Strong lift 5x5 help

Options
2»

Replies

  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
    Options
    I alternate days with SL5x5 and running. I like it just fine. "Love" seems a little over the top ;-).

    On SL days, I start with the rowing machine to warm up, do the assigned program (use the app on your phone, it keeps track of your weights and reps, times your resting period, increases your weight per the program and can be modified as you see fit. There are times I have "deloaded" just because I felt that my form was suffering and with a lighter weight I could improve my form and, therefore, be better going forward.), and then do some cool down stretches.

    On running days, I run for about an hour at the ever popular conversational pace. Once racing season comes around, soon, I'll be focusing more on running and doing SL5x5 twice a week.

    Sunday is my scheduled rest day.

    You have to pay attention to your body. If you feel that you need an "unscheduled" rest day, take it. If you feel that the program is getting ahead of you, lower your weight. Don't fear failure, it is part of improvement. You won't know where the line is until you try to cross it, and you do feel great when it is overcome.

    Start light, the weight will catch up to you pretty quickly. Focus on proper form. Enjoy all of you activities.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    Options
    What specific questions do you have?
    How bad is it to keep cardio in my mix 3-4 times a week on off days at least?

    If your cardio is moderate to low intensity, I don't see it being a problem. I would cut back the number cardio sessions to 2 or 3 so that you have one or two full rest days.

    Yeah, I can't do as much cardio with heavy weights. The weight training has helped improve my pace and I'm so much stronger when I run (don't get injured anymore), but doing weights AND running is a lot of work (and repair) for your body, so in order to not wreck myself, I cut down the cardio to 2-3 days myself. I do weights 2-3 days as well. Cutting down on the cardio hasn't hurt my running at all. In fact, I'm performing better, because I'm stronger now and I give myself adequate rest. Somebody more energetic and more competitive than me could probably do more, but I'm happy with my results, so I'm sticking with my program. Good luck! :D
  • PaigeMed
    PaigeMed Posts: 27 Member
    Options
    sijomial wrote: »
    I cycle and weight train and yes, it does cause a conflict.

    My normal routine normally is alternate days 3 or 4 days cardio (mostly cycling or cycle related) and 3 days weight training.
    In winter my focus is mainly weights and legs get worked in the gym - I have to accept that will impact my cardio/bike training.
    In spring to autumn my priority is cycling and I do very little leg strength work in the gym. My legs get worked more than enough from my riding and other cardio training.

    I balance out the recovery / training performance conflicts as best I can. If I can fit in leg strength work in the cycling season it's nearly always at the beginning of the week. Often that means training when legs already fatigued from the previous weekend's ride(s). Obviously if I'm recovering from a really long ride then I simply need to give legs recovery time.

    You pick your priority and accept the compromise really. My routine is flexible (weather, recovery, event prep, everyday life...) and I do have to listen to my body and adjust based on fatigue levels.

    Yes you can do a lot of cardio while doing weights (I did 4000+ miles last year) but have reservations if you could do a rigid 5x5 program 12 months a year if your priority is cycling above a more leisure riding level.

    Caveat - bear in mind I'm a lot older than you, got an extensive collection of old injuries and I've been strength training longer than you have been alive!
    There is always a place for suck it and see then adjust accordingly.


    Thank you! I agree I need to listen to by body I just feel like I have to get some cardio in daily even if it's just 30 minutes on the spin bike or elliptical. Spring summer I do long rides 3-4 times a week and wanted to do strength training on my days off. I don't like taking days off I feel better after a workout even a small one. I started 5x5 today and liked it but I know it will get harder and take more energy as I go along. If my riding starts to suffer I will go back to wifint feee weights and just have to settle with that. I have. 700 mile ride this June (70 miles a day not too bad) and have to be in the best shape I can possibly be in!
  • PaigeMed
    PaigeMed Posts: 27 Member
    Options
    pondee629 wrote: »
    I alternate days with SL5x5 and running. I like it just fine. "Love" seems a little over the top ;-).

    On SL days, I start with the rowing machine to warm up, do the assigned program (use the app on your phone, it keeps track of your weights and reps, times your resting period, increases your weight per the program and can be modified as you see fit. There are times I have "deloaded" just because I felt that my form was suffering and with a lighter weight I could improve my form and, therefore, be better going forward.), and then do some cool down stretches.

    On running days, I run for about an hour at the ever popular conversational pace. Once racing season comes around, soon, I'll be focusing more on running and doing SL5x5 twice a week.

    Sunday is my scheduled rest day.

    You have to pay attention to your body. If you feel that you need an "unscheduled" rest day, take it. If you feel that the program is getting ahead of you, lower your weight. Don't fear failure, it is part of improvement. You won't know where the line is until you try to cross it, and you do feel great when it is overcome.

    Start light, the weight will catch up to you pretty quickly. Focus on proper form. Enjoy all of you activities.

    I started today with very little weight. 55 was my max. I have read so much about about the weight catches up I want to start very low and work on my form and breathing which needs help!
  • Meganthedogmom
    Meganthedogmom Posts: 1,639 Member
    Options
    I was training for a half marathon while doing StrongLifts and did great with both. 3 days of weights, 3-4 days running.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Options
    I just alternate my workouts, leaving at least one day in between my lifting days. If I lift in the morning M/W/F then I can run or cardio in the evenings or on T/Th. Right now, I lift Mon evening and Wed evening, run T/Th/Sat and do DVDs in the mornings. I also tried lifting Monday pm/Thursday am, run T/Th/sun, wed 6pk abs, DVDs in all other mornings. So yes, you can do cardio between lifting. Just give your body time to adjust.
  • PaigeMed
    PaigeMed Posts: 27 Member
    Options
    Well I'm pretty sure I pulled my hamstring the other day and made it worse today. It was sore yesterday and this morning but nothing Major. As soon as I was done with my workout today it was obvious.. guess I'll be having to wait. This is my first injury in a year and I'm really depressed about it. Icing and resting it today hoping it's not major! Ugh this sucks!!!!
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    Options
    I just alternate my workouts, leaving at least one day in between my lifting days. If I lift in the morning M/W/F then I can run or cardio in the evenings or on T/Th. Right now, I lift Mon evening and Wed evening, run T/Th/Sat and do DVDs in the mornings. I also tried lifting Monday pm/Thursday am, run T/Th/sun, wed 6pk abs, DVDs in all other mornings. So yes, you can do cardio between lifting. Just give your body time to adjust.

    @DancingMoosie I think I read on a previous post that you do SL 2 days a week, instead of the normal 3. Do you just skip one of the days or do all of the outlined exercises on each day? Do you mind outlining things for me a bit? I'm trying to get my schedule to do SL & pole simultaneously, which will be in a few weeks. But I can only workout 4 times a week, and both lifting and pole are very taxing on the body, so I need to have rest days, and I have to pole at least 2x a week in order to see good progress. I'm trying to get my plan together now so I'm not stressed about it in the gym.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    Options
    As many have said this is entirely based on your end goal. What exactly do you plan on gaining from this?

    I'm using this to improve strength, endurance, and to perform better in OCRs.

    I run/bike/swim 30 mins before lifting as a light warm up - just getting my HR to >60%. I push myself on the non-lifting days.

    When I started lifting I did two critical things right. I attended a pro session with a pro body builder - she focused on form and we spent most of the beginning sessions lifting with a broomstick and perfecting form. The second was starting with Stronglifts. Personally I don't think the routine is nearly as critical as it is just following one, but the app makes this absurdly easy. Previously I would go to the gym, lift and focus on a certain group, but never followed a strict regimen. Since I incorporated the focus on form and the regimen of Stronglifts I am lifting heavier than ever before and experienced no injuries.
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
    Options
    jdhcm2006 wrote: »
    I just alternate my workouts, leaving at least one day in between my lifting days. If I lift in the morning M/W/F then I can run or cardio in the evenings or on T/Th. Right now, I lift Mon evening and Wed evening, run T/Th/Sat and do DVDs in the mornings. I also tried lifting Monday pm/Thursday am, run T/Th/sun, wed 6pk abs, DVDs in all other mornings. So yes, you can do cardio between lifting. Just give your body time to adjust.

    @DancingMoosie I think I read on a previous post that you do SL 2 days a week, instead of the normal 3. Do you just skip one of the days or do all of the outlined exercises on each day? Do you mind outlining things for me a bit? I'm trying to get my schedule to do SL & pole simultaneously, which will be in a few weeks. But I can only workout 4 times a week, and both lifting and pole are very taxing on the body, so I need to have rest days, and I have to pole at least 2x a week in order to see good progress. I'm trying to get my plan together now so I'm not stressed about it in the gym.

    I've done SL5x5 two days a week during my focus on running period. I just do an A and a B workout each week. If I find that the program increases the weight too fast under this schedule, I just manually lower it to what I think is appropriate. It would go something like:
    Mon-run, Tues SL A workout, Wed-run, Thurs SL B workout, Fri run, Sat long run, Sun rest.
    I guess you could do a SL workout on the same day as a light workout in your other specialty, I don't, but I guess you could.
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    Options
    pondee629 wrote: »
    jdhcm2006 wrote: »
    I just alternate my workouts, leaving at least one day in between my lifting days. If I lift in the morning M/W/F then I can run or cardio in the evenings or on T/Th. Right now, I lift Mon evening and Wed evening, run T/Th/Sat and do DVDs in the mornings. I also tried lifting Monday pm/Thursday am, run T/Th/sun, wed 6pk abs, DVDs in all other mornings. So yes, you can do cardio between lifting. Just give your body time to adjust.

    @DancingMoosie I think I read on a previous post that you do SL 2 days a week, instead of the normal 3. Do you just skip one of the days or do all of the outlined exercises on each day? Do you mind outlining things for me a bit? I'm trying to get my schedule to do SL & pole simultaneously, which will be in a few weeks. But I can only workout 4 times a week, and both lifting and pole are very taxing on the body, so I need to have rest days, and I have to pole at least 2x a week in order to see good progress. I'm trying to get my plan together now so I'm not stressed about it in the gym.

    I've done SL5x5 two days a week during my focus on running period. I just do an A and a B workout each week. If I find that the program increases the weight too fast under this schedule, I just manually lower it to what I think is appropriate. It would go something like:
    Mon-run, Tues SL A workout, Wed-run, Thurs SL B workout, Fri run, Sat long run, Sun rest.
    I guess you could do a SL workout on the same day as a light workout in your other specialty, I don't, but I guess you could.

    Thank you! I don't really have a light day. It's either 60+ minutes of pole or 60+ minutes of lifting. I try to pole 2x a week and lift 2x a week. If I actually have time to do a 5th workout, I pole b/c I love it more than lifting. But thank you for providing that feedback. I really appreciate it.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Options
    jdhcm2006 wrote: »
    I just alternate my workouts, leaving at least one day in between my lifting days. If I lift in the morning M/W/F then I can run or cardio in the evenings or on T/Th. Right now, I lift Mon evening and Wed evening, run T/Th/Sat and do DVDs in the mornings. I also tried lifting Monday pm/Thursday am, run T/Th/sun, wed 6pk abs, DVDs in all other mornings. So yes, you can do cardio between lifting. Just give your body time to adjust.

    @DancingMoosie I think I read on a previous post that you do SL 2 days a week, instead of the normal 3. Do you just skip one of the days or do all of the outlined exercises on each day? Do you mind outlining things for me a bit? I'm trying to get my schedule to do SL & pole simultaneously, which will be in a few weeks. But I can only workout 4 times a week, and both lifting and pole are very taxing on the body, so I need to have rest days, and I have to pole at least 2x a week in order to see good progress. I'm trying to get my plan together now so I'm not stressed about it in the gym.

    I would do all 5 lifts both days. Squats, bench, ohp, row,(all 5x5) deadlifts(1x5). Later on, I also added glute bridge one day, hip thrusts the other. Sometimes I would also add lunges with bicep curls, plies with tricep extensions. I'm doing something slightly different now, kind of a hybrid of 5x5 and strong curves. I'm trying to change up my sets and reps because I had done 5x5 for so long and needed a change.
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    Options
    jdhcm2006 wrote: »
    I just alternate my workouts, leaving at least one day in between my lifting days. If I lift in the morning M/W/F then I can run or cardio in the evenings or on T/Th. Right now, I lift Mon evening and Wed evening, run T/Th/Sat and do DVDs in the mornings. I also tried lifting Monday pm/Thursday am, run T/Th/sun, wed 6pk abs, DVDs in all other mornings. So yes, you can do cardio between lifting. Just give your body time to adjust.

    @DancingMoosie I think I read on a previous post that you do SL 2 days a week, instead of the normal 3. Do you just skip one of the days or do all of the outlined exercises on each day? Do you mind outlining things for me a bit? I'm trying to get my schedule to do SL & pole simultaneously, which will be in a few weeks. But I can only workout 4 times a week, and both lifting and pole are very taxing on the body, so I need to have rest days, and I have to pole at least 2x a week in order to see good progress. I'm trying to get my plan together now so I'm not stressed about it in the gym.

    I would do all 5 lifts both days. Squats, bench, ohp, row,(all 5x5) deadlifts(1x5). Later on, I also added glute bridge one day, hip thrusts the other. Sometimes I would also add lunges with bicep curls, plies with tricep extensions. I'm doing something slightly different now, kind of a hybrid of 5x5 and strong curves. I'm trying to change up my sets and reps because I had done 5x5 for so long and needed a change.

    Thank you for that insight. I appreciate it. I'm leaning towards doing the 5 lifts each of the days if time and equipment permits.
  • JenHuedy
    JenHuedy Posts: 611 Member
    Options
    Has anyone done it and loved their results?

    I did stronglifts for over a year while running. Usually my only running wasto and from the gym on lifting days (about 1 1/2 miles total) and hour or so runs on nonlifting days. I made sure I always had one rest day per week for recovery., especially after a long run day (90+ minutes). The only time I had an injury was lifting after long run day. I did switch to two days a week and quit adding weight for a few weeks while training for a half marathon.

    As previous posters have said, just listen to your body. I would recommend putting emphasis on lifting at first so you can learn the form properly. I found that lifting has made a huge difference in my running. Especially when it comes to hills! Before lifting, my knees and hips were almost always sore for a day or two after a long run. Now they're never sore.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Options
    27386482953_4e9f0bc0e6_o_d.jpg
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Options
    Crap, I meant to post that in a different thread, looks like I used the wrong tab. Sorry folks.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    Options
    JenHuedy wrote: »
    Has anyone done it and loved their results?

    I did stronglifts for over a year while running. Usually my only running wasto and from the gym on lifting days (about 1 1/2 miles total) and hour or so runs on nonlifting days. I made sure I always had one rest day per week for recovery., especially after a long run day (90+ minutes). The only time I had an injury was lifting after long run day. I did switch to two days a week and quit adding weight for a few weeks while training for a half marathon.

    As previous posters have said, just listen to your body. I would recommend putting emphasis on lifting at first so you can learn the form properly. I found that lifting has made a huge difference in my running. Especially when it comes to hills! Before lifting, my knees and hips were almost always sore for a day or two after a long run. Now they're never sore.

    The only time I ever injured myself was jogging after 1x5 deadlifts then doing step ups the next day. My hips hated me for 2 weeks.
  • curlsintherack
    curlsintherack Posts: 465 Member
    Options
    my only injury came from not setting up properly for a deadlift because I was doing stronglifts warmup sets and the 275 I was lifting was still relatively easy. fast forward 3 months now I'm pulling about half my previous maxes building slowly back up.