3 weights workouts per week?

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Good news. No longer getting much muscle pain after sessions.

Bad news. Really bad pain inside of left knee. Felt it twinge whilst doing squats on Wednesday. Feels very much like I shouldn't push my luck and give it a week or two to settle down.

So, what do I do? Skipping the squats and deads means there's no real point doing any more of the SL5x5 routine. I was thinking of doing various other upper body stuff, in the 5x5 pattern, until I can squat again


Oh, I had some advice (which I missed earlier, damn) about pushing my knees out when squatting. Hopefully that's the solution to my issue, rather than me just having bad knees in general - which I already knew about.
 


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Good news. No longer getting much muscle pain after sessions.

Bad news. Really bad pain inside of left knee. Felt it twinge whilst doing squats on Wednesday. Feels very much like I shouldn't push my luck and give it a week or two to settle down.

So, what do I do? Skipping the squats and deads means there's no real point doing any more of the SL5x5 routine. I was thinking of doing various other upper body stuff, in the 5x5 pattern, until I can squat again


Oh, I had some advice (which I missed earlier, damn) about pushing my knees out when squatting. Hopefully that's the solution to my issue, rather than me just having bad knees in general - which I already knew about.

General rule of thumb is 2+2+2, rest it for 2 days & try again, if its still painful rest it for 2 weeks, if it's still painful after that, 2 months.
 
General rule of thumb is 2+2+2, rest it for 2 days & try again, if its still painful rest it for 2 weeks, if it's still painful after that, 2 months.
Did a couple of no weight tests tonight. Felt quite different pushing my knees out, definitely felt better.

Still sore though when I move it on the wrong way , I'll try back end of next week I think
 
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I feel a bit empty inside without any updates .....
Aww, bless.

I twisted my ankle quite badly in Newcastle on Monday lunchtime. So I was resting my knee and doing upper body only, but now I can't really walk very well and I'm working from home to avoid driving.

I MIGHT try to get to the gym tonight, but Friday is more realistic.

Pretty gutted.
 
Aww, bless.

I twisted my ankle quite badly in Newcastle on Monday lunchtime. So I was resting my knee and doing upper body only, but now I can't really walk very well and I'm working from home to avoid driving.

I MIGHT try to get to the gym tonight, but Friday is more realistic.

Pretty gutted.

Thanks I feel whole again!

You are going to go back to being a couch potato aren't you? Just another inadequate fatty? ;)
 
Thanks I feel whole again!

You are going to go back to being a couch potato aren't you? Just another inadequate fatty? ;)
I can feel the momentum draining out of me. Its an absolute shitter. I managed to take the first set back when my knee went off, but this is going to be a bastard, it'll be ages before I can train my legs at all now.

But, upper body from Friday. Still no CV though.
 
I can feel the momentum draining out of me. Its an absolute shitter. I managed to take the first set back when my knee went off, but this is going to be a bastard, it'll be ages before I can train my legs at all now.

But, upper body from Friday. Still no CV though.

Why not just do something that you enjoy, won't hurt you, and you can do consistently?

Even 3 different things a week until you are at the point to start stronglifts or another beginner programme? Yoga, Pilates, Yogilates, swimming, biking, walking etc.

If one particular movement is giving you grief on stronglifts then swap it for something that exercises the same muscle group but isn't going to knack your knees. I use a standing leg press machine which won't be good as proper squats but it supports my back and I can break parallel on it.
 
Why not just do something that you enjoy, won't hurt you, and you can do consistently?

Even 3 different things a week until you are at the point to start stronglifts or another beginner programme? Yoga, Pilates, Yogilates, swimming, biking, walking etc.

If one particular movement is giving you grief on stronglifts then swap it for something that exercises the same muscle group but isn't going to knack your knees. I use a standing leg press machine which won't be good as proper squats but it supports my back and I can break parallel on it.
It was only one time, so far.

I'll try again, improve my form, see if it helps.

Trick is, i need to do it in the gym on my way home.
Once I'm home from work, i have "distractions" and absolutely nothing will happen. Years of evidence to back this up!

I actually enjoy being in the gym.
 
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Back in today.
Ankle isn't great, but did a few free standing squats. Good news was nee knee pain.
Managed to get enough movement in the ankle and did a set with just the bar. Which was fine. Concentrated on form and pushing my knees out, felt lots better, much more flexibility

So threw some weight on, and did my five sets very easily. Which is impressive, considering it was hard two weeks ago.

Didn't do ant cv stuff though, don't want to tempt fate too much.
 
Still sticking to it. Really really happy about that. I honestly didn't think I would, but I know you never give up trying because one day it might work.

Weights are starting to pick up a bit now, nothing is easy anymore, except the deadlift at 70kg. So I'm doing 3 to 4 sets instead of one, just to learn the technique before the weight gets challenging.

Overheads are going to be the first struggle though. Even just 35kg was hard today.

Tested the ankle with 20 mins on the x trainer today. Seems to be better than last week's attempt, but far from perfect. I must have really fucked it up when I went over on it.
 
Still sticking to it. Really really happy about that. I honestly didn't think I would, but I know you never give up trying because one day it might work.

Weights are starting to pick up a bit now, nothing is easy anymore, except the deadlift at 70kg. So I'm doing 3 to 4 sets instead of one, just to learn the technique before the weight gets challenging.

Overheads are going to be the first struggle though. Even just 35kg was hard today.

Tested the ankle with 20 mins on the x trainer today. Seems to be better than last week's attempt, but far from perfect. I must have really fucked it up when I went over on it.

Nice to have you back. OHP are difficult for most people, I got up to 3x5 with 42.5kg but I started to get pains and my form was crap so I now do 3x8 with 35kg.

Stronglifts x5 is good but it can be exhausting and I don't think that all body parts are meant to be exercised with those sets and reps.

As an experiment I'm doing:

Lower weight but more reps on OHP.
On bench press I am doing 3 sets of 4 reps but I try to squeeze out more on the last set.
For deadlift I am doing a 4 or 5 week cycle of more reps/lower weight building up to an attempt at a 1 rep max which is now up to 122.5kg. Then I shift back down to 80% of the max but with 8 reps and build up again, the next attempt at 1 RM will be 125kg.

To be honest I got a bit bored of shunting out 5x5 on everything.
 
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To be honest I got a bit bored of shunting out 5x5 on everything.
At the moment, I like the fact that the decision making process has been removed from me.
I'm a notorious "i know better" person, so this is ideal.
Really enjoying the weights ramping up on Deadlift. Still really light at 70Kg, I've no idea what I'm going to max at. I know I'm at my max now on Bench at 60.

My knees are hurting this week though. Both of them.
 
At the moment, I like the fact that the decision making process has been removed from me.
I'm a notorious "i know better" person, so this is ideal.
Really enjoying the weights ramping up on Deadlift. Still really light at 70Kg, I've no idea what I'm going to max at. I know I'm at my max now on Bench at 60.

My knees are hurting this week though. Both of them.

You may know better though - especially about your own body. But SL 5x5 seems to have worked for a lot of people.

Your light weight may be heavy for someone else, it's all relative and people have trained longer or less than you. Someone quoted on here that the only person you're competing against is yourself - make slow and steady progress and avoid injury. I want to be a beast and as massive as some of the blokes at the gym but I'm nearly 45 now and doing something is better than sitting on my arse.

My bench max is 75kg (approx my bodyweight) and I only do 12-15 reps in total. Get some fractional plates and add on .5kg whenever it gets too easy, or reduce your recovery. This is no doubt a pathetic weight compared to a lot of lifters but I'm trying my best!
 
I honestly couldn't give a fuck what other people lift. I'm a fat lad who gets a lot of pain when walking around for more than a few hours, and I've been told this will help.

So I'm giving it a proper go.

And if it doesn't work, I'll be fitter and stronger - how awful!
 

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