SL5X5 while losing a large amount of weight

laur357
laur357 Posts: 896 Member
edited November 22 in Fitness and Exercise
I've been working through stronglifts 5x5 since the end of August.
Squat: 145, DL: 155, Bench: 75, OH (my nemesis):, 60, Row, 80.

I'm plateauing in a lot of areas after around 9 weeks, pretty much as expected. I'm actively eating at a deficit and not doing this to gain muscle mass, just stay strong and preserve as much muscle as possible while losing around 70 pounds. I've hit higher weight, but my form was starting to suffer so I pulled back.

My question/topic of discussion - is there any detriment or any cons to just staying around these weights (possibly increasing reps or very slow progression instead of attempting to add weight each session) and maybe adding some accessory lifts for the foreseeable future while I focus on weight loss and add a bit more cardio/HIIT? Will the lack of consistent progression/very slow progression negate possible benefits of lifting while losing?

Female/~5'3&200 lbs.

Replies

  • questionfear
    questionfear Posts: 527 Member
    You don't have to increase every workout-there's nothing wrong with increasing weekly, or even monthly, if that's what works best for you.

    You could also pick up a copy of Beyond 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler and try some of his programs-I did Stronglifts a while ago but when I started lifting again I switched to 5/3/1 and love it. You lift submaximally and your max is adjusted every 4-week cycle, so while you might still plateau you'll get more time conquering each weight level.
  • rjmwx81
    rjmwx81 Posts: 259 Member
    Stronglifts has a "deload" procedure for when your progress stalls. Follow that and then see if you're not able to resume your progress.
  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
    questionfear wrote: »
    You don't have to increase every workout-there's nothing wrong with increasing weekly, or even monthly, if that's what works best for you.

    You could also pick up a copy of Beyond 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler and try some of his programs-I did Stronglifts a while ago but when I started lifting again I switched to 5/3/1 and love it. You lift submaximally and your max is adjusted every 4-week cycle, so while you might still plateau you'll get more time conquering each weight level.

    Thanks, I'll check out Beyond 5/3/1!
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
    rjmwx81 wrote: »
    Stronglifts has a "deload" procedure for when your progress stalls. Follow that and then see if you're not able to resume your progress.

    After you "fail" to get your 5x5 reps in, the program will "deload" you and start you back on your upward progression. Try this and see how it works for you. You can trigger this by intentionally "failing" on the last rep of you last set. Just do four instead of five and the program will instruct you further. If you haven't already, get the app for your phone. I've found it very helpful in keeping tract of my progress, keeping track of my sets and timing when to stat the next set.
  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
    I use the app, and I've deloaded a few times after consecutive fails.
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
    laur357 wrote: »
    I use the app, and I've deloaded a few times after consecutive fails.

    And the program has several accessory lifts you can add. I'm adding assisted pull-ups, assisted dips, barbell curls and planks. I'm pretty sure there are others. My suggestion would be to follow the program until you don't want to and have found another.
  • pmm3437
    pmm3437 Posts: 529 Member
    edited October 2017
    To answer your question, the only detriment to not trying to continue the progressive loading is the stall in your progress. Your body will become accustomed to the load, and eventually reach homeostasis.

    From a muscle sparing perspective, while in a caloric deficit, you shouldn't see much difference in muscle measurements/mass, assuming you are getting adequate protein for repair during recovery phases.

    As far as the advice about deloading, you should be following those suggestions while still on the program. And in regards to that, a bad form rep is a failed rep, so you should have been backing off like you did.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    laur357 wrote: »
    My question/topic of discussion - is there any detriment or any cons to just staying around these weights (possibly increasing reps or very slow progression instead of attempting to add weight each session) and maybe adding some accessory lifts for the foreseeable future while I focus on weight loss and add a bit more cardio/HIIT? Will the lack of consistent progression/very slow progression negate possible benefits of lifting while losing?

    Female/~5'3&200 lbs.

    The short answer to each question is: No.

    The longer answer is it's no problem as long as your goal is simply to maintain your current level of strength and LBM while doing other things to lose weight (hopefully mainly fat) and increase your fitness by doing other things.

    It's what I currently do in maintenance after losing 38# and dropping my BF down to 10%. I'm happy w/my current weight and BF level and am also happy w/my current strength levels, which are at the advanced and elite levels for the main lifts for men my age and weight. So, there is no need to do any more than just maintain it.

    There's a flawed premise in Stronglifts (and in the lifting community generally) that suggests that you should always continue to try to lift more weight in order to get stronger.

    This ignores the fact that there is an absolute limit to how much a person can lift, based on their individual genetics and physical limitations, and attempting to lift more than that can only lead to frustration and injury.

    But yet you see lifters (mainly men) try to continually lift more weight despite failure and injury in their attempts to do so. This is foolish and is mainly based on ego and an unwillingness to accept reality.

    You need to know and accept your physical limitations and, if you are not a competitive lifter (& 99.9% of us are not), you need to know when to stop lifting more weight than you can handle.

    There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

  • mommarnurse
    mommarnurse Posts: 515 Member
    edited November 2017
    I commend you for your attention to strength training while losing weight. The benefits to this when it comes to weight loss are often overlooked, but definitly invaluable for many reasons.

    As others have said, work with the deload aspect of the program, and the app will tell you when it's time to deload so long as you are honest with it.

    And, there's nothing wrong with staying at a certain weight for an extended period of time. It's not going to damage and is still beneficial to your progress. It will simply maintain your strength.

    As far as the overhead press, that's my nemesis, also! (that and bench). It simply is normal for being female :) Our upper bodies are not built like men, and so our lifting routines are not going to be the same. Don't let this discourage you.

    I think it could make a difference if you simply did one more set or one more rep to each set at the same weight for a little while and then test out the waters in adding more weight and scaling down the reps/sets. You'll just have to play with that.

    By the way, you can always work on really building muscle and altering your tone/body composition when you're finished losing, because at that point you are in the perfect condition where you're eating for maintenance. The first time I did stronglifts (I had a traumatic injury to my leg 5 months ago and just re-started), it was about a year after I'd been maintaining. And, I ate a little above my maintenance calories because I was set on increasing muscle mass. (I still ate back my cardio calories) I gained 5 lbs and it was most definitely muscle mass; my clothes fit BETTER because everything was more tone! That being said, within 3 weeks after my injury, I was down 10 lbs and I'm pretty sure much of it was muscle. It's an interesting phenomena.
  • cs2thecox
    cs2thecox Posts: 533 Member
    pondee629 wrote: »
    laur357 wrote: »
    I use the app, and I've deloaded a few times after consecutive fails.

    And the program has several accessory lifts you can add. I'm adding assisted pull-ups, assisted dips, barbell curls and planks. I'm pretty sure there are others. My suggestion would be to follow the program until you don't want to and have found another.

    The accessories are in the paid for bit, I think. With the plate math (why I paid!), but I've moved on now and don't have the app downloaded at the moment so I can't check.

    If you're bored of the deloads SL are programming in for you, then yes either look in to accessories, or consider getting some teeny tiny incremental plates so you can go up in units of less than 2.5kg (or whatever the smallest plate your gym has is).

    The other thing that worked well for me was going to get a really good sports massage, particularly when OHP was stressing me out. That would often let me break through a plateau. Plus, excuse for massage ;)
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    The way Stronglifts is set up, once you de-load and plateau again. You change your rep and set scheme. I have already had to de-load on bench and OHP. So, when I fail again, I will go to 3x5 for that failed movement, and so on according to the app.
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