STUDfit · Lift
StrongLifts 5x5
Also known as
stronglifts · 5x5 beginner · starting 5x5 · stronglifts app
Community talk may be wrong. Not medical, training, or diet advice. Sharp pain, fainting, or disordered-eating concerns need a clinician.
In brief
StrongLifts 5×5 is a beginner barbell routine with three weekly workouts, five sets of five on most lifts, and one set of five for deadlifts.
Novices follow an app more than a book, then stall when squat frequency meets a sitting job or ugly fifth reps keep getting loaded.
Good to know. Adding load after ugly reps. 5x5 is not 5/3/1 and not PPL volume.
What people say
- The job: get a novice on a barbell without a 12-page spreadsheet.
- r/stronglifts and r/fitness still send beginners here or to Starting Strength.
- Why it stalls: squat frequency plus a job that already sits.
- Not GZCLP / 5/3/1. Those are later cards.
How people do it
- Hit the sets, add a little, deload when the bar slows for real.
- They do not skip squats ‘just this week’ four weeks in a row and call it 5x5.
Amounts people use
- 3 days / week.
- +5 lb upper, +10 lb squat/dead in the old chant — people still argue.
How people keep it
- Until the add-weight machine breaks, then they graduate.
How it may feel
- Sore squat days. That is the program.
How long
- Months as a novice, not a decade identity.
The longer notes
- Starting Strength is the other novice bar. GZCLP / 5/3/1 are next hills.
Good to know
- Ugly fifth reps with more plates.
- Sharp knee/back pain: stop.
Earlier wording (updated)
- Three days, five sets of five The poster.
- Add 5 lb Until they cannot.
- StrongLifts 5x5 is a beginner barbell template of five sets of five with squats every lifting day and small planned jumps in load.
Checked sources
Selected links for the notes above, not a review of every historical claim.
- StrongLifts 5×5 official program (opens in a new tab)
Most exercises use five work sets of five; deadlifts use one set of five. Five-pound increases and early ten-pound deadlift increases, with smaller options. This reference explains the named format or rule. Individual community accounts remain attributed in the notes.