quote:

---

Starting to wonder if I've hit a physiological max.

I've cycled through 5x5 three separate times over the last three years (~6 weeks per cycle) and have hit failure this time at a seemingly insurmountable weight.

Maybe it's diet (I may not eat enough protein), but 280 squat and 240 bench feel like my threshold. At 165-170lbs body weight I know there's strength I can still squeeze out, just can't seem to find the formula.

Those who've gone with resets, do you find it reinvigorating? What other routines have folks turned to when taking a break from 5x5?

---

First Three Questions

Completion of Week 16!

I've reached a point where I'm now stalling at all lifts and need to heed the advice I gave above about why that is:

• I know I could do better about better about rest between sets, but I'm trying to knock everything out in an hour and that makes it difficult
• My gym doesn't have fractional plates, so micro-loading is hard to do
• Pretty sure I could use more protein and calories overall

Those are all excuses and I know that I can still get better.

On Monday, I manged to miss the rack on my right side when re-racking a warm-up set of squats and spilled 70lbs onto the floor. That tweaked my back a bit and I wound up cutting that work-out short. Just to shore up my confidence, I've re-set my squat down to 205 (I was planning to squat 235) and will work up from there.

Adjusted the DL down as well as I just lacked confidence overall that my back is as strong as it needs to be and I want to feel a bit more comfortable with what the amounts on the bar.

Huge confidence builder on the OHP today as I pushed up 95lbs, a new PR after struggling with 90lbs and having to re-set down to 80lbs and work back up.

I'm strongly considering setting up an appointment with a Starting Strength Coach to review form and path forward as I really like these movements but want to also consider my overall programming going forward.

Been watching the free starting strength stuff. excellent form tips, found some stuff I'm doing wrong....

quote:

---

Completion of Week 16!

I've reached a point where I'm now stalling at all lifts and need to heed the advice I gave above about why that is:

• I know I could do better about better about rest between sets, but I'm trying to knock everything out in an hour and that makes it difficult
• My gym doesn't have fractional plates, so micro-loading is hard to do
• Pretty sure I could use more protein and calories overall

Those are all excuses and I know that I can still get better.

On Monday, I manged to miss the rack on my right side when re-racking a warm-up set of squats and spilled 70lbs onto the floor. That tweaked my back a bit and I wound up cutting that work-out short. Just to shore up my confidence, I've re-set my squat down to 205 (I was planning to squat 235) and will work up from there.

Adjusted the DL down as well as I just lacked confidence overall that my back is as strong as it needs to be and I want to feel a bit more comfortable with what the amounts on the bar.

Huge confidence builder on the OHP today as I pushed up 95lbs, a new PR after struggling with 90lbs and having to re-set down to 80lbs and work back up.

I'm strongly considering setting up an appointment with a Starting Strength Coach to review form and path forward as I really like these movements but want to also consider my overall programming going forward.

---

****'s has 2.5lb Olympic plates for $2.99 a piece. I'm sure it's about the same at Academy. You need them bad. All you need is 2 of them.

Yeah, trying to do it all in hour gets tough as you get up there in weight. I'm having to rest about 3 minutes between my squats now. My workouts are taking about 1.5 hours to 1.75 hours with the extra stuff I'm doing, but even if I take that away, my Stronglifts part of workout is at least an hour and 15-20 minutes.

I'm not eating enough calories either because I'm trying to lose fat still. I'm trying to each a lot of protein, but I'm sure it's still not enough. I haven't even figured up how much I eat per day yet.

I have lost 18 lbs though so I'm happy about that. I really need to lose about another 15-20 lbs.

Week 16 in the books for me too and I'm 2 weeks into couch to 5K. My runs so far have felt almost effortless with the muscle I've built in my legs from squatting. But I'm still very early in on C25k so I'm only running a couple of minutes at a time right now, but I'm speed walking the rest of it.

We have 2.5lb plates - it's .5lb plates that I think we need.

My back "tweak" from last week is still lingering and I couldn't go at my full work-weight this morning. Warm-up was fine, but when I got to my work sets, I couldn't do it.

Rest of the workout was fine, just back bothering me right now.

quote:

---

We have 2.5lb plates - it's .5lb plates that I think we need.

My back "tweak" from last week is still lingering and I couldn't go at my full work-weight this morning. Warm-up was fine, but when I got to my work sets, I couldn't do it.

Rest of the workout was fine, just back bothering me right now.

---

I did StrongLifts a few years ago and want to get back into it. I've got 1.25-pound plates from when I thought I wanted to do GreySkull. If you are really looking for 0.5-pound plates, you might just put an extra set of clips on each side of the bar.

If you are in or around the Houston area, the 1.25-pound plates are yours if you want them. If you insist on buying me a beer for them, I'll let you do that too.

So I've spent a year doing a lot of different workout programs (P90X, Insanity Asylum, 21 Day Fix, Hammer and Chisel). I'm 6 ft and weighed 186 when I started. The only problem is, I've never really lifted weights before and that 186 was mostly fat. I got down to about 155 and got into the best shape i've ever been in (which isn't saying much as i've always been pretty chunky). However, I really want to start increasing my muscle mass and came across this thread. So I started this program last week and i'm really hoping I can increase my strength and size over the next few months.

I started at 95 pounds for Bench, Squat, and Deadlift. OH Press and Row I started with the bar. This will really be the first time I've worked out with Heavy Weight Barbell exercises so i'm excited and nervous at the same time.

quote:

---

We have 2.5lb plates - it's .5lb plates that I think we need.

My back "tweak" from last week is still lingering and I couldn't go at my full work-weight this morning. Warm-up was fine, but when I got to my work sets, I couldn't do it.

Rest of the workout was fine, just back bothering me right now.

---

Oh OK, I thought 2.5 was as low as they go. That's as low as I have.

I'm back up to 200lbs on my squat, but I could only get 3 sets in yesterday. My hips were really sore and it was hard for me to even get the 3 sets. I haven't been stretching enough (or really at all) and I think it's catching up with me now. Especially since I've been running again. I'm going to start doing the 3rd world squat several times a day for several minutes at a time so I can keep everything good and stretched down there. I started doing that last night and held the squat for 2 minutes about 3 times.

Did 175lb at 5x5 on bench press yesterday and that went well. My goal on BP was to at least get up to 180lb and I think I won't have much problem surpassing that.

Weird that my BP has almost caught up with my squats. I swear I don't have chicken legs though. My legs look muscular enough.

quote:

---

So I've spent a year doing a lot of different workout programs (P90X, Insanity Asylum, 21 Day Fix, Hammer and Chisel). I'm 6 ft and weighed 186 when I started. The only problem is, I've never really lifted weights before and that 186 was mostly fat. I got down to about 155 and got into the best shape i've ever been in (which isn't saying much as i've always been pretty chunky). However, I really want to start increasing my muscle mass and came across this thread. So I started this program last week and i'm really hoping I can increase my strength and size over the next few months.

I started at 95 pounds for Bench, Squat, and Deadlift. OH Press and Row I started with the bar. This will really be the first time I've worked out with Heavy Weight Barbell exercises so i'm excited and nervous at the same time.

---

This is the perfect program for a beginning weight lifter. Just stick with the 5lb increases (or 10lb on deadlift) and don't try to rush your progress. The workouts seem too easy in the beginning, but it's all about focusing on form. Especially for someone who is new to all these moves. Good luck!

This program has been great for developing consistency in someone who's failed a lot in that department.

quote:

---

This program has been great for developing consistency in someone who's failed a lot in that department.

---

I look forward to getting to that point, my travel schedule is brutal for maintaining it with this program. But I've liked the results when I have been able to maintain some consistency.

Week 17 in the books and not a lot of good things to say about it other than I made it to the gym 4 times.

I did manage a new PR at 95lbs on OHP, all other lifts struggled for various reasons.

My back tweak is still lingering. I tried to push through it this week - unsuccessfully on Mon/Fri, but successfully on Wed.

I've decided to lay off of squats next week (at least) as that is where I have the most pain. I can do the weight, but it really hurts to load up the back. I'll spend this time on the leg press, which is a sitting leg press at my gym, to at least keep the muscles working.

I've also decided to mix in some Romanian DL's with my normal ones as I've struggled with the DL above 225 and I know that I still need to get A LOT stronger in my lower back region.

My gym got a new Dip/Chin assist machine, so I'm going to start working on those some as well.

I'm still really bought into this workout/exercises, but I've reached a point where I'm stalling at everything. I know I need to eat/rest/micro-load to keep going, but that's easier said than done for me.

I'm effectively starting over for the 3rd or 4th time. My challenge is that I travel a lot working, and consistency in the program is a huge problem, mix in a few long layoffs that sneak up on me and the app says start over. Just to take advantage of being around a gym with the proper setup, I worked out two days in a row. Paying for that a bit today.

I'm at a point where I don't car about the rate of progress as long as I avoid the long layoffs that force a reset. I do some alternate workouts depending on what's in the hotel gyms, but too many times I've lost focus.

Somehow I'll find the consistency I need....

I've made more progress during this 17 week stretch than I've ever made in any of my stretches of working out - and this is probably the longest stretch that I can remember....with only 2 workouts missed.

For me, that alone is enough to be really happy about. BUT

I think like most folks that have contributed to this thread, once you start making gains and feeling confident that you can keep going, when you get to a point that continued progress isn't as quick as it was, it's a little tough to deal with.

As mentioned, I'm going to keep doing these movements and get satisfied with a flatter progression as long as I can keep the consistency up.

I've gone that route. My current routine is built on a lot of these same basic movements, but I move up very slowly.

For example, this is what my bench might look like week to week:

210x4, 210x4, 210x4
210x5, 210x5, 210x5
210x6, 210x6, 210x6
215x4, 215x4, 215x4
215x5...

Once I get up to a level where the gains are even harder, I figure I can take it even slower so my weekly progressions would be more like this:

230x4, 230x4, 230x4
230x5, 230x4, 230x4
230x5, 230x5, 230x4
230x5, 230x5, 230x5
230x6, 230x5, 230x5

Stronglifts got me addicted to making the gains, but it was just getting harder and harder to keep up. I like moving up really slow like this because I feel like it helps me with form and it makes me feel like I've really "mastered" the level before I move up in weight. And I'm not in a hurry to hit some magic number.

Make sure you are really tightening your abs and back when you are squatting or really anything. It really helps keep you more stable and less likely to hurt your back.

Think of all the lifts as ab exercises and that you HAVE TO engage your core as hard as you can at all times.

I purchased a new power rack so I had to cut my 5x5 workout to a 3x5 workout because I built it today and was low on time. Pretty excited about the new rack though!

http://www.bodysolid.com/Home/PPR200X/Powerline_Power_Rack


SQ - 3x5 - 285 LBS
BN - 3x5 - 255 LBS
BOR - 3x5 - 185 LBS

Early on it is pretty easy, so if you are trying to jumpstart weight loss, add some light/moderate cardio. My schedule makes it hard to stay consistent with the program so this iteration through I'm doing a 5k worth of walk run after the workouts and doing some sort of medium intensity cardio on the off days. If I start missing sets then I'll back off the cardio amount enough so I can maintain gains in Stronglifts.

Early on it is pretty easy, even if you are new to weights, but it does ramp up quickly so make sure and focus on perfect form while it is easy.

Good luck!

It's a great program. You'll love it.

I highly encourage you to not skip ahead. The weights will be easy starting out, but it ramps up fast as jp86 said. The app is fantastic. If you haven't gotten it yet, I highly recommend you download it.

If you're looking for weight loss, look at your diet. Especially early on when the weights are light and you don't NEED the energy you can probably drop your calories by quite a bit. When the weights get heavier your diet gets more important. I think a big reason I hit the plateau and couldn't push through was that I wasn't eating enough. If you just started then you have plenty of time before you need to worry about that. When that time comes you just need to look in the mirror and decide what your goals are.

I've done basically no cardio at all since I've been on my weight loss kick. I try to walk the dog more often, but that's about it. Since New Year's I've lost over 25 lbs using variations on this program as my only real exercise (I'm 5'9" and am down from 200 to below 175... no secret formula, I just eat less food).

I'm going to start this program in about a week or so (getting my wisdom teeth out in about an hour, so after that recovery). I'm a pretty small female, so I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

I'm pretty much in the same boat, 5'9" 195.

I've previously dropped 25lbs from diet changes, basically cutting out as many carbs as I could stand, and little exercise.

I've previously lost 48 lbs, 210 down to 162, riding a mountain bike at a moderate pace 25 miles a day, 3 weeks out of a month, each month. Lost it over 4 months, with no meaningful diet changes, usually had a DQ dipped cone each day. The ride burned 2200 cals each time.

Each of these methods created a caloric deficit. To a point, which I think you reached, Stronglifts will do the same.

My best run thru Stronglifts was the first time, 9 weeks before I got hurt on a PR deadlift using BAD form, really didn't lose any weight, but saw a number of changes in body structure, and while muscle is heavier than fat, it also burns more energy to maintain.

I chose to do both cardio and stronglifts so I will see numbers on the scale dropping faster while I move up thru the weights again on this attempt thru the program. Consistency is what I'm really working on this time, as no matter what program you do, it's consistency that keeps the look in the mirror and number on the scale where you want them, imho.

I guess you could say Week 18 is in the books...

I did as I said and laid off of the Squats this week to see if that helps the ailing back. It does seem to be helping as the pain is less, though I do think I'd be smart to lay off another week.

That being said - the leg press machine is just not a good substitute and I really want to get back to squatting.

I did Romanian DL's on Monday and a lighter DL (more like a re-set) this morning. I'm fully committed to making my lumbar stronger and will move as slowly as it takes to fend off any more back issues.

Everything else continues to go up, slowly.

To the others that have posted recently about starting this program - DO IT!! I'm so happy that I found this and really plan to keep The Big Four lifts as part of my routine. Start with low weights, do your 5's and add 5lbs for as long as possible, you won't regret it.

Week 15:

SQ - 190 (re-set down from 205)
BP - 195
OHP - 80 (re-set down from 95)
BOR - 115
DL - 225

I'm pretty happy with my progress thus far. I had a dislocated rib injury from a skiing accident about a month ago and that set me back a bit on my squat and OHP. I've been easing back into those lifts and making sure my form is sound. I've put on about 5 lbs of muscle so far and I'm feeling good, overall. Now that summer is around the corner I'm going to start running a little more and I'll be doing some long weekend hikes in the mountains. With that in mind, I'd like to realize some more gains, but really I'll be happy if I can at least maintain for a while. Summers are short here in Wyoming, so I don't mind spending more time outside and less in the gym.

Week 18 is also in the books for me. I almost talked myself into skipping last night's workout because I was watching the Thunder/Spurs game and it didn't end until 10pm. I shamed myself into working out anyway from 10-11. I did 3X5 on everything though, but I have still not missed one workout in 18 weeks.

I've plateaued on pretty much everything, but I'm fine with that because I still want to lose more fat so I'm not eating as much as I should. Also I'm into the end of week 5 of C25k (skipped week 4 altogether) and so I'm not trying to push my squats any higher for the time being. I cannot say enough about how all this squatting has improved my running this time around on C25K.

Here's where I'm currently at on everything....

BP 180lbs at 5X5 (my original goal on BP was to get 185lbs, did maybe 3X5, but failed on last 2 sets)
Squat 205lbs at 5X5 (goal still to try to get to 225lbs at some point)
OHP 125 lbs at 5X5 (OHP goal is to get to 135lb, but I've stalled out here)
Row 155 lbs at 5X5 (I'm good with where I'm at here, my pull ups are giving my back a great workout)
DL 240 at 1X5 (My goal here was 250. I can almost get there, but my form gets a little sketchy)

I also do 5X5 unassisted pull ups/chin ups. 3X10 unassisted dips. 3X20 shrugs with 55lb dumb bells.

I want to maintain around all these numbers through the summer and build on my running to speed up the fat loss and then maybe next fall/winter I'll make a big push to eat more food and push these numbers higher.

Started this 18 weeks ago at around 195lbs and now weigh about 176lbs. Don't know if I've posted this before, but I'm a short guy at 5'6".

I've been getting compliments. My inlaws, who I haven't seen since January came in town for my wife's birthday last week and the first thing my father in law asked was, "have you been lifting weights or something?"

quote:

---

Started this 18 weeks ago at around 195lbs and now weigh about 176lbs. Don't know if I've posted this before, but I'm a short guy at 5'6".

I've been getting compliments. My inlaws, who I haven't seen since January came in town for my wife's birthday last week and the first thing my father in law asked was, "have you been lifting weights or something?"

---

Nice. I think I'll be starting next weekend. The only thing I'm worried about in getting started is having someone spot me for the first week or so.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Started this 18 weeks ago at around 195lbs and now weigh about 176lbs. Don't know if I've posted this before, but I'm a short guy at 5'6".

I've been getting compliments. My inlaws, who I haven't seen since January came in town for my wife's birthday last week and the first thing my father in law asked was, "have you been lifting weights or something?"

---

Nice. I think I'll be starting next weekend. The only thing I'm worried about in getting started is having someone spot me for the first week or so.

---

The only thing you need a spotter for is Bench.

Stay away from your neck and learn the roll of shame!

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

Started this 18 weeks ago at around 195lbs and now weigh about 176lbs. Don't know if I've posted this before, but I'm a short guy at 5'6".

I've been getting compliments. My inlaws, who I haven't seen since January came in town for my wife's birthday last week and the first thing my father in law asked was, "have you been lifting weights or something?"

---

Nice. I think I'll be starting next weekend. The only thing I'm worried about in getting started is having someone spot me for the first week or so.

---

The only thing you need a spotter for is Bench.

Stay away from your neck and learn the roll of shame!

---

I agree. Keep the weight un-collared on bench and don't be afraid to dump it if things go wrong. With that said, you probably won't have to worry too much until you're at least 8 weeks in or so. If you're working out at a public gym then it doesn't hurt to ask someone to spot you between their sets.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Nice. I think I'll be starting next weekend. The only thing I'm worried about in getting started is having someone spot me for the first week or so.

---

---

My bench press/squat stands have the spotter arms on them and I definitely needed them on Tuesday when I failed at 185lb on my bench press. I sat the bar on the spotter arms and had enough room to roll out from under it. For squats I have 2 metal folding saw horses that I squat between in case I have to bail during a squat. Each saw horse has a 1000lb capacity.

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

Nice. I think I'll be starting next weekend. The only thing I'm worried about in getting started is having someone spot me for the first week or so.

---

---

My bench press/squat stands have the spotter arms on them and I definitely needed them on Tuesday when I failed at 185lb on my bench press. I sat the bar on the spotter arms and had enough room to roll out from under it. For squats I have 2 metal folding saw horses that I squat between in case I have to bail during a squat. Each saw horse has a 1000lb capacity.

---

I have a similar setup but just use the saw horses for both. Luckily the height I have works for either.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_162111-31596-60142_0__?productId=3488679&store_code=2513&cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-ToolsAndHardware-_-WorkSupports-_-3488679:Blue_Hawk&CAWELAID=&kpid=3488679&CAWELAID=1049146385&k_clickID=ed48a80e-8898-456f-80fb-711038889001

I am starting to notice a bit of a bend in my horses though. Finally time to upgrade to a half or power rack.

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

Started this 18 weeks ago at around 195lbs and now weigh about 176lbs. Don't know if I've posted this before, but I'm a short guy at 5'6".

I've been getting compliments. My inlaws, who I haven't seen since January came in town for my wife's birthday last week and the first thing my father in law asked was, "have you been lifting weights or something?"

---

Nice. I think I'll be starting next weekend. The only thing I'm worried about in getting started is having someone spot me for the first week or so.

---

The only thing you need a spotter for is Bench.

Stay away from your neck and learn the roll of shame!

---

I agree. Keep the weight un-collared on bench and don't be afraid to dump it if things go wrong. With that said, you probably won't have to worry too much until you're at least 8 weeks in or so. If you're working out at a public gym then it doesn't hurt to ask someone to spot you between their sets.

---

I'm going to starting with only the bar, so there's not going to be anything to dump.

quote:

---

I'm going to starting with only the bar, so there's not going to be anything to dump.

---

I started with just the bar and didn't have any issues. The only thing for me was getting below parallel during spuats with the lack of weight, but i wasn't that flexible from the start.

If you are really concerned about not having a spotter, test where the safety bars are in relation to your low point on squat and bench before throwing around heavier weights.

Good luck and enjoy! I can now squat 3/4 my weight and have never been able to squat more than 35# a side, as of yesterday i am up to 50#!

Start lighter than the bar if you are worried about getting thru the sets. I remeber you posted tou were a petite female so just start with the preloaded smaller bars and work up from there.

My week 4 there was a 100# female there out lifting me. Probably still does. But she was pushing some nice weight