Stronglifts 5×5 review, pros and cons (2024)

Are you trying to choose a strength program? This Stronglifts 5×5 review takes you through the pros and cons, covering common mistakes, how to maximize your progress, and frequently asked questions.

Okay, quick introductory time. Stronglifts 5×5 is a program popularized and marketed by a man named Medhi. The program looks something like this:

Education A– Barbell Squat – 5 sets of 5 reps

Bench press – 5 sets of 5 reps

Barbell Row – 5 sets of 5 reps

Education B – Barbell Squat – 5 sets of 5 reps

Shoulder press – 5 sets of 5 reps

Deadlift – 5 sets of 5 reps

So it's a very simple layout.

Before we go any further, you might also like to know that I'm a professional strength and conditioning coach and I've worked with dozens of top national and international athletes, so I'm not just some random internet connection giving their opinion. (I've also put together a free 40-minute video training on "How to Get Stronger, Look Great, and Learn Perfect Lifting Techniques," whichYou can view it here.)

If you've ever Googled "Strength Training," Stronglifts is probably the first program you come across. The website and information are largely designed with the strength beginner in mind. A few cheeky names are dropped later by Arnold's mentor Reg Parker and most power enthusiasts will be pretty excited to get started.

To help you, I'll give you my experience running the program myself for 5 months, as well as my thoughts as a qualified strength and weightlifting coach.

So here's what I like about Stronglifts:

• The program is very easy to follow, just two alternating workouts and only 5 different movements. This keeps it very simple and easy to record. Plus, all of these moves are based on free weights, which is great for developing stabilizing muscles.
• The progression is also very simple: you aim to add 2.5kg to each lift each workout. This means that progressive overload is done consistently and you WILL get stronger.

• It uses large, compound movements and encourages lots of eating. (Both big winners in my book)
• The 5 sets of 5 reps weight plan is a nice hybrid that also provides strength with a bit of size.
• Unlike many other strength programs, Stronglifts comes with spreadsheets, apps, an extensive online Q&A section, and plenty of other tools to help you and clear up any confusion.

And here's what I don't like about Stronglifts:

• The idea of ​​starting the program with an empty barbell is ridiculous. For the average male trainee with even a small base level of strength, this simply will not provide enough stimulus to generate any muscular adaptation. Starting this low is only advisable if you're brand new to the gym, or brand new to free weights and need to focus on technique.
• You'll end up having to unload lifts more often, slowing your progress. As you get stronger, you'll reach plateaus more often. It's not that bad at first, but I noticed it became quite demotivating.
• The simplicity of the program is also a disadvantage, as it can become very boring after a few months. I know some people are okay with repeating the same workout over and over again, but as a trainer I think motivation is a training variable for many people.

• There is no additional work, which means you can't focus on certain aspects of your lifts and eliminate bottlenecks. This also means that there isn't much potential for increasing muscle size, which can ultimately limit long-term progress.
• Because we use a strict 'cookie cutter' program, there is no room for individualization or self-regulation. So if you feel bruised, you are still expected to use the same weights as when you feel fine.
• Complete dependence on bilateral movements means that muscle imbalances can occur. Some of you may never have this problem, but I personally noticed that the dominant right side of my body always got a little more work! A little one-sided work could fix this!
• As the weights get heavier and you approach your true 5-rep maximum, the session will take an awfully long time. 15 sets p.st Training with an average rest of 4 minutes means a session of 1 hour and 15 minutes, excluding general warm-up, warm-up sets, cool-down, stretching or other core work. With all these things (which almost all trainers will recommend) you are looking at 1 hour and 40 minutes and more. Personally, I started to notice that as the sessions got longer, I struggled to hit each lift with the same focus and intensity.

My overview of Stronglifts:

As far as strength routines go, Stronglifts is a good bread and butter program, designed to introduce you to the big lifts with a good amount of frequency and volume. It was the first strength program I used and I have made good progress with it.Simple is effective.

However, there is nothing magical about Stronglifts. My honest opinion is that you would do just as well with a program like Starting Strength or Greyskull, and with Starting Strength you only have to do 3×5.

In short, this program is a good start to strength training, but there comes a point where it is no longer as effective. I noticed my progress slowed down after a few solid months of training. I also discovered that I wanted a program with a little more flexibility that could address my weaknesses as a lifter.

My advice to you is to use Stronglifts, Starting Strength or Greyskull for as long as possible as they are the fastest progress you will ever see as a lifter.

For most people this will be 3-8 months.

Then you should start looking at intermediate programs that will help you recover better, develop some muscle size, and increase your strength potential.

Stronglift's mistake

You probably think that 3 to 8 months of running Stronglifts is a long time, and to be honest, it is. There are a number of factors that will affect your performance during the program, some of which are based on genetics. That said, there are often three big mistakes people make that limit their progress.

1) Not eating enough during stronglifts

With linear progression programs like stronglifts, you aggressively add weight to the bar with each workout. To maintain this for as long as possible, you must have a calorie surplus, ideally at least 300 kcal per day.

2) Not getting enough sleep

Sleep is critical for recovery, and you'll miss reps pretty quickly if you don't get at least seven hours of sleep per week. night. For optimal progress, I really recommend aiming for 8-10 hours of sleep per week. night.

3) Does not follow the program correctly

People often make stupid changes for no good reason. Follow the stronglifts program as described. Take your prescribed deloads as recommended. Take your rest of more than 4 minutes between heavy sets, as recommended.

These mistakes may sound obvious, but you only have to read a few forums, FB pages or Reddit threads to find out that thousands of people are making the same mistakes! Don't be one of them.

Coaching, partner training and maximizing progress at Stronglifts

One of the best ways to increase your progress with stronglifts is to perform the program with a training partner or trainer. Obviously, it's ideal to have a trainer on hand if you need to use the technique and make adjustments on the fly. But I am also aware that not everyone's budget is sufficient for this. In such situations, a reliable training partner can be the best alternative.

You can push each other, increase the motivation for hard training and keep an eye on each other's lifting techniques.

Stronglifts versus starting strength

I could and will write an article about this. For the most part, the programs are very similar. They use similar exercises, similar technical models, and similar progression plans, so you'll be fine with either.

The main difference is that starting strength uses 3×5, while stronglifts use 5×5. Since both programs seem to make people stronger at the same rate, I personally would probably go with starting strength. Less work for the same results seems like an easy win.

That said, I have seen a few lifters, especially those with higher volume tolerances, who see slightly better results at 5×5. Mostly this seems to be the case for smaller female lifters.

Stronglifts 5×5 Frequently Asked Questions

Are stronglifts 5x5 effective?

Yes absolutely. If you're a strength beginner, you can expect several months of big progress.

Can you get ripped doing 5×5?

Well, technically yes if you were running 5×5 in a calorie deficit, but practically that would be really stupid as it would limit your progress immensely and you would run into recovery issues quite quickly.

It would be much smarter to run 5x5 for as long as possible in a calorie surplus, and then follow a more bodybuilding style program for 8-12 weeks while in a calorie deficit.

Is 5×5 best for fair?

No. While you can and probably will add some muscle size with stronglifts, I wouldn't describe it as optimal for adding mass. If mass and hypertrophy is your goal, read this articlehypertrophy sets and repsinstead of.

Next step

Okay, enough reading for today, time for action...

1) Go to the gym and start the stronglifts program or something similar to starting strength. Get stronger every session for as long as possible. So come back and read my article about itwhat to do after stronglifts 5×5

2) If you would like more training tips, workouts and programs, feel free to join my mailing list.

3) And if you search1:1 strength and fitness training, more information about my services can be found here.

'Until next time

Alex

Alex Parry, MSc, BA

Alex is the lead content writer and coach at Character Strength & Conditioning, as well as an assistant lecturer and PhD researcher at the University of Hull.

His experience includes over seven years in professional strength and conditioning, and he has also worked as a trainer and instructor for UK Weightlifting.