[bax121]

I'm going to be starting Stronglifts 5x5 on Monday.

Now a little background, this time last year I was a disgusting slob approaching 20 stone something clicked and I knew it was time to make a change so I joined the gym and started to loose weight.

I was under 11 stone before Christmas then Christmas came and I inevitably gained a bit of weight but before I could loose it again I injured my knee so gained more weight and I'm now about 12stone which is fine as I looked kinda stupid at >11st.

I'm happy with my weight now but not with how I look, I'm skinny-fat.

So I finally decided it was time to build some muscle and look awesome and here we are. My goal is not to get massive (and I realise that this takes years of hard work and dedication anyway) I just want to get an 'athletic' physique.

And here we are.

My stats:
Age: 19
Height: 6'0''
Weight: ~170lbs (will check and update on Monday)

I'll keep doing quite a bit of cardio to start with (while the weights are light) to help get my bf% down a bit but when the weights increase and I feel the cardio is hampering my progress I'll scale it back a bit.

_______________________________

Update 13/4/12-6 weeks in
PBs
Squat (5x5) 62.5kg
Bench (5x5) 40kg
OHP (5x5) 35kg
BB Row (5x5) 47.5kg
Deadlift (1x5) 75kg

_______________________________
Update 25/5/12- 12 weeks in
Best lifts:
Squat (5x5) 97.5kg
Bench (5x5) 52.5kg
OHP (5x5) 37.5kg
BB Row (5x5) 52.5kg
Deadlift (1x5) 85kg

Weight: 182lbs

[TZ421]

Good luck!

[mikestraws]

Im doing almost the same as you and have had almost the same kind of weighloss history. When I get home fRom work and off this mobile ill post my current training pattern and progress, doing sl 5x5 also, with a bit of cardio. Best of luck!

[bax121]

(Original post by mikestraws)
Im doing almost the same as you and have had almost the same kind of weighloss history. When I get home fRom work and off this mobile ill post my current training pattern and progress, doing sl 5x5 also, with a bit of cardio. Best of luck!

Cool. Will be interesting to see your progress.

[desijut]

good luck, i started this a few months ago. If you stick to this program rigidly you will be amazed with the progress in just a month or two.

[bax121]

6 weeks in probably time to update.

Last 2 workouts:
Wednesday 11/4/12
Squat 60kg (5x5)
Bench 40kg (5x5)
BB Row 50kg (5,5,5,5,4)

Friday 13/4/12
Squat 62.5kg (5x5)
OHP 35kg (5x5)
Deadlift 80kg (1x4)

Think I'm going to have to switch to a mixed grip for the deadlift now as the bar was starting to slip a bit today.

[bax121]

Monday 16/4/12
Squat 65kg (5x5)
Bench 42.5kg (5x5)
BB Rows 50kg (5x5)

My form was pretty bad on the rows so I think I'll stick to 50kg again next time.

Squats are definitely getting more challenging now, makes it more fun imo.

[desijut]

(Original post by bax121)
Think I'm going to have to switch to a mixed grip for the deadlift now as the bar was starting to slip a bit today.

Try keeping your warm up sets on deadlift on overhand grip as you build a better grip strength that way. Also, although i dont use it (I should), chalk is good for you.

Just opened up my SL5x5 spreadsheet, yeah same as what i made it to at this point (y), except rows, me and rows had a bit of a problem with each other

[bax121]

(Original post by desijut)
Try keeping your warm up sets on deadlift on overhand grip as you build a better grip strength that way. Also, although i dont use it (I should), chalk is good for you.

Yeah I read that on the SL website. Mixed grip felt weird but I'll get used to it and more importantly I made the lift without the bar feeling like it was about to fall.

Not sure what my gyms policy is on chalk, may look at liquid chalk but I don't think I need it just yet anyway.

__________

Wednesday 18/4/12
Squats 67.5kg (5x5)
OHP 37.5kg (5x5) - may have been 6x5
Deadlift 80kg (1x5)

Switching to 2.5kg increments for deadlifts now.

[desijut]

how come you're switching to 2.5kg increments?

Fair enough, for the first few i changed to mixed grip, i also did my warm up sets with mixed grip to get used to it, then reverted back on warm up sets

[bax121]

(Original post by desijut)
how come you're switching to 2.5kg increments?

Fair enough, for the first few i changed to mixed grip, i also did my warm up sets with mixed grip to get used to it, then reverted back on warm up sets

Because I failed to get 1x5x80kg on the first attempt and it says in the book to switch to 2.5kg increments when it gets tough. Do you think I should keep 5kg increments for now?

[bax121]

Not that I care, just curious, who the hell negged/why the hell did the OP get negged?

[desijut]

oh sorry, didnt see you failed it before. What you did was the sensible thing to do.

Also, pos repped to even it out lol

[bax121]

Friday 20/4/12
Squats 70kg (5x5)
Bench 45kg (5x5)
BB Rows 50kg (what does it matter form was shocking again)

Squats were tough, felt I may not make the last couple of reps but I did

Rows were terrible again I'm going to reset the weight to 45kg for the next session.

For various reasons I plan on training Sunday/Wednesday/Friday next week.

[mikestraws]

(Original post by bax121)
Friday 20/4/12
Squats 70kg (5x5)
Bench 45kg (5x5)
BB Rows 50kg (what does it matter form was shocking again)

Squats were tough, felt I may not make the last couple of reps but I did

Rows were terrible again I'm going to reset the weight to 45kg for the next session.

For various reasons I plan on training Sunday/Wednesday/Friday next week.

Thought I would check on your progress mate, we are about equal at the moment.
My rows are at 50kg - 52.5 kg and I just cant get 5x5 with acceptable form, it's weird. Sometimes one half of me pulls with more intensity than the other, or I find it hard to hit my chest. One thing that does not help are the hex plates, they make deadlifts and rows a royal pain in the ass.
I'm half tempted to swap them out for wide grip pull ups and work on getting 3 sets of 12 since I can do about 3 sets of 1 right now.

[bax121]

(Original post by mikestraws)
Thought I would check on your progress mate, we are about equal at the moment.
My rows are at 50kg - 52.5 kg and I just cant get 5x5 with acceptable form, it's weird. Sometimes one half of me pulls with more intensity than the other, or I find it hard to hit my chest. One thing that does not help are the hex plates, they make deadlifts and rows a royal pain in the ass.
I'm half tempted to swap them out for wide grip pull ups and work on getting 3 sets of 12 since I can do about 3 sets of 1 right now.

Yeah I've been finding it hard to keep my back parallel and straight @50kg so I'm dropping the weight to try and get acceptable form again and progress from there.

I've been doing a few chin ups (with palms facing each other) after my deadlift/rows to compensate for the lack of decent upper back work, though I can't do many atm, just about 7 on deadlift day and about 4 on Row day.

[bax121]

Sunday 22/4/12
Squats 72.5kg (5x5)
OHP 40kg (5,5,2,2,2)
Deadlift 82.5kg (5x5)

OHP was dam hard even on the first set 5 reps was a struggle.

Squats are definitely going to stall soon.

Deadlifts were good.

[beth24xx]

(Original post by bax121)
I'm going to be starting Stronglifts 5x5 on Monday.

Now a little background, this time last year I was a disgusting slob approaching 20 stone something clicked and I knew it was time to make a change so I joined the gym and started to loose weight.

I was under 11 stone before Christmas then Christmas came and I inevitably gained a bit of weight but before I could loose it again I injured my knee so gained more weight and I'm now about 12stone which is fine as I looked kinda stupid at >11st.

I'm happy with my weight now but not with how I look, I'm skinny-fat.

So I finally decided it was time to build some muscle and look awesome and here we are. My goal is not to get massive (and I realise that this takes years of hard work and dedication anyway) I just want to get an 'athletic' physique.

And here we are.

My stats:
Age: 19
Height: 6'0''
Weight: ~170lbs (will check and update on Monday)

I'll keep doing quite a bit of cardio to start with (while the weights are light) to help get my bf% down a bit but when the weights increase and I feel the cardio is hampering my progress I'll scale it back a bit.

_______________________________

Update 13/4/12-6 weeks in
PBs
Squat (5x5) 62.5kg
Bench (5x5) 40kg
OHP (5x5) 35kg
BB Row (5x5) 47.5kg
Deadlift (1x5) 75kg

How did you loose all that weight? what was you doing at the gym?
im a girl and 13 stone and defo need to loose some weight but nothings going!!

[bax121]

(Original post by beth24xx)
How did you loose all that weight? what was you doing at the gym?
im a girl and 13 stone and defo need to loose some weight but nothings going!!

A lot of cardio and eating healthily. There's no magic formula.

[bax121]

Wednesday 25/4/12
Squats 75kg (5,5,5,3,5)
Bench 47.5kg (5,5,5,5,4)
BB Rows 45kg (5x5)

Pretty embarrassing session tbh, not sure what happened with the squats I lost balance on my way up (after the 3rd rep on the 4th set) and almost fell over then I got stuck under the bar on the fifth rep/set with the bench.

Strangely the 5th set of squats was pretty easy so I could probably increase the weight for next time but I think I'll leave it, better to be safe then sorry.

Rows were great after the deload.