What's next after 5x5 for you??

Fittreelol

logg1e wrote: »

Thanks for the lovely reply @MissHolidayGolightly‌

MissHolidayGolightly wrote: »

As for your bolded question, lifting progressively is a general term. If you're making progress by adding more weight, more reps, having an easier time, feeling better, getting stronger, etc. then you're lifting progressively. If you want to shift focus, what you'll no longer be doing is strict progressive loading upon which SL is built. Progressive loading is continually adding weight until you struggle or fail your sets. The goal is to get stronger and be able to lift more over time.

Regarding this bit, I meant, what if I'm not lifting progressively. Not really adding more weight or more reps because I just seem to be struggling with the 5x5 where I am.

Or perhaps I am still progressing, just not at the speed I was before.

Are you doing the same weight, getting all your reps, but don't feel comfortable adding weight or reps?

If this is the case.

Are you feeling pain anywhere or it just feels hard?

Are you completing the reps with good form?

If you're stalled or hit a small plateau that doesn't mean you're not progressive lifting. I mean it does for that small window in time, but the overall goal of your program is progressive lifting. As an accessory on bench day I do bicep curls. I do 10# 3x10 every time. My only goal with these curls is to stimulate blood flow and help strengthen my tendons and ligaments around my elbow. This is an example of NOT progressive lifting.

krokador

logg1e wrote: »

Thanks for the lovely reply @MissHolidayGolightly‌

MissHolidayGolightly wrote: »

As for your bolded question, lifting progressively is a general term. If you're making progress by adding more weight, more reps, having an easier time, feeling better, getting stronger, etc. then you're lifting progressively. If you want to shift focus, what you'll no longer be doing is strict progressive loading upon which SL is built. Progressive loading is continually adding weight until you struggle or fail your sets. The goal is to get stronger and be able to lift more over time.

Regarding this bit, I meant, what if I'm not lifting progressively. Not really adding more weight or more reps because I just seem to be struggling with the 5x5 where I am.

Or perhaps I am still progressing, just not at the speed I was before.

There is also such a thing as non-linear progression. 5/3/1 is a good example. But if you feel you're sacrificing cardio (that you enjoy) for lifting gains, maybe a strength oriented program isn't quite what you're looking for. It really all depends on your goals, ultimately. You *could* go in and do the exact same sets at the exact same weight forever, but that would be pretty boring and you wouldn't see much in the way of change.

Strength and cardio aren't 2 polar opposites. You can strike a pretty good balance between them if you just find what works for you

logg1e

I don't know what I mean. I guess it's just been very slow progress with the OHP and Bench. I go up, fail three times, go down. Increase reps, go up, fail... Then with the other lifts I've deloaded, because even though my weights were going up, I was losing good form.

I'm planning on getting back to it on Tuesday, I'll see how it goes and have a rethink. Some great ideas on this thread already.

MissHolidayGolightly

There are a lot of ways to go about it. You could reduce the acceleration of the program and target an increase every X workouts instead of every single one. You could also increase on the last set and do fewer reps. You could do fewer reps/sets overall, too. If you shift your focus to cardio, just play around with weight lifting programs that don't require as much linear progression and sets/reps as pure SL.

I wouldn't recommend dropping strength training completely as @krokador said, cardio and lifting can complement each other, it doesn't have to nor should it be one or the other. You could also try a circuit program that has elements of both.