Stronglifts 5x5

So, I've noticed a bunch of threads popping up in the past few days about Stronglifts, and thought it might be beneficial to create one resource thread about it. I've only been doing SL 5x5 for a couple weeks now, but I read through the information, and feel like I can distill it so it's easy for prospective lifters to get a feel for it, and more experienced people are also welcome to chime in with their knowledge. Also, feel free to ask questions.

What is Stronglifts 5x5?
Stronglifts 5x5 is a strength training program developed by personal trainer and powerlifter Mehdi Hadim. He developed this program by studying the routines of other successful powerlifters, and transforming them into an easy to follow routine. In Stronglifts, you will be adding weight to your lifts at a fairly constant rate, which will continuously make you stronger.

What are the benefits of strength training?
First and foremost, strength, obviously. This is a full-body program that will make you stronger everywhere - arms, legs, chest, back, and core. Aside from that, having muscle mass increases your metabolism, allowing you to burn fat at a higher rate, and leading to a healthier lifestyle. Plus, you'll look better - more muscle, less fat, sounds like a plan, right?

Won't strength training make me slow and inflexible?
No and no. For the first one, remember back in high school physics class, where they tried to teach you that force = mass x acceleration? Same principle applies. Strong muscles can apply a greater force, and therefore can achieve greater acceleration. As for flexibility, powerlifting will not adversely affect flexibility, in fact many say that doing deep squats has improved their flexibility. However, if flexibility is one of your primary goals, you should probably be training for that separately.

Won't strength training make me fat?
You may have seen powerlifting competitions like World's Strongest Man, and noticed that the competitors do look like they're fat. Personally, I remember back when I was in high school my friends and I went to go see a pro wrestling show, and I saw Kurt Angle. At first I saw him from about 30 feet away, noticed his bulging gut, and thought to myself "Wow... he looks fat in person." Once he walked within a few feet of me, though, I noticed that his bulging gut was actually his massive ab muscles protruding out. Also, competitive powerlifters typically consume massive diets to ensure maximum strength, and staying slim is not a concern to them.

What exercises do I do with Stronglifts?
One of the great things about Stronglifts is its simplicity. There are two workout plans that you alternate between, so you only need to do 3 exercises per day, 5 exercises in total. All of the lifts are compound lifts, which mean that they entail the movement of multiple joints, working several different muscles per exercise. These exercises are:
-Squat: Works your quads, glutes, and hamstrings, and also uses your calves, and core to keep you stable.
-Bench Press: Works your chest, anterior deltoids, and triceps.
-Barbell Row: Works your whole back, and biceps. For the most effective way to do this exercise, I would recommend looking up (and logging as) Pendlay Row.
-Shoulder Press: Works all shoulder muscles, as well as triceps, and uses core to keep you stable. Note, while the site I've linked to refers to this as a military press, that term is not entirely accurate from what I understand. Log this exercise as Standing Barbell Shoulder Press.
-Deadlift: Works your back and legs.

All of these are free weight exercises. Shouldn't I be using machines?
No. Machines may look pretty, but consider a few things. One is that machines put the weight on a certain track - this stabilizes the weight, instead of stabilizing it with your own muscles, basically taking half the effort out of the lift and causing your muscles to develop unevenly. Also, the fact that they force your body into a specific motion, instead of allowing it to move how it does naturally, can be bad for your joints. Some seem to think that lifting free weights in general, doing squats in particular, is dangerous. But if you consider the competitive powerlifters who lift hundreds of pounds of free weight in a variety of disciplines with a minimal amount of injury, lifting free weights is actually quite safe.

All of these exercises say to use barbells. Can I use dumbbells?
Barbells are better, for two reasons. One is that using dumbbells places and undue amount of effort on your stabilizer muscles, which does not allow the primary muscles to be working as hard as they can. As a result, they will develop more slowly. Also, weight can be added to barbells in smaller increments, which also helps progress. I would say only use dumbbells if you do not have access to a barbell.

What if my gym doesn't allow deadlifts?
Then it's time to find a new gym.

The Stronglifts Program
Like I said, this is fairly simple. There are two workouts you alternate between:

Workout A
Squat 5x5
Bench Press 5x5
Barbell Row 5x5

Workout B
Squat 5x5
Shoulder Press 5x5
Deadlift 1x5

Note that what's listed here are just work sets. You'll also be doing two warmup sets of each exercise.

Taking at least 1 day to rest in between. Ideally, you will be lifting 3 days per week.

How Much to Lift
Starting out on the program, if you're a beginning weightlifter, it's recommended to start out with an empty bar (45lbs) as your work set. If you have some experience lifting, you may start out heavier - 50% of your 5 rep max is recommended.

As mentioned, before you do your work sets, you do two warmup sets. From what I read, he doesn't specify exactly how much the warmup sets should be, but he gave an example, from which I calculated 60% of your work weight for the first, 75% for the second - obviously, rounded to the nearest 5lbs. I'll also sometimes round up a little higher to get a simpler plate configuration.

As you progress through the program, you may feel the need to change your warmup program. For example, my current warmup program for squats is to do 4-5 warmup sets of 3 reps each, increasing the weight by 25-30lbs each time. For bench and overhead press, I'm still warming up with the same weight, but doing less reps. Conversely, if you're just starting out and you feel the weight is too light to warrant warming up for it, you may skip it.

When you successfully complete all reps of an exercise, you add weight the next time you do it - 5lbs for squat, bench press, shoulder press, and barbell row, and 10lbs for deadlift. You may add weight at a slower rate if you find yourself struggling.

Example
Here are workouts I logged this week using Stronglifts.

Tuesday (Workout B)
Barbell Squat:
105 lb x 5 reps (+36 pts)
135 lb x 5 reps (+47 pts)
175 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)
175 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)
175 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)
175 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)
175 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)

Standing Barbell Shoulder Press:
45 lb x 5 reps (+17 pts)
55 lb x 5 reps (+21 pts)
75 lb x 5 reps (+28 pts)
75 lb x 5 reps (+28 pts)
75 lb x 5 reps (+28 pts)
75 lb x 5 reps (+28 pts)
75 lb x 5 reps (+28 pts)

Barbell Deadlift:
135 lb x 5 reps (+47 pts)
155 lb x 5 reps (+54 pts)
205 lb x 5 reps (+71 pts)

Thursday (Workout A)
Barbell Squat:
110 lb x 5 reps (+38 pts)
140 lb x 5 reps (+49 pts)
180 lb x 5 reps (+63 pts)
180 lb x 5 reps (+63 pts)
180 lb x 5 reps (+63 pts)
180 lb x 5 reps (+63 pts)
180 lb x 5 reps (+63 pts)

Barbell Bench Press:
65 lb x 5 reps (+22 pts)
80 lb x 5 reps (+28 pts)
110 lb x 5 reps (+38 pts)
110 lb x 5 reps (+38 pts)
110 lb x 5 reps (+38 pts)
110 lb x 5 reps (+38 pts)
110 lb x 5 reps (+38 pts)

Pendlay Row:
60 lb x 5 reps (+21 pts)
75 lb x 5 reps (+26 pts)
100 lb x 5 reps (+35 pts)
100 lb x 5 reps (+35 pts)
100 lb x 5 reps (+35 pts)
100 lb x 5 reps (+35 pts)
100 lb x 5 reps (+35 pts)

Next time I lift I'll do squats at 110x5, a set at 140x5, and 5 sets at 185x5, then shoulder press 50x5, 60x5, and 5 sets of 80x5, and deadlift 135x5, 160x5, and 215x5. The time after that, I'll squat 115x5, 140x5, and 5 sets of 190x5, then bench press 70x5, 85x5, and 5 sets of 115x5, and row 65x5, 80x5, and 5 sets of 105x5.

What if I fail?
In order for you to add weight, you must successfully complete all 5 reps on all sets of a given exercise. If you fail a lift, then complete as many reps as you can for each remaining set. then:
-The next time you do the exercise, do it again at the same weight. Allow yourself more time to rest between sets, up to 5 minutes. Note, if the number of reps you can complete is irregular instead of steadily decreasing, that is a sure sign you have not allowed yourself enough rest.
-If, after attempting to complete all your lifts on 3 separate days, deload: Next time you lift, reduce your work weight by 10%, and then continue to add weight as you would upon completing the lifts.

If you continue to stall out in the same place, it is possible that you've gone as far as Stronglifts 5x5 will take you. Consider switching to Stronglifts 3x5, Wendler 5/3/1 or Madcow 5/3/1.

Should I be doing cardio while on Stronglifts?
It's optional, depending on what your fitness goals are. I'm personally doing it as part of a weight loss program, so I'll typically have 2-3 moderate cardio days per week between lifting days, and occasionally do 5-10 minutes of light cardio at the end of my lifting workouts. Partly, I could also afford to do this because I was still well below my old maxes in these workouts. However, once the lifting gets more intense, cardio can become an unnecessary hindrance, especially if your goal is to bulk up and to push your strength to its limits.

In an older edition of Stronglifts, it's recommended that people who want to add cardio should do 1 minute of cardio at the end of the first workout, and add a minute each time until they're up to 45 minutes.

Awesome! How do I find out more?
Go to http://www.stronglifts.com to find out more. Filling out the form for the Free Report will allow you to get the full PDF, which is about 45 pages if I recall correctly, for free.

Alternate Version
There are some people here suggesting an alternate set of exercises, and after reviewing them I do believe that this is also a good way to go. That is:

Workout A
Squat 5x5
Bench Press 5x5
Row 5x5

Workout B
Deadlift 1x5
Overhead Press 5x5
Chin Up (assisted or weighted) 3x5

The reason for these changes
-Squat and deadlift work a lot of the same muscles, so for a beginner to do both of them on the same day may be unnecessary and overtaxing.
-Rows primarily activate muscles in the upper back. While lats and biceps come into play, many feel that rows do not work them sufficiently, hence the addition of chin ups.

Squat Weight Progression
In this version, since you are now squatting every other session instead of every session, you'll have a weight progression the same way you would on deadlift - Add 10lbs per session, reduce to 5lbs if you feel it's getting too hard too fast.

Chin Up Progression
The main pitfall of chin ups is that, as far as body weight exercises go, they're fairly difficult, and most beginners simply cannot do them. Fortunately, there are a few options for you.

Machine assisted
Many gyms have an assisted pull up/chin up/dip machine, where you do your exercise while kneeling on a counterweight, which is attached to a weight stack. You can use this, and reduce your assist weight by 5lbs every session.

Chair assisted
If you don't have full gym access, or your gym doesn't have one of these machines, you can do chair assisted chin ups - put one leg on a chair, and push up with just enough force that you can complete your reps. The down side of this is that you don't really have a numerical value for your assist, so it's more difficult to hold yourself accountable for it. Alternatively, you could do other progressions such as the ones outlined in Convict Conditioning or by YouTube Fitness Trainer Scooby1961, for example.

Pulldown Machine
Pulldown machines are a staple in most gyms, including home gym machines. You can easily add 5lbs per workout. This machine does give you a slight mechanical disadvantage, so doing a chin up will actually be a little bit easier than pulling down your body weight.

Weighted chin ups
Once you've progressed past the bodyweight chin up, you can start adding weight. Some people hold a dumbbell between their feet, but I find this difficult to do, and I prefer a dip belt. You can find these online or in sporting goods stores, or you can make your own from things you find at a hardware store for $5-10. All you need is a length of chain (About 5 feet), a caribiner clip, and something to use as padding - either some pipe insulation, or just a towel will do.