Split into 3?

prattiger65

I am doing Stronglifts during my lunch break. I get an hour and up until now I have had plenty of time. However, as the weight gets heavier I need a little more time between sets and I am soon to be at a point where I cant finish. My question is, Could I split this further? Say, Squat/bench, Squat/press, squat/dead, ???/rows? So, four days instead of 3. Or some other variation?

gwhizeh

I personally don't see why not. Make sure your warmed up and leave yourself enough rest days. And squat /rows. You know you wanna! lol.

lrmall01

I have no real good basis for this but I think I would add an exercise for my fourth day. Something like a pull-up if you have a place to do it. I would also try to perhaps space the push and pull movements.

I think of stronglifts as being squat, push, pull on every workout. So for your situation I would have squat / push workouts, squat / pull workout, and a push / pull workout.

So, I am voting for:

Squat / Bench Press
Rest
Squat / Row
Deadlift / Pull-up
Squat / Shoulder Press
Rest
Rest

I think that you might want to do the dead / pull-up workout twice a week, every other week similar to the way you alternate the workouts. I guess if you always do it the day after you do the squat / row workout it will work out that way.

Hope that is clear! Good luck.

tross0924

Another option is to just not let it take longer than an hour. Don't increase your rest time.

Yes, this will cause you to fail sooner. Yes, it will suck. Yes, it will be a "different" program and you probably won't see as big strength gains, but they will still come. Yes, it will be just as hard, if not harder than what you're currently doing.

Or . . . use the template for the amount of weight you're lifting and take the rests, but instead do a day of just squats, a day of MP, a day of dead, a day of bench, and a day of rows. Throw in an additional set or 2 so you really really work the muscles.

The point is that Stronglifts is one program among a thousand. Use it as the stepping stone that it is. Change what you need to / want to, as long as you don't change the "Pick up heavier stuff than last week" principal, you will see see gains. Will they be the absolute fastest they can be? No, probably not, but they will be what you can make work for you since you're the one designing the program.

bkeith79

Similar situation for me, so I switched to 3x5 with only a minute (or so) rest in between. Short and intense workouts and great. I've also found a big difference in recovery time between sessions. My sessions were getting too long for hour workouts and I'd already stalled 2/3 times on a couple of lifts

The stronglifts program recommends eventually switching to 3x5 as the weights get heavy, so your not changing the routing as much as splitting days. Just something to think about