I did SS

you are the exception. most people who do SS stall on a 135 bench, unless they get fat as fuck.

About to start StrongLifts 5x5. Am I gonna get memed on or is this an actual good program for a beginner? Any alterations I should do to it?

what are your goals?

it's a good introduction to lifting, just throw in some extra stuff like dips, pullups, curls, lateral raises and facepulls.

if you do it correctly you'll start to stall on most of your lifts after 2-3 months, then it's time to switch to another routine, which one that could be depends on your goals.

lol the program tells you do add chinups m8

Also nobody is saying to limit yourself to the entire program, the core of the program is whats important

I didnt just do bench obviously, I did a couple of sets accessory for my weak part which were my delts. I also did weighted chins and rows alternatingly

My biggest goal is really to just get bigger arms and pecs. I did bodyweight for a good amount of years so I have well defined muscles, just not satisfied with their size. Bodyweight exercises can only go so far as to increase my muscle size.

Why do people get memed into doing stronglifts over SS lmaoo? Its basicly the same thing but with more volume

Stick to the core program which is doing the lifts and adding little weight every single session. Once you stall you need to assess your weakness and add accessory accordingly

Oh and add pullups or chinups to the program, doesnt matter its preference

for an user working out at home, with a (incline) bench, squat rack (in which i bench), barbell and dumbells what do you recommend adding? my bench is complete shit and started benching more to fix, but with a 20 second trip to the gym i can easily just add another day of random exercises to do.

a pullupbar/ dip station

you dont need to bench, weighted dips are great too and easy to set up

What's wrong with StrongLifts anyway

figured that answer was coming. very serious lack of money right now. anything i could do with dumbells?

You're not gonna look good after 4 months of lifting anyway, so just keep lifting and stop living in dreamland where gains are free.
Shit takes TIME.

A hack called mehdi who literally took SS made a very small tweak and pretended it was something new and revolutionary

you can do one armed shoulder presses and one armed rows, man those are great try em

SL's issues are small but twofold:
[1] 5x5 doesn't bring more gains, though the form practice isn't a bad side effect. You'll drop back to 3x5 soon enough anyway
[2] Starting with an empty bar is stupid and costs time, unless you're actually weak enough that the bar is a workout on its own.

SS and SL at close enough that the differences between them are mostly whether you can rack a clean or not.

congratulations on being a gifted bench presser, now imagine where you would be on a program with more than 1.5 bench sessions a week on average

I got my deadlift to 500x1 just by pushing one heavy set of 5 a week, but I'm not going to pretend A) my progress was typical B) I wouldn't have gone even further with more than one or two heavy sets a week

Wasn't it discovered that the guy on the right isn't Zach?

SS won't make you pretty, it'll make you strong enough for routines that will.

>I got my deadlift to 500x1 just by pushing one heavy set of 5 a week
Funny thing is I actualyl have very long arms and my deadlift got to that number by just doing average of 5 reps a week too

my bench was stuck for a long time because I was doing meme programs I had no bussiness doing(like sheiko). After a while I just wanted to try SS for lulz and I was baffled that I was going up everytime. Got nearly 15kg on my bench by just adding 1kg every session lol

That's not Zach in the second pic.

Sheiko really doesn't teach you how to grind out tough reps, and I think the 3 day over 80kg is actually not that high in bench volume at all

also you may have increased your calorie surplus by eating roughly the same but going from Sheiko -> lower volume

or maybe SS allowed you to realize the gains you made with higher volume programming

idk man if it works for you that's great, I barely made any bench progress with SS

>mehdi
>Getting jewed by a mudslime
poor rip

This is exactly what happened to me, what the fuck.
What program should I do now?

In order:
>form checks via video
>deload 10% are ramp up
>eat more (TDEE+200)
>microload
>switch to intermediate programming

Fucking typing...
>deload 10% AND ramp back up

nuckols 3x beginner for bench, keep everything else SS if it's working

has deloading 10% and working back up without adding volume ever actually worked for anyone's stalled bench or overhead press in the history of lifting weights

I literally more than doubled my squat in 2 months time.
I now squat 245. And will squat 255 on Monday. Got complimented on my progress from the guy who runs the gym that was an old pro athlete.
I'm not going to fall for the "SS is a meme" meme when I've seen such incredible strength gains in such a short time.
I'm amazed at the progress I've gotten in 8-10 weeks

ive been doing ss for about 5 months now and have only stalled on my deadlift because my form is piss poor and i keep getting back pain.

I'm stalling on deadlift now at 295 pretty badly. And I'm cheating using supinated grip I think it's called.
Although I'm trying to cut too

Did you just tell someone stuck with a 135 lbs bench to switch to an intermediate program

mixed grip is not cheating, despite what pencil neck geeks on Veeky Forums will try and tell you

you are stalling because you are attempting an aggressive linear progression program on a calorie deficit, do not expect progress to happen right now

if you are still making progress on your squat and deadlift, I'd recommend to stick with the routine for a little longer, but add some extra volume for your upper body.

I would probably do this:

On Bench day do 3x5 Bench followed by 2x10 Bench with a lighter weight

On OHP day throw in another light horizontal press for 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps at the end. Something like dumbbell bench or close grip bench press.

and then some extra cable or dumbbell rows 2-3x8-12 on both days to balance everything out.

that's one way to do it, the extra volume can do wonders for the upper body.

diff Zach from the Real World

Start as fatass non lifter no sports 88kg at 171 cm
Started with bar in all lifts 7 months later
Finished at 1/2/3/3.5 and bw of 74 kg thanks to ss I still looked like trash it was only when I started doing 1/2/3/4 for reps that I had a slight appearance of a lifter.

nope, the deloading 10% thing is the worst fucking waste of time, ever. when your upper body lifts stall on one of this type of routines, it's usually because the volume is too low.

yep

the deload 10% thing assumes that accumulated fatigue is the reason you are unable to progress, which is probably true most of the time for squats which you get 9 heavy sets of per week and are tougher to recover from

for bench and OHP this is never the case, it's just a lack of sufficient volume so deloading 10% just makes the problem worse

It's not a meme for strength gains. It's a meme for aesthetics. There is no doubt that it gives you a solid strength base but your body looks disproportionate. Hence "I fell for the meme". SS will not help you LOOK big but it will help you LIFT big.

Ok, well right now I care about gainz

So what program will help a couch potato skinny fat look aesthetic in 6 months?

6 months?

godlike genetics or steroids. the routine won't even matter if you have at least one of the two.

if you have neither, I have bad news for you

>ss for 4 months
>cut for 2 months

Starting Trenbolone + U/U split

UxUxUx repeat

eat more
add accessory for weak parts, depending on your sticking point

strength=aesthetics my friend everyone who is aesthetic is also strong

thans user, i'll give it a go. seems like something i could just do very easily. I already started doing bent over row (on normal day i do pendlay) followed up by some incline bench, but i'll try adding this for some extra volume.

it really does feel like the main culprit for my bench is volume, plus pretty long arms don't seem to help much either. it's the only of 1/2/3/4 i have yet to reach

Everyone who is natural and aesthetic doesn't do a strength routine and nothing else user.

you can get really strong without getting big though. just look at maxx chewnings legs, he is the living proof.

So why do people claim ss didn't make you aesthetic when it's a 6-7 months only routine. No program can achieve that unless you have an athletic base.

and how long do they take to achieve their goals? It takes a long as fuck time because they have no clue what the're doing

There is actually no such thing as a strength routine. if I would make you a hypertrophy program your strength also would go up. The only difference is the reprange youre working in.

What is going to get you bigger benching 135 for 10 reps and then donig incline and decline for also 10 reps. Or benchnig 225 for 10 reps. Its the latter every single time

Maxx chewning pulls sumo and has long as fuck arms. Hes the result of having optimal leverages for the deadlift. He looks like shit from the front because his bench is also shit. You cant show me anyone who benches over 300lbs in a normal fashion and has small pecs

I wasn't planning on starting with an empty bar, I'm not that weak. I just need a program to get bigger pecs and arms.
So are both SL and SS just meme programs?

the problem with SS isn't that it doesn't make you big in 6 months. the problem is that the upper body volume is way too low. most people just stall completely on poth presses after the first month. then they deload, work back up and stall again at the exact same point. rinse and repeat for a few months. it's just dumb.

because they're fucking stupid

however, a program with higher volume and more accessory work for the upper body will get you further towards looking good than a program with low upper body volume and a myopic focus on barbell squatting 3x a week

Maxx Chewning has some really anomalous leverages that make him a deadlifting machine, find me a guy with normal length or short arms that deadlifts as much as he does without a fuckton of muscle mass

if anyone here actually read the book it clearly says to add in (weighted) chin ups and dips which alone would add a ton of upperbody mass on you

To be fair there exceptions like Mike Macdonald guy who was able to bench press 500+ at the 195 yet still looked dyel and had 15 inch arms.
However in vast majority strength is size so I agree with you.

>Most people stall on upper body
>after 1 month
They must be doing something horribly wrong since I achieved and so have others I helped, maybe people don't microload

>upper body volume too low
>hasn't read the book

>Or benchnig 225 for 10 reps. Its the latter every single time
That's not true you fucking retard.

In order:
Are you sleeping enough?
Are you eating enough protein?
Is your form correct? (Plant feet firmly, arch back, etc.)
Are your expectations too high for your upper body lifts?

yes, that picture shows that the upper body volume (especially pressing volume) is far too low

you are doing 9 sets of squats a week and an average of 4.5 sets of bench a week, that's fucking retarded

so youre saying someone who can bench 135 for 10 reps and incline and decline would be bigger than someone who can bench 225 for reps

Sorry but you probally dont even lift

youre doing a press 3 times a week if youre not satisfied add dips

the routine is too low volume

people start bulking up thinking it will become muscle

that's why SS memers put always their numbers but not their physiques

SS is a meme

>inb4 you didn't do the accessories

may as well call it autoregulated full body workout at that point, not SS

3x a week for a grand total of 9 sets of any type of pressing a week

just not enough volume for most people

Again I don't get it which program will give you good enough physique in 6 months from couch potato ? Even bro split with a whole day of curls won't give bare minimum of good physique I.e 16 inch arms

its a problem easily fixed by adding a couple of sets of hypertrophy work

Erasing squats from the press day

Taking deadlifting as the only exercise you need for your back is retarded

Doing chin ups without progression is retarded, pull ups are better anyway

No rows

No dips

Doing power cleans as a starting lifter is retarded

5x5 or 4x6 is better

The guy who made the program legitimately thinks that squats are better for arms than curls
Let that sink in for a minute