Stronglifts 5x5 Program

JoRocka

Compound lifts DO save time... much like me shopping at TARGET/Wal-Mart saves me time- so you are saying I sound lazy because I spend hours driving around to different specialty stores looking for ONE product at each store.

NO. It's not lazy- It's EFFICIENT.

I want to be efficient with my work outs- so I can come home and be lazy- I love working- I work 4 jobs. But I want some down time to.

there is NOTHING wrong with that.

tigersword

Saves time? I'm in full time education plus I have a part time job at work usually between 18-24 hours a week and still manage to go to the gym 1 and a half to 2 hours a day 6 days a week. I get up at 5am twice a week to make time for working out, "compounds saves time" just sounds lazy.

Nail it out on compounds and then finish off the muscle(s) with isolations.

Wow, 18 hours a week, must be nice. Try being a full time student, working 50-60 hours a week, and raising a family, see if you still have 2 hours a day to workout. People who do compound lifts to save time aren't doing it because they are lazy. They're doing it because they actually work for a living, and don't have time to lounge around and go to the gym for hours a day.

As I said I don't have time to lounge around stated by the fact I get up at 5am twice a week because I can't go to the gym that day any other way. And I can guarantee most of the people complaining about time on here spend several hours watching TV every day.

You have 30-40 more hours of free time than I do. If you don't have time to lounge around, then what makes you think I'm lazy? Your assumptions are horribly arrogant, misguided, and incredibly ignorant.

TheFitnessTutor

Here we go with the GD obligatory argument about who has the best this or that. Amongst bodybuilders/lifters??? What? Never saw that shlt coming... ffs

5x5 and the others mentioned will be just fine. But if you're going to do them. Do them. Don't do this or that and add it in and take a little away. Otherwise there's no need to do it!

Yes compounds are superior to all aspects except glycogen depletion routines. Otherwise you don't need to "finish a muscle off " with isolation. Because when you do such 90's based logic you run the risk of potentially affecting your next lifts. Maxing out on curls to feel them get filled up with metabolites might affect your next pull work and progression. Triceps and biceps will get enough work with pressing and pull work, and Doing a bunch of "mirror work" like curls and tricep crap doen't accomplish much for the non hormonally enhanced beginner.

True if you're cutting weight then you need to back off of volume 25% or so.

blinkinblinkin

Isolation exercises for beginners can create muscle imbalances so for me trying to correct years of doing it wrong, or for a complete beginner I think a full body compound approach like sl5x5 is best. Squatting 3x a week for 5x5 heavy sets is a lot for a beginner, but if I avoid going to failure I recover faster and I'm able to handle the volume. If I go too heavy and lose my form I start stalling on my gains or having to miss workouts because I hurt. It is tempting to throw in a few sets of curls or flys, but I am going to stick to the program as intended.

highervibes

I can easily commit to 3x/week in the gym and being active the rest of the days by walking and the odd jog for LIFE. I will not commit to more than that for LIFE so I just started the same way I intend to go forward. Many people spend more time in the gym than I do and that's absolutely fine. I know what is likely to work for me for the long haul and SL5x5 is fitting in my life quite nicely. I coudn't care less if someone thinks I'm being lazy lol.

Sharonks

I was a little intimidated in starting a lifting program. I found SL to be less confusing and time efficient. The only reason I stopped was life caused changes that included having to drop gym membership which means no weights and rack. I can't wait to be able to get back to the gym and start the program again. At some point you might want to do more stuff but this is a good place to start.

Mikej77

And I can guarantee most of the people complaining about time on here spend several hours watching TV every day.

Did you really just type this? So let me get this straight. You CHOOSE to workout how ever many days a week and wake up early so you can do this and others are LAZY or what ever because they choose to do other things they ENJOY instead of spending the same amount of hours in a gym as you? No offense man but you might want to take a minute and revisit some life choices. I am not trying to judge here, well at least not any more then you have, but I suggest you do what you want to do with your life and let others decide what they want to do with thier life.

If you want to work out 1-2 hours a day for 6 days a week for the rest of your life, or until you do not think you need to anymore then so be it. If you do what you do because you enjoy it then by all means bro, more power to you! I personally do not want to dedicate that much time of my life to working out. I am not in this for the quick fix. I want to get my body and health to a point where I can maintain it for the long haul. I am not interested in spending the same amount of time as you do in the gym for the next 6 months, or a year or for how ever long you feel you plan to do so.

Will you have better results then me? Doubt it, I will admit your results may come faster, but I am in no real rush, seeing as it took me 36 years to get a body I hate, I am ok with changing my LIFESTYLE to get a body I enjoy and plan to stick to something for the rest of my life.

I love to play video games, and highly doubt I will ever stop. I hate sports, can't stand them, find them boring. Does that make me lazy, or just someone that finds more entertainment in something different then yourself? I enjoy spending time with my wife and my 14 year old son. I enjoy visiting my family as often as possible as well as making plans with friends. I work fulltime and, wake up everyday at 6am, at times I wake up that early just to get a quick game in on the xbox. Why because I want to. I enjoy having time to play with my dog, or have a nice meal infront of the TV or on the back porch. I enjoy RELAXING, if that makes me lazy then so be it bro. God bless you in your journey hope it all works out for you...

kmbweber2014

Saves time? I'm in full time education plus I have a part time job at work usually between 18-24 hours a week and still manage to go to the gym 1 and a half to 2 hours a day 6 days a week. I get up at 5am twice a week to make time for working out, "compounds saves time" just sounds lazy.

Nail it out on compounds and then finish off the muscle(s) with isolations.

Wow, 18 hours a week, must be nice. Try being a full time student, working 50-60 hours a week, and raising a family, see if you still have 2 hours a day to workout. People who do compound lifts to save time aren't doing it because they are lazy. They're doing it because they actually work for a living, and don't have time to lounge around and go to the gym for hours a day.

As I said I don't have time to lounge around stated by the fact I get up at 5am twice a week because I can't go to the gym that day any other way. And I can guarantee most of the people complaining about time on here spend several hours watching TV every day.

You have 30-40 more hours of free time than I do. If you don't have time to lounge around, then what makes you think I'm lazy? Your assumptions are horribly arrogant, misguided, and incredibly ignorant.

^^^ This. I go to school, work full time and have a family to raise. I wish I had time for TV but that time is spent at the gym. I try to spend no more than an hour to an hour and a half there so that I can spend more time helping with homework, practicing soccer with my son, or hearing about how my families day went. You are awfully jugdy don't you think?

miklamx

I have nothing but good to say about Stronglifts 5x5 and Mehdi. Started out on his recommendations, began understanding why he says to do that even though I knew I could do more. He says to work through the soreness, I hesitated but ground it out, first two sets were miserable, the final fixed the pain. Very motivating to go back in knowing I was only adding 5# to the workout and I could mentally see myself doing that. The structure lets you learn the right way safely without a Trainer, looking forward to many more.

The app is awesome and let's you adjust the reps and pounds. I'm 47 and was experiencing back and joint pain in the morning-gone! Fatigue up and down stairs-gone. Wobbly on the treadmill (balance issues)-gone on the third workout. I've done body weight exercises my whole life and mocked bodybuilding/lifting. Using Medhi's lingo, that's BS compared to this, wish I wouldn't have followed that guidance.