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lifting_heavy_things2013-06-25 04:56 pm
daedala) wrote in lifting_heavy_things2013-06-25 04:56 pm
Stronglifts 5x5 update
I thought I'd post an update on how I'm doing with my semi-made-up program, now that I've gotten through 16 sessions.
I'm currently squatting and deadlifting 105, benching and pressing 50, and doing pullups with a 60lb counterweight. I increment squats, deadlifts, and pullups by 5 lbs each time, and benching and pressing by 2.5 lbs now. I'm also biking an average of 75 miles per week, but some weeks it's 60 miles and some weeks it's 130.
The pullups turned out to be more problematic than I had hoped: my gym's assisted pullup machine is just not made well for smallish people. The bars are very thick and they're spaced more widely than I'd like (if I use the closer bars, I don't get a full range of motion). After a few weeks, I adjusted by changing to a parallel grip and increasing the assistance a lot, and now I'm working my way back down. I'm not entirely happy with this, but I still don't like the idea of barbell rows. I'm not entirely sure why not. I figure it's not ideal, but it doesn't really need to be ideal, either. And, hey, maybe the thick bar means I'll be able to move to unassisted pullups that much sooner.
I've found that having a shorter commute but also doing more long bike rides (I've done 60, 62, and 100 mile days) has made the biking a lot more erratic. Also, I took two weeks off of lifting for the century ride, and dropped all my weights 10% when restarting. I haven't actually stalled on any of the lifts, but I treated the break as if I had. Now that I've restarted, I'm having trouble doing the full 3x per week, so I've decided it's ok if I only do 2x per week. I don't know if it's mental or physical, but I don't think that matters.
Overall, I like the program. My squat form has improved a lot. I went from not trusting my squat at all to feeling pretty good about it. I'll occasionally ask the trainer on duty or That Guy Who Knows Lifting to check my form, and they've been approving. My deadlift, bench, and press forms are solid, too.
Benching and deadlifting are still easy as pie (my maxes were 80 and 150; it's probably ridiculous for me to be incrementing by as little as I am, but whatever). Pressing will stall soon, but hasn't yet. Squatting and pullups may stall in a few workouts -- I'm resting longer between sets -- but I don't really know.
The app has an annoying habit of changing any weight lower than 45 lbs to 45.... but otherwise, it's pretty handy and convenient during the workout. I track the correct weights in my real workout log.
Pros of the program: The constantly increasing weights help keep it interesting. Doing 5x5 across can be meditative. You repeat the lifts enough to really develop good form and muscle memory. Completing a workout feels pretty strong. It's adapted well to my needs.
Cons: The recommended initial weights are geared to the average man; your mileage may vary. The barbell row seems maybe a little iffy. The workouts can pretty long if you need to rest longer between sets.
I'm currently squatting and deadlifting 105, benching and pressing 50, and doing pullups with a 60lb counterweight. I increment squats, deadlifts, and pullups by 5 lbs each time, and benching and pressing by 2.5 lbs now. I'm also biking an average of 75 miles per week, but some weeks it's 60 miles and some weeks it's 130.
The pullups turned out to be more problematic than I had hoped: my gym's assisted pullup machine is just not made well for smallish people. The bars are very thick and they're spaced more widely than I'd like (if I use the closer bars, I don't get a full range of motion). After a few weeks, I adjusted by changing to a parallel grip and increasing the assistance a lot, and now I'm working my way back down. I'm not entirely happy with this, but I still don't like the idea of barbell rows. I'm not entirely sure why not. I figure it's not ideal, but it doesn't really need to be ideal, either. And, hey, maybe the thick bar means I'll be able to move to unassisted pullups that much sooner.
I've found that having a shorter commute but also doing more long bike rides (I've done 60, 62, and 100 mile days) has made the biking a lot more erratic. Also, I took two weeks off of lifting for the century ride, and dropped all my weights 10% when restarting. I haven't actually stalled on any of the lifts, but I treated the break as if I had. Now that I've restarted, I'm having trouble doing the full 3x per week, so I've decided it's ok if I only do 2x per week. I don't know if it's mental or physical, but I don't think that matters.
Overall, I like the program. My squat form has improved a lot. I went from not trusting my squat at all to feeling pretty good about it. I'll occasionally ask the trainer on duty or That Guy Who Knows Lifting to check my form, and they've been approving. My deadlift, bench, and press forms are solid, too.
Benching and deadlifting are still easy as pie (my maxes were 80 and 150; it's probably ridiculous for me to be incrementing by as little as I am, but whatever). Pressing will stall soon, but hasn't yet. Squatting and pullups may stall in a few workouts -- I'm resting longer between sets -- but I don't really know.
The app has an annoying habit of changing any weight lower than 45 lbs to 45.... but otherwise, it's pretty handy and convenient during the workout. I track the correct weights in my real workout log.
Pros of the program: The constantly increasing weights help keep it interesting. Doing 5x5 across can be meditative. You repeat the lifts enough to really develop good form and muscle memory. Completing a workout feels pretty strong. It's adapted well to my needs.
Cons: The recommended initial weights are geared to the average man; your mileage may vary. The barbell row seems maybe a little iffy. The workouts can pretty long if you need to rest longer between sets.
no subject
*is impressed*
The app has an annoying habit of changing any weight lower than 45 lbs to 45....
Adjusting to the weight of the empty bar?
no subject
I was at 80 and 95 for squats and deadlifts this morning. That's well below my max, especially for squats, but it's making me sweat, and I can feel it the next day, so definitely it seems to be enough. The bonus being that with this pattern I can do the 3 days a week, and at no point so far have I been in serious pain. I think I was way overdoing it before. So the incremental increases seem to be a good thing.
I've been okay with the rows so far - when I was first starting out, and had a trainer, she showed me how to do them.
no subject
And yeah, that's what I think the app is doing, but it's dumb; he even suggests using a lighter bar for those with less strength, so I don't know why the app excludes it. I mean, I probably could have started with 45 lb bar for all of them, but I'd have stalled within a couple of weeks, and that would have been annoying.
no subject
It might help to have incremental weights -- I got a pair of 1.25s, so I'm now going up by 2.5 lbs per session on the bench and press.
I'm having trouble with 3x/week now, but I am also biking too much ;).
no subject
I think much of the point of doing 5x5 is that the extra volume gives you more time to focus on your form. And when you're just starting out you respond well to the volume and women in particular respond well to high volume and high intensity so lots of low rep sets are good for that.
5x5 does take a long time though; I've done workouts where you pick your 10RM and do 5x resting for twenty seconds between sets and then wait a minute or two and then do it again, and the weight is light enough that you can push through pretty fast, but if you're doing 5x5 normally you get to the point where you need five minutes between sets to recover so that's already twenty minutes of resting before you count warming up or the time it takes to actually get through all of your reps and squats end up taking at least half an hour.
I don't often do barbell rows myself -- I do really heavy dumbbell rows and pullups. Pull-ups are in a different direction and work the back a little differently but you could do inverted rows instead of barbell rows if you want to do a horizontal pull.
no subject