5x5? Strong Lifts? Please explain! (Before&After pics)

shawneelaraye

Short backstory: I have been overweight almost my entire life. Last summer, (August 2nd, 2016) I decided I wanted to change my lifestyle and become a healthier, happier person. I weighed 266lbs that day. 280lbs was the heaviest I have ever been. I now weigh 200 lbs with mostly cardio and eating healthily being how I dropped the weight.

I have been wanting to start a strength training regimen. I have no idea where to start! Last Tuesday, I followed an at home regimen that consisted of "circuit training" 20 squats, 20 walking lunges, 10 push ups, 15 secs plank, 30 jumping jacks 3 times in a row!

I feel sore, but is this an effective way to build muscle? I've been seeing a lot of "5x5" "Strong Lifts" and other programs. I am still looking to lose weight but my main goal is to be fit and healthy and from what I've heard, lifting will help me do that.

I just don't know where to start.. or what program would be best suited for me.

I'm 22.
5'5.5"
200lbs

Today - 200lbs

Summer 2016 - 270ish lbs

DopeItUp

It's a solid beginner program, which sounds like exactly what you need. Why not try it and find out? It's not meant to be run forever, most people stall out bad within the first few months to a year. Give it a shot.

shawneelaraye

DopeItUp wrote: »

It's a solid beginner program, which sounds like exactly what you need. Why not try it and find out? It's not meant to be run forever, most people stall out bad within the first few months to a year. Give it a shot.

Hey, thank you! I am going to continue doing it, just curious if there is something better out there I SHOULD be doing or not! (:

canadianlbs

shawneelaraye wrote: »

Hey, thank you! I am going to continue doing it, just curious if there is something better out there I SHOULD be doing or not! (:

when you're a beginner, pretty much anything is going to have an effect, assuming it's a strength programme of some kind. there's lots of time later on to start tweaking or fine-tuning once you get there, but in the meantime sl is definitely a good place to start ime. things i liked about it:

- extremely simple, so i didn't have to waste storage space in my head on retaining complicated lift sets for a workout.
- very satisfying, because everything is a 'big' aka compound lift.

things i disliked included most things about that website and the tone of the guy who runs it. but i got gifted with mark rippetoe's book starting strength in my first handful of months with sl, and that was a great alternative reference point.

DopeItUp

shawneelaraye wrote: »

DopeItUp wrote: »

It's a solid beginner program, which sounds like exactly what you need. Why not try it and find out? It's not meant to be run forever, most people stall out bad within the first few months to a year. Give it a shot.

Hey, thank you! I am going to continue doing it, just curious if there is something better out there I SHOULD be doing or not! (:

Weight lifting is more about the effort and dedication put into it than the "perfect program", especially as a beginner. As the years roll by, your programming becomes more and more critical and more and more fine-tuned to your abilities and preferences. At the start...just pick a program that looks good and run with it. Stronglifts, Starting Strength, ICF 5x5, candito beginner, uhhhh... strong curves or whatever it's called? It really doesn't matter. The key is putting in the work, practicing the skills and doing it consistently over a long period of time.

I pretty much recommend SL to any beginner, even if it's just to use it as a jumping-off point to something else. Getting strong and proficient with the basic lifts is more or less a precursor to everything, whether it be powerlifting, bodybuilding, strongman, oly lifting, crossfit, whatever.

amyinthetardis1231

I do SL and really enjoy it. Doing at home calisthenics was helpful to reawaken some of the muscles you use, which had gotten lazy for me. As a note-- any beginner program, SL included, will help you build strength--but that is different from building muscle. If you're still losing weight you won't build an appreciable amount of muscle but your strength can increase significantly, and as you lose fat your lovely muscles will show and you'll look better at your goal weight (or even higher than you expect).