StrongLifts 5x5 modifications

[daedala]

Hi all. I just realized I've been stalled on deadlifts in my current program for two months. Yikes! That means it's time to move on.

I am thinking of doing Stronglifts 5x5. It's a pretty basic squat/bench/row/press/deadlift program where you do 5 sets of 5 reps, start very light, and add weight every workout.

1. I bike a lot. Heavy squats and deadlifts will interfere with this. Given a choice between biking and lifting, biking wins. My average last year for the season was 70 miles per week; I'm aiming for 100.
2. I'm kind of worried about the form of barbell rows and the starting weight needed. Starting with 65 lbs (you need plates on the bar because you're starting from the floor) is reasonable for men. I'm not sure how reasonable it is for me. Stronglifts recommends starting with inverted rows if you have trouble with that, but those make my shoulders feel funny in a bad way.

Therefore, I'm thinking of doing 5x5 with the following modifications:

1. Reduce the volume on squats to 3x5 as soon as I feel like it interferes with biking. Maybe not the first week, but very soon. And go to twice a week rather than three times per week if needed.
2. Do assisted pullups (which my shoulders are fine with) instead of barbell or inverted rows. Start with 50% bodyweight as counterweight. My goal is pullups anyway.
3. Being female, my upper body strength kind of sucks. While I know I can do 5x5 with the 45 lb bar easily, I'll plateau really fast that way. So I will start with the 30 lb bar they have at my gym.

That would mean my workouts would look like this:

A
5x5 or 3x5 squats (start with empty bar at 5x5, go up 5 lbs per completed workout, drop to 3x5 fast)
5x5 bench (start with empty 30 lb bar, go up 5 or 2.5 lbs per competed workout, if I can find the fractional plates)
5x5 assisted pullups (start with a 70 lb counterweight, go down 5 lbs per completed workout)

B
3x5 squats
5x5 press (start with empty 30 lb bar, go up 5 or 2.5 lbs per competed workout, if I can find the fractional plates)
1x5 deadlift (not a modification, the is in the original, though I may use a lower starting weight)

Thoughts? I always get annoyed when someone talks about modifying an established program, so now I'm annoyed at myself. :) I realize that this program is somewhat compromised. But the original Stronglifts is very heavily geared towards men, and strongly recommends against doing cardio. I'm not as strong as a man, I won't make gains as quickly, and I want to go biking.

Comments

[twtd]

I did the stronglift program for about 6 months starting last May and I absolutely loved it. I couldn't start with a bar for any of the exercises (well, I tried squats with a bar my first workout and then could barely walk for a week), but my weights went up fast. The presses were my nemesis though. They were the only thing I didn't really improve on.

I will say, you should maybe delay more than a week or two before you decide how many sets of squats you want to do. My legs were absolutely wrecked the first couple of weeks, but after that I never felt that the squats were leaving me unable to do anything else. They were exhausting while I was doing them, but after a shower and a couple of hours of rest, I was fine. I had to do yoga on my off days though because my hips would get super tight.

[daedala]

Thanks for the testimonial. I've been lifting for a while now, so I hope I won't have the same "wrecked" experience, but we'll see!