Confused.. Gym Guy say's I'm lifting too light!

[dhw]

As someone who found stronglifts relatively recently and partly applied the methodologies, I can tell you just follow the programme! I jumped into the squats at 5x5 volume 3x a week at heavier weights due to my existing strength. I didn't have technique down properly and now I have quad tendonitis and can't squat.. Just went to my physio and i have to do quarter squats and leg extensions to strengthen the tendon without flexing the insertion point too much until I've recovered

This happened because I was squatting deep with too much weight before I learnt to use hip drive properly, and loaded the join too much too often without the gradual strengthening it requires. Now I have improved my technique but it's too late to resume until I recover. When I go back to deep squatting you can bet I'll be starting it light and incrementing slowly.

The time taken to catch up those 10lbs is nothing compared to the time lost in injury if you do things wrong.

Give Barbell Step-up's a try while you are recovering from the quad-tendonitis. You will want to have your lead leg at parallel when you start to step-up. Start light and progress just as if you are Back Squatting. After you have completed your step-ups, you might find that you can squat as the knee and tendon are warmed up. This is a compound lift and it will help you with hip drive.

[Dragar]

Thanks for the comments

MikeD - I'm pretty sure the main reason is that I didn't properly understand hip drive, didn't click until watching a Rip vidoe on youtube. When I started going deeper in my squats I was using too much quad getting out of the hole - doing this at a reasonable weight 3 times a week did the damage. That said I will be sure to pay attention that I don't relax at the bottom

dhw - physio has me doing the partial squats and leg extensions for the tendon recovery, and one-legged straight-leg deadlifts to improve my glute activation. Doing those makes me realise how weak I am there, my balance is awful even without weight. When I see him next week I'll ask about the step-ups, and if I can incorporate them before I return to back-squatting, perhaps as an intermediate step. They certianly look like they'd put less load on the knee.

Meanwhile I am trying to take positives out of this modified workout, which i started tonight. I'm loading the partial squats up a lot heavier than I ever have on back squats, have never had that much weight on my shoulders and it is a challenge to control it as well, so good to get the feel of it and know i can carry the weight. It's about my 1.5x BW (i was lifting max 1x normally) and I'm trying to move it as quickly as possible, should be useful for volleyball jumps where I don't have time to set up from low down. As for the leg extensions, haven't done those for ages, was good to see i've become a lot stronger through squatting. Lifted all the machine has to offer with as much speed as possible

[Sam277]

He said I lifted "too fast"

He's an idiot. Ask him where he got this infomation, because it probably didn't come from TNation, or at least not from 1 of their strength (PL/ BB) coaches.

[somebody]

I disagree with a lot of what people are saying, although I ultimately agree with what they recommend.

A standard approach to coaching a strength program is to add weight in the first session until bar speed starts to slow and/or form starts to deteriorate a tad and then base your progression there. And you start with ten pound increments on your squat until you can't keep up that rate of progress. In other words, the guy does not sound to me like an idiot. Unless you think that Mark Rippetoe is an idiot.

That said, Stronglifts does things differently, and there's a reason. SL is designed for people who aren't coached. By design, there is more time under the bar at lighter weight, with more volume. So, IMHO, you should continue doing what you're doing, but you shouldn't automatically assume that someone who advises you to do something different is an idiot.

Yes, there are idiots out there. But I try to learn things, even from the idiots. And I spend too much time in the gym to want to have a bad relationship with any of the trainers.

[langknow]

hey guys,

Thanks for all the advice.

I've decided to continue to slowly increment the weight on my program.

I also like to mention that the personal trainers in gym seem very genuine in trying to give out advice, so I'm not going to think them as idiots, but just helpful people.

Ultimately , it is up to me, what I want to do .

However, I greatly appreciate all the advice that I do get from people from Stronglifts, and others in the gym.

[DavidNguyen]

If you read the SL eBook.... Mehdi says "90% of the things you hear in the gym is bullshit". Stick to 5lb increments.You're suppose to go up fast because if you tire yourself then you won't have enough energy to complete the other sets that you're gonna do right? This is strength training... You wanna be explosive and strong and you can't become that if you tire yourself to quickly to be unable to complete the 5x5. Squat up as fast as you can but go down controlled.

[ada24]

I'm a trainer, and this is why I don't work at a gym -- he's just looking for a sale. Making you feel insecure, stating you're doing something wrong, then offering a solution that only he can provide... for a price.

But the fact of the matter is, he doesn't have enough information about you or your program or your goals to be telling you that you're doing something incorrectly.

Bah. I hate hard selling.

[RexRomano]

To ada24:

I think I must have been getting the hard sell last week when a new trainer - a skinny young pixie, about 5 feet tall, approaches me just as I finished loading the bar for deadlift: "You're planning to do deadlift?" "Sure am." "Make sure you...blah, blah, (2 minutes)" "I'll be sure to do that. Thanks for all the advice."

This was completely inexplicable. She had never met me or seen me lift before. She just sauntered up and volunteered buckets of advice completely out of the blue. I've been deadlifting since I was 14 and I even competed in powerlifting in high school and college (I'm currently a shadow of my former self), but that doesn't mean I couldn't benefit from good advice. On the contrary, I was annoyed that she was interrupting me to give me advice before she had any idea what my form looked like.

[somebody]

ada24:

It doesn't sound like an especially aggressive approach. And there's a way to deal with it without telling yourself that all trainers are morons.

[somebody]

That said, I appreciate it's awkward negotiating the interaction with trainers, especially when you're starting out and unsure of yourself. But the trainers in my gym quickly figured out that I wasn't going to be paying them for advice and stopped trying to sell me. Just be polite and, if they don't get the hint, polite but firm.

[heraclitus]

hey guys,

Thanks for all the advice.

I've decided to continue to slowly increment the weight on my program.

I also like to mention that the personal trainers in gym seem very genuine in trying to give out advice, so I'm not going to think them as idiots, but just helpful people.

Ultimately , it is up to me, what I want to do .

However, I greatly appreciate all the advice that I do get from people from Stronglifts, and others in the gym.

I had similar advice from a trainer when I started the programme, once you explain the theory of what you're doing they should understand. I think sometimes these people have good intentions but just jump to conclusions too hastily, they see something that doesn't fit their expected "template" and try to help. He's probably used to driving clients to always work hard, in paid-for PT sessions, which is all well and good, but you've got your own plan that's well proven, so stick with it.

Anyway, 10 weeks after recieving the same advice from that trainer, I now squat (120kg 5x5) and deadlift (140kg x 5) more that he can. I'm still not quite yet at 5RM capacity, but needless to say I don't get advice that I'm lifting too light anymore. A few months of hard work and you'll be in the same position.

[grglandr]

I went too heavy too fast on squats and had to deload to correct the form mistakes I was making with the heavier weights. So I would recommend just sticking with the program as is... you'll get there.

I just a had a run in with a guy at the gym today who thought he knew everything. I just got done with my second set of squats and this guy walked past me, paused for a second, look at the weight on the bar, shook his head and kept walking. I politely asked "is there something wrong?" giving him the chance to make his case, but he just slightly looked over his shoulder back at me and walked away. I am assuming he thought the weight was too light for me, I am a decent size guy and was only squatting 105lbs (building my way back up after my ego induced stall).

The funny thing is that I always see him doing partial (barley at parallel) squats on the smith machine... and he shakes his head at me. HAHAHA

[heraclitus]

Maybe he just wanted the oly bar to throw some curls out?

[MikeD]

I went too heavy too fast on squats and had to deload to correct the form mistakes I was making with the heavier weights. So I would recommend just sticking with the program as is... you'll get there.

I just a had a run in with a guy at the gym today who thought he knew everything. I just got done with my second set of squats and this guy walked past me, paused for a second, look at the weight on the bar, shook his head and kept walking. I politely asked "is there something wrong?" giving him the chance to make his case, but he just slightly looked over his shoulder back at me and walked away. I am assuming he thought the weight was too light for me, I am a decent size guy and was only squatting 105lbs (building my way back up after my ego induced stall).

The funny thing is that I always see him doing partial (barley at parallel) squats on the smith machine... and he shakes his head at me. HAHAHA

As long as you're doing what you need to, it doesn't matter what someone else thinks I figure.

[Anomander]

ego is a bit like that. I was building up nicely to the 100kg mark but really didnt like my depth and after 2 sets decided to drop back down to 90. Some one came up and asked why i was deloading i simply said i didnt like my technique ala depth and he gave me a look as if i was lazy and said he thought it looked ok. What mattered was not his opinion but my own and i have also deloaded on a couple of other lifts to some of my own dismay but its what the programme tells you to do. Its not nice and i dont think 5 x 5 is perfect, nor do i follow it religiously but it is the core of my routine. You have to understand most gym goers have no idea why you or i would squat 3 times a week but we do and its that opinion that matters.

Edit- Even better i had a guy criticise me today for having a training log. He thought i must do medicine or something