Skeptical of 5x5

[Jim Slade]

Oh BTW, YOU need to put in the effort. That part does not come for free. However, the advice and thinking about the program does

A very important point, that often newcomers to the weights seem unprepared for - effort is required - it will be hard. If it were easy everyone would be either an adonis or hulk, this is why lifters are special.
Another point worth considering is that the squat (and other compound lifts) is not something you learn overnight, your form will take a while to learn, good luck and enjoy the learning process but be prepared for it to take time, it is time well spent.

In my experience this program (SL 5x5) is an excellent beginners program, I direct people who are new to the iron to this site with some confidence (and it saves me writing a program out for them).

[nycant]

Just to lend my 2 cents, I didn't notice anyone recommend good tutorial or book. Aaron, I actually posed the same question as you did when I joined this forum a few months ago. I also indicated that squatting is difficult and was sort of skeptical of doing squats and 5x5 in general. I used to do iso-only for years... At my peak was 5'9, 185 lbs, and benching 275, curling 55 lbs. db's... but at the end of the day, I felt bloated, had a gut, and was going to the john much. I don't care what people say about protein shakes, creatine, etc. they DO damage you in different ways.

Anyway, i've been on 5x5 for last 3-4 months. Squat is definately king. I trimmed my waist size from a 34/35 to a 31/32. Actually, wearing my jeans from college and other stuff. It's a cool feeling. This program IS NOT turning me back into a juicehead, however, it is more flexible (saves me time) and more challenging (it's a different feeling to pull up/push up your own weight).

My only recommendation to you is; Get this book: Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. You can also YouTube a lot of Rippetoe's tutorials.

- Ant

[Shoebox]

Sound to me like your back is rounding. Keep your back rigid / arched with your ass and chest out as much as possible.

I'm by no means an expert, but I'm going to have to agree with the Spiderman here. Happened to me around 0.75% of my Body Weight (I'm out of shape though, unless you count round as a shape)

When I started lifting my BIGGEST problem was flexibility, and from my glance at the video of yours a few times, It looks to me like your back is rounding when you bottom out on squats. My guess is, like most of us, you spend a majority of your day sitting (or at least more than a human being should). This would in turn elongate and weaken your glutes and shorten up some muscles in your leg (oversimplified but that's how I understand it). So when you go to squat instead of your muscles being all 'balanced' the rest position of your leg muscles is shorter than it should be causing them to pull more on your hips than your glutes, which then give way and cause pelvic tilt (not sure if it's anterior or posterior, again I'm new to most of this), which in turn rounds your lower back.

My advice, do Magnificent Mobility exercises, dynamic leg swings, and glute activations. Do them regularly, every day.

Anyone feel free to chime in if anything I said seems incorrect.

[JCedolia]

I have a question for Americanadian, you said that people make the sacriffice to put on fat to gain muscle, I don't understand that. I am on the program and a am torching fat and gaining muscle. Could you explain that statement, I was just wondering, thankyou

[dylanamus]

The more you eat the more muscle you will gain after each recovery period (when comparing to eating less doing the exact same training). This means that, (the genetic variable aside), the more you eat the faster you grow muscle, but you will also gain more fat this way. You can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time if you eat less, but both processes will be slower. It also depends a lot on how overweight you were to begin with, as losing fat is exponentially more difficult as you get leaner, and how sedentry you were prior to lifting. Aside from that, think metabolism. Some people (like me) struggle to spread meals over the day and are therefore less likely to lose fat compared to someone who eats the same quantity of food spread out over 6+ meals a day.

[americanadian]

dylanamus answered it pretty well, I think. Think of food as the building blocks of both muscle and fat (which in fact it is). To most effectively build muscle, you need an over-abundance of those blocks available. Because this isn't a 100% exact science, you will likely wind up eating more than you absolutely need, which will result in fat gain.

If you're a teenager or beginning trainee (the only two times in your life when anything leads to big gains), then you can absolutely do both at the same time- for a while. But that holy grail train ride will end. I promise. And even then, you can still magnify your gains by eating more and gaining some fat in the process.

I cycle my diet every month and a half or so, and yeah for a few weeks during a cut, I continue to get stronger, but then I don't. I lose weight and fat, and finally muscle. Time to starting eating again. I could, if I were so inclined, stay right were I am, and just lean out the last few percent of fat, maybe make some small gains. But no, I'm can get way bigger, and that's where I'm heading.

This is overly simplified, but I think it answers the rest of the question as I see it.

At some point, before you ever get close to genetic potential, the limiting factor on muscle gain will be diet. If you don't feed yourself enough, you will hinder your efforts.

[Shoebox]

Also I agree with what everyone's saying about food.

In the shape you're in, I'm pretty sure as long as you eat healthy it'd be impossible to overeat. (Or at least you'd have to TRY to overeat)

Make sure you're getting enough food so your body can take advantage of the nutrients and the workout you're giving it. Omega 3 fatty acids seem to help with my knee as well.

[dylanamus]

The atkins diet is a pretty good route for a beginner who can be bothered controling diet a little. It basically revolves around high protein, low carbohydrates. Calories are acquired mostly through good fats, which is a perfect way to boost testosterone. The good thing about this kind of diet is it almost limitless in delicious recipes. There must be hundreds of books or online recipe catalogues. I was recently given a book called "the power of protein" that revolves around the same theory. The majority of recipes are for meals I am or would have already been eating even without being on a diet.

I have found the easiest and most successful modification to my diet has been eating tuna for lunch. Low carb, high protein, plenty of omega 3 fatty acids and because it comes in olive oil, I can vary it's preparation from served on sandwhiches/rice patties/biscuits etc to salads and more.

[wrenchhands]

Yeah, diet is so important, yet in common circles, it's probably the thing least emphasized. I never thought to myself "I need to eat a surplus of protein and carbs with lots of greens". I always thought I'd just eat whatever, and get gains by virtue of lifting, as if that that doesn't violate some law of physics.

Now, I love eating clean and trying to go big. It's a point of pride to be the dude almost breaking one of those shopping baskets because i got cans and cans of tuna and spinach.

I cannot wait until this summer, when I can sleep for 9 hours a night, consume a big breakfast, lift as late as I like, and eat and shit when I feel like it.