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

[lyorn]

For the barbell rows, do you have something (two low steps or two thick plates) to put the bar on, so you can start with the bar alone? Or use one of the lighter bars with plates? (I did about 66 to 77 lbs on the barbell bent-over rows, so 65 does not seem ttotally unrealistic for a woman.) I need to bend my knees more than just a little to keep my back in a good position, though.

I find that the best way to break through a plateau is, for me, to do the first set relatively light, then use a lot more weight than I did before and go to end of set or to fail. If fail, reduce load for next set, but not to starting level, otherwise, keep. Repeat for all sets.

I have compromised with myself, on days I go lifting I do not bike to work. My knees do not like having to deal with both in one day, and dragging the gym bag to work is no fun, either.

[daedala]

I can use risers of some kind, and a lighter bar. I'm mostly just concerned about form (and annoyance fetching the risers). 65 is totally realistic for me, I'm quite sure, but it's at the high end and it doesn't leave me a lot of space to increase.

I kind of want to bike every day, if possible. It's only 4 miles.

[lyorn]

It's only 4 miles

When you said "70 a week" I subconciously calculated a much further distance. Four miles is perfect for bicycling, I feel. ;-)

Yeah for form. Friday I managed to sprain a muscle in my back loading a 5 kg box into my car and not thinking about what I was doing. Don't want that to happen with a loaded barbell...

[daedala]

Oh, yeah.

The 4 miles is a good commute. But then I bike more. I go to the store, I bike around the lakes I do the greenway patrol....

Yesterday, I did 5x5 squats with the empty bar and 22 miles on the bike (not to mention 19 miles the day before...), and I'm tired but basically fine. So I am thinking this will work at least for a while.

If I follow the program, reducing the pullup counterweight by 5 lbs every time, I'll be doing full pullups by the time I'm done. Not to mention pressing nearly bodyweight. Yeah, suuuuuuure. But it will be fun to try!