Stronglifts 5x5...

Like all programs, it depends on your goals. What are you looking to accomplish?

I would recommend it, but I'm biased: it was the program I did when I first started. What I would do differently is not advance the weight every session, but maybe weekly. For me, I had never really lifted and a 95 pound deadlift was too much.

Agreed that it depends on your goals. I also recommend it due to it's simplicity, effectiveness, and quick progression. As a beginner, you're going to get stronger very quickly. A program like Stronglifts is a good program to practice form, and quickly move up in weight. Once your progression slows down, you might want to move on to another program that moves at a slower pace, but for beginners, I do recommend it.

While it would depend on your goals Stronglifts 5x5 is a beginners lifting program that will lay down a solid foundation from which you can move to other things later.

It's designed for beginners.

The only other program I know that's just as simple is Starting Strength - it's basically the same thing using 3x5 instead of 5x5. Do Stronglifts for a while and you'll be reducing your sets to 3x5 eventually anyway. On Starting Strength you should be able to increase weights longer without stalling, but if you respond better to volume training then Stronglifts would work better.

The difference is probably so slight it isn't worth thinking about. Just pick one and stick with it until you need to change.

I'm doing SL5x5 and am a beginner. I've been doing it for 2-3 weeks now and am getting slight strength gains (what was hard for me in the beginning is easier now).

OP... bump your calories up to maintenance now if you haven't already before starting a lifting program.

I agree it is definitely a great beginner program, especially if you start with the recommended starting lifts. However, plateaus happen and you may find yourself struggling at a certain point but that's ok.You will get stronger !!

There's also Phrak's Greyskull. It's also a pretty simple program, but has progress/deloads built in.

It's great for beginners, and feel free to tailor it a bit for your own goals - don't listen to Mehdi's " my way or the highway " nonsense, there isn't a one size fits all routine

I've done Stronglifts (SL) before and, after a 3 yr hiatus, am now doing Starting Strength (SS).

Not sure what Medhi says now but when I started doing SL 5 yrs ago, he was saying that you didn't need warmup sets/reps and didn't need to rest between sets/lifts, which was nonsense. I also found 5x5 too much to do at max weights, especially if you are doing warmup sets, as you should. Ended up doing more and more contrary to what Medhi was saying you should do and I wasn't doing SL anymore anyway. So, I dropped it.

Switched to SS because I liked what Mark Rippetoe (Rip) had to say in his book/videos and articles, which (unlike Medhi) give very detailed explanations (seldom provided by Medhi) on how/why to do specific lifts, which was backed up with specific facts based on body geometry, research, common sense and/or experience, and also because he uses a 3x5 program (5x3 w/power cleans, which I also preferred to the rows in SL) that takes into account the effort expended on warmup sets and because he encourages taking as much time as you need to rest between sets/lifts in order to recover.

So, I'd encourage anyone considering SL to take a look at SS as well. They both have apps and websites but Rip has posted many more videos and articles on the Net than Medhi has. Those videos and articles are very valuable teaching guides and many of them have been cross-linked and referenced on MFP.

Medhi use to have a forum, where you could interact w/him and other members, that you had to pay a fee to join (I was a paying member) but he has since dropped it to focus (according to him) on his app develoment.

SS has an active forum that's free to join and Rippetoe monitors and responds to questions in his own subforum. Rip can often act like an a-hole but at least he's there to respond to questions. Just make sure it's not a "stupid" question or has been asked b4 or you'll probably get a rude reply. Fair warning. LOL!!

I ran SL5x5 after years of circuit training/cardio training. SL helped me build my strength into superhero status (for me anyway). I see it as the best program for building strength fast as well as learning programming.

I stalled after 6 weeks of progression on SL. I was ready to move on but I wanted to keep my powers. So I tried various techniques including supersets, complexes, plyometrics and accessories as well as heavy ascending lifts to help maintain my strength base (and perhaps add a bit).