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angryvegan's stronglift 5x5


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I finished a weeks worth of workouts (3). It felt good.But I am a little unsure about the adding the 5lbs every workout, it seems unreal to do that but I am hoping someone can clear that up. I think I did well with the eating all week, but yesterday was bad. I want to gain weight. I am 5'7 and 120lbs, Not sure how much to expect to gain per week though. And I am sort of at a loss about what to eat sometimes. does any one have examples of what they have eaten day to day to gain weight?

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I did Stronglifts for about two months. You have to eat A LOT, especially if you are a hardgainer. Also sleep is VERY important. I had to add an extra hour of sleep a night during the routine, but maybe you won't have to?

 

I added 2.5-5lbs per workout on squats, but only 0-2.5lbs per workout on bench. In less than two months I had a 150% gain in my max squat!

 

So it works, but eat like a gorilla and sleep like a koala.

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I just finished starting my second week of the 5x5. It felt good, I gained just over a pound, which I know is not anything but, I am a hardgainer and I weighed myself on an empty stomach. I dont think I have sadly ever been over 120lbs, but I am now. I started adding some grip and forearm work to it also. I would really like to figure out how to make my traps grow. I have none I mean none at all. Anyone has any tips let me now.

Angryvegan

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Hey if it's a pound of muscle then that's great!

 

For trap growth I personally like dumbbell shrugs but that's very much an isolation exercise. If you are a hardgainer then you best bet is probably the deadlift. Great compound lift, hits your traps well, but you HAVE to make sure to watch your form. Good form is key with deads, especially for injury prevention. The page linked below is great for checking form...

 

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BBDeadlift.html

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Don't worry about adding 5lbs. You will stall at some point, you do as many as you can for 5 sets. Next time you do that exercise you try the same weight again. If you fail a weight 3x then you deload by 10% and continue as normal from there. It's just part of the program. Traps will grow with deadlifts man. You shouldn't be worrying about individual body parts, stronglifts will work you evenly. Stick to the program and eat a lot, that's all there is to it. Congrats on your 1lb gain, keep it up every week!

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Week two!! I am starting to feel the weight on the squats, man my legs are weak. But I did change it up a bit, on the advice of chewy, from another post. I could do 15 push ups on the first set. So I did a circuit of dips and push ups, man that was tough my arms felt like they were going to explode, Love that feeling. I am tempted to raise my bench a little more than the 5x5 says but got to think on that one.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Started week 4 of stronglifts. I think I have an injury. Last week doing some deadlifts or squats. back feels strained or something. I worked out even though it was painful. I am successful with the gains but stopped going up on weights when it comes to the overhead press. I think my shoulders are weak. Also the pull ups still suck, I feel like I am not giving my lats a workout. I have though gained some weight. I am at 126lbs. Never, I mean never weighed that much before.

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During deadlifts and squats it's real important to keep your abs and lower back tight so it doesn't round. It's easy to do this on the way up but it's usually on the negative portion of the movement that people loosen their back - keep tight till the set is finished. If it still hurts, ice it 20 mins, 20 mins off. You can also do some lower back exercises (like deadlifts) with an empty bar or REALLY low weight, high repetitions to get the blood in there to help it heal (it should feel better further into the set, if it feels worse you need to stop).

 

Overhead press is usually the first one people stall on - your shoulders won't be especially weak; shoulders are the smallest muscles out of the ones the main lifts hit. Remember, if you fail a weight you try it twice more before deloading by 10% for the next workout. And if you fail before the last set you still finish all 5 sets every workout, just with as many reps as you can manage. What you can do is look at your technique in the meantime. Grip the bar tight, keep the bar CLOSE TO YOUR FACE when you're pressing, sort your breathing out so you don't have to pause at the bottom between reps. Most importantly make sure you're not using your legs or leaning to one side. As soon as the bar passes the top of your head throw your torso through to make lockout easier.

 

For pull-ups after you've done your 3xF, do 10 negatives without rest/bringing your arms down inbetween. Jump up and lower yourself as slowly as possible. Use wide grip to hit your lats more. As well as building your pullup numbers quickly you'll also get a better workout.

 

With all exercises it's good to take a video of yourself if you can. You'll probably see things you don't notice you're doing.

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Thanks chewy for the tips. Its good to hear, about stalling out on the shoulders. I will the negative pull ups. As for my lower back. I am heating it and iceing it. It was odd though it felt strained while working out today but right after it felt ok but after a few hours it started to hurt again. So we will see. I would like to mix my rice protein with another protein powder. I was thinking of pea, Has anyone had good luck with it? I dont do soy, it does a number on my digestion. I tried vega brand before and man that stuff is gross. I just want to make sure I am getting complete protein with all EAA.

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Keep at it with the iceing, and make sure workouts aren't making it worse. I've read on here that 70% pea/30% rice is best for amino profile. I use a 60% pea/25% rice/15% hemp combination. I don't like the taste of pea or hemp but I did notice a slight improvement in recovery/mass when I changed over (used to use 100% rice), and I felt better about using smoothies as meals.

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the workout kinda sucked today, mostly cause of my low back injury/soreness. I had a massage last nite the therapist thought it was an intercostal tear around my ribs. I couldnt finish my squats because of it tonight. I did a little extra seated leg presses to make up for my sqauts. I am not sure what to do though when I have to do deadlifts. Do people us those belts?

Should I get one?

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I am not sure what to do though when I have to do deadlifts.
If you had to stop squatting because of your back, you're not going to deadlift with work weight 2 days later. Forget about the belt. I would either just miss squats/deads completely and just do press/chins/bridge, or do high reps with an empty bar (maybe 3 or 4 sets of 20 reps) - and only keep going if your back feels better towards the end of the set. The idea is to get the blood flowing through there to help it heal quicker. And go back to iceing after workout.

 

Don't get tempted to go heavy. Sounds like this is your first injury, let's deal with it properly. You need your lower back for everything, if you make it worse it could become a reoccuring injury.

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My best advice is to find somewhere in your city/area where you can get proper coaching on form for a few sessions. Not the generic "random trainer at the gym", but for quality control purposes, find an olympic or powerlifting coach. There will be some if you have a university/college near you, and even if you don't, there are sometimes people at community centres and things like that.

 

To have such a bad injury so soon suggests to me that there's something majorly wrong with your form. Having a professional, experienced lifter guide you for a few sessions might do a world of good. Of course, that's only after you've rested and recovered!

 

Feel better soon.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I got good news and bad news! Good news is my back is better, back on squats I am currently squating my weight 130lbs. Which is great but feeling really heavy. And More good news is I am 130lbs, thats about 12lbs gained in 2 months. Bad news a few weeks ago I hurt my chest, I wasn't sure what did it, but I talked to my nurse ( I have a heart problem, so I wanted to make sure it wasnt that) and she was thinking it was a strain on my cartilage in my chest. It is on my left side only, so I have laid off alot of upperbody. Its slowly felling better but I feel way of I need a solid workout program to feel like I am doing something in the gym. So I hope this gets better soon.

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For shoulders you're already doing, 5x5 overhead press every 2nd workout (which is already a lot) and they will get hit in lots of other exercises you don't realise including bench, pushups, dips, pullups, chinups. Shoulders are small muscles and if you hit them too often they're not gonna get a chance to recover and grow. For traps why not just shrug at the top of deadlifts?

 

And are you still adding weight to your deadlifts each time you make 1x5. If so, rather than burning out with an extra set of 5, save yourself for the next time you do them (most likely only 4/5 days) so you're more likely to hit the next weight 1x5.

 

The most important thing is you increase your 5x5 maxes (1x5 for deadlift). Anything extra you do on top is going to unncessarily burn out your muscles and stop you hitting targets.

 

How's all your lifts doing just now? What ones you stalled at so far and how many times?

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Chewy,

 

I am a bit all over the place , with first my back, then my chest injury. So with that said I will try to give you as much info. Maybe you can see something I am doing wrong that I cant see.This next week will be the first week in a while back on the upper body stuff on the 5x5.

I have been going up everytime on some but have stalled out or leveled off on things like rows or pullups.

 

Squats- I have been going up every time until I hit 125lbs,I stayed there for a week, then went to where I am currently 130Ibs have been there for the last 2 workouts.

 

Deadlifts-I have been going up every time at 140lbs now and started doing 2 sets cause I really didnt feel it with the one set.

 

Bench press- gone up every time. at 90lbs. Added incline a few weeks ago 60lbs 5x5. I added that because my chest is flat as could be on the top and center with the bottom of my pecs getting thicker and thicker.

 

Inverted rows- I seem to be leveled out. for weeks I have been about 12,9,8 reps. I cant seem to get much passed that. Should I add weight?

 

Chin ups- I am weak on these- I can only do like 5,4,3 and that doesnt seem to increase.

 

pull ups- weak also 8,5,3 And after that I dont even feel my lats are worked. So I have add bent over rows, or seated rows. 3 sets.

 

Overhead press- I have stalled out on a few weeks ago and I am at 60lbs. Again after doing these I dont really feel like my shoulder have been worked even though it feels heavy and I can barely finish all sets.

 

Traps- I have started to work on cause I hate how flat mine are. Shoulder shrugs and close grip barbell pull ups.

 

Dips and push ups- I started super setting these two. I am currently at push ups 12, 10, 9 and dips 10,7,7 I like doing these I actually feel my arms being worked on this but I have leveled out on these the last few weeks.

 

I started adding more exercises cause, I feel like the parts, like my legs arms and lower chest are getting bigger. But my upper chest lats shoulders and traps are not really growing. So I am getting frustrated. I am at 130lbs eating about 3200 cals a day which is good because 2 and half months ago I was 118 and eating like 1500 cals.

I have also added running to get rid of my belly.

 

If you have any thoughts please let me know, thanks!

If you have any thoughts please let me know. Thanks

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Hey man!

 

Keep chipping away at the Squats along with the deload procedure. You get 3 attempts at a weight at 5x5 (remember even if you fail before the 5th set, attempt all 5 sets), then deload by 10% and work your way back up. It's natural not being able to lift your 5x5 max in any exercise 3x/week.

 

How much weight have you been adding to deadlifts? When I started I'm sure it said add 5kg(10lbs), rather than the 5lbs in the rest of the exercises. Stick to the 1x5 and keep adding weight, there is no need to feel that you have to burn yourself out every workout.

 

Be careful with adding incline and the possibility it could tire you out for your main bench. It's very easy to add extra exercises at the start and not feel an effect, but when the weight catches up with you you could find yourself in trouble. It's not just your tris/chest, your shoulders will be hit as well and you don't want them fucked when you're pressing 2 days later.

 

I don't recommend adding weight to inverted rows. Are you doing the feet elevated version, or are your heels on the floor? Keep at it, your numbers will start going up. When you hit 15, switch to the feet elevated version (if you aren't already) and when you can do 15 switch to barbell rows 5x5 (or 3x5). That's when you start adding weight.

 

I'm surprised you can do more pullups than chins, it's usually the other way about. The truth is you're adding weight to these every week without realising it - body weight! So you are getting stronger at these, if you were to lose bodyfat and keep your muscle the numbers would go up. Also these are a tough exercise to add weight to. After your 3xF, do 10 negatives, as slow as possible (instead of rows, leave this for Workout A). If you're thinking your lats aren't getting enough work, use wide grip.

 

Although overhead press is the first to stall and hardest to add weight to, I'm gonna guess that the amount of exercises you've added is tiring your shoulders out, and adding to it. They're small muscles that need rest. Again, your upright rows you're doing for traps are gonna tire them out. If you're worried about your traps, shrug during deadlifts, and make sure you shrug up at the end of every overhead press rep - it's your traps that are holding the weight in place if you do it right.

 

Can you do 15 good pushups in a row yet? If not, stick to 3xF. If you can, do dips 3xF. When you can do 15 in the first set, switched to 3x5 weighted dips. The idea in all these exercises in stronglifts are to get you strong, not to get you a good "pump".

 

 

You just need to be patient with it man. There's a good chance when you add extra exercises you won't give the targetted muscles a chance to recover and grow (and even beat up other muscles that the exercise doesn't target). You're close to pushing your 5x5 max in all exercises, and the rest to failure. Squatting heavy 3x a week. The stress it already puts on your body is high, don't overwork and keep it simple!

 

 

If you're keen to do extra, there's plenty you can do - dyanmic stretches (or anything that improves your flexibility. good for injury prevention), foam rolling, grip work.

 

But during your stronglifts workouts, try to stick to the program and the deload procedure. Just because you don't wake up sore or get a pump doesn't mean you're not growing. I barely got either but it didn't stunt my growth!

 

Hope this helps man

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Well a workout that finally felt good after injuries healed up. Went up on my squats 140lbs- overhead press still stalling out at 65lbs-Deadlifts went up to 145lbs, And Chewy you would be proud I only did one set. Pull ups still suck for me only did 5 on the first set, 2 on the second set and 4 negatives on the last set. its pitiful Extra stuff after all that Barbell pull ups 45lbs 3x8, Lat Rows 100lbs 3x6 and Neck bridges (Bruce Lee style)

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