Discussion
All gone quiet here. 
AFter a few weeks faffing about getting used to the gym and practising form I've 'officially' started SL5x5. I'll not be doing it for long, just long enough to get me comfortable under the bar.
Starting weights Squat 40kgs, Bench 30kgs, Row 30kgs, Press 20kgs, Deadlift 40kg.
AFter a few weeks faffing about getting used to the gym and practising form I've 'officially' started SL5x5. I'll not be doing it for long, just long enough to get me comfortable under the bar.
Starting weights Squat 40kgs, Bench 30kgs, Row 30kgs, Press 20kgs, Deadlift 40kg.
I am still at it after 4 months, showing improvement still. Stalled a few times, OHP mainly. Not dropped to 3x5 yet. It was fun, but now it is getting heavy less so and it takes about 1.5 hours to get through.
I did deload on squats and deadlifts to sort my form out which is much better.
SQ 85, DL70, OHP 52, BP 82.5, BR 85. Was a bit shocked about the dips and pullup weights, never thought I would be able to dip with 25kg and pullup with 15kg. Constant improvement.
Been reading about alternatives, downloaded the 5/3/1 book might give it a read. It is still working for me however, and I have started taking a bit of whey to increase my protein intake.
I did deload on squats and deadlifts to sort my form out which is much better.
SQ 85, DL70, OHP 52, BP 82.5, BR 85. Was a bit shocked about the dips and pullup weights, never thought I would be able to dip with 25kg and pullup with 15kg. Constant improvement.
Been reading about alternatives, downloaded the 5/3/1 book might give it a read. It is still working for me however, and I have started taking a bit of whey to increase my protein intake.
Just started this at the beginning of the week, quite enjoying it! I've started out on;
SQT :70kg | BP : 55kg | Row : 60kg | OHP : 30kg | Dead : 90kg
Nice to get in, hammer at it, and be gone quickly but getting a good buzz and some sense of progress. OHP kills me, but the deads are pretty easy as I'm used to doing less reps with more weight.
SQT :70kg | BP : 55kg | Row : 60kg | OHP : 30kg | Dead : 90kg
Nice to get in, hammer at it, and be gone quickly but getting a good buzz and some sense of progress. OHP kills me, but the deads are pretty easy as I'm used to doing less reps with more weight.
Having done the 5x5 for almost six months I found myself bouncing off plateaus and... frankly... getting a bit bored with the lack of variety.
Smiffy posted this regime in the 'other' thread; have given it a try and early indications are great. It's much better at keeping my heart rate up throughout a session, I'm back into DOMS-land (which is good, right?) and it's delivered a resurgence of interest into my weight training.
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/beef-up-...
Having gone to the trouble of making myself a gym record sheet, I thought I'd share it here in case it's useful for anyone else.
Summary of the small print:
1. To start, use an online calculator to work out your 1RM, based on your current 5 rep level for bench, squat and dead. Then start this regime at 60-65% of that.
2. Where a rep range is given, work up to the top of the rep range before moving up a weight.
3. The exception to point 2, above, is with the Monday bench press. You always increase the weight by 2.5kg, irrelevant to whether you achieved the full ten sets. As the weights go up, you'll start to drop back in how many you achieve, until you get to a week where you can only do one set of three with the maximum weight.
Two versions of the sheet:
Blank version
Version with examples
Smiffy posted this regime in the 'other' thread; have given it a try and early indications are great. It's much better at keeping my heart rate up throughout a session, I'm back into DOMS-land (which is good, right?) and it's delivered a resurgence of interest into my weight training.
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/beef-up-...
Having gone to the trouble of making myself a gym record sheet, I thought I'd share it here in case it's useful for anyone else.
Summary of the small print:
1. To start, use an online calculator to work out your 1RM, based on your current 5 rep level for bench, squat and dead. Then start this regime at 60-65% of that.
2. Where a rep range is given, work up to the top of the rep range before moving up a weight.
3. The exception to point 2, above, is with the Monday bench press. You always increase the weight by 2.5kg, irrelevant to whether you achieved the full ten sets. As the weights go up, you'll start to drop back in how many you achieve, until you get to a week where you can only do one set of three with the maximum weight.
Two versions of the sheet:
Blank version
Version with examples
V8mate said:
Having done the 5x5 for almost six months I found myself bouncing off plateaus and... frankly... getting a bit bored with the lack of variety.
Quite common. 
I found the same once squat got north of about 100kgs and deads 120kgs.
SL5x5 is excellent for building a solid foundation but as you say, lacks variety and you reach a point where it's just too heavy to keep doing 5x5 squats three times a week.
I've started again after pretty much a year of no exercise and really enjoying it. Looking forward to moving on though.
Best of luck.
LordGrover said:
V8mate said:
Having done the 5x5 for almost six months I found myself bouncing off plateaus and... frankly... getting a bit bored with the lack of variety.
Quite common. I found the same once squat got north of about 100kgs and deads 120kgs.
SL5x5 is excellent for building a solid foundation but as you say, lacks variety and you reach a point where it's just too heavy to keep doing 5x5 squats three times a week.
I've started again after pretty much a year of no exercise and really enjoying it. Looking forward to moving on though.
Best of luck.
Just wanted to add that I'm really enjoying Stronglifts, thanks solely to this thread - I snapped my humerus in two in March so I'm still in recovery, but this has made the return to the gym and decent weights so much more linear. I'm suffering today from what I can only presume is the plague, but I'm still hoping to make the gym tomorrow morning...
After 5 or so weeks:
Squat 80kg
DL 85kg
BP 50kg (even at this weight I can feel stress in the fracture site, will be interesting as the weight increases)
Rows 50kg
OHP 35kg (had to de-load twice, due to my reoovering broken left arm and right shoulder that dislocates frequently)
Bodyweight ~70kg
Slowly getting back to pre break levels
After 5 or so weeks:
Squat 80kg
DL 85kg
BP 50kg (even at this weight I can feel stress in the fracture site, will be interesting as the weight increases)
Rows 50kg
OHP 35kg (had to de-load twice, due to my reoovering broken left arm and right shoulder that dislocates frequently)
Bodyweight ~70kg
Slowly getting back to pre break levels
LargeD said:
Just wanted to add that I'm really enjoying Stronglifts, thanks solely to this thread - I snapped my humerus in two in March so I'm still in recovery, but this has made the return to the gym and decent weights so much more linear. I'm suffering today from what I can only presume is the plague, but I'm still hoping to make the gym tomorrow morning...
After 5 or so weeks:
Squat 80kg
DL 85kg
BP 50kg (even at this weight I can feel stress in the fracture site, will be interesting as the weight increases)
Rows 50kg
OHP 35kg (had to de-load twice, due to my reoovering broken left arm and right shoulder that dislocates frequently)
Bodyweight ~70kg
Slowly getting back to pre break levels
I read this bit as cause and effect and wondered what you were thanking the thread for. "thanks solely to this thread - I snapped my humerus in two"After 5 or so weeks:
Squat 80kg
DL 85kg
BP 50kg (even at this weight I can feel stress in the fracture site, will be interesting as the weight increases)
Rows 50kg
OHP 35kg (had to de-load twice, due to my reoovering broken left arm and right shoulder that dislocates frequently)
Bodyweight ~70kg
Slowly getting back to pre break levels
Salgar said:
LargeD said:
Just wanted to add that I'm really enjoying Stronglifts, thanks solely to this thread - I snapped my humerus in two in March so I'm still in recovery, but this has made the return to the gym and decent weights so much more linear. I'm suffering today from what I can only presume is the plague, but I'm still hoping to make the gym tomorrow morning...
After 5 or so weeks:
Squat 80kg
DL 85kg
BP 50kg (even at this weight I can feel stress in the fracture site, will be interesting as the weight increases)
Rows 50kg
OHP 35kg (had to de-load twice, due to my reoovering broken left arm and right shoulder that dislocates frequently)
Bodyweight ~70kg
Slowly getting back to pre break levels
I read this bit as cause and effect and wondered what you were thanking the thread for. "thanks solely to this thread - I snapped my humerus in two"After 5 or so weeks:
Squat 80kg
DL 85kg
BP 50kg (even at this weight I can feel stress in the fracture site, will be interesting as the weight increases)
Rows 50kg
OHP 35kg (had to de-load twice, due to my reoovering broken left arm and right shoulder that dislocates frequently)
Bodyweight ~70kg
Slowly getting back to pre break levels
LargeD said:
Haha maybe the sentence was badly structured, I wouldn't thank anyone for that break. To clarify, I broke my arm badly in March and thanks to this thread discovered Stronglifts, which is helping with my recovery.
I broke mine in 2006 and it set in such a way that my arm is slightly bent. I've done loads since including finishing the military training that led to the break. The arm I broke does seem weaker, or looses strength more quickly, and some exercises are difficult. The break is a pain in the arse thou and I remember having my mum help me get dressed for a while! When I got back into exercising it I started by curling half a litre of water in a bottle. The hardest part was stretching my elbow and shoulder joints to their full extension!
Anyway, I'm on week 4 and started with the bar so my weights are still low. I'm feeling the squats as I cycle to work. More importantly I'm enjoying it tho
Found out yesterday that we've been understating the weight of the bar we're using, so all of the weights are 10kg heavier than we thought. Better that way than over calling it I suppose!
Squats 105kg (starting to feel the weight, hurt both my quads yesterday so will see how I am tomorrow morning)
DL 110kg
BP 70kg (my target during my recovery, to bench my body weight again)
Rows 75kg
OHP 40kg (still struggling with the movement)
I think we're going to move on to something new now, I don't think I can handle squatting this much 3 times a week.
Squats 105kg (starting to feel the weight, hurt both my quads yesterday so will see how I am tomorrow morning)
DL 110kg
BP 70kg (my target during my recovery, to bench my body weight again)
Rows 75kg
OHP 40kg (still struggling with the movement)
I think we're going to move on to something new now, I don't think I can handle squatting this much 3 times a week.
dai1983 said:
I broke mine in 2006 and it set in such a way that my arm is slightly bent. I've done loads since including finishing the military training that led to the break. The arm I broke does seem weaker, or looses strength more quickly, and some exercises are difficult.
The break is a pain in the arse thou and I remember having my mum help me get dressed for a while! When I got back into exercising it I started by curling half a litre of water in a bottle. The hardest part was stretching my elbow and shoulder joints to their full extension!
Anyway, I'm on week 4 and started with the bar so my weights are still low. I'm feeling the squats as I cycle to work. More importantly I'm enjoying it tho
Sorry didn't see this at the time. Yeah it's been a right pain to be honest, it's dominated most of my year - either barely being able to move for 11 weeks whilst sleeping sat up on the sofa or not having the strength until the last couple of months to hold the shower head above meThe break is a pain in the arse thou and I remember having my mum help me get dressed for a while! When I got back into exercising it I started by curling half a litre of water in a bottle. The hardest part was stretching my elbow and shoulder joints to their full extension!
Anyway, I'm on week 4 and started with the bar so my weights are still low. I'm feeling the squats as I cycle to work. More importantly I'm enjoying it tho
I'm getting there now though, the BP is the only exercise I can feel stress at the fracture site but different exercises keep catching me out. I hit myself in the head doing tricep extensions with a dumbbell yesterday, it was only 8kg aswell, luckily for my head, It's making me look like a New Years resolutioner.
Needs some help to get into Stronglifts. Back in August i dislocated my left shoulder and also broke the coracoid bone at the front of the shoulder. This meant not doing any weights for a while and losing muscle mass and strength in my left shoulder, causing it to drop forward slightly.
I have been doing general cardio at the gym and some shoulder exercises to build strength so its getting there slowly. I want to start Stonglifts as it could be an ideal way to start from scratch and really build up the strength again. Issue is around squats. I can just about get an empty bar across my back supported by my hands, but anymore weight I tend to feel pain across the front of the shoulder, and I struggle to add anymore weight.
Is there anything i can do to get it back to normal? My Physio mentioned cable row but should I be doing more? Specific exercises to try?
I have been doing general cardio at the gym and some shoulder exercises to build strength so its getting there slowly. I want to start Stonglifts as it could be an ideal way to start from scratch and really build up the strength again. Issue is around squats. I can just about get an empty bar across my back supported by my hands, but anymore weight I tend to feel pain across the front of the shoulder, and I struggle to add anymore weight.
Is there anything i can do to get it back to normal? My Physio mentioned cable row but should I be doing more? Specific exercises to try?
Challo said:
Needs some help to get into Stronglifts. Back in August i dislocated my left shoulder and also broke the coracoid bone at the front of the shoulder. This meant not doing any weights for a while and losing muscle mass and strength in my left shoulder, causing it to drop forward slightly.
I have been doing general cardio at the gym and some shoulder exercises to build strength so its getting there slowly. I want to start Stonglifts as it could be an ideal way to start from scratch and really build up the strength again. Issue is around squats. I can just about get an empty bar across my back supported by my hands, but anymore weight I tend to feel pain across the front of the shoulder, and I struggle to add anymore weight.
Is there anything i can do to get it back to normal? My Physio mentioned cable row but should I be doing more? Specific exercises to try?
Tried different bar positions? I have been doing general cardio at the gym and some shoulder exercises to build strength so its getting there slowly. I want to start Stonglifts as it could be an ideal way to start from scratch and really build up the strength again. Issue is around squats. I can just about get an empty bar across my back supported by my hands, but anymore weight I tend to feel pain across the front of the shoulder, and I struggle to add anymore weight.
Is there anything i can do to get it back to normal? My Physio mentioned cable row but should I be doing more? Specific exercises to try?
Art0ir said:
Challo said:
Needs some help to get into Stronglifts. Back in August i dislocated my left shoulder and also broke the coracoid bone at the front of the shoulder. This meant not doing any weights for a while and losing muscle mass and strength in my left shoulder, causing it to drop forward slightly.
I have been doing general cardio at the gym and some shoulder exercises to build strength so its getting there slowly. I want to start Stonglifts as it could be an ideal way to start from scratch and really build up the strength again. Issue is around squats. I can just about get an empty bar across my back supported by my hands, but anymore weight I tend to feel pain across the front of the shoulder, and I struggle to add anymore weight.
Is there anything i can do to get it back to normal? My Physio mentioned cable row but should I be doing more? Specific exercises to try?
Tried different bar positions? I have been doing general cardio at the gym and some shoulder exercises to build strength so its getting there slowly. I want to start Stonglifts as it could be an ideal way to start from scratch and really build up the strength again. Issue is around squats. I can just about get an empty bar across my back supported by my hands, but anymore weight I tend to feel pain across the front of the shoulder, and I struggle to add anymore weight.
Is there anything i can do to get it back to normal? My Physio mentioned cable row but should I be doing more? Specific exercises to try?
LordGrover said:
I have no idea whether it'll do more harm than good, but one of these widgets may be worth considering: Manta Ray. Clearly no use at all if you prefer low bar squat. 
Not used one myself but will do so in the near future.
Never seen that before. Looks pretty interesting, will do some more research. ThanksNot used one myself but will do so in the near future.
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