Lifting an empty bar is making me sad

jenluvsushi

Hi girlies! I am new to stronglifts but not to lifting heavy. I am feeling totally awkward and almost like I am cheating lifting so light in the beginning...I mean, I was almost embarrassed to have 2.5 pound weights on the squat bar last night. It was also weird to be able to be done so quickly as my old split routine used to take me 60+ minutes...I was done lifting in like 25 minutes last night...and only because I made myself take rest periods as directed.

My question...when did this start to get challenging for you (especially more advanced girls)? Did you feel like I do? Were you afraid of losing the strength you had already built up lifting so light? I was repping 185 on deads before this and now I feel like I am going to lose my progress. I do think eventually the press is going to be a tough one for me though...what do you do when you stall in one lift but not others? Do you drop to 5x3 on that one lift after 3 failures and continue 5x5 in everything else?

Rae6503

You can start a little higher than an empty bar if you've been lifting before. I was squatting 95lbs before switching to Stronglifts. I started stronglifts at 65lbs I think. It was nice because I blew right past 95lbs once I got there. I think it says somewhere that you can just reduce your current weights by like 20% or 30% or something.

I dropped to 3x5 all at once but that really had more to do with the fact that I started dieting and doing a lot of mountain biking.

juliebeannn

You can start a little higher than an empty bar if you've been lifting before. I was squatting 95lbs before switching to Stronglifts. I started stronglifts at 65lbs I think. It was nice because I blew right past 95lbs once I got there. I think it says somewhere that you can just reduce your current weights by like 20% or 30% or something.

I dropped to 3x5 all at once but that really had more to do with the fact that I started dieting and doing a lot of mountain biking.

i was squatting 85 when i started SL so i started with 65 also. i still warm up with just the bar and i'm up to 100lbs.

i'm still lifting just a little more than the bar (50-55) on overhead press. so sad. haha.

jenluvsushi

Yeah...I used their CPU formula and inputted my current weight rep amounts, The program shot out the numbers it thought I should start at so I went with it. So I went from deading 185 to 95 and squating 125 to 45...not sure how they picked those numbers for me. Maybe I will increase it manually (I use the android app). I'm sure I will poop out and have to go to 3x5 too due to diet and cardio. Right now I am just trying to gain strength and maintain mass while I cut. I know my lifts will eventually suffer. I will try your suggestion and bump up a bit closer to the 20 or 30 % range. Thanks!

jenluvsushi

You can start a little higher than an empty bar if you've been lifting before. I was squatting 95lbs before switching to Stronglifts. I started stronglifts at 65lbs I think. It was nice because I blew right past 95lbs once I got there. I think it says somewhere that you can just reduce your current weights by like 20% or 30% or something.

I dropped to 3x5 all at once but that really had more to do with the fact that I started dieting and doing a lot of mountain biking.

i was squatting 85 when i started SL so i started with 65 also. i still warm up with just the bar and i'm up to 100lbs.

i'm still lifting just a little more than the bar (50-55) on overhead press. so sad. haha.

I had never really done over head presses with a BB before (sad I know) and last night I did just the bar without any weight. It was actually kinda challenging by the last set so I know for sure it is going to get tough quick. It def will be hard to resist jerking it to get it up. It also hurt to set it on my chest since my wrists are kinda weak. I will def have to stagger my feet in a few more pound increments.

tameko2

I believe the "cannon" amount ot deload is 50% so I'd go ahead and up your squat to 60 or 65. You could also probably go ahead and up your deadlift to 105 since you only have to do 5 of those. Remember you add 10 lbs every time you deadlift, so you'll be adding 60 lbs to whatever you start with this first month. You really don't want to stall the first month - its just depressing. Except on OHP which is just kind of a hard heavy movement (I wish I'd started this with the curl bar at 30 lbs, honestly, I'm not too broad/tall to be able to use a curl bar to press).

Basically sometime early in the program you should see yourself blast past your old weights with no problem, and also not hit your first stall for a good bit beyond that.

How many reps were you doing with your old weight?

jenluvsushi

I believe the "cannon" amount ot deload is 50% so I'd go ahead and up your squat to 60 or 65. You could also probably go ahead and up your deadlift to 105 since you only have to do 5 of those. Remember you add 10 lbs every time you deadlift, so you'll be adding 60 lbs to whatever you start with this first month. You really don't want to stall the first month - its just depressing. Except on OHP which is just kind of a hard heavy movement (I wish I'd started this with the curl bar at 30 lbs, honestly, I'm not too broad/tall to be able to use a curl bar to press).

Basically sometime early in the program you should see yourself blast past your old weights with no problem, and also not hit your first stall for a good bit beyond that.

How many reps were you doing with your old weight?

6-8 reps for 3 sets on deads at 185
6-8 reps for 3 sets on bench at 90 on a good day
6-8 reps for 3 sets on squats at 125
6-8 reps for 3 sets on rows at 90
never did OHP until now but was doing 20 LB DB presses for 6-8 reps for 3 sets

tameko2

I believe the "cannon" amount ot deload is 50% so I'd go ahead and up your squat to 60 or 65. You could also probably go ahead and up your deadlift to 105 since you only have to do 5 of those. Remember you add 10 lbs every time you deadlift, so you'll be adding 60 lbs to whatever you start with this first month. You really don't want to stall the first month - its just depressing. Except on OHP which is just kind of a hard heavy movement (I wish I'd started this with the curl bar at 30 lbs, honestly, I'm not too broad/tall to be able to use a curl bar to press).

Basically sometime early in the program you should see yourself blast past your old weights with no problem, and also not hit your first stall for a good bit beyond that.

How many reps were you doing with your old weight?

6-8 reps for 3 sets on deads at 185
6-8 reps for 3 sets on bench at 90 on a good day
6-8 reps for 3 sets on squats at 125
6-8 reps for 3 sets on rows at 90
never did OHP until now but was doing 20 LB DB presses for 6-8 reps for 3 sets

i'd go to 115 for deadlifts then, 55 for bench, 75 for squats, (were you doing pendlay rows or the regular rows? if you were doing the regular kind stick with 65 for the pendlays), and keep OHP at whatever.

(I did a 1rm calc at 8 reps of X for you, then took half of that and made it your SL workweight). Then go up the expected amounts - if you start struggling on the bench and press right away I'd deload a bit and then work your way up using smaller increments (fractional weights so you can add 2.5lb/day instead of 5lb/day).

jenluvsushi

I believe the "cannon" amount ot deload is 50% so I'd go ahead and up your squat to 60 or 65. You could also probably go ahead and up your deadlift to 105 since you only have to do 5 of those. Remember you add 10 lbs every time you deadlift, so you'll be adding 60 lbs to whatever you start with this first month. You really don't want to stall the first month - its just depressing. Except on OHP which is just kind of a hard heavy movement (I wish I'd started this with the curl bar at 30 lbs, honestly, I'm not too broad/tall to be able to use a curl bar to press).

Basically sometime early in the program you should see yourself blast past your old weights with no problem, and also not hit your first stall for a good bit beyond that.

How many reps were you doing with your old weight?

6-8 reps for 3 sets on deads at 185
6-8 reps for 3 sets on bench at 90 on a good day
6-8 reps for 3 sets on squats at 125
6-8 reps for 3 sets on rows at 90
never did OHP until now but was doing 20 LB DB presses for 6-8 reps for 3 sets

i'd go to 115 for deadlifts then, 55 for bench, 75 for squats, (were you doing pendlay rows or the regular rows? if you were doing the regular kind stick with 65 for the pendlays), and keep OHP at whatever.

(I did a 1rm calc at 8 reps of X for you, then took half of that and made it your SL workweight). Then go up the expected amounts - if you start struggling on the bench and press right away I'd deload a bit and then work your way up using smaller increments (fractional weights so you can add 2.5lb/day instead of 5lb/day).

I had actually never even heard of pendlay rows until SL...I was doing one armed DB rows at 45 and doing bent over rows at 90. I wasn't as deeply bent over as with pendlays so it was a bit different. I will try your suggestions...thanks!