Stronglifts 5x5

Lopéz

Lopéz

Lopéz

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
29,239
Location
Ottakring, Vienna.
Introduction:
Male, 36 years old, 6 foot tall, not muscular at all, never set foot in a gym in my life.
Spent my 20s fairly skinny(85ish kg)
Spent my 30s a bit fatter (99kg at my fattest)
No real exercise other than some cycling when the mood takes me and the odd game of football.

Decided to join a gym in April and do something about it.
Started off barely able to lift a can of Coke let alone a weight. Bench 25kg, bicep curl 7.5kg - you get the picture.

Started doing weights 3 or 4 times a week and made some progress. Bench now 60kg and bicep curl 25kg to give a contrast to the before figures.

Decided a couple of weeks ago to do the Stronglifts programme because I've been neglecting my legs not squatting and generally not having much of a proper routine.

Body weight currently 93kg

August 15
Squat 40kg 5x5
Bench 60kg 5x5
Row 50kg 5x5
Bench close to my regular max here, the others felt too easy

August 17
Squat 50kg 5x5
OHP 30kg 5x5
Deadlift 50kg 5x5
Overhead press got me sweating on this one. Never deadlifted before, tried to get my form as good as possible. Gym in Newcastle is rammed with mirrors which helps. 50kg felt very easy but I didn't want to go too hard too fast. I'll definitely up the weight faster for this one

August 19
Squat 60kg 5x5
Bench 62.5kg 5x5
Row 55kg 5x5
Squat getting close to my (low) current limit now. Bench felt about right. Row still too light.

August 21
Squat 65kg 5x5
OHP 35kg 5x5
Deadlift 3x5 60kg
Wobbled on my squat for the first time. Left leg went to jelly in the last set. OHP is testing. Deadlift still way too light

August 23
Squat 67.5kg 5x5
Bench 65kg 5x5
Row 57.5kg 5x5
Squat somehow easier than last time despite being heavier.

August 24
Squat 70kg 5x5
OHP 40kg 5x5
Deadlift 110kg 3x5
Had to do 2 days back to back because of my schedule.
Took my shoes off this time. Found it MUCH easier to squat and deadlift barefoot. Squat felt like a real workout. OHP had me sweating like crazy. Deadlift (I did a few warmup sets, didn't leap straight to 110) felt like a proper challenge, like I was actually lifting something heavy. It hasn't felt like that before.

August 26
Squat 72kg 5x5
Bench 67.5kg 5x5
Row 60kg 5x5
Didn't feel this one. Squat was alright but I can feel my abdomeny twist slighty when I got left jelly leg right at the end.
Bench actually felt like it was working my chest rather than my triceps which was the first time I've really noticed that.
Row was ok but not brilliant, spine felt like it might have been curving a bit on the last set

August 28
Squat 75kg 5x5
OHP 45kg 5x5
Deadlift 3x5 120kg
Squat felt better than last time - no jelly leg but I'm sure there is still a bit of twisting happening.
OHP I'm amazed I made the last set, my final 3 reps were really forced out at a crawl.
Deadlift - this really feels like my natural limit at the moment. I could go heavier but a)My hands hurt like hell! and b)I wouldn't be able to maintain a neutral back.

Really enjoying so far and I think I need to eat more!
 
Cheers guys

August 30
Squat 77.5kg 5x5
Bench 70kg 5x5
Row 62.5kg 5x5
Squat was a proper workout but didn't feel as close to failing as it did in the 60s. Bench came really close to failing the last couple of reps, in fact sets 4 and 5 were both tough. Row was okay, neutral back and only the last 2 reps of the final set were tough.
 
September 1
Squat 80kg 5x5
OHP 47.5kg 5x5
Deadlift 122.5kg 2x5

Squat felt okay, can't believe I was massively struggling in the low 60s 2 weeks ago yet now I'm on 80. OHP was incredibly hard, I was very close to bailing the last set altogether but gritted my teeth and powered through. The last 2 reps felt like they would never end. Deadlift killed my hands and completely exhausted me. Properly knackered after that.
 
September 3
Squat 82.5kg 5x5
Bench 72.5kg 5x5
Row 65kg 5x5

Squat felt pretty good here other than one wobble where I forgot to breathe :o. Bench felt good too, way better than 70 did. I would never have contemplated lifting 70kg plus a few weeks ago. Row was so so, not a massive fan of this exercise to be honest, it never looks or feels particularly "right" no matter how I do it.
 
September 5
Squat 87.5kg 5x5
OHP 50kg 5x5
Deadlift 125kg 2x5

I didn't enjoy this. Tried a 5kg jump on Squats. I did it, but on the third rep of the fourth set I faltered mid way up and almost had to drop the bar. Recovered after that but I was completely shattered.
OHP was the worst it has ever been, wobbling about, barely making the last 2 sets, I'm going to have to stick at this weight for a few sessions I think before I consider upping the weight again.
Deadlift was tiring but didn't feel that bad, got some liquid chalk which helped a fair bit with my grip.
 
Cheers, I'm really pleased with the squats - although I know they aren't "heavy" in the grander scheme of things, they are so much heavier than when I started.

OHP has full range of motion, I just can't get over how much harder 50kg is than 45! There was one point yesterday where I thought I was going to actually fall over.
 
September 7
Squat 90kg 5x5
Bench 75kg 4x5 1x4
Row 67.5kg 5x5

My first stall. On the last bench set I wobbled and the 4th rep was a definite half rep. Couldn't make the last without risking dropping the bar on myself. Squat wasn't perfect either. Annoyed but it's to be expected I suppose.
 
Cheers guys. I had a whole month off :o

So today I went down the gym like it was the first time all over again.

The SL app suggested a 50% deload. I didn't go quite that extreme.

October 8
Squat 70kg 5x5
OHP 35kg 5x5
Deadlift 80kg 2x5

My god the squat was so hard! I was shaking, wobbling - all over the place, even after warming up. Horrendous that you can go that far backwards in the space of a few weeks.
OHP felt alright and Deadlift fairly easy, so I'll see how quickly I can get back to normal.

Also did 30 mins fairly hard cycling just to really kill off my legs :p
 
October 15
Squat 80kg 5x5
Bench 60kg 5x5
Row 60kg 5x5

Still building back up. I think I'll find it difficult because I'm taking in a lot less calories than normal because I want to lose weight. It'll be interesting to see if I can get back to where I was last month whilst cutting back on food.
 
After some seriously ropey workouts thanks to barely touching the gym for about 6 weeks and some massive deloading, I'm getting back to normalish

November 7
Squat 5x5 90kg
Bench 5x5 65kg - lost a decent amount here, still working back up. My chest physically looks smaller than it did in September too.
Row 5x5 50kg - lost loads of strength here for some reason

November 10
Squat 97.5kg 5x5 - chuffed with this! Definitely felt like I had more in the tank too :cool:
OHP 42.5kg 5x5 - Nearly killed me, could never have done another set
Deadlift 100kg 1x5 - Grip strength has gone through lack of practice, I could easily lift more otherwise

Weight coming off slowly by watching my diet - 88kg now, down from 93kg in September.

I need to remain focused now and not slip out of routine!
 
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November 12
Squat 5x5 100kg - This was hard but I've done it, my first 100kg squat :cool:
Bench 5x5 65kg - Just couldn't do 67.5, stuck at 65 for now and might do the same next time
Row 5x5 55kg - Starting to feel a bit more normal now
 
Injured my leg at the weekend doing some off roading, so no squats.

My gym is also having a refurb so I've used the hotel gym which is hugely limited in equipment but better than nothing, just wanted to keep active.

Feels weird going back to dumbbells after using the bar almost exclusively for so long

DB Bench Press
25kg 5x5

DB Overhead Press
17.5kg 4x5
20kg 1x5

Hammer Curlz
17.5kg 5x5

Most novel part about his workout was discovering I have veins! I've been eating pretty low calories for the last few weeks in a concerted effort to lose weight, and I now have visible veins on my arms. Took me by surprise but was strangely exciting to see.
 
Leg is healed so back at the bar

November 28
Squat 102.5kg 4x5 1x4 - Struggled with this whole session following my break, but powered through until the last set. On the 4th rep I felt my upper back round as I reached the top of the lift, it hurt and I stopped immediately and didn't try for the 5th rep. I've never rounded my back on a squat before - I can't believe people get through whole sessions with bad form and rounded back, do they not feel how obviously wrong it is?
OHP 45kg 5x5 - Sets 1-3 felt fairly easy. Set 4 was tough. Set 5 was almost impossible.
Deadlift 110kg 1x5 - Grip strength still no good and I was worn out from the previous 2 exercises but it felt okay generally.

Weight is down at around 85-86kg
 
November 30
Squat 5x5 102.5kg - Repeated 102.5 after the previous failure and powered through :cool:
Bench 4x5 1x3 67.5kg - Stumbled on the 3rd set but recovered on the last 2 so I'll repeat this weight. I didn't take a long enough recovery period after set 2 which seemed to be the cause
Row 5x5 60kg - This felt okay, I think I've been trying to rush this exercise in the past so I did the actions a bit slower
 
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