My 10 Week Journey Through Stronglifts 5x5 with Tips and Res

[sean]

Hi, my name is Sean.  I started Stronglifts 5x5 on 12/18/07 and finished today, 2/23/08.  This is everything I learned (and didn’t learn) from the program.  I’m writing this to help any newcomers to weight lifting in the hopes that they will learn from me and won’t make the same mistakes that I did.

Starting Off:  I started weight lifting mainly because I wanted to look better.  I’m a horny 17 year old who wants to impress the ladies.  There, I said it.  I work as a lifeguard so I’m shirtless most of the time.  After seeing the girls go for the “skinny guys”, I decided to do something about my looks. 

I started at 6’2”, about 200lbs.  I wasn’t overweight, I have an athletic physique, but apparently I wasn’t attracting anyone.  I led an extremely sedentary lifestyle from about 13-16 years old.  I sat at my desk all day playing videogames and eating junk food.  But around age 16 I stopped caring about my rank in Halo and started to care about getting laid.

I searched Google for a muscle building weight lifting routine.  I tried a few.  They focused on one muscle group at a time.  Monday – Chest, Tuesday – Arms, Wednesday – Legs, etc.  I didn’t like doing 20 different exercises each time I went to the gym.  And I didn’t like going every day.  So I found Stronglifts.com, saw the simplicity of the routine and started to lift.

Tip #1 - Get a Training Buddy:  Seriously.  This is number 1 for a reason.  Working out by yourself sucks.  Take my word for it.  Your experience will be better with a partner.  You will have someone to help you, to check your technique, to spot you, to talk to you, to encourage you, etc.  The gym rats that made fun of me did so because I was by myself.  They don’t like picking on more than one person.  Save yourself some harassment.

Tip #2 – Track your Progress:  Take pictures before you begin training.  It is cool to see the results of your hard work.  Here I am at 1/4/08, shortly after I started training.

 

And here I am at 2/22/08.

 

The biggest change I see is that my abs grew quite a bit.  Turkish get-ups are amazing like that.  My legs and chest are also bigger, but it’s kind of hard to tell just by the pictures.

You should also keep a training log.  I just used a typical reading journal.  Bring it in the gym with you to record your lifts.  Yes, people will scoff at you and make jokes, “Dear diary, I lifted 5 pounds today, hahaha…”  Don’t let it bother you.  Be the better person.
 

[sean]

Tip #3 - TECHNIQUE!  Holy crap, technique!  Don’t worry about the weight, worry about lifting the right way.  Weights – technique = injuries.  Period.

Do not rely on mirrors for your technique checks.  It took me ten weeks to understand why.  My gym has mirrors on every wall, and they LIED to me.  I squatted with bad technique and I didn’t even know it until I bought Starting Strength 2^nd Edition a few days ago.  Fantastic book.  Read it before you start training.  Use a camcorder to record your technique instead of mirrors.

Here is my squat technique as of yesterday.  I still have a long way to go, but at least now I know what to do about it.

Don’t expect to add 5lb to each exercise every time.  This is one of the things that got me demoralized.  I downloaded the 5x5 excel spreadsheet with weight increasing across each row, and said “I can do that!”  In my ten weeks training I never added more than 15lb to my overhead press.  And that was one of the few exercises that I was performing correctly!

During the later weeks of training, my technique in most everything suffered tremendously.  I added weight too quickly.  I saw others benching 150lb while I was doing 85.  I felt like a sissy.  My friends made jabs at me for lifting light.  They made jabs at me for doing 5x5.  One friend of mine who is a personal trainer told me that the whole Stronglifts program is flawed, that squatting below parallel is bad.  He had never done a squat in his life. 

Tip #4 – You Need Rest:  Starting with an empty barbell was annoying.  I had never lifted weights before, but a 45lb bar was cake.  I didn’t even feel like I was getting a workout.  I started to skip my rest days.  At the end of week three I contacted Mehdi.  I asked what his opinion was about skipping rest days.  He said what I did was ok, but to start taking rest days on week 4.  I didn’t listen to him, and I paid for it.  By the end of week 4, my right hand was in exhaustion.  Simple tasks like tying my shoes or unzipping my jeans required my left hand.  My right just didn’t have the strength.  I had to deload and take a week off.

[sean]

Tip #5 – Eat Well:  During the last ten weeks I ate about 50% clean foods.  I am proud of dropping all traditional junk foods, like soda, chips, and cookies.  I tried to pack my lunch every day, but I ended up eating out quite a bit.  At least I ate the places that pretend to be healthy, like Subway.  Go to worldfitnessnetwork.com and download the free e-book.  It has some good, healthy recipes.  Also, buy a big tub of Optimum Nutrition Whey.  Drink it with milk after you work out.  I got the chocolate flavored kind.  It tastes just like chocolate milk, which is good!

So What Now?  After ten weeks on the 5x5 program, I feel better and look better.  I am going to continue to work on my technique.  Technique first, weight second.  I am also going to be more adamant about stretching every day, both for technique and Egoscue Method (great book, btw).  I think I will get on Stronglifts a second time when my technique is better.  After reading Stronglifts.com for all these weeks, I have come to understand that the 5x5 is not a 10 week program; it can last as long as needed.  But setting goals is good, and ten weeks is reasonable.
Well I hope that somebody learns something from all this.  Maybe I'll have the hot sexy body I want in another three months.  That would be perfect; just in time for summer.  And I want to give Mehdi a huge thanks for putting this website together.  I owe most of my success to his.  And if this helped anybody please feel free to leave a comment!  Maybe I'll write another one of these when I hit my next milestone.

[Mehdi]

Sean Great contribution. Love the honnesty & attitude.
Biggest change is indeed your legs. Good work. Btw, this program works longer than 10 weeks, you can keep doing it. How are your stats?

[Kyle]

Congrats on the success, keep it up.
Great tips too.
Also, Mehdi has some great recipes on the blog, just use the search.

[Mehdi]

Ah there's more. Agreed on the mirrors, they only give informatoin on one plan, you need to learn to "feel your body". Squat: move your hips back first, your moving your knees first. I remember your email about the daily workouts, failure is a good teacher, don't worry about it.
Thanks for the motivating words Sean, I'm going to add this thread to the "first time here" sticky.

[mutt]

I couldn't agree more about the mirrors. With squat, my technique is good, but I'm always conerned with learning forward,backward etc.. Starting Strength got me thinking about weight and where it belongs on the foot.
If everything else is good, start to listen to your feet. If you feel the weight on the balls of your feet, too much forward. Too much on the heels, to far backward.. should be in the middle. The feet wont lie about your back position.
 

[sean]

Haha stats are nothing impressive, thats why I left them out.  I was at a 155lb squat when I had to deload because of lower back pain (hyperextension).  My bench got to 90lb, overhead at a comfortable 55lb, row at 85lb, deadlift at 200lb, althought im not sure of my technique on that one.  Still can't do any pull-ups.  But I can do a few dips now!

[jdurando]

Great Post Sean - That means an awful lot to someone looking at the program for the first time -
Stats - they are yours - I'm sure you are pleased with them - screw what anyone else thinks or says about them, you are well on your way to improving them even more.
 
Conrats on the effort and having the balls to put up what you did.

[brosephiroth]

Sean,
I'm in the same boat as you with the Squat. At 5' 11" 160lbs, a 160 lb Squat is doable, but back hurts. I can tell that its physically possible for me to add weight, but i'll really hurt myself.
I noticed your lower back bending at the bottom of the squat, that's the sweet spot right there. The usual culprit is tight quads (front of thigh) from sedintary lifestyle. I'm just at the point now where i'm going to drop my squat down to 130 and build back up while doing Eqoscue stretches EVERYDAY to help loosen up everything. Good luck!

[Mouse]

Top notch Sean - all i'll say is don't give it up. As you said it's not a 10 week routine but something you can do as long as you like.
You've got great results up to now - just imagine how you'll look in another 10, 20, 30 weeks !

[Rob]

Good progress Sean. Keep it up!

[KIB]

Well done, Sean. This looks like the start of a real sea change. I hope a lot of visitors to this site read what you have done here. It's one of those rare, real, "that could be me" stories that change people's minds, much more so than the "bench 300 in 8 weeks" stories. As noted above, your attitude and honesty really shine here.

[sean]

A big thanks to everyone who posted.  You all have no idea how awesome it is to hear encouragement like this.  I'll definitely write up another one of these in a few months, hopefully with some awesome results!