I disagree with this, the whole thing with the 5x5 is that in the early stages before weights start really getting heavy the 5x5 is manageable, once weight really gets up then it’s time to go to 3x5 and 3x3 etc.
At least that’s how I’ve been doing it with good results for a long time now. Nothing wrong with starting strength but I never really liked how it worked, always liked the simplicity of 5x5 then 3x5 once things really pile up.
1. Yeah, but if you don’t need 5x5 to have enough stress to increase 5# on your next workout, why would you do those 2 extra sets? If 3x5 is sufficient volume, then 5x5 is just overkill and potentially impeding progress overall with excessive stress.
2. The fact that Stronglifts drops to 3x5 once the intensity hits a wall is admission that 3x5 is sufficient volume.
3. Doing 5x5 out of the gate as a novice, or as a person off the couch etc, will desensitize you to the stress and benefits of 5x5 once you need that actual dose of volume. If you start with 3x5 and run that volume until you can no longer make progress, a trainee would then potentially reset and start intermediate programming such as a HLM variation, Texas Method variation etc where 5x5 is employed as the primary volume. If you shoot your wad on 5x5 during the novice phase and exhaust the effects of that dose of volume, you’ll have to move to something more complex and with more volume as an intermediate.
Stronglifts suggests that an intermediate move to Madcow, but Madcow employs 5x5 as the volume dose, which is an admission that 5x5 is intermediate programming. It would appear that the Stronglifts program inherently admits that 3x5 is sufficient to drive progress for a novice because it eventually drops to 3x5 and also inherently admits that 5x5 is intermediate volume because it prescribes that same volume for intermediates. So, what is the rationale for a novice doing 5x5 when it’s already established that 3x5 is entirely sufficient?
My experience is that 5x5 squats take forever to complete. If you have, say, 5x5 at 335# today, go in the gym, warm up with a couple of sets with an empty bar and start packing on plates to work up from 135# to 305# or so, that’s easily 20 minutes. Assuming 335# is heavy to very heavy (85-92%) where you’re going to be grinding, resting at least 5 minutes between sets, but some times longer especially towards the end, you just spent 40-60 minutes in the squat rack. (And if you’re resting only 2-3 minutes then The weight is not yet “heavy”)
The other thing is that novices really haven’t learned how to grind yet. They just don’t have enough experience under the bar with heavy weight. A heavy set of 5 is a brutal and an extremely taxing affair and doing that 5x is quite a bit more taxing than doing it 3x. Learning how to grind and adjusting to the volume and intensity of 3 maximal sets of 5 reps, where, after your 3rd set, you have zero interest in getting back under the bar is how you cut your teeth. Presumably, since you can do that with more weight for 3 sets than you can with 5, the trainee will also be experiencing the grind of heavier weight on 3x5.
I realize that the whole Stronglifts vs SS is a played out argument and there are two firm camps and people tend to dig In Their heels, but I just don’t see what an untrained person has to gain from 5x5 out of the gate when its firmly established that 3x5 is sufficient. It’s very average for a trainee running SSNLP to squat ~300# for 3x5 and deadlift ~350# for 1x5 before needing intermediate programming and, it’s well documented that young guys can go as far as squatting 500# or more on that same program so, if we have an 18 year old kid and we know we can have him squatting 450# for 3x5 in 7 months, why would we use 5x5? And, the same, if we have a 60 year old Novice and we know that we can have him squatting 295# for 3x5 in 5 months, why would we use 5x5? Especially since a 60 year old will likely never need to squat 5x5. We have such a large sampling of trainee with proven records of progress that It just doesn’t make any sense -reserve 5x5 until you need it.
