hardestgainer's log: End of the Road

[hardestgainer]

Hello stronglifts.com users

I have been doing Stronglifts 5 x 5 for a while which has helped me get some decent strength despite my lousy genes. I'm still a small bloke who would like to put on some mass and increase those numbers.

After advice from Mouse I will soon start Stronglifts 5 x 5 Advanced and see how things go.

I would do GOMAD but I can't drink that much milk without feeling sick. I've been trying half a chicken a day seeing as it's affordable, very high in protein, low in carbs and acceptable in fat.

Please feel free to show me anything that I have missed or give me tips on how to get stronger quicker.

Stats:

Male
5ft 7in
70kg
I don't measure fat% because ripped abs say more than a fat caliper does (not that I have perfect abs yet) I don't have a caliper anyway
Muscle size: nothing to write home about.

Squat 115kg
Deadlift 120kg - I'm targetting a huge increase here
Bench Press 90kg
OHP 60kg

[WhiteGorilla]

Very impressive lifts for your size. You must really be the hardestgainer

[hardestgainer]

Welcome to my log WhiteGorilla. What can I say nobody wants to be a weakling, I definitely want to see my numbers reach new heights.

[elgon]

I should bash you over the head for thinking you are a hardgainer when you are 3 inches shorter than me and 10Kgs heavier
What weight did you start at and when did you start stronglifts (before advanced).
I'm now worried though that I may actually get to lift as strong as you and yet still weigh below 70Kg

[hardestgainer]

I should bash you over the head for thinking you are a hardgainer when you are 3 inches shorter than me and 10Kgs heavier
What weight did you start at and when did you start stronglifts (before advanced).
I'm now worried though that I may actually get to lift as strong as you and yet still weigh below 70Kg

I started at the beginning of May with 40kg for squats and deadlifts, and 30kg for Bench Press and OHP.

As for my hardgaining past, I weighed 20kg when I was 10 and 42kg when I left school at 16. So I was always the skinny little kid it would be good to double my leaving school weight without going down the pie route.

If you get to lift as strong as me while weighing less than me, well done. You could always try GOMAD or use my 1/2CAD method and watch your lifts and weight rise.

[hardestgainer]

I've decided to start Stronglifts 5 x 5 Advanced today and forget about Monday's workout as it starts easy anyway.

Squat 5 x 5 68kg
OHP 5 x 5 41kg
Deadlift 5 x 5 79kg
Pullups +1kg x 5, +2kg x 5, +4kg x 3

[hardestgainer]

Squat
62kg x 5, 67kg x 5, 72kg x 5, 77kg x 5, 82kg x 5,

Bench Press
60 kg 5 x 5

Power Clean
41kg 5 x 5

[hardestgainer]

After confusion about Stronglifts 5 x 5 Advanced regarding the 5 x 5 deadlifts which was not resolved, I have decided to press ahead with the final 4 weeks of the program which uses 3 x 3 as this is something I haven't done before and will hopefully bring results.

Squat
3 x 3 95kg

Bench Press
64kg x 3, 72kg x 3, 80 x 3, I struggled to get the bar off my chest, so I will do some front raises to help strengthen my front delts and incline flyes to strenghten my upper chest, lockouts aren't a problem.

Power Clean
43kg x 3, 48kg x 3, 54kg x 3

Dips
+5kg x 5, +10kg x 5, +15kg x 5, I forgot that I was only meant to do 3 reps.

[hardestgainer]

Deadlift
3 x 3 105kg

OHP
3 x 3 50kg

Pullups
3 x 3 +5kg

Closed Chain Leg press
3 x 5 180kg, I decided that a good way to review my progress since changing to freeweights would be to see if I could annihilate my old records on the machines. last time I tried leg press, I could only do 3 x 5 with 120kg and I could 1RM all the weight that the machine had. Just shows how unrealistic these machines are when I can leg press twice as I can squat. And no this will NOT become part of my routine.

[holvoetn]

Hi, noticed you are also on SL Advanced.

After confusion about Stronglifts 5 x 5 Advanced regarding the 5 x 5 deadlifts which was not resolved, I have decided to press ahead with the final 4 weeks of the program which uses 3 x 3 as this is something I haven't done before and will hopefully bring results.

You skipped the first weeks ? Why ?
Those initial 4 weeks are the ones that build the base strength which is required to peak a lot higher in weeks 6-9 (and you may even already realize a PR in weeks 3/4).
The last weeks have less sets and reps because the intensity is higher. (that's why e.g. there are no squats anymore on Day 2, to maximize recovery)

Follow the program as it is laid out in order to have the positive effect.
Cutting corners is not going to get you anywhere in the long run.
Also, probably you have already seen this in other threads, you should try to stay with the program for a couple of cycles in order to assess if it works for you or not.
But that means you need to follow it

[hardestgainer]

H, It was basically because I didn't like the idea of doing 5 x 5 deadlifts after 5 x 5 squats, and you've seen for yourself the response I got when I posted a thread about it.

What I had already been doing was similar to the first 4 weeks of Stronglifts 5 x 5 anyway so I didn't see the problem.

I've noticed that people get flamed when they change something in a program but Stronglifts 5 x 5 is basically Starting Strength with two extra sets. Stronglifts Advanced, Bill Starr 5 x 5 and Glenn Pendlay 5 x 5 are all very similar programs with a few changes.

[holvoetn]

This is not about being flamed, I totally understand where you are coming from.
But jumping in in the middle of a program is not the wisest thing to do.
2 extra sets can make a huge difference !

I also experienced yesterday for the first time in my life 5x5 on deads and yes, it was hard (especially after a bad night's sleep) !
But had I done the first 2 weeks as laid out instead of the Coan/Philippi scheme I was following, I was maybe better prepared for what was coming.

I am coming to the conclusion that when you change programs, one should slightly deload the first time in order to get used to the program itself without having the additional stress of too high intensity increases. Probably that is also where I went wrong simply plugging in my maxes of which some were realized already some months ago...

[hardestgainer]

Squat
82.5kg x 3, 92.5kg x 3, 102.5kg x 3

Bench Press
3 x 3 74kg, A bit more successful than last time I tried.

Power Clean
3 x 3 50kg, I've found a new version of the hook grip which works for me, just need some trap muscles to develop before I work on Clean and Jerks.

[hardestgainer]

Squat
3 x 3 98kg, Squats felt good hopefully I can do triple digit numbers from now on.

Bench Press
64kg x 3, 72kg x 3, 80 x 3, The final 3 didn't go well again, I've decided to deload

Power Clean
44kg x 3, 49kg x 3, 55kg x 3, My hook grip method is going well

Dips
+7.5kg x 3, +12.5kg x 3, +17.5kg x 3

[hardestgainer]

Deadlift
3 x 3 110kg, these didn't cause me a problem other than having to resist my back's attempts to round. I'll need to buy some more weights soon and hopefully annihilate my current deadlift max.

OHP
3 x 3 50kg, my form wasn't perfect last time, so I decided to redo 50 kg, will be 52kg next time.

Pullups
3 x 3 +7.5kg, they were more like eye ups this time, so I won't be adding more weight next time.