5x5 heavy squats 3 times a week? Good or bad?

[daxia]

Hi!
I have started with that 5x5 stronglift program:
Day1: Squats 5x5 , Bench Press 5x5 , Barbell Rows 5x5
Day2: Squats 5x5, Overhead Press 5x5, Deadlift 1x5
(of course you do other stuff too, but these are the most important exercises).

I train 3 times a week, so some weeks I will to the day1 program twice, and some weeks the day2 program twice. Now, to my question. Can it really be good to do 5x5 heavy squats 3 days a week? Isn't that kind of overkill? How will this affect my knees? (I have bad knees) Would it be ok to do leg presses instead of squats on day2 or would that defeat the whole purpose of this program? I should add that I haven't been training for almost 15 months, just started 2 weeks ago.

[PhiSig2298]

No, it's not bad... with good form of course

[eldono]

My understandings from stronglifts are heavy weights on monday and friday while wednesday is a bit easy going such as decreasing 20%ish. For example 100kg on monday, then 80kg on wednesday and then 102kg on friday Maybe I didnt get it right though!

[nychardgainer2]

Hi!
I have started with that 5x5 stronglift program:
Day1: Squats 5x5 , Bench Press 5x5 , Barbell Rows 5x5
Day2: Squats 5x5, Overhead Press 5x5, Deadlift 1x5
(of course you do other stuff too, but these are the most important exercises).

I train 3 times a week, so some weeks I will to the day1 program twice, and some weeks the day2 program twice. Now, to my question. Can it really be good to do 5x5 heavy squats 3 days a week? Isn't that kind of overkill? How will this affect my knees? (I have bad knees) Would it be ok to do leg presses instead of squats on day2 or would that defeat the whole purpose of this program? I should add that I haven't been training for almost 15 months, just started 2 weeks ago.

With proper form, squats are not going to hurt your knees. The squat is the backbone of this program and provides a more full-body stimulation than the leg press. I wouldn't make any substitutions if it were me.

[Coltsblade]

Start the program with weight that's below your 5 rep max. By week 4 or so you should be hitting your 5 rep max on monday and trying to break it by +2.5% each week after.

[Sfinatic15]

5x5 is a great program when don correctly and is designed to put more weight on the bar each time you go to the gym until you get to heavy weight. then you'll need 3x5 so your body can recover correctly.

I saw make sure you have great technique and then bust your tail on this program and you should see improvements. Don't forget your diet!

[daxia]

Thanks for all the replies.

I was thinking that I should do something like this for a while. I will keep doing squats on day1, but not heavy ones. These will be "strict technique training" squats. On day 2, I will go really heavy on the leg press to build up some strength. It should do the trick

[Wildtim]

You need to drop Stronglifts and do the real starting strength program. With its proper instruction and correct warm-up sets the training for the movement is already built in.

This is only one of a thousand reasons Starting Strength is a better beginner program than Stronglifts.