My gym doesn't have a squat rack, it only has a smith machine. Not sure what my options would be. I want to stick with the gym because it is the only one in town that has a pool. As a triathlete, swim training is a must.

Build one at home?

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My gym doesn't have a squat rack, it only has a smith machine. Not sure what my options would be. I want to stick with the gym because it is the only one in town that has a pool. As a triathlete, swim training is a must.

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DO NOT do this program with a smith machine. If you absolutely must stay at that particular gym, I would recommend using dumbbells before using the smith machine.

1st Failure today with the OHP @ 75 lbs. Went 5,5,5,5,3

Not too surprising given that it is clear that this is my weakest movement of the 4.

I'm also extremely sore from weekend activities that stressed my back a good bit.

I'm sure a failure on Row is coming as well.

I'll keep pushing.

on OHP. make sure you are keeping your core and glutes tight all of the way through the movement. and don't forget to squeeze the bar.

I am on my second trip through.
This time as I was approaching plateaus in weights, would allow for increased time before going up by repeating successful sets of 5 the next week, and or increasing only the latter sets.

For example, on ohp, this time when when I completed a successful set of 5 x 95, instead of going up to 100, the next week (or two) I repeated the set of 5x95, really checking to see if I was controlling the weight and using proper form. When I was ready to go up, I probably did 3x95 and 2x100, followed by a week of 2x95 and 3x100, followed by 1x95 and 4x100, followed by 5x100.

I'm not in any hurry to go up and fail, but I do want to keep progressing, and not smart enough to handle rebounding off failure.

I've been really slow on dead lift as I'm less comfortable with my form.

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1st Failure today with the OHP @ 75 lbs. Went 5,5,5,5,3

Not too surprising given that it is clear that this is my weakest movement of the 4.

I'm also extremely sore from weekend activities that stressed my back a good bit.

I'm sure a failure on Row is coming as well.

I'll keep pushing.

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Check out Jim Wendler's YouTube video on OHP. Hand placement on the bar is pretty crucial to getting the most out of that lift in addition to core/glute stability as already mentioned.

Completion of week 4 - very happy to say that I've not missed a work out yet.

Still seeing nice gains.

Re-lifted the same weight from Monday that I failed at on OHP today and completed the 5x5 with no problems.

Only @ 135lbs on Squat, but it's beginning to get tougher every session.

Starting to see some changes in my body, and I'm really encouraged by that. Have only lost 3 lbs. I know that building muscle won't result in much weight loss, but I thought I'd still see some weight shed given the belly fat that I'm carrying around.

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Completion of week 4 - very happy to say that I've not missed a work out yet.

Still seeing nice gains.

Re-lifted the same weight from Monday that I failed at on OHP today and completed the 5x5 with no problems.

Only @ 135lbs on Squat, but it's beginning to get tougher every session.

Starting to see some changes in my body, and I'm really encouraged by that. Have only lost 3 lbs. I know that building muscle won't result in much weight loss, but I thought I'd still see some weight shed given the belly fat that I'm carrying around.

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Did you start out with more than the bar on squats? I started out with the bar and just completed the first workout of week 5 and I'm only at 105 on the squats. Going to 110 on Tuesday. Feel great though. Love this workout so far!

I had been doing some of these exercises with dumbbells, so when I switched to using the bar, I just went to a weight that I was comfortable with. For squats - that was 95lbs.

OHP/Row/Dead lift - all started at the bar only as I wasn't as familiar with those lifts.

Just completed week 5 - really proud that I haven't missed a workout and am adding a day of cardio into the week as well.

I'm 5lbs down, but I can really start to feel the changed in my body. The core is really starting to tighten and I'm feeling some loosening of the pants in the waistline!!!

I failed at Row today for the fist time. I'm not really confident in this movement, so I'm going to deload quite a bit just to focus on form. I'm really not concerned with the # of lbs, so I'm not discourage, but do think I'll be better served by dropping back quite a bit.

I'm to a point where I seem to take a fail and then surge cycle with OHP, but when I do stop surging, I'll probably take a significant deload there as well. I really like the way this exercise makes my back/lats/shoulders feel, so I want to make sure that I stay confident/motivated with it and keep going.

Squat/Deadlift/Bench all are providing some good resistance at this point but I feel I can keep pushing before I have to worry about failure here.

I'm right there with you Ezra. I just completed week 5 this week also. I haven't had any failures yet, but I started with the bar on everything but deadlifts and rows. And on those I started with the recommended minimum. I feel some changes going on too.

I've been worried about hurting my back in all this with all the compression going on so the week I bought some gravity boots and a door frame bar to hang from for decompression. That feels nice so far.

Week 6 in the books - still haven't missed a workout.

I had my first real disappointment this morning with a failure on Squat. I'm not at a super heavy weight yet, only 165, but I'm well beyond anything I've ever done since this is the first time I've ever squatted with a barbell.

I played golf yesterday, so my body was still a little fatigued.

On my second set my back let me know really quickly that it didn't like the weight this morning. I powered through that, but when I unracked the bar for set 3 my body instantly told me "no way". Took 30 lbs off and tried to do set #3, but my body still said "no".

I did manage to complete my OHP and DL part of the workout after a few minutes of rest.

We'll call this a temporary set back and get back at it on Monday.

Is this program primarily for muscular strength gains, muscular size gains, or exactly what are the objectives associated with it? I'm considering taking it on in a few weeks once I'm done with my current lifting program.

It is all about what I would call practical strength gains. You are exclusively doing basic compound lifts. As you get stronger you will of course look better, but do not mistake this for a body building routine. That's just not what it is.

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Is this program primarily for muscular strength gains, muscular size gains, or exactly what are the objectives associated with it? I'm considering taking it on in a few weeks once I'm done with my current lifting program.

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Strength is directly related to the cross-sectional size of a muscle. It's great for strength AND size (assuming you are in a caloric surplus.)

Take a hard look at your squat form. Might be leaking strength there.

Made it through all 5X5 this morning at the weight I failed at on Friday.

It was difficult though.

Trying to decide if I repeat this weight for a time or two or keep moving upward - any thoughts? I know what the program says, but JetPilot86 has a point and there is likely an element of poor form involved here. Maybe I should stand pat at the same weight for a session or two and get some better form back in.

If you made it through with the correct form then keep moving up. If you felt your form suffered then I would not.

Agree with 1906.

For me personally, when it is really "difficult" that usually means I cheat a little or my form has suffered. Very difficult with great form is exactly what you're going for to get stronger, though. So if you did it with good form then press on.

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Week 6 in the books - still haven't missed a workout.

I had my first real disappointment this morning with a failure on Squat. I'm not at a super heavy weight yet, only 165, but I'm well beyond anything I've ever done since this is the first time I've ever squatted with a barbell.

I played golf yesterday, so my body was still a little fatigued.

On my second set my back let me know really quickly that it didn't like the weight this morning. I powered through that, but when I unracked the bar for set 3 my body instantly told me "no way". Took 30 lbs off and tried to do set #3, but my body still said "no".

I did manage to complete my OHP and DL part of the workout after a few minutes of rest.

We'll call this a temporary set back and get back at it on Monday.

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What part of your body told you no? Lower back I'm assuming?

Yes - lower back.

I've long had issues with lack of strength in the lumbar region and experience a lot of pain/discomfort when I stress it too much or for too long.

One of the reasons that drew me to this workout plan was getting stronger in that area.

I had played golf on Thursday of last week and was a bit sore from that. I also think I loaded the body incorrectly as I un-racked the bar and the back tensed up a bit funny.

I spent a lot of Saturday working to de-week the flower beds in our house and some other chores on Sunday that stressed my back a bit as well - I wouldn't have been surprised if I hadn't been able to complete the lift today. I was able to power through it.

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Yes - lower back.

I've long had issues with lack of strength in the lumbar region and experience a lot of pain/discomfort when I stress it too much or for too long.

One of the reasons that drew me to this workout plan was getting stronger in that area.

I had played golf on Thursday of last week and was a bit sore from that. I also think I loaded the body incorrectly as I un-racked the bar and the back tensed up a bit funny.

I spent a lot of Saturday working to de-week the flower beds in our house and some other chores on Sunday that stressed my back a bit as well - I wouldn't have been surprised if I hadn't been able to complete the lift today. I was able to power through it.

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Sounds like your back could be rounding at the bottom of your squat. I've had some of the same issues in the middle of my squats. It turned out that I wasn't keeping good form and wasn't wearing my belt properly.

I will do front squats as warmups at times as they force to to stay more vertical with your back and drive with your legs instead.

On the back squats we do, i find when i stall on the way up that i must be VERY mindful to keep my butt pulled forward and keep driving with my legs vs shifting my butt back and transferring the load to my low back to regain momentum upwards. It is very subtle until you are aware of it.

When i feel myself stalling, i move my glance from straight ahead to up and it seems to bull my butt back under my shoulders.

Hth.

I've looked at a few videos on YouTube to focus on form a bit.

One thing I've noticed is that I may be standing with a bit too wide of a stance....I had widened my stance to give me more space to "drop into" where maybe I need to be more "over" my stance.

I'm not sure if that makes sense or if I've explained it well at all, but I'm going to try a bit narrower stance tomorrow to see if that affects anything.

I also may be looking too far down and getting over my toes a bit. I've really tried to keep my eyes down vs up and may be over doing that some as well.

My stance is wider than i prefer because I need a little extra room for the gut when the hips go below the knees. I generally look slightly below straight ahead.

That's exactly what I meant

Week 7 in the books - still on track with no missed workouts (this is extremely important to me since I can easily talk myself out of doing the work).

I didn't update after Monday, but I'm back on track with Squat. I repeated last Friday's failed weight on Monday and then after the discussion here, proceeded with the 5lb add on Wed. and again this morning. So 175lbs as of today. It's getting EXTREMELY difficult, but I've set a personal goal of getting to 225lbs and I'm staying with this program until I get there, failures/resets be damned.

All other lifts are progressing nicely. Another failure on OHP on Wed. when I went 5,5,5,5,3 @ 80lbs. I'm really liking OHP as I'm really feeling it build my lats/back, so I'll just continue with the fail/surge cycle as I get stronger.

Nearing the end of what I think I can reasonably do with rows and am trying to decide what to do here....I know this is a Stronglifts thread, but I'm getting more and more information from Starting Strength and that program doesn't really use a row. I do like the exercise so I may just drop the weight by a fare amount and add reps?

Arrrgh.

Had a small hernia I noticed a year or two ago (saw the small bulge), kept an eye on it but never had any pain or affected my lifts.

Last week either one of my workouts or playing racquetball must have made it worse, because now its definitely aggravating me. When to GP who confirmed hernia, gave me name of place where I can get patched up if I feel its necessary (he thought I might be able to avoid surgery with rest and ibuprofen but efff that).

So looks like I'm going to be down for the count for 6+ weeks. Damnit!

Week 8 in the books - still no missed workouts.

Squatted my body weight today, it's definitely getting harder, but I've got my sights set on getting that 2nd 45lb plate added and busting through that.

OHP continues to be my weakest lift. Went 5,5,3,3,2 today @ 85lbs, so I'll give it another shot next Wed.

I've dropped the lbs on row and moved to the machine - I'm generally subscribing more to the Starting Strength approach as I've learned more about these lifts and those guys aren't big on row. I still like the move but the weight had progressed far enough that I needed to reset and focus on form. I'm still doing the exercise but I'm not nearly as concerned with it as the others.

I finished week 8 last night and also have not missed a workout. I started at the bottom with every recommended start weight, but jumped my bench weight at 10 lbs. a time on a couple of workouts, because the bench press was still too easy. I'm currently at....

160 squat
205 deadlift
100 OHP
115 row
110 bench press

I haven't failed on anything yet and I'm seeing really good gains in muscle tone and my clothes are fitting better. I'm also doing C25K on my off days from Stronglifts. I'm still trying to figure out if I should continue down this path or not though because I'm afraid the running might not be giving my legs enough rest and it will effect my squats.

I too have tried to put in some cardio on the off days and I'm finding it makes the lofting days harder then those lifting days where I've skipped the cardio on the off day.

It's a really tough decision forme as I've got some fat that I'd like to drop. I have seen a few recommendations that if you really want to do some cardio on the off days to make it a vigorous walk at an incline. I've done that once and still felt like I got a good workout in so I may give it a go next week as well

I'm also struggling with how to work in accessory work given that I'd like to see some gains in shoulders/arms as well

For extra workout in my arms and shoulders, I've added chin ups and pull ups to each workout. I do chin ups after one workout and pull ups after the next. I'm doing those sets in 5X5 too with a 1:30 rest between. I bought one of those assistance bands with the 3 bands on them. The first month, I used all 3 bands, the second month 2 bands, and last week I went down to one band. I hoping by the end of this month to be able to quit using the band altogether.

I've been doing a modified version of Stronglifts for 5 weeks now and I can really see and feel the difference in muscle mass and firmness.

Workout A

Squat - 5x5
Overhead Press - 5x5
Push-ups - 3x10
Bench Press - 5x5
Incline DB Press - 3x10
Cable Chest Flyes - 3x10
Tricep Pushdowns 3x10

Workout B

Squat - 5x5
Deadlift - 5x5
Barbell Row - 5x5
Lat Pulldown - 3x10
One Arm DB Row - 3x10
Cable Back Flyes - 3x10
Cable Bicep Curls - 3x10

At the gym now and about to do workout B.

Follow up to yesterday's post. This is all 5 weeks so far...

Squat (5x5) +20 lbs each time
Goal - 315
1 - 155, 175, 195, 205, 235,
2 - 155, 175, 195, 205, 235,
3 - 155, 175, 195, 205, 235,
4 - 155, 175, 195, 205, 235,
5 - 155, 175, 195, 205, 235,

Deadlift (5x5) + 20 lbs each time
Goal - 275
1 - 115, 135, 155, 175, 195,
2 - 115, 135, 155, 175, 195,
3 - 115, 135, 155, 175, 195,
4 - 115, 135, 155, 175, 195,
5 - 115, 135, 155, 175, 195,

Barbell Row (5x5) +10 lbs each time
Goal - 185
1 - 105, 115, 125, 135, 145,
2 - 105, 115, 125, 135, 145,
3 - 105, 115, 125, 135, 145,
4 - 105, 115, 125, 135, 145,
5 - 105, 115, 125, 135, 145,

Lat Pulldown (3x10)
1 - 135, 150, 165, 165, 180,
2 - 135, 150, 165x7, 165, 180x9,
3 - 135, 150, 165x6, 165, 180x6,

One Arm Dumbbell Row (3x10)
1 - 50, 55, 60, 70, 75,
2 - 50, 55, 60, 70, 75,
3 - 50, 55, 60, 70, 75,

Cable Back Fly (3x10)
1 - 30x6, 30, 35, 35, 35,
2 - 25, 30, 35x8, 35x7.5, 35,
3 - 25, 30, 35x4, 35x6, 35x7,

Cable Curls (3x10)
1 - 50, 50, 60, 60, 70,
2 - 50, 50, 60, 60, 70x3,
3 - 50x6, 50, 60x6, 60, 70x5,