Starting 5x5 training.

Hi, i have been doing split wotkouts for 2 months now bit i've been readind that full body workouts are better for begginers.  So I'm going to try out StrongLifts.com 5x5 routine. I'm 23 years old  6'0 220 lbs 26-28% BF my main goal is getting my BF % down while adding strenght and muscle, probably im better off just getting muscle and cutting later but I really want to get a comfortable Bf% before bulking. I also started HIIT yesterday, planning to do it on the day off. So i wanna know which tweaks can i make to this routine right here:

MON: W A
TUES: OFF/HIIT
WED: W B
THU: OFF/HIIT
FRI: W A
SAT: Basketball
SUN: OFF sometimes HIIT

Workout A
Squat 5x5
Bench Press 5x5
Inverted Rows 3xF
Push-ups 3xF
Reverse Crunch 3x12

Workout B
Squat 5x5
Overhead Press 5x5
Deadlift 1x5 
Pull-ups/Chin-ups 3xF
Prone Bridges 3x30sec

Just copied this from Stronglifts.com, I want to know if Deadlift 1x5 its correct or its just a typo?, which other exercise can i Add and do abs work on the day off? Can i do BB Rows instead of Inverted Rows? what about those push-ups, pulls-ups/chin-ups can i trade it for something else i dont think i can do good sets of those exercises yet(out of shape)? dont i need to do some Hang cleans or power cleans? tell my what you think
 

Its laid out almost like starting strength. Accept the sets are more.

For all intents and purposes, it looks fine.

The deadlift is ramping sets. Which means your actually doing 4 sets working up to your working set of 1x5 which is a total of 5 sets.

Its kind of confusing just learning about it, heres an example:

say I warm up with the bar, 135 and 185. 3 warm up sets.

Then I start at 225x1x5, next set would be

235x1x5
245x1x5
255x1x5

and then finally your working set of 265x1x5.

You doing less weight but ramping it up each set, so its still a total of 5x5 in a sense, but your only counting the last one as your working set.

I would actually recommend BB rows to begin with. change it.

the pushups, pull ups and chins can be replaced. They are assistance exercises. They are great ones at that so they dont really need to be replaced, but yes if you want they can be.

You can do powercleans if you want. You would simply do them in place of rows. And then you could move rows to an assistance exercise and do them at 2x10 for example. Power cleans are a great exercise and if you know how to execute them or would like to learn how...I would definitely recommend putting them in. 

Check this out, im not finished writing it yet but its a beginners guide to training. And I think you will find some of the information and links helpful.

http://www.discussbodyb...to-training-m480790.aspx

BTW about you cutting BF. IMO if your around the high 20's that is a lot. I would recommend cutting first till you get comfortable like you said and then bulk up after that. You sound like the high BF bothers you and thats why I am saying that.

Of you take a look at that guide, it includes a link to calculate your daily caloric maintenance needs. When you figure out how many calories you need in one day you can reduce or add calories to add muscle/cut fat.

HIIT is a good choice too...however if you end up focusing purely on fat lose, let me recommend you do your HIIT after your workouts. Because your gylcogen levels will be low, your body will turn to your fat storage for fuel much faster.

and also going running in the morning before eating breakfast has the same effect. Your glycogen levels are low from fasting all night sleeping, your body will jump into your fat storage much faster for energy.

6'3"  @213

Squat 1x20x275

press:200, Deadlift:475, Bench:300, P.clean:235, Squat:385

"The only failure that is final is to stop trying to improve"

Ty. Yeah now i get that thing about the Ramping set on Deadlift, So it will looks like this in the end?

Workout A
Squat 5x5
Bench Press 5x5
BB Row/Power Cleans 5x5
Push-ups 3xF
Reverse Crunch 3x12

Workout B
Squat 5x5
Overhead Press 5x5
Deadlift 1x5 
Pull-ups/Chin-ups 3xF
Prone Bridges 3x30sec


about the push-ups, Pull-ups/Chin-ups, i can do the push-ups, pulls-ups prolly 2 until failure and chin-ups not even 1 last time i tried... so what do u think i should do?

Forgot to ask, about the weight i should be lifting?

Squats im starting with just the bar.

Bench press i was doing 95, 115 135 on 12, 10 and 8 rep sets so how do you think i should start on 5x5?

what about the other exercises i've never done them b4?

you can do power cleans instead of the rows, and therefore do rows in place of chins/pull ups.

You can also do dips in place of push ups.

However, pull ups/chins, push ups are exercises you can work on every single day to get better. Or you can even do Negative pull up reps to get better at them.

6'3"  @213

Squat 1x20x275

press:200, Deadlift:475, Bench:300, P.clean:235, Squat:385

"The only failure that is final is to stop trying to improve"

I tend to disagree that you should be doing pullups/chinups everyday. I just think the fatigue accumulated from chinups affects my workouts. Although they are only bw exercises, I just think they tend to tax me alot more (more than oh press i dare say).

I think you should be careful in just going all out in the pullups/chinups and pushups on off days but they do help alot if done properly on the off days.

Get yourself a nice pullup bar and do some every day or so. I was stuck on 7-8 chinups and now in less than 2 months I easily crank out 15-17 and still do the next set with less rest time than before. I do about 50 reps of pullups or chinups in 4-5 sets now on my off days and I feel great. The only pushups I do now is the decline pushups and I do that some off days and its awesome. Decline pushups is like incline benchpressing in what muscles get worked (yea its backwards lol) and that helps a lot too but it is a little harder than regular pushups though.

"When your strength gains plateau, if you been training exclusively for limit strength/power, you'll need usable muscle mass to progress further."

They arent, its all body weight exercises, you can break them up into several sessions a day and be fine with it.

doing something like thousands of push ups a day would be one thing. Knocking out 5 pullups through out the day or 50 push ups at various points is fine.

as with anything, you may feel like its a lot when combined with your workouts, but your body will adapt, and progress.

vdk_au


I tend to disagree that you should be doing pullups/chinups everyday. I just think the fatigue accumulated from chinups affects my workouts. Although they are only bw exercises, I just think they tend to tax me alot more (more than oh press i dare say).

6'3"  @213

Squat 1x20x275

press:200, Deadlift:475, Bench:300, P.clean:235, Squat:385

"The only failure that is final is to stop trying to improve"

N$ made a good suggestion. Replace pullups/chinups with rows and then just include chins/pulls as an everyday exercise.

They're a body-weight movement, they don't need recovery, they can be done every single day. That is the best way to increase a body-weight exercise, just simply do them everyday, sometimes even various times per day. Focus on the isometrics and eccentric part of the movement.

I have a client that could only do 2 chin-ups, so I included something called "5 seconds of pain" in his routine. Where at the end of each session, he would do countless eccentrics and isometrics. Meaning he would first do 5 reps, with 5 seconds on the isometric pause, then 5 seconds coming down, then 4 reps and 4 seconds, 3 reps and 3 seconds, etc. Later that week he finished with 6 chin-ups, it's easy to increase them doing them everyday.

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

sigh... I started this program yesterday with a friend of mine. I'm so disappointed, I couldn't squat at all. My back was rounding almost from the start of the exercise. My friend who is less athletic and poorly trained than me was doing it better(his back rounded when his hips were lower than mine). I gonna do some research about how can I improve my form. My shoulder were hurting a lot but i think it was i was grabbing the bar too low in my back at first. If someone have some suggestion im open to anything.

http://www.discussbodyb...to-training-m480790.aspx

scroll down to the squat section and watch the video's.

It sounds like you need to lower the weight and focus on form before you worry about anything else. Watch the video's and pay attention to what he says about form.

If you can afford ordering and reading his book, starting strength will be most helpful. Not with just squats but deads, cleans, bench, and OH press.

6'3"  @213

Squat 1x20x275

press:200, Deadlift:475, Bench:300, P.clean:235, Squat:385

"The only failure that is final is to stop trying to improve"

I was squatting with just the bar.

I'll check the videos also i found a couple of exercises for hip flexibility and lower back strenght i think that those are my weaknesses.

I know this may be strange but I couldn't get the form down or felt weird when I first started to squat and learning with just the bar. I needed to add a little weight before I got the hang of it down. So back then I did start with the bar for 2x5 but then I did it with 95Lbs (2x25Lb+bar) and just stayed on that until my form started to get better. Moved up on weight but still always started with the bar for 2x5 and whenever the form started to crap on me on the set weight I lowered it again and worked my way up in the next workout days. Just a suggestion but I weighed 180Lbs and height was 6'1 when I first started btw.

"When your strength gains plateau, if you been training exclusively for limit strength/power, you'll need usable muscle mass to progress further."

i've seen some people squatting with small plates under their heels... i tried a couple and it was a lot easier to keep a proper technique? Is this ok until i get better at it and remove the small plates?

Dont do that, people typically use those to stimulate the calves more, and and easier time to get ass-calve `depth. Its also going to allow you to lean much more easily, when you squat you need to be flat on the ground.

Later on in your training you can come back to those but starting out with this and still learning, its not what you want to do. Watch the video's read the book and just keep practicing.

What exactly are you having problems with, that this is allowing to have "better" form?

6'3"  @213

Squat 1x20x275

press:200, Deadlift:475, Bench:300, P.clean:235, Squat:385

"The only failure that is final is to stop trying to improve"

What exactly are you having problems with, that this is allowing to have "better" form?

My back is rounding on the way down.

im gonna try a wider stance and my feet pointing out a little more. I'll get them down... sooner or later.

is it your whole back which is rounding or is it as you lower your arse tucks under the lower you get?

if its the latter it could be a case of tight hams or hip flexors.

Lower back... yeah im doing Hamstring/Hip flexibility exercises already. Open to suggestion on those.

i have a similar problem as i reach parallel but since i have started stetching glutes hams and hip flexors 3 times a day it has got better.

another pointer maybe to improve core strength.

i have found that front squats have helped with this as well as obviously improving quad strength, other things you could try if you aren't already are planks (using fitball or normal), side planks, just stability exercises in general.