StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced: Strength Training for Intermediates
Mar 24th, 2008 by Mehdi Tags: Strength Training, StrongLifts 5x5, Weight Lifting
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StrongLifts 5×5 doesn’t work endlessly. Once you can Squat close to 1.5x your body-weight, your body can’t handle 3 weight increases per week anymore. The weight becomes too heavy for your body to recover in time.
The solution is to switch to weekly increases and include light days. Add weight each week instead of each workout. Include a light mid-week Squat day to help recovery. This is how StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced works.
Who’s StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced For. It doesn’t matter if you’re young, old, man or woman. As long as you’re an intermediate this program works.
- 1.5x BW Squat. You progress faster when increasing the weight each workout. Do StrongLifts 5×5 if you can’t Squat 1.5x your body-weight.
- Proper Technique. StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced includes top sets and sets of 3 reps. Only do this if you have proper technique and are injury free.
- Squat Plateau. You’ve done StrongLifts 5×5 and stalled at least 2 times on Squats. You can Squat close to 1.5x BW with proper technique.
Benefits of StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced. The 9 week programs revolves around the Squat. You’ll Squat at least 2 times per week. The Squats stress your whole body and forces it to adapt.
- Increased Strength. Gains on Squats & Deadlifts of about 10kg in 9 weeks. Gains on Overhead Press & Bench Press of 5kg in 9 weeks.
- Increased Muscle Mass. More strength is more muscle. Expect to gain weight on StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced by week 3-4.
- Decreased Body Fat. More muscle means more calories burned. Track your body fat weekly using a fat caliper.
- Proportionate Physique. The 8 compound strength training exercises work all your muscles. StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced is a fully body routine.
How StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced Works. StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced is inspired by Bill Starr’s program described in The Strongest Shall Survive and the writings of weight lifting coach Glenn Pendlay.
- 4 Weeks Volume. Sets of 5 reps. Weight increases weekly. By week 4 you’ll be in a state of overreaching. Attempt records in week 3/4.
- 1 Week Recovery. Sets of 3 reps. Same weight as in week 4. Only 2 Squat sessions per week. This gives you 1 week active recovery.
- 4 Weeks Intensity. Sets of 3 reps. Weight increases weekly again. 2 Squat sessions per week. Attempt records in week 8/9.
Preparing Yourself for StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced. You’ll get sore legs if you’re not used to Squatting more than once per week. Prepare yourself.
- Do 4 weeks StrongLifts 5×5 starting with 60-70% of your 5 rep max
- Add 2.5kg/5lbs 3 times per week for 4 weeks
- Switch to StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced after 4 weeks
Example: your 5RM is 100kg. 1st Monday 60kg for 5×5, 2nd Monday 67,5kg, 3rd Monday 75kg, last Friday 90kg. Don’t worry if the first weeks feel light. The goal is to build leg endurance while improving technique.
Download StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced Program. The file is 12kb & takes less than 1min to download. Unzip the file using WinRAR & view it with Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice. File works using pounds & kilograms.
Click here to download StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced Program (right click - save as). Enter your current repetition max in B8 to C15 (yellow fields).
StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced. Workout on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Tu/Th/Sa or Su/Tu/Th or Sa/Mo/We works too. Workouts take about 45 mins. You’ll find 3 versions of the program in the excel sheet.
- Bench Press Version. If you care most about increasing your Bench Press, do this version of StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced.
- Overhead Press Version. If you don’t care about the Bench Press at all, you can even do the Seated Press on Wednesday.
- Barbell Row Version. If you can’t Power Clean, learn it before doing this program. If your gym doesn’t allow Power Cleans, do Barbell Rows.
Choosing Your Weight. Your goal is breaking PRs in week 3/4/8/9. It’s better to start lighter to build momentum. Use the excel sheet as a guideline the 1st time so you understand the program. The 2nd time go by feeling.
Put current PRs in week 3. Week 1 is 80% of week 3. Week 2 something in between. Week 4 smallest increment on top of week 3. Increase Wednesday’s Squat from 10% of Monday in week 1 to 15% in week 4.
Always increase the weight if you achieve all your reps on all your sets. If you don’t, use the same weight the week after. Again the excel sheet is a guideline. Adapt the weights manually if you miss reps.
Sets, Reps & Intensity. Use as much rest as you need between sets to get all your reps. This is between 1 and 5 minutes. If you just struggled to get all your reps, go for 5 mins rest on the next set.
- 5×5 and 3×3 are more stressing than 1×5 or 1×3. That’s why you combine 5×5 Squats with 1×5 on other exercises.
- Although Wednesday is a light Squat day, the weight can feel as heavy as Monday. This is normal: your legs aren’t fully recovered yet.
- By now you’ve got proper technique. Lift as fast as you can on the way up. Control the way down, explode on the way up.
Diet, Recovery & Cardio. Although StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced isn’t as hard as Smolov, diet & recovery are important. If you need to lose a lot of fat, focus on that after this program. 1 goal at a time works best.
- Diet. Apply StrongLifts.com’s 10 nutrition rules. Especially eating your BW in lbs x 18 kcal daily. Excess calories works better for strength.
- Recovery. Make sure you get quality sleep. Don’t overdo cardio, you already have the heavy Squats several times per week.
- Cardio. HIIT is superior to aerobic training but also more intensive. Stick to 30mins moderate intensity cardio post workout 1-2x/week.
Common Mistakes. Only do StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced if you can Squat 1.5x your body-weight for 1 rep with proper technique. Apply the program as laid out. Avoid the same mistakes as for StrongLifts 5×5.
- Starting too Heavy. Aim for PRs in week 3/4/8/9. Avoid missed reps during the other weeks because you started too heavy.
- Starting too Light. You underestimated yourself and didn’t hit PRs in week 4. Do a 5th or even 6th volume week if you feel you can do more.
- No Preparation. If you never did Squats 3 times per week before, avoid soreness by doing 4 weeks StrongLifts 5×5 first.
- Working with Percentages. Follow the excel file the 1st time on the program. The 2nd time go by feeling, aiming for PRs in week 3/4/8/9.
I recommend you read Lessons from Glenn Pendlay in the Forum. It will give you background information on the program.
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Will try when I can squat my bw x 1.5 I hope that will be in summer, when I’ll have plenty of rest and time
When you talk about squatting bw * 1.5 do you mean for 5×5 or for 1 rep max? Also, I am almost done with stronglifts 5×5 (beginner) and was planning on going to 5×5 intermediate next and then after that the Texas Method you posted awhile ago. Should I go with 5×5 advacned instead of Texas Method?
I looked up the 5 rep max conversion to 1 rep max using formulas and got 1.3 times bodyweight at 5 reps is equivalent to 1.5 times bodyweight at 1 rep. Is it OK to use that as a metric, or is it better to actually test your max squat weight occasionally?
@Bholdman
1.5x body-weight Squat for at least 1 rep with good technique. Texas Method works differently than StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced. Feel free to try the different programs.
@Nathan Whitehead
You could use that as metric too, doesn’t have to be exact science. The 1.5x body-weight Squat thing is a guideline. Some of you (I’d say heavier trainees) will most likely have to switch when reaching a 1.3xbw Squat. A lighter trainee could get to 1.5bw Squat more easily. A lot depends on your body-weight, recovery, diet, etc.
If you’re doing StrongLifts 5×5: keep doing it until you stall 2-3 times on your Squat. Usually, if you’ve done everything right, you’ll be close to a 1.5x bw squat by then. You’ll also feel it gets too hard to add weight 3x/week, might feel demotivated, … That’s when you should switch. But make sure you don’t switch too soon.
I’m just curios. What is the ratio between the exercises ?
If the squat is a 100, what are the front squat, bench press, overhead press….. ?
@Woodstock
What do you mean with ratio?
If you squat 100kg, how much do bench press, overhead press, deadlift etc……
@Woodstock
Overhead Press < Bench Press < Power Clean < Front Squat < Squat < Deadlift. Something like that, not a rule in stone. I’ll make a post about that in the future.
It’ll be a while until I hit 1.5x my bodyweight, I’d guess 10 weeks as I just started. Good read.
Mehdi I’ve been reading up on your post from last week where you referenced the article about G-Flux. I was wondering if there is any other additional reading on that topic you would recommend? It’s very interesting to me and I’d like to learn more.
I do front squats, so I’m wondering how high I will have to get them before starting this program.
Great post, Medhi. I cant wait to get strong enough to move up. I don’t know where I would be without this website.
I always thought that you were supposed to switch to Beginner Strength Training Program II when you were no longer advancing on the Beginner’s Stronglifts 5×5. That is the one where the Front Squat is performed on Wednesdays. Has this SL 5×5 Advanced taken its place or should one do the BSTP II first and then do SL5×5 Advanced?
Great program Mehdi! I have just finished Bill Star’s 5×5 and I think it lacked some overhead work, good idea to add three different versions to it
@Tony: I think if you feel you’re ready for this program you can skip BSTP II, that means proper technique en squatting 1.5 time your BW. Otherwise first complete the 2nd program
@Shoebox
Check out berardi’s site, it’s his concept. Read the link I provided in the article, there’s more there.
@Woodstock
About 1.2x body-weight for front squats or once you stall 2-3 times at least on the front squat.
@Tony
StrongLifts 5×5 Advanced is meant to replace BSTPII. I will soon remove the old program. So you can jump straight into this program in a few weeks Tony.
it’s funny, i’ve been thinking it was 1.5 x bodyweight for 5×5 instead 0f for your rm. I switched to the program about 2 months ago, and i’m doing about 1.1 x bodyweight for 5×5 with the squats. guess i might go ahead and change it up, i’ve stalled once, but i’m gonna give it a few more weeks. you’ve got a great program Mehdi, and it’s working wonders. Also, people are starting to notice all the squats, and the benefits I’ve gotten, this thing may soon be viral. heh.
I was planning to start bill star next monday, maybe i’ll could do this instead, i’m not sure yet. Wouldn’t make much of a difference. 1RM squat is 125+ at a BW of 75 or so, so i’m good there.
mehdi, on the excel spreadsheet, where it says ‘New 1RM’, does that mean what our new max will be after the 9 weeks? because only a 15lb increase in the max is like nothing for 9 weeks..
hi medhi, i was very intersted with your training my older brother decided to do it and then i decided to..i´m ecuadorian (south america) i´m 26 years old man i was sick and tired making and stalling on bicep curls or french press…i like your 5 x 5 training a lot feels great overall for the legs like many other people i was public enemi of squats and i used to do one time at week now i feel the body weight difference…. now my question is obiusly the 20% less weight lifht on bench press overhead press weighted dips chinups and pullups make my upper body thinner… i´m happy because my body weight it´s the same and my legs are bigger (realy great thing) but i want to keep my upper body as before…i´m not a very big man i´m 170 to 168 pounds ( more 168) and height 5´6 i do anabolic diet…what do you think? maybe i need to be more patience…..
congrats your website is great
oh!! damn this is the intermediate i´m on beginners i started on the beginners because the thecnique corrections by the way great corrections and tricks to keep the technics but if you can answer me that would be great…
Hey!…Man i love reading your blog, interesting posts ! it was a great Tuesday .
Mehdi,
I hope all is well. I have been doing this 5×5 for a month, so far so great. Although I have weightlifted for a long Time, I wanted to do the beginner’s program to start and lock in my fundamentals. People in my Mixed Martial Arts classes think I am stronger, altough I am not up to what I was lifting quite yet.
I woul dlike to know if you are making the Intermediate-Advanced workout series into a downloadable pdf like the beginners? Thanks