Hi guys,

I’m 24M, 71kg/156lbs 176cm/5’9”. I’ve been doing stronglifts for 2 months and these are my lifts:

• Squat: 120kg/265lbs

• Bench: 52.5kg/115lbs

• Deadlift: 120kg/265lbs

• OHP: 35kg/77lbs

• Row: 62.5kg/138lbs

As you see, my bench and ohp are so small comparing to other lifts. I’ve been even stuck at 35kg OHP for a month. Also, my squat and deadlift are getting heavier and I feel like I’m not gonna be able to add weights anymore soon. So I wonder what to do to improve my bench and ohp and should I switch to 3x5 on squat while keep others 5x5?

Any advice is appriciated. Thank you guys in advanced 🙏

Hi guys

Due to a shoulder injury from a seizure a few months ago, I can no longer ohp and can’t really bench either.

Would it be possible to swap ohp and bench for incline press or is it crucial i have some kind of overhead pressing movement? Would incline benching 3x a week be a bit much ?

I can still do front raises and can do machine ohp if I use a certain a grip.

My front delts are petty overdeveloped compared to my chest so I am adding in lateral raises on all workouts as well.

Might be worth stating I am new to 5x5 and have switched to this recently from a PPL split.

Advice be appreciated 🫡

I've recently gotten back to doing Stronglifts 5×5. I tried using a compression band but I'm still experiencing pain in my right knee. I've noticed that at times it lingers even when I'm on my rest days. What should I do? I can't seems to find any information online that feels relevant to people who squat regularly. All responses will be appreciated.

Sorry if this had been covered but how do you know when it’s time to deload? I’m at 195 on squat, 100 on OHP and 220 on deadlift. I was able to complete the workout but was struggling for sure. I also had to wrap one of my knees because it is giving me grief. I’m 52 by the way. And this is probably the most I’ve ever lifted.

Keep getting low back pain on my lower left side during squats. Tried deloading and working way back up but it keeps happening. Vid was 165lbs for 5. I can’t do deadlifts cause of this pain. What do I do? It’s making me want to stop lifting heavy altogether and just focus on arms lol. Please help.

squat

Hello everyone. I'm still trying to improve my technique and feel better at this weight , no low back hurt. Still it looks like my hips are lower than it should be. What do you guys think?

Hi, last year I completed 5 months of strenght training at home, then I stopped until past week, I went to a gym here in my town, I told the coach I want strenght, not aestehtics nor Dropbox body fat, but this week has been only bodyweight exercises and cardio, muy body feels okay but the routine is me, todas I ask her about and she says we are doing an acconditioning for 3 weeks and then we will start, I had never heard about it, why didn't just start squaring? Even with the empty bar? Why should I do 30 mind of bike and then some jumps with veri light weights? I'm confuse, please help me, I don't want to lost time and money

How are you guys dealing with hip flexor pain and tightness from heavy squats? I tried some foam rolling on the area and it seemed to make the soreness worse for several days. Any tips/tricks are helpful. Thanks!

So I started stronglifts 5x5 1 month ago after not lifting seriously for years. Doing squats has been causing lower back pain, and it seems to be getting progressively worse as the weight increases. At first, it was a slight discomfort that would go away after a day or two, and i'd proceed with the next workout on schedule.I've gone from 120lbs to 175lbs 5x5 without an issue, the lifts are easy.

Recently, the discomfort isn't going away, I had to skip squats my last workout. I'm now considering skipping them again today. I would also need to skip deadlifts.

Basically I'm feeling a very slight pain in my lower back, just above and to the right of my tailbone. I feel it when moving around - sitting down, standing up, getting up out of bed, etc. It doesn't feel like the muscle, more like the spine/discs area.

I know I could continue on completing the lifts successfully, but am worried about worsening the problem.

Should I deload, continue resting, or push on?

On a side note, I think the issue may be due to poor hip mobility, resulting in some form breakdown, so I've been working on increasing mobility daily.

17M. 5'9". 63kg. If I try to do 25 kg barbell row, I end up bringing my torso up 45 degree at least. Currently bulking. Should I switch to dumbells for practice?

Hi guys,

I know that the correlation between benching for reps and 1rm isn't always exact, but isn't strange that i can go for :

- 80kgx14 reps,
- And struggle going above 90kgx5 ?

In theory, max rep in first case is 117.3kg, while max rep in second case is 101.3kg, this sound like a big difference.

Am i simply much better at benching reps, over raw strength ? Have you been in this situation before ?

Thanks for your insights.

I swapped out squats from workout B for deadlifts 5x5 instead of 1x5, but I have one top set followed by 4 back off sets. Plus I set the weight increase to go up after 3 to 4 sessions for each lift so my progression is slow enough to let my connective tissue strengthen and allow for more neuromuscular stimulation and adaptation. What do you guys think?

I was skinny fat last year and decided I was going to start taking fitness seriously. I ended up going on a fairly extreeme-probably unhealthy cut. I lost roughly 15kg and ended up with a body weight of around 76kg.

Despite this weight I still felt fat, although much healthier. If I had to guess I would say at around 65kg would be my bodyweight with very little fat.

But I found it was getting really hard to lose more weight, so I decided to start bulking.

Being inspired by Clarence Kennedy, I decided to throw my everything into strong lifts. I had never really squated before, and deadlifting had always cuased me issues but I kept pushing untill I hit my first deload.

After three months (first deload on every exorcise)

Squat: 70kg

Deadlift:90kg

Bench:70kg

Overhead press:45kg

Row:60kg

I was frustrated but after some research I found this was a pretty common sticking point for most lifters.

Now I've been going for roughly eight months and my squat is still fucking stuck at 90kg.

My squat form has gotten shit loads better, but I believe because of that I'm starting to get injured.

First it was my lower back. So I deloaded.

Next it was my hip flexors, so I deloaded.

And now it's my knees.

Two days ago I had zero troubles squatting 82.5kg for 5x5. Today I cant even squat it for one rep due to pain.

Every time I deload I find a new issue that is stopping me from progressing.

The only thing that's improving is my form, not the weight.

I invested in a pair of squatting shoes and it helped my squat form alot.

The only thing I can think of is investing in knee straps and pushing through the pain.

My current body weight is 103kg

I am bulking, 200 grams of protein per day with eight hours of sleep. I even take 2 rest days if I feel like my body Is sore, yet my squat refuses to go up. What do I do?

Currant weights

Squat: 82.5kgs

Bench: 62.5kg

Deadlift: 105kg

Overhead press: 52.5kg

Row: 70kgs

Hi,

A month ago i was doing trap bar DL and my low back popped with sharp pain during a warm up set. I had difficulty bending and walking for a few days but slowly recovered.

Yesterday, doing back squats my back popped again. This time the pain is worse and im pretty much bed ridden.

In both cases i felt instability in my lower back, during the raising part of the lift. Almost like the feeling of the discs were misaligned, and then a pop or crunch, and sharp pain.

Ill be going to the doctor when i can get out of bed. I know its hard to tell without video, but Just wondering if its because i wasnt engaging my core enough? Or what else to do with my form?

For background info, these were both warmup sets and ive lifted heavier than these many times with no issue.

Just curious as to what people's diets are like who are currently doing SL's? Do you follow plant based, or something else? Do you take any protein supplements?

I'm trying to get back on track fitness wise and my diet needs a lot of improvement. I really want to try to get away from as much ultra processed food as possible and try to eat relatively well most of the time. I know it's probably unrealistic to avoid all processed food forever, but I can certainly cut down easily.

What do you all eat most days? Especially curious for those who follow a plant-based/veggie-based diet.