Stronglifts 5x5 Help

LBEB80 · 2016-02-18T01:06:26+00:00

What's wrong with your squat form? Where is the break down?
Ohp dies off quick for a lot of people. The only way through it is to do volume for the shoulders and upper back. This includes volume on ohp itself.

RPAlternate42 · 2016-02-18T02:46:40+00:00

Something seems... off. You're 200 lbs, but can (and I mean no disrespect) only bench 160 and deadlift 220?

Proper Warm Up

Your squats and deadlift are a little low for your weight and size. Are you warming up enough?

run for 10 minutes at a moderate-easy pace. This will get your heart warmed up and the blood flowing to your legs
Do a bar warm-up: 10x squats, 10x good mornings, 10x romanian deadlifts. Do all of them as a superset, rest 1 minute, then repeat for a total of 3 supersets.
don't jump into doing the 5x5. You need to warm up with some low-weight sets.

Your theoretical 1RM for squats is 230. So do the following warm-up sets for your squats:

5 x 50% (115)
5 x 60% (135)
3 x 70% (160)

30 seconds rest in between these sets.

Then move into your 5x5 sets. Remember: 1 minute rest between sets or 2 minutes if the set was hard. I've even gone 3 minutes between sets at higher weights.

In fact, I recommend you warm-up all lifts with the 50-60-70% sets.

Advancing the program

Your timing to move on to an intermediate program is as such:

if you stall on a weight 3 times, deload 10%
if you still stall after deloading 10% for 3 times, move to an intermediate program.

Now, you don't have to go all in on an intermediate program. I stalled over and over on squats so I went to madcow on squats only and kept the rest at Stronglifts.

The Intermediate Program

Start on MadCow and then milk that for all it's worth. You can piecemeal madcow on each exercise.

http://stronglifts.com/madcow-5x5-training-programs/

It has a spreadsheet too.

Once you have plateaued on MadCow, it's time to move into periodization and the 5/3/1 program.

dandar4600 · 2016-02-18T12:26:07+00:00

If your form breaks down, count it as a failed rep. 3 weeks in a row? Deload. It won't increase unless you're bulking.

Griever114 · 2016-02-18T12:53:16+00:00

If you are not eating at a surplus (+150 calories for a lean bulk and 200-300 for a dirty bulk) you WILL NOT INCREASE NUMBERS. At best you are feeding off your fat (20%) and just burning reserves. Pick one. Lose weight or gain numbers/muscle/fat. You CANNOT do both effectively at the same time (unless you are just starting out). Since you just bulked up, consider a cut and remember, the numbers on the bar MAY NOT GO UP.
If you form sucks, it is a failed set. 3 failed sets = 10% deload. No excuses. Need to work on your cues more, fix mobility issues and get your form checked. See Alan Thrall's videos on all the core barbell movements, they are VERY informative: Click me
Are you getting 8 hours of sleep? Dont lie.
OHP is a FUCKING BITCH. At a certain point you will need to get fractional plates. 125 OHP is not bad. You may need to do some accessory work on your shoulders. Remember, OHP targets lots of small muscle groups, not powerhouse areas (chest, back, legs, etc).
I am pretty sure you are no where near the numbers for an Intermediate program. You have plenty of gains at 5'10 and 200 lbs. Not only that, but you are 20% body fat? As i said above, consider cutting now.
Stalls can and will happen. Live on the plateau and figure out what you want to do: If you want to increase the plates on the bar = bulk. If you want to lose weight = cut. PICK ONE

alpha_n3rd · 2016-02-18T00:31:36+00:00

I'm on week one of HST cycle two after switching from SL. I love it. I still do the SL exercises though. Every workout I do 2xpress, 2xrow, 2xbench, 1xsquat or DL, 2xlat pd, and 2xpec fly. Loving the results, loving the high rep pump, my joints feel way better, I've grown visibly, it's a win win win.

TheOakenshield · 2016-02-18T00:57:24+00:00

What accessory work are you doing?

Where are you getting your body fat percentage from?

irateMD · 2016-02-18T01:51:35+00:00

Don't try to increase the weight if your squat form is sketchy. Post a form check video to /r/fitness or /r/weightroom. Consider reading Starting Strength for the form cues. If you have access to a strength and conditioning coach (colleges are good) then get a real form check. Deload the press and the squat some more if you have to.

At this point you may have to consider fractional plates for OHP. An extra set of collars can work.

If fixing your form doesn't fix the problem, then deload some more and switch programs. There are several good ones in /r/weightroom and /r/fitness. Bottom line is you need to add volume. I like 5/3/1 BBB (slightly less boring variation), but there are many others, like gzcl.

SexistFlyingPig · 2016-02-18T02:28:03+00:00

There are a couple of videos I've watched on the mechanics of squatting dependent on body proportions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av3LO2GwpAk is one of them.

I found that getting lifting shoes helped a LOT. Amazon.com has great ones. I bought the cheapest I could, so they give me a .6" heel lift. Many of them give .75" heel lift. This can make a huge difference.

Stretch a lot on your off days. Do yoga or other things.

babalusobral · 2016-02-18T13:07:22+00:00

Your squat is probably all fucked up from lack of mobility. Also look at your body proportions and figure out if you should do low bar back squat or high bar. I had to start with low back and work on mobility a lot before attempting a somewhat ok high bar squat.

Go back and fix your form, video tape yourself and look it over. You're probably losing power due to form and mobility.

Look at chris duffins breathing technique for squatting. Help me a ton. If all else fails, get a coach until you're able to do it on your own. Good luck!

its-iceman · 2016-02-18T11:37:12+00:00

220 is your deadlift because... you need to buy more plates? If you can do five consecutive air squats without moaning and groaning then you can DL way more than that at 200lbs.

Title	Stronglifts 5x5 Help
Author	Quarter_Century_Club
Upvotes	4
Comments	28
Date	February 17, 2016 11:39 PM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askMRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/askMRP/comments/46brj6/stronglifts_5x5_help/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askMRP/stronglifts-5x5-help.207661 https://theredarchive.com/post/207661

Comments

Proper Warm Up

Advancing the program

The Intermediate Program