The move from 5x5 to 3x5 is done after deloading 3 times on that particular exercise (you deload 10% if you fail to get 5x5 on that weight 3 times in a row). Deloading is for each exercise (for example, most will have their first failures on bench or OHP), and not for the whole workout. One could still be on 5x5 for squats, but on 3x5 for OHP, etc., at the same time.

Had a fun first today.

On the first squat rep at working weight, the ass seam on my shorts blew open. Glad I wasn't at the gym or some poor ******* would have had a terrible view!

Back in the saddle yesterday after a 3 or 4 month layoff due to tennis elbow tried to split the difference between the 1st 5x5 workout and where I stopped, and that was probably too much.

A workout
Squat 135 (last was 180) 55355 - almost can't walk today
OHP 75 (90) 55311 - Brutal at least the shoulders don't feel like my legs
Deadlift 140(220) 5 - Yay!

I think tomorrow I will just pick up on squats where I left off and let the deloads fall where they may. Assuming I can walk up the stairs at the gym....

Well that hurt....

Last workout is still killing the legs, first time on this program, so clearly I started back too heavy.

B workout
Squat 115 - too sore to go, will probably roll it back to 95, 50% of my max and work back up from there.
Bench 85 5x5 felt about right
Row 65 x 5x5 just started from scratch as these have given me trouble.

Swam 500yd after to burn some extra calories.

If you are trying to lose weight as part of the program, especially early on, get in 30 or so mins of moderate cardio after the lifts, same day. That will burn off some of the spare calories for you, until the muscle mass builds up to burn it off automatically. I'm going to do some cardio on the off days, 45-60 mins of light to moderate to burn more, and accept that progress will be slower on Stronglifts as a result, if that happens. I want to get down 30 lbs or so then build it back up, so that is the route I'm going to take. I eat pretty much as healthy as I'm gonna, which is neither great nor horrible, but I'm willing to live with my vices for now.... I know the cardio will take the weight off for me, it has before, back then I was riding a bike for a couple hours a day at a moderate pace.

Cheers,
Jet

Question - after your first set failure (mine was OHP, as it seems is pretty common), how long did it take before you running into additional failures?

Last Monday I failed to complete my fifth set of OHP at 100lbs, but came back on Saturday and knocked them out.

Yesterday I was able to complete my OHP at 105lbs, but it was tough.

I guess what I'm really looking for is - now that I dropped a set, should I expect to keep hitting walls, or will the constant progression keep going? I realize every day is different, and everyone has good days and bad, just curious what you might have noticed.

I'd say that it gets to a point where you have to bring your A game every workout or you will start having misses. Those misses become trends, then 5x3 may be in order.

Having said that keep the focus on form and not the weight on the bar. The rest will sort itself out.

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The move from 5x5 to 3x5 is done after deloading 3 times on that particular exercise (you deload 10% if you fail to get 5x5 on that
weight 3 times in a row)

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Is this per workout or per set? I understand that if I fail to get 5x5 on OHP. I come back to the same weight the next workout. If I then failed the first 3 sets, would I deload immediately, or do 5x what I can manage, and come back to that weight a 3rd time?

If you fail to get all 5x5 3 workouts in a row, then deload on that exercise. Usually the progression may look like this:

• 1st attempt = 5/5/3/2/2
• 2nd attempt = 5/5/5/4/3
• 3rd attempt = if 5/5/5/5/5 then increase weight, or if 5/5/5/5/4 then deload 10%

Hope this helps explain it.

The way I understand it, you'd have to fail to get a full 5x5 nine times before you'd move to 3x5.

5/5/5/3/2 - try again, same weight
5/5/5/5/4 - try again, same weight
5/5/5/5/4 - deload 10%

5/5/5/5/3 - try again, same (deloaded) weight
5/5/5/5/2 - try again, same (deloaded) weight
5/5/5/5/4 - deload (another) 10%

5/5/5/3/2 - try again, same (twice deloaded) weight
5/5/5/5/4 - try again, same (twice deloaded) weight
5/5/5/5/4 - move to 3x5

I believe any period of time could pass between the individual dropoffs - in reality, you could hit all nine of these sets at the same weight. The example above would be if you failed 9 consecutive workouts, which is unlikely, but easier to explain.

makes sense. thanks guys!

This video should help clear up any remaining questions you may have.

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This video should help clear up any remaining questions you may have.

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Looking to buy a power cage and found a Kip Cage for $500

http://www.fringesport.com/products/onefitwonder-power-cage
Worth the extra 180 to get that instead of a PPR200X?

http://www.amazon.com/Powerline-PPR200X-PowerLine-Power-Rack/dp/B000VLRVSC

What is the best android app for this? The one you get when you search has a lot of freemium features that I'm not sure are needed.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stronglifts.app

I haven't found a better version. The paid features are beneficial, but can easily be ignored.

The warmups are a nice adder, as well as the plate calculator (math gets infinitely harder for me once I enter the gym). Don't really see a need for many of the others, and I bought the original Power Pack of add-ons ($10).

So which adder is it? It looks like there is a power pack and a different one and they are absolutely not clear about which does what exactly.

The new ones are brand new, like last week new.

I personally would buy the warmups and the plate calculator on their own ($1.99/ea) and if you decide you need the others later (3x5 might be useful later) it applies what you've already purchased to the price of the power pack.

I'm really sad to say that I failed last night squatting with barely 150 lbs. Pathetic, I know. I did 5, 5, 4, 3, 1. Upper body is still going strong. OHP I did 100 lbs without any problems. Not sure why my legs are so weak.

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I'm really sad to say that I failed last night squatting with barely 150 lbs. Pathetic, I know. I did 5, 5, 4, 3, 1. Upper body is still going strong. OHP I did 100 lbs without any problems. Not sure why my legs are so weak.

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Deload, check you form and try again. Its only failing if you quit.

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I'm really sad to say that I failed last night squatting with barely 150 lbs. Pathetic, I know. I did 5, 5, 4, 3, 1. Upper body is still going strong. OHP I did 100 lbs without any problems. Not sure why my legs are so weak.

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Deload, check you form and try again. Its only failing if you quit.

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Don't deload yet. You've got 2 more workouts at that weight. If you don't get it then, then deload, right.

I had my first FAIL today on squat at 205 lbs. Went 5/3/3/3/3. Most I've ever squatted. I never focused on squats and DL before this. I've grown to really like them both. Today I didn't want to go ass to grass w/o a spotter so I was pretty cautious.

Anybody else doing this routine solo and sans spotter? I think I am going to pickup the TaskForce metal sawhorses at Lowes because I don't have any safety pins in my rack. I can set them just below parallel in case I do fail.

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I had my first FAIL today on squat at 205 lbs. Went 5/3/3/3/3. Most I've ever squatted. I never focused on squats and DL before this. I've grown to really like them both. Today I didn't want to go ass to grass w/o a spotter so I was pretty cautious.

Anybody else doing this routine solo and sans spotter? I think I am going to pickup the TaskForce metal sawhorses at Lowes because I don't have any safety pins in my rack. I can set them just below parallel in case I do fail.

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One of my worst squat sessions was with a spotter. Get a good rack setup and press on....

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I had my first FAIL today on squat at 205 lbs. Went 5/3/3/3/3. Most I've ever squatted. I never focused on squats and DL before this. I've grown to really like them both. Today I didn't want to go ass to grass w/o a spotter so I was pretty cautious.

Anybody else doing this routine solo and sans spotter? I think I am going to pickup the TaskForce metal sawhorses at Lowes because I don't have any safety pins in my rack. I can set them just below parallel in case I do fail.

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Yes, I have a gym in my garage and have not used a spotter in 10+ years w/no issues using the Stronglifts 5x5, 5/3/1, Doggcrapp, Starting Strength, etc. I set the pins a notch or two below parallel. If you are going to workout solo then a Power Rack is a must! You can spend as low as $300.00 up to thousands of dollars for all of the bells and whistles.

For me it helps to have a full length mirror in front of me when doing squats so you can see how deep you really are going and helps keep your form in check.

I actually have a question about this. I squat ass-to-grass as well, everytime, but I'm wondering if I'd be able to squeeze out a few more reps if I just limited my squat to a level where my thighs are below parallel instead of going all the way down ass-to-grass? Is one method really better than the other?

As I understand it, as long as your hip joint is below the knee joint you are good on form. In a practical sense with a few plates on the bar there is not much difference between the two as you reverse the momentum of the bar.

Personally watched a guy do about 300lbs ass to grass like it was nothing, crazy....

Question for all

I've been 5x5'ing about 8 weeks now. Should I stop for a week and take a break? My knees and chest feel fatigued, and I've put on 20 lbs

Sheesh..I wish I could put on half that. I've gained about 4 whole lbs and I'm on week 12.

I would take a break if I was you. A program like SL helps me think long term. I took a week off at about week 7 after tweaking my back cleaning out my parents garage. I came back the next Monday right where I left off and felt rested and strong. I want to make gains steadily over time. It's not one of those BS 21-day to a sixpack plans....

Thx for input.

Yea, I've been eating like a horse while 5x5'ing and it's paid off dividends I think. Trying to hit 3,500-4,000 in "clean" calories a day.

Eating 300+ g protein and carbs, and around 80-100 g in fat.

I've been following the old saying - "If you're eating so much it makes you slightly nauseous, you know you're doing it right."

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Question for all

I've been 5x5'ing about 8 weeks now. Should I stop for a week and take a break? My knees and chest feel fatigued, and I've put on 20 lbs

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Yes, I would. The last time I did 5x5 I had to take a 7-10 day break b/c my left hip flexor would basically "give out" when doing squats after about 2 straight months on the program. During the break I foam rolled and stretched. Came back and didn't have any other issues.

What do you guys do in the early stages on the off days. I'm sure this has been discussed at length here, but curious if you all would advise doing some plyo/mma/cardio stuff 2x a week and 5x5 3x a week? At least till things start getting hard.

I play basketball 2x/week for 2 hours and don't do a ton of cardio otherwise. Early on, I did accessory work between sets. 3 sets to failure Pullups on OHP day and 3 sets of dips on days when I rowed. As the weights gotten heavier, I've just rested between sets or will do those at the very end.

I've got my last workout Wednesday of this week to complete the first 12-weeks. I couldn't get through 205 on squat again today, so I will deload there. I hope I can get through the 130 lb on OHP and squat will be my only failure.

Have any of you taken a month off from the SL to do something else and then come back to it? I really like it, but's gotten a tad stale and I would like a change of pace for a month or so.

I was thinking of something like a 3 day mass split MWF.

Monday - BB Squat/BB Front Squat/Rom. DL/BB Lunges

Wed - Back/Core

Fri - Chest/Shoulders - Thrusters

Thoughts? Suggestions?