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I discovered what this author is saying with this site: http://stronglifts.com/ http://stronglifts.com/ And I've been doing the Reg Park 5x5 routine ever sinc

I discovered what this author is saying with this site: http://stronglifts.com/ http://stronglifts.com/ And I've been doing the Reg Park 5x5 routine ever since, and for the first time in my life I love working out. Short, powerful and intense. As Mehdi would say: Stop wasting your time with all that bullshit! Get strong!

rhubarbcustard 13y ago
How does the Reg Park 5x5 compare with Stronglifts? I've been doing SL for a while but I possibly need to move on as I can no longer sustain 5x5 squats tree times a week - it totally wipes me out (I'm squatting about 1.2 x BW and DLing 1.6 x BW). Interested to know your thoughts on Reg Park 5x5.
- xmonkee 13y ago
  Stop doing squats 3 times a week. It's a beginner's move, and only valuable if you're planning to be a competitive powerlifter. I moved onto a more traditional 4-day split (chest, shoulders, back, legs) years ago and it's much more fun and productive.
  - Evgeny 13y ago
    Maybe it's just the phrasing, but the squat is in no way a beginner move. Maybe squatting 3 times per week is a beginners move? To that I agree - as the weight gets heavier, you can no longer recover quickly enough. But the squat should be the key exercise for everyone who is interested in strength and/or mass. It uses, directly or indirectly, about 2/3 of your total muscle mass (compared to all time favourite gym goer bicep curl, which involves a staggering 2% of your muscle mass), and was reported to be the exercise that causes the highest level of growth hormone release.
    - thesz 13y ago
      You can limit any heavy exercise to two or even one set, it gives you 50% or 80% of train to failure effectiveness, but allows for faster recovery (due to less stress on nervous system).
  - thesz 13y ago
    Stop doing 4-day splits. It's intermediate move and only valuable if you are not result oriented at all. I moved from 3-day splits to more traditional hypertrophy-specific full-body exercise set and it is much more fun and productive. BTW, StrongLifts 5x5 employs some principles from hypertrophy-specific training programming which is why it works.
- retrogradeorbit 13y ago
  I'm just beginning (squat 0.8xBW. deadlift 1 x BW). Phase one of Reg Park is even simpler than SL. I can't do three times a week. My body is just too sore. I really enjoy it. Just 30 minutes every 4 or 5 days. I use a gym but I'm not a member, just pay casual. I like the feeling of the safety of the cage in squats and having proper gear. At first was going once a week. Now at every 4 or 5 days. It wipes me out too.
rmrfrmrf 13y ago
I absolutely hated StrongLifts. If you have godlike genes it will work great; unfortunately I ended up having a month-long plateau that made me dread going to the gym (StrongLifts makes you "work until failure" a certain number of times before you take weight off your exercises, which sounds OK until your sets are going 3-1-1-0-0 2-3 times a week for multiple weeks). Psychologically, working to failure makes you feel like absolute shit. Also, they never mention this anywhere, but do not start a weight training program if you are overweight! It's very difficult to build muscle while eating at a caloric deficit. The absolute best way to get into shape first is to lose weight with a lower calorie diet and cardio. Once you're slim, then you can start bulking if you want more muscle. You'll hear people say things like "weight training raises your metabolism so you're burning more calories while at rest." This is largely a myth that experimental data has disproven. Men have a difficult time with this because there's a certain machismo factor when it comes to weight lifting, but please resist the urge!
- retrogradeorbit 13y ago
  I don't set the weight so high as to do 3-1-1-0-0. I set the weight so I can do 5 reps on every set. except maybe the last one or two doing 4 reps, failing on the 5th. If I can't do 5 reps on all 5 sets I stay on the weight I'm on. Until I complete the last 5th set 5th rep without failing. Then I add 2.5kg next time. I only work out at the moment every 5 days.
- bryanlarsen 13y ago
  "do not start a weight training program if you are overweight" A better way of saying that might be "do not start a weight training program if you are on a calorie-reduced diet". Some will argue that you're better off converting fat into muscle via a strength program than losing weight, at least to start. That's an individual choice, though.
  - bradleyland 13y ago
    > Some will argue that you're better off converting fat into muscle via a strength program than losing weight, at least to start. That's an individual choice, though. That's not an individual choice; it's a good indicator that the person you're talking to doesn't know what they're talking about. There is no such thing as "converting" fat into muscle. They're different cell tissues, and if the person dispensing the advice doesn't pay respect to that fact, it's unlikely their advice is worth following. Think about it from a technology perspective. Having a more subtle understanding of a technology allows you to develop better problem solving strategies. If the depth of one's troubleshooting strategy is limited to "turn it off, then back on again", they might be able to reach a solution most of the time, but they can't help you past the point that their single-vector solution fails. The same applies to fitness. A better understanding of the human body yields more nuanced advice, and more effective results.
dingaling 13y ago
'Gaining muscle and strength' ( per that SL site ) does not equate to fitness. I'm very lean, not very muscular. I've never used a bench-press in my life. But I can outswim and outrun many 'buff' guys with rippling muscles, because they're utterly unfit.
- falcolas 13y ago
  Swimming and running are poor indicators of fitness (other than perhaps endurance, if you're swimming/running over a matter of miles). They require more technique than fitness. As someone nowhere near the traditional definition of "fit", I can still out-swim 99% of the people I run across at the gym over short-medium distances, simply because I have technique they don't have from spending 16 years doing competitive swimming.

rhubarbcustard 13y ago

How does the Reg Park 5x5 compare with Stronglifts? I've been doing SL for a while but I possibly need to move on as I can no longer sustain 5x5 squats tree times a week - it totally wipes me out (I'm squatting about 1.2 x BW and DLing 1.6 x BW). Interested to know your thoughts on Reg Park 5x5.

xmonkee 13y ago
Stop doing squats 3 times a week. It's a beginner's move, and only valuable if you're planning to be a competitive powerlifter. I moved onto a more traditional 4-day split (chest, shoulders, back, legs) years ago and it's much more fun and productive.
- Evgeny 13y ago
  Maybe it's just the phrasing, but the squat is in no way a beginner move. Maybe squatting 3 times per week is a beginners move? To that I agree - as the weight gets heavier, you can no longer recover quickly enough. But the squat should be the key exercise for everyone who is interested in strength and/or mass. It uses, directly or indirectly, about 2/3 of your total muscle mass (compared to all time favourite gym goer bicep curl, which involves a staggering 2% of your muscle mass), and was reported to be the exercise that causes the highest level of growth hormone release.
  - thesz 13y ago
    You can limit any heavy exercise to two or even one set, it gives you 50% or 80% of train to failure effectiveness, but allows for faster recovery (due to less stress on nervous system).
- thesz 13y ago
  Stop doing 4-day splits. It's intermediate move and only valuable if you are not result oriented at all. I moved from 3-day splits to more traditional hypertrophy-specific full-body exercise set and it is much more fun and productive. BTW, StrongLifts 5x5 employs some principles from hypertrophy-specific training programming which is why it works.
retrogradeorbit 13y ago
I'm just beginning (squat 0.8xBW. deadlift 1 x BW). Phase one of Reg Park is even simpler than SL. I can't do three times a week. My body is just too sore. I really enjoy it. Just 30 minutes every 4 or 5 days. I use a gym but I'm not a member, just pay casual. I like the feeling of the safety of the cage in squats and having proper gear. At first was going once a week. Now at every 4 or 5 days. It wipes me out too.

rmrfrmrf 13y ago

I absolutely hated StrongLifts. If you have godlike genes it will work great; unfortunately I ended up having a month-long plateau that made me dread going to the gym (StrongLifts makes you "work until failure" a certain number of times before you take weight off your exercises, which sounds OK until your sets are going 3-1-1-0-0 2-3 times a week for multiple weeks). Psychologically, working to failure makes you feel like absolute shit. Also, they never mention this anywhere, but do not start a weight training program if you are overweight! It's very difficult to build muscle while eating at a caloric deficit. The absolute best way to get into shape first is to lose weight with a lower calorie diet and cardio. Once you're slim, then you can start bulking if you want more muscle. You'll hear people say things like "weight training raises your metabolism so you're burning more calories while at rest." This is largely a myth that experimental data has disproven. Men have a difficult time with this because there's a certain machismo factor when it comes to weight lifting, but please resist the urge!

retrogradeorbit 13y ago
I don't set the weight so high as to do 3-1-1-0-0. I set the weight so I can do 5 reps on every set. except maybe the last one or two doing 4 reps, failing on the 5th. If I can't do 5 reps on all 5 sets I stay on the weight I'm on. Until I complete the last 5th set 5th rep without failing. Then I add 2.5kg next time. I only work out at the moment every 5 days.
bryanlarsen 13y ago
"do not start a weight training program if you are overweight" A better way of saying that might be "do not start a weight training program if you are on a calorie-reduced diet". Some will argue that you're better off converting fat into muscle via a strength program than losing weight, at least to start. That's an individual choice, though.
- bradleyland 13y ago
  > Some will argue that you're better off converting fat into muscle via a strength program than losing weight, at least to start. That's an individual choice, though. That's not an individual choice; it's a good indicator that the person you're talking to doesn't know what they're talking about. There is no such thing as "converting" fat into muscle. They're different cell tissues, and if the person dispensing the advice doesn't pay respect to that fact, it's unlikely their advice is worth following. Think about it from a technology perspective. Having a more subtle understanding of a technology allows you to develop better problem solving strategies. If the depth of one's troubleshooting strategy is limited to "turn it off, then back on again", they might be able to reach a solution most of the time, but they can't help you past the point that their single-vector solution fails. The same applies to fitness. A better understanding of the human body yields more nuanced advice, and more effective results.

dingaling 13y ago

'Gaining muscle and strength' ( per that SL site ) does not equate to fitness. I'm very lean, not very muscular. I've never used a bench-press in my life. But I can outswim and outrun many 'buff' guys with rippling muscles, because they're utterly unfit.

falcolas 13y ago
Swimming and running are poor indicators of fitness (other than perhaps endurance, if you're swimming/running over a matter of miles). They require more technique than fitness. As someone nowhere near the traditional definition of "fit", I can still out-swim 99% of the people I run across at the gym over short-medium distances, simply because I have technique they don't have from spending 16 years doing competitive swimming.