Newbie needs help!

ECR1989

Hi guys!

Been intrigued about SL 5x5 for a while and finally decided to give it a go, tired of half-assing it at the gym so want to get serious!

I read the summary chapter but I just wanted to ask about finding your starting weight...

If I do 2 warm-up sets (2x5) of just the olympic barbell - should I just keep adding 10lbs as I go until I can't anymore? At what point do I stop?

I'm a 5'5 24 year old, weighing 145lbs - i do some hot iron classes at the gym where i lift 10kg barbells, but could def do more if it's for 5x5 rather than a class...

Just wanted advice about how to find the best starting weight... Sorry if this has been asked before I did search a couple of pages but couldn't find anything!

Thanks in advance! x

DaniH826

You start everything with the empty bar, and the most you go up is 5 lbs at a workout session (probably less with presses especially as a woman).

You're not going to be adding any weights to the bar until you can do all bar-only lifts in proper form and are comfortable.

If you need to go lower than the bar weight, use dumbbells. No shame in that. I had to work my way up to the bar on a couple things (i.e. overhead presses).

Read the whole book. Read all the stickies here. Read the Stronglifts web site if you have to, until you know full well what you're about to be doing. Familiarize yourself with the actual program so you do it properly from the beginning.

Oh and welcome to lifting! It's awesome!

auddii

I think you're a little confused (or maybe I'm confused when I read your post).

Warmup sets are at less weight the your working sets. Working sets start with just the barbell, and each day you do that particular exercise, the weight goes up by 5lbs. When I first started, I didn't do warmup sets (not sure what other people did), but you could use lighter dumbbells to help you warm up.

If you are an experienced lifter, you can adjust the starting weight, but weight will increase quickly, so it's best to start off with something that seems pretty easy. You add weight each day that you do a particular lift, and there is no "end" point. At some point, you will fail, then you deload and try and work your way back up. Eventually, you can progress no further, and you can drop down to 3x5.

I'm going to stop here because I honestly think Tameko explains it a lot better than what I'm doing.

Amazing1985RSD

When you start the program the weight should be light at first then you add about 5 pounds each subsequent workout. This is called linear progression. I started out with just the barbell. Five sets of five.

tameko2

Hi guys!

Been intrigued about SL 5x5 for a while and finally decided to give it a go, tired of half-assing it at the gym so want to get serious!

I read the summary chapter but I just wanted to ask about finding your starting weight...

If I do 2 warm-up sets (2x5) of just the olympic barbell - should I just keep adding 10lbs as I go until I can't anymore? At what point do I stop?

I'm a 5'5 24 year old, weighing 145lbs - i do some hot iron classes at the gym where i lift 10kg barbells, but could def do more if it's for 5x5 rather than a class...

Just wanted advice about how to find the best starting weight... Sorry if this has been asked before I did search a couple of pages but couldn't find anything!

Thanks in advance! x

You don't need to do anything but start at the recommended weights - 45 lbs for bench, overhead press, and squat, and deadlift at 95, row at 65.

Many women find they like to start lower but at the highest, you should start with those. The only exception I make to those start weights is for people coming from another lifting background like NROL who have a couple months under their belt of doing squats and deadlifts -- evne then they generally start around 65 for squats, at max.

Does that answer your question? You'll add weight at every workout session (per lift). So thefirst day you'll squat 45lbs, and the second day you'll squat 50lbs. 5x5 sets - all the same weight.

ECR1989

Ohhhhhh I see!! I got confused with that whole pdf thing - what a load of waffle!!

I did read the summary and also look at the sites for form and stuff but I just got confused about how to find my starting weight, but i'll start with just the barbell and progress from there!!

Really looking forward to starting and making new friends here as well, thanks so much for the advice guys! I'm off to the gym now to start i'll let you know how i get on!!

Soosannah

Hi and welcome :flowerforyou: And ditto on what everyone else said

ECR1989

Thanks for all your help guys, and for being so friendly - I must have been having a slow moment!

I did my first workout and found it pretty ok, just a little tough in the last 2 sets of the barbell rows when i was on 30kg. I only rested for a minute between sets - although the app on my iphone said anywhere between 90 secs and 3 mins so... But I didn't feel that tired really and was getting bored in my breaks so just moved on after a minute!

I'm looking forward to upping my weights and getting this going!

Another quick question - should I be doing other workouts whilst doing stronglift 5x5? I went swimming and did 60 laps after my workout today because i didn't feel that tired - but should i have complete rest days between my SL workouts? Or can I do other things like cardio? Or just best to stick to the 3 workouts a week for SL?

DaniH826

Another quick question - should I be doing other workouts whilst doing stronglift 5x5? I went swimming and did 60 laps after my workout today because i didn't feel that tired - but should i have complete rest days between my SL workouts? Or can I do other things like cardio? Or just best to stick to the 3 workouts a week for SL?

Every person is different, and it's going to be up to you. You may find that doing cardio doesn't let you progress in adding weights as quickly as you'd like, especially once you start actually lifting heavy. Or not.

Basically, you're going to have to find your own balance here, depending on what you're trying to accomplish and how lifting fits into your overall fitness plan, how your body recovers, etc etc. There's no right or wrong answer, really. There's lots of people out there who do things competitively that require strength and cardio, and train both hard. It's not an either-or situation.

lwoodroff

all this conversion in my head between lbs and kgs is so confusing! almost need a conversion table!
*wanders back to the sticky's to look at technique again*.. can you tell I'm frustrated with not getting to the gym?!

ECR1989

Ah sorry! It's only because I'm living in Germany now so everything here is in kilos! I have to keep converting it too, hopefully it'll just become ingrained after a while!

Ok cool, thanks Dani for the help! My legs actually feel pretty sore now (in a good way) so i'll probs rest tomorrow and then carry on with workout two on Friday and see how I go.

I was so timid at the beginning of my workout! There were only these huge men in the weights section and I could tell they were all looking at me as I walked into the area, like I'd got lost or something! Anyway after a while I barely noticed them and just did my own thing. Can't wait to actually start lifting heavy!

auddii

all this conversion in my head between lbs and kgs is so confusing! almost need a conversion table!
*wanders back to the sticky's to look at technique again*.. can you tell I'm frustrated with not getting to the gym?!

I had better never see you posting anything about stones. Crazy British people...

lwoodroff

ha ha but stones should be easy for you yanks, it's 14lbs, however all the gym weights are in kg..