In this free video you'll see me Squat weights up to 368lb from different angles, you'll hear why it's vitally important that you Squat and I'll also reveal the biggest Squat mistake you must avoid if you want to gain muscle and strength while burning fat and without injuring your knees.

I put this video together because many guys had been asking me for this for a while. So watch the Squat video, and please do me a favor and share this video with to your friends so they too discover how to Squat with proper form. Just send them this link: http://youtu.be/VnV7vEi7Sz8

-

EDIT: I had guys ask me for similar videos for the other exercises of StrongLifts 5x5, like the Deadlift and the Overhead Press. Well, those videos are already available inside our private Member-only Stronglifts Inner Circle Community.

Even better: I'm accepting new StrongLifts Gold Members until this Thursday March 29th 2012 at midnight Eastern Time, and when you become part of our private club today, you will get those videos (and several more) for FREE - consider it your welcome gift for joining the StrongLifts Inner Circle.

Just go here for all the details:
http://strongliftsinnercircle.com/jointoday/

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

First, I am sure switching to a paid community was the correct decision. Recently StrongLifts achieved a new breakthrough by reaching over a million people per month from over 187 countries. We are changing more bodies and lives than any other strength training website. And we're just getting warmed up: my goal is to help 100 million people a year by StrongLifts' 10th anniversary in 2017.

To accomplish this goal we need to hire talented people. Which also means we need stable and scalable streams of income to pay for their work. It was obvious StrongLifts couldn't keep relying on ads and affiliates to generate 80% of its revenue. We had to change to a freemium model where StrongLifts.com remains 100% free while StrongLiftsInnerCircle.com becomes paid-only.

This change has paid off. Revenue has boomed. As a result, the StrongLifts 5x5 App for iPod/iPhone was released (100% free), and revenue continues to be poured into its development to add more features requested by guys like you (Android is coming as well). Revenue is also being poured into the development of the new workout tracker inside the StrongLifts Inner Circle Community. None of this would have been possible if we had clinged to the old revenue model.

Second, nothing has worked better to keep the spam, trolls and bullies out of the StrongLifts Inner Circle Community than charging a fee. With our thousands of paid Gold Members from all over the planet, this not only continues to make us the biggest private strength training community on the Internet, but also the most friendly and helpful one. This, together with the new workout tracker that is being developed, continues to keep us far ahead of the competition.

Three, even though we've made the right decision by keeping StrongLifts 100% free while making the StrongLifts Inner Circle a paid-only community... and even though this has increased the quality of the experience for the thousands of existing Gold Members, the founding Members deserved a better treatment.

I blew it by disabling your free account weeks after promising you could remain for free. I blew it by disabling all accounts of free Members who did nothing wrong when a few free Members were trying to bring the place down because they didn't agree with the changes. And I blew it by disabling your free account without warning and without giving you the opportunity to backup your training log or exchange information with the friends you made over the years.

Hundreds of ex-free Members became paid Gold Members anyway in the days, weeks and months that followed. But some were too upset to ever trust me with their hard-earned cash and lost access to their training logs as a result.

Therefore, because I know your training log was vitally important to you, I'd like to offer you a free copy of your training log(s) at no cost. Simply submit a ticket inside our helpdesk, mention your username, and you will receive a free copy of your log within seven days. Dozens of ex-free Members like Adam and Andreas have already received copies of their logs during the past months. So will you.

Click here to request a free copy of your training log.

I've also decided to offer every ex-free StrongLifts Member who helped building our community (registered before 2011 and with over 100 posts) a 20% Gold Membership discount if you become part of our community again. Simply submit a ticket in our helpdesk next time the doors open to get the special discount.

I really want to help 100 million of guys change their body and life. I've been doing this for not even five years, so I still have to learn a lot. I apologize if I disappointed some of you, and will keep working hard so StrongLifts and the StrongLiftsInnerCircle continue to be the best strength training resources ever.

-Mehdi

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

###

Hi, my name is Troy and I'm a software developer living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

I played sports through high school and university (recreational) but stopped after that. I separated from my wife in Winnipeg and moved to Ottawa to get close to my family. I needed something to focus, was very unsatisfied with my fat skinny body, and my dad wanted a workout partner so I joined his gym.

We went 6 days a week for 1 1/2 hrs, working the circuit on the machines and cardio every other day. Results came but who really cared, I knew benching on a machine was not the same as free weights, I knew that the plateau was coming fast. I did this for 3 months always looking over apprehensively at the free weights section.

Then a friend / co-worker mentioned your site and explained the rush he was getting from squats and I looked into it. I bought in immediately. I had some apprehension, but was willing to follow the program for 12 weeks and see. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Before StrongLifts 5x5 I had never squatted, dead lifted, over head pressed or rowed. I had benched and to get a base line I bench 165x5 before starting the program so I had a baseline I was 5'10", 185lbs.

I am 42 years old, weight fluctuates between 192 and 198lbs. I am on week 23 of strong lifts 5x5 / 3x5. I had my first forced deload of squats at 5x5 315lbs last week (did 2 deloads prior due to bad form and injury).

Current Stats:

• Squat: 5x5 310lbs
• Dead Lift: 1x5 365lbs
• Bench: 3x5 190lbs
• Overhead Press: 3x5 140lbs
• Rows: 3x5 190lbs

People know I lift weights now, they can see it immediately. When I show them videos of me DL 365 or squatting 315, they can't believe it. Funny though, so few want to try it. I don't know, 0 -315 squat in 5 months, how much more proof do you need that the system works?

I am super confident and feel like a beast in the gym. I know I can lift more then 90% of the trainers there and I am a newbie. My dad received a letter from one of the trainers telling him that Strong Lifts 5x5 is a scam, I told the trainer I squat 315 now and his jaw dropped to the floor.

The strong lifts community helped immensely. In particular Gold Member Gregory R (400lbs squatter), was a huge influence / mentor. Gold Member Chris D. and I are around the same level so we helped motivate each other to keep pushing, as well Gold Member Quinn W. introduced me to the program and helped me find good supporting videos and documentation. They all helped me get past injuries and missing reps. All Gold interviews and Gold news letters helped as well.

I have achieved 2 of my 3 initial goals, 1, 300lb squat, 2 350lb DL and I am 5 lbs away from 3. 200lb bench.

New goals: get to 5x5 330lb squat, 3x5 350 squat, 1x5 370lb squat - then we'll switch to madcow.

I say anyone can achieve what I have achieved, strong lifts does work, no question. Three keys to my success, the inner circle, being prepared for my workout and, most important, never missing a workout.

Stay Strong, thanks Mehdi, Jake and the inner circle

-StrongLifts Inner Circle Gold Member Troy D.

###

I'm currently accepting 350 new Gold Members to the StrongLifts Inner Circle. Join today and you'll receive seven free bonuses as a free gift. To become part of our private club and receive 7 free bonuses, just click here.

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

Ho ho ho! The StrongLifts 5x5 Tracker for iPhone/iPod is now available on iTunes. You can download it for free by going here right now:

CLICK HERE for StrongLifts 5x5 iPhone/iPod App

With this app you'll never again need paper and pen in the gym. What's more, the app will automatically tell you which workout to do, which exercises and with how much weight. It will even tell you when to deload, and how weight weight to use when you deload. It's not exactly like me coaching you, but we're getting closer to it.

It's all free, there's no need to subscribe, no upsell, no crosssell, no ads, no anything. Consider it my Christmas gift for you. Just get it here:

CLICK HERE for StrongLifts 5x5 iPhone/iPod App

Got to run now, by Grandma unfortunately passed away this week and her funeral is in one hour. Talk to you later.

Merry Christmas,

Mehdi

P.S. Check out the feedback we've already received about the StrongLifts 5x5 app:

"Perfectly Elegant! The perfect app for this type of workout. No disrespect to others who want to be able to modify the exercises but that doesn't make sense. This is for the Stronglifts 5x5 exercise program only. And for that is is perfectly and elegantly designed. Bravo! And thanks!" - THOMAS MAZZONE

"Great, simple tracker for the StrongLifts program. Easy to use and the design is great!" - Igor Zlobinsky

"So easy to use!! Wow this makes the 5x5 program so much easier to follow! Been waiting for this forever." - Jasons

"I just downloaded it for my iPod and it ROCKS!" - Matthew Gerberding

Get the StrongLifts 5x5 Tracker for iPhone/iPod by going here: (it's free)

CLICK HERE for StrongLifts 5x5 iPhone/iPod App

P.P.S. Regarding Android: after talking with an android developer about this, I decided to not pursue android at this moment and stick with iphone/ipod. Here's why: the Android platform is fragmented - different phones, different screen sizes, etc... and this makes it more complicated to support as a result.

My advice is to get an iPod Touch. It doesn't have phone features, so this way you don't get people texting/phoning you when you're in the gym, and you don't get distracted during your training.

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

Check out the screenshots...

Screenshots of the soon to be released StrongLifts 5x5 Application to track your workouts with your iPhone/iPod

What The StrongLifts 5x5 Workout Tracker Does:

• App will tell you how much weight to lift each StrongLifts 5x5 Workout
• Easily record weight/set/reps achieved on StrongLifts 5x5
• Auto-deload if you hit a plateau on one of your lifts
• Keep track of bodyweight + dates of workout
• View history of past workouts
• Works in lb and kilograms

So you won't need to take pen and paper with you anymore to the gym... and the app will do most of the thinking for you so you can focus on the lifting. If you're an iPhone user: just make sure you use the airplane mode - this isn't an excuse to start picking up the phone when training (that's why I recommend the iPod).

This App Looks Amazing! But Much Will It Cost Mehdi?
It will cost nothing. The StrongLifts 5x5 Workout Tracker will be 100% free. Here's why: what you measure you can improve. I strongly believe that you'll get even better results with StrongLifts 5x5 if you track you workouts, and I want your success story because of the bragging rights. That's why the 5x5 report always came with spreadsheets. This app will just make tracking a lot easier so I believe it's essential part of StrongLifts 5x5.

Okay I'm Sold! Where Do I Download This Mehdi?
It's going to be available on iTunes very soon. The StrongLifts 5x5 app is made, I'm just waiting for Apple's approval and then we're good to go. So it should be available around Christmas time. I'll put a message here as soon as it's up so you can download it for free and start using it.

Talk soon,

"Santa" Mehdi

P.S. Regarding Android: after talking with an android developer about this, I decided to not pursue android at this moment and stick with iphone/ipod. Here's why: the Android platform is fragmented - different phones, different screen sizes, etc... and this makes it more complicated to support as a result.

My advice is to get an iPod Touch. It doesn't have phone features, so this way you don't get people texting/phoning you when you're in the gym, and you don't get distracted during your training.

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

This one is from Ashok (27y, India) who gained 1,5" on his chest and went from size 29 pants to 32... while losing his belly fat and without even being consistent at StrongLifts 5x5. Please read his amazing story.

###

Mehdi,

I am Ashok, 27 yrs old from India. I have an IT job, and has been a desk jockey for 6 years now.

I didnt lose arm wrestling to a girl. But when I was 14, I chickened out from a dare to do so to this girl from school. I grew up as a weakling; always the skinniest kid in class. I started working out around 10 years ago, when I was about 17.5 years. Split routines, machines etc, which need less to say stalled any kind of progress I was having. I used to squat, much like you. But I used to stall in 4 weeks every time and stopped working out.

But I enjoyed working out. On and off, I used to work out, like one month in a year. Nevertheless, I always lost interest.

It was difficult finding clothes for me, cos for my height, ( 5'11"), I was around 58-62kgs and was too skinny. To top that, years of alcohol and sitting gave me a belly. For years, I used to scoot off when someone took out a camera. For years, I was too shy to play soccer or go swimming cos I would have to wear shorts. I was thoroughly disappointed each time I visited my parents cos they always said I have gotten worse than last time.

Then, I discovered StrongLifts 5x5. I have never been able to do SL5x5 for more than 8 weeks for a variety of reasons which I am working hard at. Too few gyms in this part of the world let you squat and deadlift without problem. And I cant build my own gym cos I work at a city I am trying to get out of.

I am more or less regularly working out for 6 months, and managed to reach a squat of 100kg, deadlift of 117.5 kg, bench of 70 kg. Always been doing SL5x5 for 8 weeks, then break for 2 weeks and then again. I know, the only reason I am progressing only this much is because I am not doing it right. I will, soon.

Writing this letter to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am getting married next week to my girlfriend of 7 years. Last week, watching me over the webcam, she said that I had an impressive back !! Last time when I visited my parents, they said they cant believe how better I look. Every friend who has not seen me for a few months is taken aback at my transformation, and asks me for advice. I am enjoying every bit of the new found attention.

6 months back ( I was working out for a month then) for my engagement, when the tailor measured my shoulders it was 19". Last week, it was measured for a new suit, and it was an impressive 20.5 inches. All the while, my belly has reduced, all my size 29 custom pants dont even climb up my thighs, and size 32 off the rack fits perfectly for me. In fact it gets a little tight around the thighs which I absolutely am happy about. I am no longer shy to show my legs, and people always ask how long I had been working out looking at my back.

Thanks for teaching me the following lessons.

1. Squats rule.
2. All that matters for me now is how much I lift.
3. A six pack is nothing but a fancy name for sick. I have never dieted and have a flat belly now. Eating like a horse that is.
4. The importance of milk and eggs.
5. For the first time I did deadlifts in my life. It took me two months to get the technique right. But it was all worth it. My back says it out loud.

My old clothes have all been suddenly rendered useless. In fact I am actually spending too much now on clothes because every two months, they get tighter around shoulders and lats and thighs. Am I loving it or not ?? He he he, if you also wrote down a page on how to make more money to buy more clothes, that would have been great !!

Just kidding.

Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.

Ashok.

###

Good job Ashok. Especially since you got results without even doing StrongLifts 5x5 consistently. Just proves how powerful this training program is. As far as how to make money for clothes: get a second job. That's what I did back when I was employed as IT support, did sidejobs and sold stuff on eBay, and ended up earning more than all those corporate douchebags. No something for nothing.

If you haven’t claimed your free copy of the 5×5 report, please download it now by clicking here (…and remember to send me your success story like Ashok did so I can publish it on the blog, it will motivate all the other StrongLifters).

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

John Warfield from Jackson in Michigan USA just emailed me his results with StrongLifts 5x5. Get this: in only 9 months he accomplished a 325lb Squat and 415lb Deadlift... at age 50! Read his amazing story.

###

Mehdi,

You've changed my life, and my wife's life, in a major ways.

About two years ago I weighed 300 pounds and had a third chin growing. Seeing myself in pictures disgusted me and almost made me cry. I felt ashamed of my body and mind.

A year later of almost daily hour long cardio sessions, I had dropped to 200 pounds, and my energy level was soaring. However, looking in the mirror and seeing a still "loose" physique and hanging skin made me wince. Not knowing any better I embarked on adding the entire round of weight machines to shore up my body -- improve strength and pull up the loose spots.

The machines, at light weights, helped for a while, and I started to show definition that I'd never possessed before. However, as the weights grew, my muscles didn't really. Trying to increase to heavy weights on machines, with such restricted movements and no stabilizer invovlements, was both stupid and dangerous. The machines, especially the leg machines, tended to create large balls of muscle that only really worked about a third of the muscle length. I had huge globs above my knees, and balled hamstrings that always tended to cramp. One day, while "curling" with my hamstrings on the reverse leg lift, I felt one of the hamstring bands snap over another, and the pain was excruciating. I knew I couldn't keep that up.

I started hodgepodges of split routines... I benched on the smith machines... I "squatted" on the smith machines... But strength results did NOT follow, only injuries. I thought I was hot stuff 1/3 squatting 250 pounds on the smith machine with the large shoulder pad, but my hamstrings were laughing at me while my thighs were crying. I didn't know "squat" and felt unfulfilled and guilty for not being able to find a path to my max potential.

Searching for an answer brought me to StrongLifts about a 9 months ago. I really wanted to go with compound lifting, but having never lifted free weights before I was afraid. But you laid it out so plain and simple, and showed how starting with the bar was going to give me the technique to master the weights -- so I jumped in with both feet.

I started everything with the bar, and built, and built. After completing the first round of StrongLifts 5x5, I had gained 10 pounds of muscle in my legs. The muscle is sooooooo different. The entire strands have grown thicker and stronger. It's NOT bodybuilder muscle, it's growth along the entire length, and all stabilizer muscles as well. My hamstrings have gotten so healthy I can do sprints with ease. My legs, arms and chest have grown in this way, while my waist has shrunk still more, and my "looseness" from weight loss has all but disappeared. My abs and torso muscles are thick and powerful. Having once been a size 50 waist, I am now a comfortable 35.

My wife was so impressed with the results we started her on the program. After 4 babies and stubborn extra weight, she was desperate for fat loss and firmness. Her belly muscles, when pregnant, really got pulled apart and doctors had told her that there was nothing she could do to pull them back in and rehab her lower gut. But having had me blast her with a good Mehdi "BULLSHIT" and seeing the results I had achieved, she jumped in. We started training together and she has lost 15 pounds, transferred countless more pounds from fat to muscle, down-sized clothing three times, and shows leg muscles of an olympic champion. She's proud of herself and I am very proud of her.

We are currently on MadCow for intermediate, which has allowed both of us to break through plateaus in squats and deadlifts.

I'm 50 years old, 6'1", 212 pounds, and on Monday I deep squatted 325 pounds (x5). Today I deadlifted 415 pounds (x5). Having done this made me want to write. We can't thank you enough for publishing the StrongLifts site and providing encouragement. We have fallen in love with squats and now love our bodies like we have never imagined we could. We've had to endure the no-squatters, the knee blowers, the unsolicited advice givers, the curlers in the power rack, etc... and now are able to withstand the barrage of negativity that comes from the majority of gym goers...

But when we complete our lifts and walk past the naysayers with the squat or deadlift body/mind pump and steel torso, they shut up -- and silence truly is golden.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

John Warfield
Jackson, Michigan USA

###

Awesome story John. Your results prove that any guy can achieve a 300lb Squat and 400lb Deadlift within a year (heck, you did it in only 9 months) IF using the RIGHT kind of methods - obviously StrongLifts 5x5, it's simply the most powerful training program on the entire Internet.

If you haven't claimed your free copy of the 5x5 report, please download it now by clicking here (...and remember to send me your success story like John did so I can publish it on the blog, it will motivate all the other StrongLifters).

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

If the StrongLifts 5x5 program is so unbelievably effective, why doesn't EVERYONE at the gym use it?

Because the majority is always wrong. Most people struggle with money, have bad relationships and are out-of-shape fat slobs. Quite bluntly, their life sucks. Yet they copy eachother likes monkeys and give unsolicited advice at every single opportunity they get. Worse, they feel compelled to criticize us and call us freaks, even though we're actually getting results. They're nuts.

Look, when I joined the gym in 1999, I was completely clueless. Everybody was doing split routines. So I did split routines. And, guess what? After 17 weeks of relentless benching and curling, I had almost no results to show for, hit a brick wall and my motivation was shattered. I swear I’ve sat on the bench, right after struggling to get my normal reps, one emotional hair-trigger away from tossing the barbell into the mirror and never stepping into a gym again.

Now, I'm no a genius, but I quickly figured out there was something wrong with the way I trained. So I sought for help, met my mentor, started doing Squats and that's how I surpassed all the other guys in the gym in record time.

Today, it's obvious to me and all my StrongLifts Members that Squats are quite simply imperative to put on rock-hard muscle and real-world strength as fast as humanly possible. Nevertheless, most gym guys don't do Squats and the few who Squat do frigging partials because "Squatting deep is bad for your knees"...

Consequently, these same guys never achieve the physique and strength they want, spin their wheels for weeks, get burned with bogus supplement because they thought that was the missing ingredient and eventually quit.

Yet everybody keeps copying everyone, expecting different results, but making the exact same mistakes like fish biting into a hook. Einstein called that insanity, expecting different results from doing the same thing over and over. Nuts.

The truth is that most guys have no idea what they're doing, why they're doing it and don't ever realize it isn't even working. Heck, they won't take the time to read an actual book on how to train, but read muscle magazines supplement catalogs in disguise, while calling you a bookworm for educating yourself.

Earl Nightingale said that whenever you have no idea how to achieve your goal, a foolproof technique is to look at how the overwhelming majority tackles the problem and do the exact opposite. Fact is, most people are dead wrong.

I do my best to follow that advice, so should you. Dare to be different.

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

The books great, but your explanation of high rep and isolation has me confused.

Powerlifters are some of the strongest men in the world, but when at low body fats like a bodybuilder, they generally don't compare to bodybuilders who lift less in terms of mass.

Are you really denying the possibility of emphasizing sarcoplasmic hypertrophy over myofibrillar, do you really think steroids is the only reason programs that focus on high rep with lots of exercises work? Are you sure that your experience with high rep and isolation wasn't negative because of overtraining? It certainly sounds that way.

I'm not denying the benefit of heavy lifting, I think it can allow bodybuilders to get past a plateau with their high rep sets and other exercises, allowing them to lift more in those sets (as well as offering it's own hypertrophy benefits), therefore indirectly increasing the hypertrophy benefit of those sets and exercises.

I also think the 5 compound lifts you introduce in stronglifts 5x5 should be the starting point for any strength athlete or bodybuilder, but I don't think high rep sets and isolation are evil or worthless.

It's a matter of context. The large majority of guys in mainstream gyms cannot Squat 300lb or Deadlift 400lb. Heck, they can't even Squat 225lb/Deadlift 300lb. So for them - unless they're one of the bozo's shooting up the juice, or just genetic freaks - high reps and isolation exercises are completely worthless.

Here's why: it's scientifically-proven that strength is size. Anecdotally, the best-built guys are always the ones with a strength background. In fact, one of the best bodybuilders ever, Arnold Schwarzenegger, started as an Olympic lifter and Powerlifter BEFORE turning to bodybuilding. These two pics prove it...

Arnold Schwarzenegger started as a Powerlifter, winning two competitions between 1966 and 1968, before winning his first Mr Olympia Bodybuilding title in 1970.

Like Ronnie Coleman, 8x Mr Olympia and 800lb Deadlifter, once said "Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder but nobody wanna lift no heavy weight!" Even Arnold's life-long mentor, 3x Mr Universe Reg Park (who was born before steroids even existed) could Deadlift 700lb, Squat 605lb and Bench Press 500lb.

Today, there's obviously Layne Norton, life-time drug-free lifter like myself, pro bodybuilder and yet also a national powerlifting record holder in the Squat and Deadlift (Layne's best lifts: 584lb Squat, 364lb Bench Press, 700lb Deadlift).

Layne Norton, life-time drug-free pro bodybuilder champion and national powerlifting record holder in the Squat and Deadlift.

As far as my first 5 years of high reps, isolation exercises and machines goes: I GOT results because, unlike most guys in the gym, I did heavy Squats and Bench Press from the start. My mentor also taught me to constantly try to add more weight than last time. The only negative about it was:

1. I hit a brick wall - because I trained to failure every single workout, every week, 52 weeks a year. Never heard of deload.
2. I trained 5 times per week for up to 3 hours a day - hard to have a life outside the gym when you're training one muscle a day.
3. I got bored - I wasn't getting any stronger (yet I was full of injuries) and grew old and tired of training for the 6 pack.

Listen, I started going to the gym because I was skinny-fat. But once my man boobs and belly fat were gone, and I had gained several pounds of muscle, that motivation was gone. I needed something else to keep me motivated. And since I was no longer STUDENT but had a Coporate IT job working shifts & weekends, I simply didn't have the time anymore to train 5x/week for up to 3h/day.

Seven years ago I started focusing on strength instead of aesthetics. Ironically, I look better now even though I no longer care, routinely have people ask me if I lift weights and still have a 6 pack even though I don't do frigging situps ever. All those results in half the time spent in the gym, and without the frustration of looking strong but not actually being strong. I'm not going back, ever.

Look, I'm not going to BS you: if you prefer to be a bodybuilder, you'll also have to do high reps and isolation. Just remember that the best bodybuilders almost always have a strength background because strength equals size. You'll never be able to lift heavy weights when doing 3 sets of 10 reps with a single joint exercise like dumbbell flies. You need heavy Benching, Squatting and Deadlifts.

Just get strong, eat mostly whole foods and repeat. Unless you're one of those insecure, narcissistic gym rats, you'll be more than happy with how you look and never have to worry about that hypertrophy nonsense. I certainly don't.

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

Hey Mehdi,

I'm from Florida, 22 years old, 6'1" at 195 pounds, and currently squatting 235 lbs 5x5. My question is regarding deadlifts, at which I'm currently lifting 245. I've been stuck several times around this weight, and it's entirely because of my grip strength. With the double overhand grip, it invariably starts to fail around the fourth rep and the fifth often feels too weak to attempt.

I've read your article on how to boost grip strength and it's helped a great deal, and my grip strength is increasing, just. very. slowly. While screwing around in a bout of frustration, I found that I could pull 315 with a mixed grip quite easily for reps. Every part of my body besides my grip seems ready for more weight.

So, I would just switch to mixed grip, but I feel I'm at far too light a weight to start doing that. So my question is, should I accept the slow gains on my deadlift in the interest of bringing my grip "up to par," or should I go ahead and adopt other measures such as chalk and a mixed grip in order to start pushing my big mover muscles?

Thanks,
Will

You should definitely use chalk, white knuckling (squeeze the bar hard) and the mixed grip so you can keep adding weight on your Deadlifts. Here's why:

1. The goal is NOT to build grip strength only. The goal is to build full body strength. If you need specific grip training, do that separately.
2. It's not like your grip will be weak if you can Deadlift 400lb with a mixed grip. Your hands will get stronger from pulling that weight.

Start using the mixed grip on your last Deadlift set, but keep using the normal grip on your warm-up sets which should be like this: 5x135lb, 5x175lb, 5x210lb. So up to 210lb you pull with a normal grip, the 245lb with a mixed grip.

Use white knuckling on every single set and try to Deadlift all your warm-up sets without chalk. If you can't pull your last warm-up set with the normal grip, chalk your hands (get an eco ball if your gym doesn't allow it). If you still can't Deadlift it, use the frigging mixed grip so you can pull that weight and get all your reps.

It would make sense to start adding 10 pounds per workout to your Deadlifts since you say you can already pull 315lb AND assuming your technique is right. Meaning: add 10lb every time you Deadlift, then switch back to 5lb increments once you're past 315lb. This will speed up your strength and muscle gains.

STRONGLIFTS BVBA © 2011 All Rights Reserved.