I've done both SS and Texas Method and got my Squat up to 485 lbs. Do SS (but make sure your technique is good enough, possibly by consulting a coach), don't do TM. Grinding 5x5 at near-maximal effort will be excessively fatiguing and potentially harmful. For balanced, evidence based programming and nutrition information I recommend https://www.youtube.com/c/BarbellMedicine .they have ton of free useful info on their website and youtube channel.

Agreed on Barbell Medicine over SS or TM. They are basically the only evidence-based company in the game.

If you are a beginner everything works. But if you want to look "like you go to a gym" and not like a powerlifter, you will need to switch to more hypertrophy based programs.

It's really fucking hard to look like a powerlifter. At that point, you need to focus as much, or more on nutrition as routine.

As someone who has been working out since I was 12, diet is AS important than lifting weights. No amount of lifting will get you anywhere without proper diet. If anything, it can lead to being injured or sick. Doesn't matter whether you want to look like a powerlifter or not.

After 20 years of working out, I learned too late that weak point training is where it's at.

In my case, my gut quit cooperating at 40 and I developed too many food sensitivities to maybe ever recover from. Since progress is more affected by nutrition than technique, I couldn't eat what I needed to recover. But, I press forward, learning as I go and still making progress in other areas like endurance, resilience and flexibility that may eventually carry over to heavy lifts.

If I could do it all over again, I'd listen to the old timers. Like with that sticking point you hit on bench, there are exercises for that. The angle of your elbows and knees can make the difference between wearing down and getting stronger. There are ways of bracing your core that prevent back injury, and so on. Then it's just consistency, and maybe the most important one for overcoming plateaus: periodicity (not variety).

What do you think of this method? https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/

IMO, just start with Starting Strength and skip 5x5

I think you could also just lose body fat (through dieting and moving around) and appear "muscular". No need to workout so hard.

You can also lose more fat by increasing the size of your muscles which can be achieved through lifting.

https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1096/fj.2021002...

Not if you're like me who's hovering at the low end of normal BMI anyway. Gaining weight isn't easy for everyone.

Posture is positively affected by lifting too. You need to do something to balance muscular development through your body, it doesn't need to be lifting.

If you don't do physical exercise losing body fat will mostly make you look skinny, not muscular.

you won't loose your disgusting gunt otherwise. It's a fact. I see a lot of "work out" men that are unbelievable obese. Something 75 years ago would be circus material. They might have strength, but optically it is just not esthetically.

Goal: hypocaloric life.