Starting SL5x5 Routine

[Bundy343]

Hello. Despite only being 19, I decided to post here. This is solely because people here seem to know what they are talking about, as well as the people here not being idiotic.

I am pretty new to weightlifting. I lifted for roughly 3 months about a year and a half ago, and stopped until two weeks ago. I joined a gym, and started doing a basic 3 day split.

I am very much considering the StrongLifts 5x5 program. It seems to have a lot of people saying good things about it, and I think consistently putting up PRs would be a great psychological boost.

Anybody have any experience with this program? Any reasons why I should or should not do it? All comments appreciated.

[drudixon]

Hello. Despite only being 19, I decided to post here. This is solely because people here seem to know what they are talking about, as well as the people here not being idiotic.

I am pretty new to weightlifting. I lifted for roughly 3 months about a year and a half ago, and stopped until two weeks ago. I joined a gym, and started doing a basic 3 day split.

I am very much considering the StrongLifts 5x5 program. It seems to have a lot of people saying good things about it, and I think consistently putting up PRs would be a great psychological boost.

Anybody have any experience with this program? Any reasons why I should or should not do it? All comments appreciated.

I'm only familiar with stronglifts 5x5 enough to know it's a variant of Bill Starr 5x5. I ran Bill Starr 5x5 and made amazing gains on my lifts and got some decent mass to go with it. My only tips are follow it to the T. Don't substitute, don't waiver, follow the plan as designed. Yes, for a while its PRs every week for a month to two months.

[boathead]

i'm not a fan of it. it is a 5x5, but as far as i can tell that's about all it has in common with bill starr's intermediate 5x5.

an ABA BAB split is great, and that much i like. what i don't like is the 5x5 with sets across. bill starr uses a ramp scheme. indeed, sl is more akin to rippetoe's starting strength, which also uses the ABA BAB pattern, but which uses a 3 x 5 sets across scheme.

in my view, rippetoe's starting strength is held in far higher regard, and he uses only 3 sets, not 5. methinks the 5 sets would grind you down before you could milk it for all strength gains.

[Starofflorida]

Stronglifts* works; Starting Strength works; Greyskull LP works...

If you are a novice and squat, deadlift, press, bench, and throw in some chins or rows... they will all "work" add 5lbs to the bar each time and you are good to go.

*The 5x5 can wear you down pretty quickly and be hard to recover from but you can switch to 3x5.

[hammerfelt]

I took StrongLiftx 5x5 to 470 pounds on squats.

At 6'3" 240 pounds you will be able to do StrongLifts 5x5 for quite awhile. Most make it to around 1.2BW squats before switching to 3x5.

You can see my log at www.liftfreeordiehard.com

Good luck on your journey!

[Starofflorida]

I took StrongLiftx 5x5 to 470 pounds on squats.

At 6'3" 240 pounds you will be able to do StrongLifts 5x5 for quite awhile. Most make it to around 1.2BW squats before switching to 3x5.


Good luck on your journey!

I also took it to about 1.3xBW... just it was more like 260lbs for me.

[AnthonyStark]

All go points... the only thing I could add is to make sure you eat plenty to keep the gains coming.

[HairyScandinavian]

Look at Starting Strength too.

[Bundy343]

Update! I started with just the bar as it says, and have been basically doing 10lbs a workout increases. Currently @ 120lb Squat, 85lb Bench, 165Deadlift, 75 Overhead Press, and 100Lb Row. Despite going up in weight, I do not feel like it is getting more difficult. However, It does not feel like I could have just thrown on more weight and started this much. I've really liked the quick workouts (In and out in under 45 minutes), utilizing very short rest periods (1 - 1.5 minutes so far).

[hammerfelt]

You are a smart man for sticking to the plan. It is a marathon, not a sprint.