Stronglifts more than three days a week?

[hagga]

Hello! First post, I'm afraid I don't lurk here. Or haven't.

I was wondering if I would run into any problems aside from increased recovery time and slower progress if I were to do Stronglifts 7x a week, increasing the weight by 2.5kg every second day? I started as Mehdi suggests, at 70% my 5 rep max. I've been doing Stronglifts now for two weeks.

Maybe some background? I've been training for.. well, it'll be my second year of training seriously come december 25th. I've progressed, and for roughly a year I was working out (without any particular plan, just with a list of exercises that I'd go in and do 5 days a week) for approx 2.5 hours each workout. No science or planning behind it, being impatient, I would just go in, work out, leave. But thanks to increasing my work hours and study time, I've had to cut that back, so I thought I'd try Stronglifts 5x5. Motivation isn't a problem (It's very quick to get through, after all). I'm probably fitter than I am strong, and spend a fair bit of time either running or skipping, as well as working a fairly physical job.

[hagga]

Sorry, should have specified: Problems with the program itself being subverted and leading to drastically decreased effectiveness, rather than my body not being able to keep up.

[chris88]

Your body can not recover in time if you do it more than 3 times a week. As a result you will get quickly get overtrained.

[knoted]

I did it every 2 days (weights increasing each session) instead of 3 / week. I went OK with craploads of food and 8 hours sleep. Towards the end (around 1.2x BW+ squats) it started getting pretty hard, but a lot of that was mental.

I don't think you'd last very long doing it every day before your gains started being losses.

[shaun680]

You build muscle when you're resting, not when you're lifting.

[doit]

I don't think SL5x5 is not suited for more than 3 times a week, max 4 days a week with one rest day inbetween maybe. If you want to train more than that in a week, you would want to find another program.
If you have trained seriously in 1-2 years, wouldn't you be better off on an intermediate program?
But if you are still on a level were you can make daily progress, then the SL5x5 is good stuff.

[hagga]

You build muscle when you're resting, not when you're lifting.

Yeah, I know. Size doesn't worry me, and I've still managed to push up to 2.5 above my previous 5rep max on the squats, so I've managed so far.

I don't think SL5x5 is not suited for more than 3 times a week, max 4 days a week with one rest day inbetween maybe. If you want to train more than that in a week, you would want to find another program.
If you have trained seriously in 1-2 years, wouldn't you be better off on an intermediate program?
But if you are still on a level were you can make daily progress, then the SL5x5 is good stuff.

I probably would, but have no grounding in building one and certainly felt the results (Good god, reverse crunches, I'd never actually done one before.) at the end. At least, no grounding in seriously making anything other than a list of exercises that work as many muscles as possible in different ways. Stronglifts hit some muscles that obviously didn't enjoy being worked, which is good.

Alright, I'll do it until I need to deload twice in a row, I suppose and try Madcow, or the other stronglifts workout. Ta.

[Munnings]

Your body can not recover in time if you do it more than 3 times a week. As a result you will get quickly get overtrained.

Chriss, you wont 'overtrain' by working out 3 times a week. If you train heavily for a few weeks (overreaching) then have a low training load (whether it be reduced intensity, volume, etc) (underreaching) your fitness will improve and you will be able to make considerable gains with this method.
however, if you continue to overreach, say for a few months or a year, then you will overtrain.
overtraining doesnt just happen overnight, or over a week by doing more than 3 sessions/week its accumulated fatigue.
so, OP. if you feel you could do this program over 3 times a week, then do it. but realise that you will begin to feel fatigued and you will need to undereach for 1/3 of the time you overreach ie. if you have heavy workload for 3 weeks, a 'rest' (deload) phase will be needed.
I guess my point is that you can workout more than usual for a few weeks, then cut it back for a week and then resume normal activity. look up two factor theory for more info.