FAQ - Read the summary, then me!
tameko2
Posts: 31,634 Member
(This is a work in progress but I wanted to at least start gathering them up. I'm locking this thread, but feel free to write up answers for any of these and post them elsewhere, I'll gather them up and add them here - some of you know more than I do about some of this)
1) What equipment do I need?
At the absolute bare minimum you need a barbell or standard bar (or other long bar you can add weights to), weights, and something that will serve as a bench -- and this will only last you for a little while, eventually you will need at least a squat stand to increase your squat weight.
The ideal set up is a basic olympic bar (women with serious strength issues might want to start with a standard bar as they are generally around 18 lbs instead of 45, but be warned that they generally can only take up to about 200 lbs of weight and you WILL be lifting more than that if you stick with this so you'll end up needing to replace it - on the other hand they are cheaper), a squat rack or power rack (a power rack is the best option but also the costliest), a bench, and plates.
2) Can I substitute (dumbbells)(some other random set of equipment or exercises) and still do this program?
Not really. Dumbbell movements are quite different, and more taxing, AND you can't increase the weights on them in small increments so this isn't an appropriate program for them. Please see <insert link to a thread about alternate programs> for ideas. Or, buy a barbell/gym membership. You won't regret it. The level of satisfaction from lifting your bodyweight on a barbell really can't be matched.
3) My gym only has a smith machine/can I use the smith machine/I'm scared to use anything but the smith machine?
Get a better gym or a get a home setup. (But I caaaan't! -- or I need a few months here before I can do that)
Ok fine. You can....kind of use one. There are some downsides. One is that the forced bar path is only straight up and down, with no curve, and that means that a) there is no effort put in by you to stabilize the bar, which means you're getting less out of the workout and b) its VERY hard to set yourself up so that the biomechanics of the movement don't get messed with, which means injury at worst, and that you're doing something just plain weird at best.
Also because of those things, you will most likely not be able to squat that amount when you move to a free barbell. You may need to deload by a LOT, in fact, depending on how weak your stabilization muscles are.
You do have another option though - grab a barbell from the bench press station or whatever (if your gym literally does not have a SINGLE unattached barbell anywhere its really a crappy gym for strength training) and do a hack squat.
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBHackSquat.html
At some point your grip strength will limit you on these - straps will help too but really, really, seriously - plan to get a better gym.
Or, for a while you could do dumbbell squats (either lifting them up to your shoulders or holding them - or goblet squats) but your squat will at some point out pace how heavy of a dumbbell you have access to.
4) What should I do for my warmups?
It depends on your situation, a bit. If you're lifting first thing in the morning, you may need a brief cardio warmup, some extra warmup sets, some stretching, or all three. If you're lifting later in the day, you may already be fairly warm from your general daily activity, and you may only need a few warmup sets.
It also depends a little on yourself - any injuries or areas where you tend to be tight or lacking in mobility should get some extra attention. You will also generally find that as you get into the heavier weights, you need more warming up to perform well.
My standard recommendation for a beginner would be some body weight mobility work. Warm up sets might not make sense right away - its hard to use the bar warm up when your work set is an empty bar, or a bar with 5 lbs on it. When you get into heavier weights, a set with the empty bar, then a few more sets working up to your work weight is appropriate for warm up sets.
So typically e I'd come in (in the evening) and do a little bit of mobility work (hips always, sometimes knees/ankles), a bit of hamstring stretching as I tend to be tight there, then a couple ATG body weight (no bar, just me) squats as those are a good feeling stretch for me and that would be my warmup for the overall workout.
Then before I started squats if I was squatting 155 I'd do 45x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2 - work sets -- or something roughly like that.
For bench I'd do the empty bar for one or two sets of 5, then ,aybe 65x4 and 85x2, then work sets again.
5) Help! I can't squat low enough! OR I lose my balance squatting!
This is typically due to either mobility issues or form issues. There are a few things you can try - move your feet closer together or further apart and see how that feels. Focus on pushing your butt back/settling your weight into your hips. Check your shoes -- shoes with a soft insole/squishy heels tend to make it hard to keep your balance.
Also try squatting to a box or bench. Put something behind you that is the right height (for me I grab a short plyo box and have to stack a couple plates on it to get it to hte right height). Sit down on the edge or corner of it - your butt fully touching it and your calves should be parallel to the box (in other words, your knee should be at a 90 degree angle, not anything more acute than that). Stand up from there -then practice squatting back and tapping down against it - this is where your butt should be when you DON'T have the box behind you - if you try it you'll see its sort of sticking back out a bit.
6) How much weight do I add/When do I add weight?
The 'standard' strong lifts recommendation is 5lbs per session for everything but the Deadlift - which is 10lbs per session. That means that you squat 45lbs 5x5 on day 1, and 50lbs 5x5 on day two. For the lifts that alternate on the AB days, only add weight on the day you actually do the lift. So on Day 1 your bench is 45 lbs, on day 2 you do OHP at 45 lbs and on day 3 you do bench at 50lbs, NOT 55. You do not add weight during a single session - every set is at the same weight.
For many women, adding 5lbs to their upper body lifts stalls out fast. If you are very small, or very weak, you might also find it a little fast for the lower body lifts too.
The exact amount you add per session is NOT important - many people go down to adding only 2 or 2.5 lbs per session. What's important is that at every session (until you stall) you are increasing the weight by SOME increment.
7) How much cardio/other lifting can I/should I do? Can I lift every other day instead of 3x/week? Is it okay if I add ______?
There are a couple factors to this. One is your intake, one is your goals, and one is your ability to recover from a workout.
To some extent, these are all interrelated. Dieting is hell on recovery. Professional athletes do not train hard AND diet - they train hard with maintenance calories or a moderate surplus, and when they diet they also know that their performance is likely to suffer and they write training plans accordingly. Time (and lowered intensity) is how you improve your recovery on a diet.
The goals thing is also important because you do not NEED to do any additional cardio to lose fat, if you can keep your diet in control. Beyond that, 30 minutes of moderate intensity steady state cardio, 3x a week, is a good amount to shoot for. More than that and you risk eating up your recovery time with your cardio, and hurting your progress in lifting. On the other hand, plenty of people are successful doing LOTS of both (at least for a while). Big deficits AND lots of cardio. And there are other people who are training for some goal, like a race or some other sport.
And if your goal is to BUILD muscle - well. Recovery and food. Can you do more cardio? Sure, but why would you want to? (unless, again, you're training for an event in which case, make sure you EAT as much as you need).
8) When should I deload? What about rest weeks? How many weeks should I do SL?
<To Be Written>
9) How many calories/How much protein should I eat? Do my macros look ok?
IT. DE. PENDS. Ha. Sorry.
For protein - Take your weight in kilograms (which is your weight in pounds divided by 2.2) and multiply it by 1.4 - this is the bare minimum of protein you should should for every day. There is really no max but if you are very active you may want to increase it to something closer to 2 grams per kg.
If you are bulking, or eating at maintenance, you may eat a bit less than that. Its more important for dieters than anyone else as it reduces muscle lost while dieting.
The rest of your macros you can split up however you like, but do keep in mind you NEED dietary fat to be healthy, you should not be eating only low fat foods. Use olive oil on your veggies, eat a serving or two of nuts, and have some avocados, at the very least. .5g/kg is a good starting point. More is fine, if you like.
For your calories, go here http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html If you sit on your butt all day (sit at work, watch TV at home, eat microwave meals on paper plates) and will ONLY be doing stronglifts, I'd recommend using the "Lightly Active" and maybe subtracting a few cals. If you are slightly more active than that (like you cook and clean your house, do laundry, etc), somewhere between lightly and moderately (run both, take the average, based on where you think you fall pick a number). If you do all that and a fair bit of walking/standing besides throughout the day, moderately active. Beyond that, keep adding.
Now take a percentage off that if you want to lose weight. For someone over-fat (for a lady, we'll call it 28% bf or a BMI of 30 and above) that will mean subtracting 20% of that number away and eating what's left (so if you get 2000 calories, take 400 away and get 1600). For someone leaner, 15% may be more appropriate.
This method does NOT include eating your exercise calories back. So don't do that unless you calculate it without the exercise - I recommend you calculate TDEE *With* the lifting, but you can leave the cardio separate and eat that back
1) What equipment do I need?
At the absolute bare minimum you need a barbell or standard bar (or other long bar you can add weights to), weights, and something that will serve as a bench -- and this will only last you for a little while, eventually you will need at least a squat stand to increase your squat weight.
The ideal set up is a basic olympic bar (women with serious strength issues might want to start with a standard bar as they are generally around 18 lbs instead of 45, but be warned that they generally can only take up to about 200 lbs of weight and you WILL be lifting more than that if you stick with this so you'll end up needing to replace it - on the other hand they are cheaper), a squat rack or power rack (a power rack is the best option but also the costliest), a bench, and plates.
2) Can I substitute (dumbbells)(some other random set of equipment or exercises) and still do this program?
Not really. Dumbbell movements are quite different, and more taxing, AND you can't increase the weights on them in small increments so this isn't an appropriate program for them. Please see <insert link to a thread about alternate programs> for ideas. Or, buy a barbell/gym membership. You won't regret it. The level of satisfaction from lifting your bodyweight on a barbell really can't be matched.
3) My gym only has a smith machine/can I use the smith machine/I'm scared to use anything but the smith machine?
Get a better gym or a get a home setup. (But I caaaan't! -- or I need a few months here before I can do that)
Ok fine. You can....kind of use one. There are some downsides. One is that the forced bar path is only straight up and down, with no curve, and that means that a) there is no effort put in by you to stabilize the bar, which means you're getting less out of the workout and b) its VERY hard to set yourself up so that the biomechanics of the movement don't get messed with, which means injury at worst, and that you're doing something just plain weird at best.
Also because of those things, you will most likely not be able to squat that amount when you move to a free barbell. You may need to deload by a LOT, in fact, depending on how weak your stabilization muscles are.
You do have another option though - grab a barbell from the bench press station or whatever (if your gym literally does not have a SINGLE unattached barbell anywhere its really a crappy gym for strength training) and do a hack squat.
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBHackSquat.html
At some point your grip strength will limit you on these - straps will help too but really, really, seriously - plan to get a better gym.
Or, for a while you could do dumbbell squats (either lifting them up to your shoulders or holding them - or goblet squats) but your squat will at some point out pace how heavy of a dumbbell you have access to.
4) What should I do for my warmups?
It depends on your situation, a bit. If you're lifting first thing in the morning, you may need a brief cardio warmup, some extra warmup sets, some stretching, or all three. If you're lifting later in the day, you may already be fairly warm from your general daily activity, and you may only need a few warmup sets.
It also depends a little on yourself - any injuries or areas where you tend to be tight or lacking in mobility should get some extra attention. You will also generally find that as you get into the heavier weights, you need more warming up to perform well.
My standard recommendation for a beginner would be some body weight mobility work. Warm up sets might not make sense right away - its hard to use the bar warm up when your work set is an empty bar, or a bar with 5 lbs on it. When you get into heavier weights, a set with the empty bar, then a few more sets working up to your work weight is appropriate for warm up sets.
So typically e I'd come in (in the evening) and do a little bit of mobility work (hips always, sometimes knees/ankles), a bit of hamstring stretching as I tend to be tight there, then a couple ATG body weight (no bar, just me) squats as those are a good feeling stretch for me and that would be my warmup for the overall workout.
Then before I started squats if I was squatting 155 I'd do 45x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2 - work sets -- or something roughly like that.
For bench I'd do the empty bar for one or two sets of 5, then ,aybe 65x4 and 85x2, then work sets again.
5) Help! I can't squat low enough! OR I lose my balance squatting!
This is typically due to either mobility issues or form issues. There are a few things you can try - move your feet closer together or further apart and see how that feels. Focus on pushing your butt back/settling your weight into your hips. Check your shoes -- shoes with a soft insole/squishy heels tend to make it hard to keep your balance.
Also try squatting to a box or bench. Put something behind you that is the right height (for me I grab a short plyo box and have to stack a couple plates on it to get it to hte right height). Sit down on the edge or corner of it - your butt fully touching it and your calves should be parallel to the box (in other words, your knee should be at a 90 degree angle, not anything more acute than that). Stand up from there -then practice squatting back and tapping down against it - this is where your butt should be when you DON'T have the box behind you - if you try it you'll see its sort of sticking back out a bit.
6) How much weight do I add/When do I add weight?
The 'standard' strong lifts recommendation is 5lbs per session for everything but the Deadlift - which is 10lbs per session. That means that you squat 45lbs 5x5 on day 1, and 50lbs 5x5 on day two. For the lifts that alternate on the AB days, only add weight on the day you actually do the lift. So on Day 1 your bench is 45 lbs, on day 2 you do OHP at 45 lbs and on day 3 you do bench at 50lbs, NOT 55. You do not add weight during a single session - every set is at the same weight.
For many women, adding 5lbs to their upper body lifts stalls out fast. If you are very small, or very weak, you might also find it a little fast for the lower body lifts too.
The exact amount you add per session is NOT important - many people go down to adding only 2 or 2.5 lbs per session. What's important is that at every session (until you stall) you are increasing the weight by SOME increment.
7) How much cardio/other lifting can I/should I do? Can I lift every other day instead of 3x/week? Is it okay if I add ______?
There are a couple factors to this. One is your intake, one is your goals, and one is your ability to recover from a workout.
To some extent, these are all interrelated. Dieting is hell on recovery. Professional athletes do not train hard AND diet - they train hard with maintenance calories or a moderate surplus, and when they diet they also know that their performance is likely to suffer and they write training plans accordingly. Time (and lowered intensity) is how you improve your recovery on a diet.
The goals thing is also important because you do not NEED to do any additional cardio to lose fat, if you can keep your diet in control. Beyond that, 30 minutes of moderate intensity steady state cardio, 3x a week, is a good amount to shoot for. More than that and you risk eating up your recovery time with your cardio, and hurting your progress in lifting. On the other hand, plenty of people are successful doing LOTS of both (at least for a while). Big deficits AND lots of cardio. And there are other people who are training for some goal, like a race or some other sport.
And if your goal is to BUILD muscle - well. Recovery and food. Can you do more cardio? Sure, but why would you want to? (unless, again, you're training for an event in which case, make sure you EAT as much as you need).
8) When should I deload? What about rest weeks? How many weeks should I do SL?
<To Be Written>
9) How many calories/How much protein should I eat? Do my macros look ok?
IT. DE. PENDS. Ha. Sorry.
For protein - Take your weight in kilograms (which is your weight in pounds divided by 2.2) and multiply it by 1.4 - this is the bare minimum of protein you should should for every day. There is really no max but if you are very active you may want to increase it to something closer to 2 grams per kg.
If you are bulking, or eating at maintenance, you may eat a bit less than that. Its more important for dieters than anyone else as it reduces muscle lost while dieting.
The rest of your macros you can split up however you like, but do keep in mind you NEED dietary fat to be healthy, you should not be eating only low fat foods. Use olive oil on your veggies, eat a serving or two of nuts, and have some avocados, at the very least. .5g/kg is a good starting point. More is fine, if you like.
For your calories, go here http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html If you sit on your butt all day (sit at work, watch TV at home, eat microwave meals on paper plates) and will ONLY be doing stronglifts, I'd recommend using the "Lightly Active" and maybe subtracting a few cals. If you are slightly more active than that (like you cook and clean your house, do laundry, etc), somewhere between lightly and moderately (run both, take the average, based on where you think you fall pick a number). If you do all that and a fair bit of walking/standing besides throughout the day, moderately active. Beyond that, keep adding.
Now take a percentage off that if you want to lose weight. For someone over-fat (for a lady, we'll call it 28% bf or a BMI of 30 and above) that will mean subtracting 20% of that number away and eating what's left (so if you get 2000 calories, take 400 away and get 1600). For someone leaner, 15% may be more appropriate.
This method does NOT include eating your exercise calories back. So don't do that unless you calculate it without the exercise - I recommend you calculate TDEE *With* the lifting, but you can leave the cardio separate and eat that back
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Equipment FAQ- What is it, what does it do, and do I need it? (Post in progress!)
We'll start at the ground and work our way up.
Shoes
Knee sleeves and Knee wraps
Knee sleeves if worn are usually used on the squat and for some people the deadlift. They are typically made of neoprene and vary in thickness between 3 and 7mm. The 3mm are typically found at your run of the mill sporting goods store, whereas 5 and 7mm sleeves are usually found online and are much more expensive. Knee sleeves are mainly used to maintain warmth in the joint. They are great if you have arthritis, previous knee injuries, train in a cold gym, or just prefer some extra heat on your joints. When true to size they do not provide any additional benefit to the squat, although some powerlifters do size down and claim to get 5-15lbs added to their squat.
Knee wraps are worn for the squat in some powerlifting competitions/divisions. They are elasticized strips of fabric worn wrapped tightly around the knee. They work like a rubber band. They get stretched out at the bottom of the squat, and then rebound assisting the lifter back to the upright position.
Belt
Wrist wraps and wrist straps
Mouth guard
You may see lifters using mouth guards in videos and wonder why, or you may find that when you're really pushing through a lift you clench your jaw together. It isn't super common for lifters use mouth guards, but some the few that do may use them to protect their teeth from clenching, believe thatmany reasons including jaw clenching. If you are a lifting clencher get yourself a mouth guard unless you want to be putting your dentist's kids through college. You can use any kind from normal boil and bite football guards to a custom fitted one through your dentist.
Bonus section:
Gear/single ply/multi ply
At some point you might read or watch a video about "geared" lifting. While gear can also refer to PEDs, it can also refer to powerlifting gear which are pieces of apparel that work much like the knee wraps above. They are woven in such a way that they stretch during the eccentric portion of the lift or setup, and provide rebound for the concentric portion. You might hear about briefs, squat suits, deadlift suits, or bench shirts. They come in both single ply and multi ply (just like toilet paper!). In powerlifting there are different divisions and federations that offer raw (typically a belt, wrist wraps, and knee sleeves- occasionally wraps. Some offer raw with and without the use of knee wraps), singly ply, and multiply competitions. While some internet people seem to think geared lifting is "cheating" it's really an interesting sport that many see as separate from raw lifting. It's very technical. The athletes must both be very strong, and be able to set-up and perform the lift in the perfect "groove." If the lifter "misgrooves" there isn't a way for them to recover the lift. Something to keep in mind when you see really crazy youtube videos of huge lifts is a lot of time the lifter is both on gear and using gear.0
This discussion has been closed.