So i have been doing SL5x5 for a couple of months now. The first month and a half i only worked out two times per week, in the last two weeks i have ramped up to x 3 per week.
I have managed to keep a linear progression on most of my lifts
*my squat is now 122.5kg (270) 5x5 which is just above 1.5x my bodyweight.
*deadlift is 120kg (264)
*bench is 75kg (165) 5x5
My problem however is that i have been progressively been burning out more after the first two lifts, pretty much gassing completely out on the squat and running on fumes on the deadlift or bench. For anyone how has been in the military, i sorta feel like you feel after a couple of days on a death march on little to no food, just completely zoned out zombie mode, where everything is just slow and sluggish. Due to being burned out, i'm regressing on the other lifts
Should i just soldier through it and is it just that my body is not adapted to doing 3 times a week yet? Or i'm i over doing it and should i move on from the SL5x5? if that is the case where to go? I still feel like i have quite a lot to gain out of linear progression, im showing no signs of stalling on bench, squat or deadlift yet and i'm gunning for that 2x body weight on squat
Bonus info: i rely on bicycle as my transportation and i live in hilly/mountainous terrain so either it is up or down. so there is about 2-3km of uphill bicycling up to two times per day, every day
tried posting this to a certain site but got hurr durr read our shitty wiki.
dude i'm eating like a mother fucker, even consuming carbs during workout
Sebastian Torres
Make sure your counting calories so your actually eating enough. I'm currently on stronglifts5x5 and started doing GOMAD and progressing 10lb every sessionon upperbody and 15lb on lower easy(But most likely cause Im a 5'6 manlet eating 3000kcal a day) .
Nathan Hill
oh yeah i'm definitely well above 3000kcal. Been staidly gaining mass, even added around 0.5 of an inch to my wrist.
Currently 81kg and 175cm tall so definitely not lean
Lucas Evans
Several things you should check:
-Are you really eating enough? -Are you getting enough restful sleep at night? -Are you resting enough between sets?
Thomas Powell
do a deload week give your CNS time to recover commonly done after 8 weeks of training 8 week block, 1 week deload, continue your program
Jose Bennett
yeah man, getting plenty of sleep and eat, rest between sets and exercises today was so god damn long i was at the gym for almost two hours.
just wondering if im overtrained or not good enough adapted yet
Kayden Jones
deload reduce your weights to 70% of what they are currently and some more mobility exercises you are adapted, you need to deload then get back to it next monday
Jason Parker
> sl 5x5 > overtraining no. you are just such a slob that you can't complete a 45 min workout
Asher Smith
Two options: 1.) Drop the weights by 20%, do it again, then stop LPing and run a more periodized, "intermediate" program." 2.) Just move to an intermediate program.
If you're unusually tired and weary during workouts, look at sleep and diet. Not necessary "big picture" diet, but what you're eating before gym. Drink a glass of chocolate milk, have a banana, or some such that will give your body the chemical energy it needs to function.
Noah Young
Ill try stuffing in two meals before my pre-workout meal and see if that helps on friday, Otherwise i will try the deload thing on the next cycle, thanks guys.
Also any suggestion on what to do after sl5x5?
Thomas Price
>122 kg squat after 2 months
Literally how?
Did you use to be really fat or something?
You're at a 68 symmetric strength-score, closer to proficient than intermediate and intermediate is: "The lifter has been consistently training, likely for at least a year."
Thanks for making me feel like shit :(
t. 97.5kg squatter after 6 months.
Matthew Turner
it's not a deload issue. you lack endurance. do some fucking hard cardio and HIIT
Owen Baker
Take a week off. Switch to 3x5, or even 3x3. Really milk out the linear progression. Reduce your deadlift volume but lift heavier deads. 1x5 to 1x3, whatever enables more weight on bar. Even if you move onto another program, you'll need a week off to recover from cumulative stress. Unironically read Practical Programming of Strength Training; it'll introduce and explain Volume and Intensity concepts, training stages, as well as showcase a few other programs. You can find free copies. Eventually you'll need to test your 1RM. During linear progression, it doesn't make sense to test this as your max goes up each week. But since you think you're reaching the end, after a deload, you should test and use that data for programming later on. However, you must be sure you can't make any more weekly progress.
James Walker
well last fall i did work out for like 3 months so i had some foundation, didn't take squat seriously then so i think the most i ever did was like a set of 6 at 95kg
i don't know man, just sit down in to it, take the bar with confidence every time and push yourself. once i broke through 100kg 5x5 it just sort of clicked. if you are not recruiting your your entire body to push the wieght up, you are doing something wrong. just below parallel i find it to be where i can generate the most power.
used to be skinny, like 73kg @ 175cm
Levi Anderson
If you feel like shit now, you should deload now for the week just keep to the same routine, but lighter weights and some more mobility work
Adam Butler
A lot of it probably has to do with food if youre cutting youll gain a lot slower. Im at 90kg skwat after 6 months but on tdee-1000
Carson Brown
Cheers. I guess that makes a little bit more sense.
175@71kg here (up from 67kg) and I've never squatted before in my life so I guess I just have a long ways to go to catch up.
And yeah, I'm pushing myself. Even gave myself an exertion headache from squatting. Stupid, but it passed after 2 weeks and made me sort out bar placement/breathing.
Dominic Sanders
The biggest breakthroughs i had was when someone told me to not start out with pushing my hip back when doing the squat, but instead do it close to simultaneously when sitting down. Also the get psyched part and mentality, not being hesitant, when you unrack you UNRACK IT LIKE A MOTHER FUCKER EASY LIFT, sort of thing
Jose Price
do you think it is a good idea to deload, by doing less volume, like 3x5 insted of doing ligther weights? or will i be able to come back stronger if i reduce weight but not volume?
Andrew Perry
Reduce volume; don't reduce weight.
You can't get stronger lifting lighter weights more often. You get stronger lifting heavy weight outright. Reducing volume while continuing to add weight to to bar is way forward; to a point.
Logan Garcia
Seems like I'm in the same boat as you. I decided to switch to this variant of Greyskull LP and today's workout felt great. I would rather avoid a deload and continue to make progress.
Deloading is an important part of recovering and therefore getting stronger. Also, the AMRAP in GreySkull will just cause the same volume overload that's stalling your progression.
With all LP programs, eventually you have to reduce volume to keep adding weight to the bar. That is the objective of all LP programs.
