- the lifts in it are simple, but also very easy to hurt yourself with if you don’t have good form. Form work is not emphasized.
- there is no flexibility work in it. It’s basically impossible to do strength work without flexibility. To the point 5x5 should likely recommend yoga as a central component or something.
- while big muscle groups are very important, for lots of people isolated muscle work is necessary to fix imbalances, old injuries, etc.
None of that should discourage people but realize that the sticker claims of 5x5 about time commitments and completeness aren’t really true.
- stretching is critical and takes time, without stretching you’ll eventually injure yourself.
- eventually you’ll get some minor injury and will have to manage that and wait for it to heal.
- start by getting a coach to specifically learn good from and find your max weights for different lifts. Strictly control trainer’s desire to add some non-core exercises, once good form is established, dismiss the trainer.
I know it's the common school of thought, but the studies I've read have found it was beneficial for flexibility, ROM, and soreness but no statistically significant impact on injuries or performance (data is mixed positive and negative for performance).
Anecdotal data is useless, but I've been lifting relatively heavy for years with little to no stretching with no ill effects. I do use warm-up sets but no other warm-up/stretching techniques. However, I am definitely open to changing my routine when the data supports it.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1250267/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15233597
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.525...
You have to have enough range of motion for the lift you are doing, if you lift and don't stretch, muscle tends to shorten, and eventually you are not going to have enough range. This leads to two problems:
1) Potential over-stretch under load and injury, which will require time to heal.
2) Pain in joins, like knees or shoulders. Goes away once you start stretching.
If you do some other additional activity which gets you through full range of motion, like yoga or some active sport, then there is really no need to do extra stretching, otherwise, for me, stretching is required.
If your training has at its core multi-joint compound exercises, you shouldn't have to worry about your mobility.
For this audience, I would recommend reading/scanning StartingStrength.com, or the book of the same name by Mark Rippetoe.
This is good book:
https://www.amazon.com/Stretching-Pocket-Book-Bob-Anderson/d...
This strap is really helpful:
That said, I do agree there should be more flexibility work. The suggested warm ups are also inadequate.
Among others, listed here[a]. The reasoning seemed sound and I'm easily swayed, so reading that after a couple of weeks of doing 5x5 caused me to switch. Exercises are the same (with the addition of chinups), but configured differently throughout the week. It's easy enough to set up the workouts in the Strong[b] app, but admittedly not as easy as the Stronglifts app.
[a] : https://old.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/4uij/a_detailed_lo...
[b] : https://www.strong.app/
This study is bloody awful. For all we know it's the fruit loops which improve rat cognitive function.
The only good thing I'll say about it, is when the NYT starts reporting on the health benefits of X, it means X (drinking red wine, high fat diets, etc) has become trendy among the self regarding upper middle class. Weights; it's about time.
I realized long ago so many of my long-term life decisions were based on thinkpieces in The Atlantic, The New York Times, or a similar publication.
Choosing experiences over stuff, eating only "real food" and cutting out sugar, getting more involved in community events and not being such a shut in -- all traced back to thinkpieces.
The Times definitely wasn't writing about such matters when it was a working class hobby; now that the upper middles have discovered crossfit...
I find it's so easy to lose sense of time and what is important when you deal with the constant demands of a little baby - having an exercise routine keeps me grounded - it's away from home, something I do on my own, on my own terms and leaves me feeling good about myself.
Finding time to regularly workout is something I'd recommend to all new parents.
Only time someone starting has had issues with form is when they rush things. Either they don't start with empty bar and progressively add weight each week and they jump to higher weights or they rush the setup.
When I started I just watched videos of the lifts I was about to make on Youtube and started with empty bar. Now 2 years later I've obviously progressed to programs that better suite me, but I've had no issues. I have no doubt that my form isn't 100% perfect, but seeing the clients of the personal trainers at my gym my form is way better than average and it is completely because I have a check list in my mind for each lift.
Off topic: while I'm writing about SL 5x5 the biggest issue I had with the program was squatting every day. I was fat when I started so even low bar weight made my knees hurt and it put me off on squatting for months, but now with reduced squatting (once per week) I have no issues squatting even heavier weights.
However, plenty of people with sedentary lifestyles, which includes many who will read this, will have mobility issues that they may not be aware of without coaching. Sure nobody is going to do major damage with the empty bar, but the bar doesn't stay empty.
That said when I say coach I don't mean some random "functional fitness" type that a chain gym will push on you. I mean a powerlifting coach, ideally one who trains people for competition.
Knowing I have to be in the gym every other night from 10 to 11:30, gets me to get my chores done quickly before 10 and not waste time on Reddit/Netflix all night. I also listen to audio books between sets to make a better use of my down time
For anyone looking to get started, I have been following a workout plan called 5x5 for a year and it’s been working all right for me. The idea is you do 5 sets of 5 reps of 5 different workouts and increase the weights you do by 5 pounds each workout