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Starting Strength / 5×5

Also known as

stronglifts · stronglifts 5x5 · ss novice · low bar squat · novice linear

Community talk. May contain inaccuracies. Not medical, training, or diet advice. Sharp pain, fainting, or disordered-eating concerns need a clinician.

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In brief

Starting Strength and StrongLifts 5×5 are beginner barbell programs built around a small set of major lifts and planned increases in weight.

The common picture
3 days a weekA and B workouts. The whole week is two cards.
Squat every sessionThe feature and the complaint.
StrongLifts: 5 × 5; Starting Strength: usually 3 × 5In both examples, deadlifts use 1 × 5 rather than five or three work sets.
Add 5 lb upper / 10 lb lowerThe linear spell.
Five liftsSquat, bench, press, deadlift, row (SL) or power clean (SS talk).
Session reports: about 45–75 minutesWarm-up time is included in the examples.

Lifters compare the three-set and five-set formats, exercise technique, the demands of repeated squatting and what happens when early progression slows.

Good to know. Low-bar dogma as a personality. Squatting through a cranky back. Staying on 5×5 after the linear run is over.

What people say

  • The job: Get a novice strong on the big barbell lifts, fast.
  • Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength is a book and a culture. StrongLifts 5×5 (Mehdi) is the app-shaped clone people actually finish.
  • r/fitness 2026 still answers “SS or SL?” with “either, then graduate.” The war is quieter than 2014.
  • Why they still get asked: the simplest story — three days, five lifts, add weight.
  • Why rooms roll their eyes: low-bar form policing, “eat more milk,” and people squatting through injuries.
  • BBR / GZCLP are the current wiki-friendly on-ramps. SS/SL remain the search terms.
  • Women’s rooms were long told SS would make them “bulky.” The program is just a 3-day squat week.
  • Power cleans on SS are the exercise most people replace with rows.
  • The app (StrongLifts) is why SL won the phone. SS won the book.
  • After the linear run: they need 5/3/1, GZCLP, or PPL. Staying on 5×5 forever is how shoulders get loud.
  • It is not a hypertrophy program. People still grow because they are new and eating.

How people do it

  • Three days. Not a 6-day remix.
  • Squat first while they are fresh.
  • Alternate bench and press.
  • Deadlift last, fewer sets (often 1×5 on SS). Fatigue is real.
  • Add the small plate when all work sets were clean.
  • Replace power clean with a row if they do not have a coach for cleans.
  • When 5×5 dies: they do not add a fourth squat day. They graduate.

Amounts people use

  • Days: 3.
  • StrongLifts: 5×5 on squat/bench/row/press; deadlift 1×5.
  • Starting Strength: usually 3×5 mains, deadlift 1×5.
  • Adds: 5 lb / 10 lb is the slogan. Microplates when bench stalls.
  • Session: 45–75 minutes once the squat warmup gets honest.

How people keep it

  • The app or a notebook. Same thing.
  • A squat stance they can repeat — high-bar is allowed, despite the comments.
  • Enough food. Linear squat adds without eating is a short story.
  • A deload when three sessions miss — SL’s app even prompts it.
  • Graduation day on the calendar so they do not live here forever.

How it may feel

  • Weeks 1–4: addictive. The bar goes up. They tell coworkers.
  • Weeks 6–10: squat days get serious. Walking downstairs is a report.
  • A missed 5×5: the first identity crisis.
  • Low-bar learning week: wrists and shoulders complain. Some people just high-bar.
  • The culture: they either laugh it off or become a form cop.
  • After they leave: they keep the three-day habit and lose the dogma.

How long

  • A few months of honest linear adds is the useful life.
  • Some novices get 4–6 months. Then the math dies.
  • It is not a lifetime template.
  • Coming back after a layoff: a short SS/SL run is a common reset.

The longer notes

  • SS and SL are the same job with different set counts and different internet manners.
  • BBR is the friendlier current wiki cousin if the SS culture is a turn-off.
  • GZCLP is the usual next Reddit program.
  • You do not need to low-bar squat. That is a style, not a law.
  • Kids / teens / anyone with a cranky back should not treat this as mandatory.

More from the community

A progression spreadsheet can look like a prediction even when it is only extending the program’s rule. In a July 2026 StrongLifts thread, a newcomer calculated striking future numbers and asked whether people really reached them on that schedule. Replies included enthusiastic experiences, accounts of stalls and comparisons with the lower set count in Starting Strength. Starting weight, missed sessions and where progress slows are part of those stories. The forecast and the training log play different roles: one extends a rule, while the other records where a person actually reached it, repeated a weight or stalled.Source 1

Related

Good to know

  • Do not squat through sharp back or hip pain to “earn” the program.
  • The milk-and-meat talk is culture, not a grocery list you must follow.
  • Form cops in the comments are not your coach.
  • Staying on 5×5 after it stalls is how people hate squats.
  • Power cleans without a teacher are optional.
Earlier wording (updated)
  • 5×5 (StrongLifts) or 3×5 (SS) Same idea, different set count.

Checked sources

Selected links for the notes above, not a review of every historical claim.

  • Does strong lifts 5x5 work? (opens in a new tab)

    Community discussion · Checked 2026-09-07

    Indexed question and first-person program experiences. No verified outcome distribution or typical timeline. Spreadsheet projections and commenters’ reported results are not reproduced as promises.

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