Am I doing it right?

VeinsAndBones

I've been doing Mehdi's "Stronglifts 5x5" for about 2 1/2 months now, never missed a workout. Yet my squat has only gone up 5lbs in the entirety of the time I've been doing it. Granted my bench has increased significantly due to "newbie gains." My dead lift is also pretty pathetic for a guy of my height: (5'11@137lbs) I'm only dead lifting 155lbs... Here's an example of my training days

Day 1) Squat 5x5, Bench 5x5, Deadlift 3x5
Day 2) rest
Day 3) Squat 5x5, Bench or Barbell rows 5x5, Deadlift 3x5
Day4 ) rest
Day 5) Squat 5x5, Bench 5x5, Deadlift 3x5
Day 6) rest
Day 7) rest

Am I doing something incorrectly?

whierd

Why yes, yes you are.

Workout A

Squat 5x5
Bench 5x5
Bent-over Row 5x5

Workout B

Squat 5x5
OHP 5x5
Deadlift 1x5


However, that does not exactly explain the lack of progress. What are your lifting stats? How many calories are you eating per day?

VeinsAndBones

Lifting stats: Bench: 90lbs x5, 95lbs x3. Squat: 135lbs x5 [Smith machine] 165lbs x5 [Squat rack] """"Note I can squat much deeper on the smith and still balance so I prefer that. Deadlift 155lbs x7, 185lbs x4. Barbell row 80lbs x5. OHP *Dumbells* 2x25lbs x5reps

Calories... Really depends, most days 2,000-2,200. 2,400-2,500 if I really feel like I got a good workout. Seeming to gain body fat while weight is staying the same

DavPul

are you eating enough?

VeinsAndBones

I feel I eat enough, if not too much. I realize that to add muscle takes calories but if you think about it, you can really only gain 3-6lbs of muscle a year. If your bulking at gaining 0.5-1.0lb of body mass a week a good 80-90% of it is going to be body fat not something I want to regain

whierd

I feel I eat enough, if not too much. I realize that to add muscle takes calories but if you think about it, you can really only gain 3-6lbs of muscle a year. If your bulking at gaining 0.5-1.0lb of body mass a week a good 80-90% of it is going to be body fat not something I want to regain

I believe, and Dav please correct me if I am wrong, that since you have a lost a lot of muscle mass during your anorexia, it should come back more quickly than if you were starting at the point you are at now naturally.

VeinsAndBones

Right obviously it varies per person, some distance runners can reclaim 10 lbs of LBM in as little as 2 months. I am no genetic freak however it seems my body doesn't want to gain LBM but body fat

DavPul

those numbers may be true for most, my friend, but at your current height and weight i'm betting you can put on a helluva lot more than 6 pounds of muscle in a year. i'm going to stick with my "eat more" recommendation for the time being.

there's usually 3 variables to gaining mass and/or strength that need to be adjusted. a proper program, enough food, and enough rest. by using SL you've taken care of the program and the rest. only one variable left to adjust, imo

anemoneprose

those numbers may be true for most, my friend, but at your current height and weight i'm betting you can put on a helluva lot more than 6 pounds of muscle in a year. i'm going to stick with my "eat more" recommendation for the time being.

there's usually 3 variables to gaining mass and/or strength that need to be adjusted. a proper program, enough food, and enough rest. by using SL you've taken care of the program and the rest. only one variable left to adjust, imo

What about (also) moving one of the rest days from the end of the week to between two of the workout days, so, 2 rest days btwn 2 of the workouts?

(Also, OP, really think about increasing your cals. I'm not saying this to offend you at all, but just as a point of reference, I'm a woman in my mid-30s, and I have been maintaining my weight (bmi: 20-21) on comparable calories, with not a whole lot of working out in the recent past. If you've lost weight, I totally appreciate the worry about gaining it back, but, sometimes you just have to take a risk, try it out. A month won't hurt, will it? What about your protein?)

PikaKnight

I've been doing Mehdi's "Stronglifts 5x5" for about 2 1/2 months now, never missed a workout. Yet my squat has only gone up 5lbs in the entirety of the time I've been doing it. Granted my bench has increased significantly due to "newbie gains." My dead lift is also pretty pathetic for a guy of my height: (5'11@137lbs) I'm only dead lifting 155lbs... Here's an example of my training days

Day 1) Squat 5x5, Bench 5x5, Deadlift 3x5
Day 2) rest
Day 3) Squat 5x5, Bench or Barbell rows 5x5, Deadlift 3x5
Day4 ) rest
Day 5) Squat 5x5, Bench 5x5, Deadlift 3x5
Day 6) rest
Day 7) rest

Am I doing something incorrectly?

You need to re-review the pdf. there are two separate workouts (A and that you need to alternate.

DopeItUp

Why yes, yes you are.

Workout A

Squat 5x5
Bench 5x5
Bent-over Row 5x5

Workout B

Squat 5x5
OHP 5x5
Deadlift 1x5


However, that does not exactly explain the lack of progress. What are your lifting stats? How many calories are you eating per day?

I agree, this is problem #1, you say you're doing stronglifts but you're not. You're doing some made-up program. Deadlifts 3x5, 3x a week is insanity. I had a similar problem when I first started lifting, I did deadlifts a lot because I liked them (and even then, not nearly as much as you!) and my lifting sucked in general. SL calls for a simple 1x5 of deadlifts once or twice a week! Currently I do madcow which is deadlifting only once a week (day "B"). Deadlifting is brutal on the body and on the CNS and it will inhibit recovery especially when performed as often as you're doing.

Having said all of that, are you trying to gain weight (I'm assuming yes). If you are, are you actually gaining weight? You gotta eat in a surplus to put on that muscle and see the big gains in lifting.

Assuming you are in fact gaining weight, what sort of problems are you having? Are you actually failing on lifts? If so, are you following the stronglifts guidelines? Medhi recommends deloading 10% if you fail something like 3 days in a row, and working your way back up. Then moving to less volume (3x5, then 1x5). Then moving onto Madcow 5x5 when you've exhausted that. Be sure to read his program and use his spreadsheet.

IMO, follow the program. Having said that, your lifts don't seem bad especially given your body weight. You're deadlifting almost 1.5xBW for 4 reps. You're squatting almost 1.25xBW for 5 reps. That ain't bad. The numbers don't sound amazing because you're not a big guy and it doesn't seem like you've been lifting for a long time. But comparing your lifts to your bodyweight, you're right there with me and I consider myself to be making decent progress. Progress gets slow and you encounter diminishing returns as you go along. Follow the program, deload as recommended, lower volume as recommended, switch programs as recommended. You'll go to something like Madcow 5x5 next after Stronglifts which only adds 5lbs a week. And then something like Wendler 5/3/1 after that which only adds 5lbs a month or so. Keep it up. Slow and steady progress is good.

Edit: Don't use the smith machine. Yes, you can balance better because it balances for you. That means its a worse workout. You've got access to a squat rack, use that.

DavPul

I feel I eat enough, if not too much. I realize that to add muscle takes calories but if you think about it, you can really only gain 3-6lbs of muscle a year. If your bulking at gaining 0.5-1.0lb of body mass a week a good 80-90% of it is going to be body fat not something I want to regain

I believe, and Dav please correct me if I am wrong, that since you have a lost a lot of muscle mass during your anorexia, it should come back more quickly than if you were starting at the point you are at now naturally.

i was pretty much typing just this with my previous response. i wanted to use the phrase "rebound effect" but i like to keep my broscience to myself.

VeinsAndBones

My routine is a slightly modified version of the 5x5 used by Reg Park, starting strength implements alot of broscience and the routines are similar, I used stronglifts name simply because most people know and understand the stronglifts routine and would not have to google "reg park 5x5"

PikaKnight

My routine is a slightly modified version of the 5x5 used by Reg Park, starting strength implements alot of broscience and the routines are similar, I used stronglifts name simply because most people know and understand the stronglifts routine and would not have to google "reg park 5x5"

Well, as DopeItUp said...deadlifting as much as you are is a bit mind-boggling. Maybe try Stronglifts, the actual program and not a modified version, and see how that goes for the next 3 months.

whierd

I feel I eat enough, if not too much. I realize that to add muscle takes calories but if you think about it, you can really only gain 3-6lbs of muscle a year. If your bulking at gaining 0.5-1.0lb of body mass a week a good 80-90% of it is going to be body fat not something I want to regain

I believe, and Dav please correct me if I am wrong, that since you have a lost a lot of muscle mass during your anorexia, it should come back more quickly than if you were starting at the point you are at now naturally.

i was pretty much typing just this with my previous response. i wanted to use the phrase "rebound effect" but i like to keep my broscience to myself.

Yeah, I am basing this off of something I read 10 years ago in a BB magazine. Not sure if it is legit, but it makes sense.

VeinsAndBones

All right, I switched to SL legitimately! I've increased my intake to +150 cals over maintenance, been doin this for about a week now! I can see a bit of difference in my chest, not quite so frail looking Must be just the extra blood being pumped in the muscle.

DavPul

Good, keep it up. And don't be afraid to go 300-500 over maintainence. That's the range I usually try to stay in. I'd probably go with more if I was doing as much squatting as SL involves

tomcornhole

Replying to follow. I'll only add that some of these "beginner" programs can be brutal on someone doing them in a caloric deficit (which you are not). I started on Starting Strength because I didn't know any better and was doing a full body lift 3x a week. That was brutal on my CNS. I switched to a 4 day split of 5/3/1 with Boring But Big add ons and that is much nicer.

Tom