Personal journey through StrongLifts 5x5

[alpinegirl]

Nick, I had the same initial response as Joe in reading your training log and then the description of your program. It wasn't apparent seeing as how your lowest reported reps per heavy set was 6.

I will own up to having had employed fuckarounditis. Oh how I miss my 20's.

What nobody here has argued against is that tracking your progress is the truest key to making progress. All of you are different and will have things work differently. In time few programs if any are perfect for anyone. They all offer great starting points that may last anywhere from 1 week (who hasn't started something and then one week later stopped themselves with a wtf was I thinking???) to an entire year. In the end, it will be your own observations that will fuel your greatest gains. Again, no one is arguing against that.

I have enjoyed this thread due to the sharing of information and encouragement as well as accounts of struggles, failures and successes. I would like to see it stay as such.

[breeseomatic]

Here's an early update for week 7:

I'm taking this week off.  There's been something floating around the office and I'm getting some signs that I'm next.  Sore throat, fatigue, and headaches are preventing me from really focusing on any lifting.  Also workload has been increased since I'm going away for a 1 week conference pretty soon.  And I have a new toy, it came in today and I really wanted to start assembling it for this weekend.  Hopefully I'll feel better to put in a few miles when I'm visiting family in the East Bay

 

 

[Corey]

Bump for an update.  Hope you aren't still sick!  

I've switched completely over to the Starting Strength (SS) camp of thought for novice linear progression.  Take Stronglifts, but knock it down to 3 sets of 5 reps per lift.  More weight, a little less volume to help you recover more to let you keep increasing the weight for longer.   I lost strength by switching over to 531 too early (plus not eating enough), but I've got it all back since getting on the SS program.  

I'm near a stall on the OH press - barely got the last rep of each set of 90 lbs over my head.  From listening to the Barbell Logic podcast, the SS coaches recommend adding 5 lbs per session until you fail a set, then lift the same weight again until you can get 3x5, then do smaller increments from there.  The idea is to try to stay in the novice linear progression as long as possible before switching to an intermediate program. 

90 lbs for 3x5 isn't much after 2 years of lifting, but it's my new best!   

[breeseomatic]

Thanks for the friendly reminder, I've been meaning to post an update.  It seems that doing it now, on the company dime is a convenient time.

I took week 7 off because of "sickness"  it may have been keto-flu or a real ailment, I'm not sure but it seems that my fatigue and headaches are gone.  And then I headed out to visit my family in the east bay area of CA(lifornia) for the weekend.  We had lots of biking, beer and BBQ, so it was a nice break. 

For week 8, StrongLifts detected my absence and recommended that I decrease my weights by 10%; I accepted the recommendation.  On the second day of lifting I pulled/strained a muscle in my left lower back/glute while squatting on my last set.  I was feeling a bit tight early in the warm ups, and wasn't feeling "strong" and was still "recuperating" from the 6 hour long drive to and from family.  I felt like my hips were very tight and I noticed during the warm-ups hitting depth in the squat was a bit more difficult.  I thought nothing of it at the time thinking that it would loosen up after the first working set.  My muscles were probably not loose enough to squat the weight, pulled my hips/lower back into a bad position causing a ripple effect and then the strain happened.  Whatever caused it, I had to take the last day of week 8 off and all of week 9 off. 

Week 9 would have been very difficult to find the time to train even if I was not injured as I was attending a work related conference for 4 days, commuting 1-1.5 hours each way, every day, plus finding time to do all the other things in life.  I'm very spoiled as I work 3 miles away from home and live within 30 minutes of some epic mountain biking.  Being in my little bubble, I rarely get affected by traffic and I can see why people go home, drink a beer and put a butt shaped indentation in their couch from Monday to Friday.

Week 10, which is this week is looking to be a bust too as:

• we are experiencing a heat wave and my lifting equipment is in my non-climate controlled garage, it's pretty tough to lift in the heat, but it's good for tight muscles - Yin and Yang
• I'm slammed with work from my absence last week and I received a pretty strong reminder that the higher-ups are wondering what's going on
• I have race car issues that require some attention for an event that is 2 weeks away:
  • exhaust welding
  • rear brake rebuild
  • fluid changes
  • spare parts assembly

I'm hoping I can return to lifting tomorrow night and salvage Week 10 with a Thursday, Saturday, Monday session.

On the upside, my rigid mountain bike is built, tested and ridden!

Corey, congrats on the 90# for 3x5, any physical achievement is one to celebrate
 

 

[FrankNBeans]

What WOULD Joe Strummer do?

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2017 by FrankNBeans

[Corey]

A rigid fork Joe?  I didn't even know they still made those!  ;)  Nice looking bike!  I rode my Kona Humu-1 (circa mid-90's, also rigid) around Solo Nationals this year, otherwise haven't even been on a bike.  I should get back on some trails...  

There is an excellent video on Youtube about back pain by Alan Thrall, called "I HURT MY BACK! What to do now".  Super-quick summary from memory: Keep moving!  It's likely nothing related to your spine.  Do as much range of motion as you can, as often as you can, with as much weight as you can.  

I'm supposed to OH Press 95 lbs on Friday morning.  Listen for some involuntary noises from the North.  ;) 

My numbers so far for kicks: weight 177 lbs, deadlift 240, squat 205, bench 130, press 90.  All are 3x5 sets.  Squat and DL are not grinding yet, but bench and press are making me question my motivation. I have squatted 265 lbs in a 1RM test on a day a while ago when I was feeling great.  

[breeseomatic]

Rigid!  Yeah, it was hard to find the parts to build this bike especially since the head tube is straight, everything now is tapered head tubes.  Kona made and currently makes some pretty interesting frames.  I looked up the Humu, very cool looking frame... and single speed!

I just watched Alan's video and there's some great info in there, thank you for sharing!  I would love to say that I followed it entirely, but I didn't.  In the video, Alan hurts his back while dead lifting and his coach keeps him moving.  There are three main takeaways:

1. Don't freak out
   Thankfully, I didn't freak out and rush to the ER and ask for numerous diagnostic tests that cost a crap load of money.
2. Do not avoid movement
   I did avoid movement in the spirit of their term "movement".  Thea next time, I will be more "aggressive" in my movement.  I certainly didn't lay around on the couch, I was just taking it easy and doing yoga instead of lifting.  It really helped out in the morning when I was the stiffest, the muscle tightness shifted my upper body to the left and my hips to the right, in the mirror I looked like a human sized greater than symbol.  A long hot shower and some mobility work restored my posture and during the conference I found secluded areas to practice some yoga poses to help with the pain and discomfort.  I now know to perform air squats and air dead lifts immediately after the pain starts and to include some light lifting after a few days.
3. Take the whole process as a challenge
   I definitely take this as a challenge to overcome the pain as quickly as possible, now I know of a different approach and will try this the next time, but hope there won't be a next time, but realize that it's going to happen as it's just part of the process/game.

Nice numbers!  The squat, dead lift and press numbers are looking good, really good.  Bench is a bit low but you are not that far off.  If you subscribe to the idea of bench lifts being 75% of squat, you should be at 150-155#.  Is Starting Strength a split body workout like StrongLifts?  If so, maybe the bench coming after squat artificially deflates your lifting numbers, so probably nothing to worry about but pressing full 25# plates and benching with 45's is a nice aesthetic in the gym. 

[Beckmann AG]

16 hours ago, breeseomatic said:

 

 

 

Do you prefer the 747 to the ATAC?

[Beckmann AG]

16 hours ago, breeseomatic said:

 747's?

[Corey]

12 hours ago, breeseomatic said:

The squat, dead lift and press numbers are looking good, really good.  Bench is a bit low but you are not that far off.  If you subscribe to the idea of bench lifts being 75% of squat, you should be at 150-155#.  Is Starting Strength a split body workout like StrongLifts?  If so, maybe the bench coming after squat artificially deflates your lifting numbers, so probably nothing to worry about but pressing full 25# plates and benching with 45's is a nice aesthetic in the gym. 

Thanks.  I've never had much upper body strength.  Not that I've ever tried, other than working up to bunnyhopping my BMX bike up about 24" to clear a set of stairs at my high school.  That was a while ago.  ;)  Feb 2015 was the first time I'd touched a barbell.  Benching a set of 5 with the empty 45-lb bar was brutal, and I couldn't do 5 OH presses with it.  Apparently pushing a mouse and a phone around don't do much for your fitness.  ;)  

Starting Strength (SS) uses the same workouts as Stronglifts (SL).  Workout 1 is squat, OH press, deadlift.  Workout 2 is squat, bench press, barbell row.  For the young guys they do power cleans instead of rows, but they recommend rows instead if 'not young'.  I get the feeling that SL is a direct rip-off of SS but with 5x5 to start, then it drops to 3x5 after a while to match SS.  Speaking of rows: I'm rowing 115 lbs pretty easily, but following the linear progression to let the weights come up naturally.  

The gym I go to is pretty low-key - it's a squat rack in my basement.  No bro-judging in there.  ;)  

[breeseomatic]

4 hours ago, Beckmann AG said:

 747's?

Yep, from 1997!  I went to a LBS to replace a Wellgo clip-less pedal where the body unscrewed from the spindle.  I had another set of Wellgo's in my hand and I was talked into the 747's as "the last clip-less pedal you will ever buy".  20 years and going strong after lots of water immersions, rock strikes and thousands of clip ins and clip outs..

[breeseomatic]

3 hours ago, corey_dyck said:

Thanks.  I've never had much upper body strength.  Not that I've ever tried, other than working up to bunnyhopping my BMX bike up about 24" to clear a set of stairs at my high school.  That was a while ago.  ;)  Feb 2015 was the first time I'd touched a barbell.  Benching a set of 5 with the empty 45-lb bar was brutal, and I couldn't do 5 OH presses with it.  Apparently pushing a mouse and a phone around don't do much for your fitness.  ;)  

Starting Strength (SS) uses the same workouts as Stronglifts (SL).  Workout 1 is squat, OH press, deadlift.  Workout 2 is squat, bench press, barbell row.  For the young guys they do power cleans instead of rows, but they recommend rows instead if 'not young'.  I get the feeling that SL is a direct rip-off of SS but with 5x5 to start, then it drops to 3x5 after a while to match SS.  Speaking of rows: I'm rowing 115 lbs pretty easily, but following the linear progression to let the weights come up naturally.  

The gym I go to is pretty low-key - it's a squat rack in my basement.  No bro-judging in there.  ;)  

Phone curls and mouse presses don't help much, unfortunately.  

 

[Corey]

3 hours ago, breeseomatic said:

Phone curls and mouse presses don't help much, unfortunately.  

I've been lied to for years.  

[Beckmann AG]

747's are so much better than what came after.

Found an almost NOS pair with cleats on Craigslist back in April. Robbery at $40.

[Beckmann AG]

1 hour ago, corey_dyck said:

I've been lied to for years.

Or at the very least, deceived.

[Technick]

I'm still going strong with my FSW program "Fuckarounditis Strenght Workout...  ;)"   twice a week sessions. Working pretty good for me, continuing to see weekly gains. Also stretching and foam-rolling almost every day to increase my flexibilty and mobility. Had a stiff right knee for some time but it's getting alot better recently.  Here are my last 2 logs:

 

[Corey]

On 10/25/2017 at 5:01 PM, corey_dyck said:

I'm supposed to OH Press 95 lbs on Friday morning.  Listen for some involuntary noises from the North.  ;) 

Yeah... Didn't make 3x5 with 95.  4 reps, 5 reps, 4.5 reps.  Thought I might explode on that last rep of the last set with the bar hovering around my forehead.  The program says to try twice more before dropping back and doing smaller jumps instead of the big 5-lb ones.  

210 squats and 245 deadlift were good.  Not easy, but not blowing a gasket.  

[breeseomatic]

Week 11 completed:

Squat 95# @ 5x5
Bench 75# @ 5x5
Row 75# @ 5x5

Squat 100# @ 5x5
Press 65# @ 5x5
Deadlift 135# @ 1x5

Impressions: 

It was nice to get back into the garage gym for a few days after my injury.  Corey posted a link to a video by Alan Thrall, it has a lot of good information and I recommend everyone watch it so you know what and what not to do when you get injured.  This week was a partial week as I had some construction going on in my garage and it took up a lot of time and space.  Basically I have real storage shelves hung from the wall and roof vs old bookshelves screwed together along the wall, a nice snowboard pantry and a proper height work bench with storage below.

Hoping next week will be more focused on lifting and less on woodwork and organization.

 

[breeseomatic]

Hey guys and gals,

If you haven't seen these videos... holy crap they are awesome.  Having done Wendler 5/3/1 and now with some experience with StrongLifts 5x5, I can say that what Alan says about the other programs are probably pretty accurate as his Wendler and StrongLifts reviews are as I've experienced.

Anyway, here are the links, Part 1 (SS, SL Texas and 5-3-1):

Part 2 (Juggernaut & SuperSquats):

Part 3 (Cube and Oly Lifting):

Edit:
Corey, Alan mentions the SS/SL and other programs programs not emphasizing upper body lifts enough to have the press and bench grow as much as squats and deadlifts.  Perhaps you entered into that zone, although your numbers are still pretty solid.   If you are back on 5/3/1, then you are probably getting your upper body volume.

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by breeseomatic
editorial content

[Corey]

Since those videos, Alan has become a Starting Strength coach.  LOL!  He is no longer a fan of 531: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS3BpGXnhBk

I'm a n00b so none of these intermediate programs are appropriate for me.  I switched to 531 too early.  This is a great article on novice vs. intermediate training: https://startingstrength.com/article/programming/what_not_to_do_observations_of_powerlifters_coaching_novices (search for "swayed", about half-way down)

I'm still on my novice linear progression, though I'm doing 2-lb jumps on the bench and OH press as I just couldn't maintain 5-lb jumps and recover in 48 hours.  I'm not stressing over my numbers in the short term, just trying to continually build on them. 

It was nice to have to buy another set of 45-lb plates.  I never thought I'd have to do that!  

 

[Corey]

Joe, I hope you're back on track with your program!  

I've been eating a lot and adopting the Starting Strength model.  It's going well, though I learned that I wasn't actually low-bar squatting.  I thought I was, but it turned out I had the bar too high - above the spine of the scapula, on my traps instead of my delts.  I physically couldn't get the bar below the spine without folding my wrists badly, so I've been working on arm/shoulder flexibility since.  I can now do empty bar squats in the low-bar position, but can't comfortably carry any weight.  More work is needed.  In the meantime, I'm keeping adding 5 lbs to the bar every session with a high-bar squat.  

My current #'s: Deadlift 305 lbs, squat 255 lbs, bench 142.5 lbs, row 142.5 lbs, OH press 95 lbs.  Body weight is up to 186 lbs from my low of 167.  Some of that weight gain is fat, some is muscle.  I'm real close to the end of my novice phase of OH press, even doing 2.5-lb jumps every other training day is not sustainable.  I'll be switching the OH press to an intermediate program really soon.  

I'm going to add in HIIT conditioning work in January; that gives me about a month to further prep my cardio side before coming to Aspen in February.  

I'm really interested to see how this all translates to the snow!  My prediction: I won't suddenly be better, but should be able to ride more (and more aggressively) in the mountains before getting winded.  

[breeseomatic]

I'm still under the barbell, lifting things and putting them down.  I will be posting an update soon now that the message boards are on-line.

I'm back to where I was two months ago before I pulled a back muscle and had to do a massive de-load cycle.  Weights are all up in the "it's getting serious" range.  The interesting thing is that I feel more comfortable lifting today than I was 2 months ago, so that's a good thing.  Confidence begets confidence.

That's all for now.

Edited December 1, 2017 by breeseomatic

[Corey]

I failed my first squat session at 270 lbs on Wednesday.  2 reps were tough but ok, 3rd rep felt like the bar was chained to the ground.  It was really uncomfortable getting out from under the bar on the spotter arms.  I don't want to think about 270 lbs rolling down my spine if I didn't have the squat rack and had to just had let go of the bar.  

I got 4 strained reps on the second set before re-racking the bar.  The strain of that failed 3rd rep in the first set did me in.  

[Corey]

Turns out I sprained/tore a spinal erector muscle. Crappy. Trying the Starr Rehab Protocal to get back on track. 

Still doing the upper body lifts per the program, but only super light squats and deadlifts. 

[Corey]

My back rehab is going very well.  I'm a little over half-way back towards the original weights.  All pain is gone but I still have a noticeable lump on the side I hurt.  

I'm pretty stunned how fast I'm recovering from a few days of pain.  Active recovery is good!