3 Days a Week?

chaines0145

I am a female that is currently bulking. I have been working out 5-6 days a week by lifting HEAVY, but without a structured program. I am not a beginner lifter, but am no where near advanced. My goal is eventually to be able to compete in a powerlifting competition. I have heard about the Stronglifts 5x5 program and am interested. I am just wondering if working out 3 days per week is enough. I work a desk job and do not really burn too many calories during the day without including a workout. Anybody have any advise?

_Bropollo_

Its based on the principle that you are getting a full-body workout for each workout. Generally, you want to re-stimulate a given muscle with weight training every 48hrs. You also need to give the muscle sufficient downtime to heal/grow until you stimulate it again with heavy loads, hence the rest day in between lifting days. The vast majority full body programs are structured this way.

dredremeg

Also, look into Ice Cream Fitness. It is similar to Stronglift.

rankinsect

_Bropollo_ wrote: »

Its based on the principle that you are getting a full-body workout for each workout. Generally, you want to re-stimulate a given muscle with weight training every 48hrs. You also need to give the muscle sufficient downtime to heal/grow until you stimulate it again with heavy loads, hence the rest day in between lifting days. The vast majority full body programs are structured this way.

Yup, came here to say that.

If you want some extra calorie burn, you can do active recovery days where you do light cardio, but you don't want to strenuously push the same muscles that are recovering.

My rest days are usually still an hour or more of walking, but that won't really put strain on my body at this point in my fitness.

richln

Stronglifts is a good program in general for beginners, but probably not your best choice if you are an intermediate and only care about powerlifting. It does not give you any exposure to work at less than 5 reps, which you will need as an intermediate powerlifter. Be careful lifting heavy 5-6 days a week, could get you into overuse injuries if your programming is not intelligently planned out.
Take a look here for reviews of some of the more popular programs:
http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/powerlifting-programs/
You can include some cardio after your workouts or on days off from lifting, but you do not need to add any cardio just for cardio sake. The more effort you put into your cardio, the more it will cut into your recovery from your weight lifting.

_Bropollo_

richln wrote: »

Stronglifts is a good program in general for beginners, but probably not your best choice if you are an intermediate and only care about powerlifting. It does not give you any exposure to work at less than 5 reps, which you will need as an intermediate powerlifter. Be careful lifting heavy 5-6 days a week, could get you into overuse injuries if your programming is not intelligently planned out.
Take a look here for reviews of some of the more popular programs:
http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/powerlifting-programs/
You can include some cardio after your workouts or on days off from lifting, but you do not need to add any cardio just for cardio sake. The more effort you put into your cardio, the more it will cut into your recovery from your weight lifting.

Agree with this statement. I started SL5x5 after doing kind of whatever for about 12 months. It was definitely good for helping me get my form down, and understanding the importance of sticking to a program and logging weight data, but OP you will get bored with it fast, plus there is no hypertrophy work or supplemental lifts in the program, which you will regularly want to cycle in to help bust up plateaus in development. It is good practice to have the "big 5" as a staple of your training, but to make them the ONLY lifts like this program does will likely leave your development lacking a bit. It is good practice to cycle new lifts in to stress the muscles in different ways, and also make sure no muscle groups are lagging behind.

chaines0145

Thank you Richln.. this is exactly what I was looking for! I was not 100% thrilled with the layout of the 5x5 and thought that I was a little too advanced for that. I will most likely be looking into the Jonnie Candito's Linear Program now. That has more of a focus on what I need. Thanks again!!!

richln

You're welcome. I see you are new here, so take a look around in the Fitness and Exercise forum and also browse the Groups. There are a lot of accomplished male and female powerlifters around.