday is the classic pattern.

The good news is that it's largely a one-off. The second time you do the same session it'll be maybe a third as bad, and by the fourth or fifth time you'll barely notice. Your body adapts to the specific movement remarkably fast.

Two things that help: move. Walking, easy cycling, a very light version of the same movements. Sitting still makes it worse. And go back this week rather than waiting until it's completely gone, at maybe 60% of what you did.

This is the one that worked for me too. Vague dread is much heavier than a named consequence.

Loads of people do. The magnetic ones are handy because they stick on the sleeve and you're not fighting the collar, though they're a bit pricier per kilo.

Buy fractional plates. Roughly £25 for a set of 0.5s and 1.25s, they live in your gym bag, and they solve this permanently rather than for one training block.

The maths is the whole issue. Going 40 to 45 is a 12.5% jump, which for a squat at 90kg would be like adding 11kg in one session. Nobody would try that. With 0.5kg plates you're adding 1kg total and that's a 2.5% step, which is perfectly normal.

Second thing to do at the same time: switch to double progression. Instead of 3x5 at a fixed weight, work 3 sets of 5 to 8. Get 8, 8, 8 at 40kg, then add the smallest increment you own and drop back to fives. It gives you somewhere to go on weeks when the weight isn't ready to move.

Not sleeping properly is where I'd draw the line, personally. I did nine months of this and the thing that eventually made the choice for me was health, not money, and I'd rather have chosen while I still had a choice. If the sleep thing has gone on for more than a few weeks it's worth talking to an actual doctor rather than the internet.

Every competitive strongman and most powerlifters use straps for pulling volume. They just don't use them on the platform. It's a tool for a specific job.

Mixed grip works too and is free, but be aware it loads the two sides differently and the supinated arm takes a lot of strain on the biceps tendon. If you use it, alternate which hand is under every set rather than always favouring the same one.

That's a good find. Single leg work for a block, and squat to a box at a depth that doesn't pinch so you're still training while you sort it out. Stopping entirely is rarely the answer.

First things I'd change, in order, because they're free and take one session:

Widen your stance by about 5cm and turn your toes out a bit more, maybe 25 to 30 degrees. Hips vary enormously in socket depth and angle between people and even between your own two sides, and a stance that lets one hip travel freely can jam the other one.

Then film it from the front. A lot of one-sided pinching turns out to be a shift, where you drift towards the good side coming out of the hole and the other hip ends up in a position it can't get out of.

That said, one-sided sharp pain that appeared at a specific load is worth a session with a physio who works with lifters, not a general one. I spent nine months mucking about with cues before I did that, and the eventual answer took two appointments. That's what worked for me and I'd have got there a lot faster by asking someone who could actually see me move.

If you want to keep the 5x5 feel, run it as one heavy set of 5 plus two back-off sets at 85%. You get most of the strength stimulus from the top set and you cut the session in half. I ran that for a year on limited time and my numbers went up perfectly well.