HOWEVER.

Because it's just an app with videos, it's really up to you to learn proper form and execute it each time. Additionally, the app doesn't know your limitations, so take your pain seriously.

I hurt my knees squatting a couple years ago, and recently hurt my lower back deadlifting. It sucks, and I'm crossing my fingers that there's no permanent damage.

If I were to go back in time, I'd force myself to book yearly or twice-yearly sessions with a physical trainer who can check you on your form, particularly when I first got started.

Even the SL5x5 site recommends moving on from the program. Their recommendation is Madcow 5x5 but there's other options out there.

My own journey has taken me through Starting Strength to Texas method and then to various 5/3/1's (and occasional returns to Texas) through the years.

Every work set she’s watching me and making frequent adjustments. It would be impossible for me to do this without her. Maybe I could record video and analyze it, but I would have to essentially learn all of her expertise and even then it would be delayed so I couldn’t make fixes until after I have already completed a dangerous set.

At the very least I would recommend a good two months or so during your linear progression. After that you can do volume sets, pause sets etc alone, with coaching maybe twice a month for heavy days and to check in on your form.

(Shameless plug for Bay Strength in Berkeley CA!)

In what way coach is helping? Providing that your technique is correct, application leads you - so what's the coach's role?

I'd pay for yearly clinics for compound lifts, especially if I could learn better form and better stretching techniques.

However, I do enjoy group classes. I tried cross-fit but I found that the competitiveness and exercising against a running clock is not for me (also considering that I'm usually the oldest - 48 though I don't look like it)

Then I heard about kettlebell training and that seems to be exactly what I need! I have a kettlebell group class nearby and purchased one kettlebell to use at home.

So as an alternative to those who may want an alternative that gives a lot of ROI consider kettlebell training.

Thanks.

Obviously, proper weight training in a gym will bring better results but I don't think that this is necessary if all you care is staying healthy and in shape. I just mix it with other sports like running.

I started at 49, 55 now, no serious weight lifting experience prior, just basic exercises.

Worked up from the empty bar. My max on squat has been about 260, and deadlift about 310. Various injuries from prior to lifting keep that about as high as I go.

I supplement with swimming on non-lift days during the week, yoga and walking on most weekends.

Been a boon to overall fitness, have done long distance backpacking and canoeing (90 miles just this summer) with my oldest son's scout troop. Just last week did a one day 50 mile ride with my youngest son.

The app makes it a game that helps with the commitment, I get up at 4:30 to carve out the time each day.

Probably because you weren't focused. For me 1-5's are great - long enough to really build character, but short enough you can have the laser focus that the lifts require. If I'm doing 10 reps 3-8 I'm half there.

The only lift that requires backup (assuming you don't have the appropriate equipment) is the bench press - all others you drop the weight and walk away.

I told a trainer at my local gym I wanted to do the 5x5 program and he knew exactly what I wanted, but added a 6th exercise. He's been training my form, teaching me what to do to avoid exercise-induced nausea and so on.

How old are you?

How long did it take you to get to 130kg and from which level did you start?

Was that progress linear?

What about your weight and fat - have they changed?

Have you often got injuries?

Thanks in advance! I really admire your achievements!

I'm 35, I've been lifting for about 2.5 years. Most of my progress was linearish for the first 1.5 years or so, and has tapered off. 5/3/1 is a periodized program so the gains come more slowly (as they must once you exhaust linear gains), but they're still coming.

I started at 310lb and ~45% bodyfat and at my lightest got down to 230lb/~18% bodyfat. I'm currently about 260 and around 24% bodyfat (via DEXA; calipers underestimated my BF% by around 10%!). I'm 6'10", for reference.

I've had a few bouts of tendonitis in my wrists, mostly due to incorrect benching technique. I had some really bad knee pain around the 100kg squat mark, so I went to go see a sports medicine doctor who referred me to a sports physical therapist, who taught me how to squat using my hips rather than my quads. I'm now moving quiet a lot more weight with no knee pain, which is a remarkable achievement given that I had chronic knee issues for most of my adult life - bad enough to necessitate surgery.

I love what lifting has done for me, and think everyone should do it.

I'm also VERY risk averse in terms of deadlifting and also I'm naturally quite strong so I'm probably covering up some bad technique. I think this thread has made me think I'll get a coach to make sure everything is working correctly.

I practice martial arts, and would like to improve my overall fitness. Strength is obviously part of that training, but so are flexibility, speed, and reaction times.

I have yet to find a training plan that accounts for all these factors. Even worse, some of them tend to negatively correlate with each other: when done wrong, for instance, strength can negatively impact flexibility.

I thought this would be an easy problem to solve. But so far I've had no luck. I guess there is more to biology than just solving an optimization problem.

Unilateral leg exercises and dumbbells are a much better starting point. They can work their way up to squats and bench presses if they decide to compete or want to impress people who ask "How much can you squat and bench?"

Squatting or benching high percentages of your 1RM without knowing what you're doing is a quick ticket to injury, sure. Nobody sane recommends that.

In theory, sure. In reality, not even close. I guarantee there isn't a single person in this thread who could tell me what someone's squat form should look like based on their femur:torso ratio and hip/ankle flexibility. Should they squat high bar or low bar? Wide or narrow stance? Parallel or below parallel? Flat shoes or heel lifts? If you can't easily answer all of those questions, you have no business squatting anything more than the bar.

Squats, bench presses and deadlifts are extremely complex, high-risk lifts that serve no purpose for the average, non-competitive weightlifter. There are plenty of lower-risk alternatives that can achieve the same results.

You've clearly never had to lift a couch or push a car out of a ditch, even just squatted down to pick up something larger than a breadbox.

Your body isn't made of glass - it won't explode, and scaring people off these wonderful exercises is doing a disservice to humanity.

> Should they squat high bar or low bar? Really whatever is more comfortable. High bar won't get you as much weight due to leverages but some people lack the mobility, or the desire, to low bar.

> Wide or narrow stance? Totally based upon the individual anthropometry. If you have long femurs you can squat wider to get ride of some of that potential moment arm but that's going to load your hips to a greater extent. It'll also depending on how your femur hits your hip bone - I have to squat wider just to get my femurs into the right spot to hit parallel.

> Parallel or below parallel? If you're competing, aim for just below -you're playing the game and you want 3 white lights with the most weight. If not, then do what your mobility / goals set. Far below is going to cause you to move less wait, but you don't want to be above to keep the knee strain low (note: your knees ain't going to explode, it's just not as nice on em)

> Flat shoes or heel lifts? That's an ankle mobility question. If you can do it without, go for it, but many people won't be able to.

Stop living in fear of excellent exercises that get you stronger and build character. Progressive overload and months/years of experience will sort most people out before they explode into a pile of gooey chunks putting a bar on their back.

edit: put question marks at the end each quote to help delineate between question / response.

Considering my father got a herniated disk from improperly lifting a heavy weight (and he can never lift heavy weights again), and several other people I know experienced severe injury, this is not as good advice as you're making it to be.

I agree that weightlifting can be safe, but not riskless, and back injuries are no joke.

I'm all for exercise (in theory, in practice I'm a couch potato) but don't dismiss what can be legitimate fears, I'd rather you address them.

An injury is a fact of life. How many people tear ACL's during soccer practice or skiing? But then people tear their ACL's falling the shower as well. Any activity has built in risks.

Flat lumbar, stance roughly shoulder width, though exact placement is up to the individual's preference and morphology as long as it doesn't induce valgus collapse. Knees tracking over toes to avoid shear forces on the hinge joint, hip crease to below the top of the knee (which is actually parallel, and is much lower than what people think is "parallel"). High/low bar up to personal preference, whichever most easily keeps the weight over center of gravity. Shoes up to preference and ankle mobility as long as they're hard-soled. Start with box squats if the trainee is having trouble with depth or the hinge. Easy peasy.

The hip hinge and vertical lift-off trained by the squat is an _exceptionally_ important movement - that's the one that'll keep you from needing assistance to get off the toilet in your advanced age. Want to be able to see what's on the bottom shelf of the fridge without twisting your back and neck into pretzel shapes? Learn to squat. Deadlift training is useful literally any time you'd pick something up off the ground, even if it's of trivial weight. You learn to "lift with your legs, not with your back" by deadlifting. I helped a friend move last weekend and every single box I picked up from the ground was the same motion as my deadlift - and my back didn't ache at all the next day like it used to before I started lifting, oddly enough. Want to pick up your kids and not throw out your back? Learn to deadlift.

Squat is a moderately complex lift, but it's no clean and jerk. Deadlift is just learning to stand up properly. Bench press is a _simple_ movement, and teaching it is mostly about teaching upper back tightness. Work in a proper power rack and/or with a spotter and risk is extremely minimal. If you run around trying to max out your bench without a spotter and without any training, sure, you're at risk of getting hurt. Literally nobody in this thread is advocating that.

Can you get injured lifting? Sure. People do. People also get injured walking down the street, picking up their kids, opening soda cans, falling down stairs, and a billion other ways. Even more dangerous is being a sedentary blob who slowly rots away due to cardiac disease. Life is dangerous - but the strong individual is going to be a lot more resilient than the average Joe, and you don't get strong without putting your body under stress - and therefore at some risk of injury, But, as Mark Rippetoe likes to say "Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general."

It's a subpar beginner program because it recommends complex, high-risk lifts when there are much safer alternatives that can achieve the same results.

Even professional lifters injure themselves while squatting with low weight. If you're not competing, there's no reason to choose barbell back squats over any of the alternatives.

But don't take my word for it: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/2t47s0/my_doctor_t...

People hurt themselves on the lat pulldown machine every day too. I've seen people roll ankles on bosu ball bicep curls. Injuries happen - it's all about calculating the risk.