StrongLifts 5x5 is a BAD Program

StrongLifts 5x5 is a decent program if you want to get better at the 5 barbell lifts that make up the program (back squat, conventional deadlift, bench press, overhead press, pendlay row), but it is a terrible program if you're looking to get jacked, improve body composition, or simply maximize general health.

I've been seeing this program pop up a lot lately in articles and Substacks promoting the program as the plan to use to "get jacked." This is likely a result of more and more articles being written by chat gpt and anonymous grifters that are overwhelmingly not jacked.

This program is notoriously bad for building an aesthetic physique. The creator of the program is infamously not jacked. I've never met a single person that got jacked doing this program. So why are people/bots suggesting it online as the go-to plan for building muscle?

On paper, StrongLifts 5x5 seems like a logical program for building lots of muscle. After all, everyone says you should prioritize compound exercises and progressively overload, right? And isn't StrongLifts 5x5 a program that consists of literally only 5 compound exercises (covering 5 of the 6 main movement patterns) and progressively overloads via linear progression?

It is.

But that's part of the problem.

Here's the general template of the StrongLifts 5x5 program:

Session A

Back Squat-5x5

Bench press-5x5

Pendlay row-5x5

Assistance (whatever else you want)

Session B

Back Squat-5x5

Overhead press-5x5

Conventional deadlift-1x5

Assistance

Alternate between the 2 sessions for 3 total sessions per week.

Okay let's discuss. 

First off, linear progression is great for novice beginners for about 3 months. After that, you should be doing something like double progression, which allows for long term progressive overload using a specific rep range of your choice (but add reps within that range before adding weight).

Secondly, these StrongLifts workouts are terribly time inefficient. Without adding the assistance work, each session will take 1.5 hours. Most people don't have time or energy to add bicep curls, pullups, tricep extensions, lateral raises, leg curls, calves, not to mention all the warm ups they're going to need to be doing for all the niggles and little injuries program-users tend to accumulate throughout the plan.

That brings me to the next problem. Even though the program seems low volume, it's actually quite high volume, which is a bad recipe when paired with high intensity and technical, systematically fatiguing barbell compound exercises. You will feel over-trained and you will hurt.

Fourth, the program is boring. 

Fifthly, the exercises are not ideal for building muscle. Is this still 2010? Why are we acting like the best exercises for building muscle are barbell back squat, deadlift, bench press, barbell rows, and barbell overhead press? These exercises are all inefficient muscle builders. They're fine strength builders and fantastic tests of strength, but they're not very good for building muscle compared to the other options available. And it's a tough task to do 3 of these exercises close to failure for 5 sets all in the same session 3 days per week. Don't even get me started on the pressure of adding 5 pounds per session to each exercise. Brutal! 

Problem number 6 comes down to the sets and reps. 5x5 is a fine set and rep scheme, I guess. But 2-3 sets of 6-12 reps would probably be better while taking less time. 5x5 is a classic strength plan, not muscle building plan. Why we (lifting nerds) pretended to reinvent the wheel and confuse pure strength training for unadulterated muscle (hypertrophy) training is a mystery I still ponder. I got suckered into this mess around 2015, when every YouTube influencer that got jacked doing [steroids and] traditional bodybuilding programs switched to powerlifting and started marketing their own powerlifting programs and journeys as the key ingredient for getting jacked, naturally. For some reason we all ignored the fact that these guys started competing in powerlifting – leading one to realize they had just gotten bored of training for aesthetics and wanted to try something new or have a competitive outlet (which is totally fair) – and they spent the rest of their careers creating vlogging content about how they were working around this and that injury. 

Which leads me to an important point: all of us who have ever dedicated significant time and energy to these basic compound barbell lifts also spent significant time injured and trying to recover from and work around injuries. 

I'm not saying the compound barbell lifts are bad. Though, I do think they're pretty garbage for the goal of building muscle and aesthetics for most people. But, what I am saying is that if you're entire program is centered around adding weight, week after week, to the barbell lifts – and that's the entirety of your program – you will deal with injuries and set backs. The best way to get ahead in the game of building muscle and looking + feeling great is to avoid getting injured!

StrongLifts 5x5 has you doing high volume, high frequency, and high intensity (alarm bells should be going off about now) for 5 sub-optimal, extremely CNS taxing barbell exercises. I would urge you to avoid and do something that will build muscle in less time with less injury risk.

I've learned through injury a couple things about barbell training:

1. If you want to use the barbell for packing on mass, do double progression and fewer sets. Here's exactly how I now recommend training the barbell lifts: 2-3 sets of 5-8 reps, 1-2 days per week. When you get 2 sets of 8 reps with a given weight, you can increase weight on the bar next session. Frequency of just 1-2 days per week is ideal with barbell training and 5-8 reps seems to be the sweet spot for barbell exercises if muscle mass is the goal. Again, this is for barbell training, specifically. When it comes to training with dumbbells, kettlebells, bodyweight, or even machines, I think a higher end of the moderate rep range (6-12, 8-15, etc) and greater frequency – like 2-4 days per week per muscle – is ideal. Barbell training plays by different rules...in my experience.

2. Make sure you supplement your barbell training with unilateral work. If you're doing barbell back squats, make sure you're also doing some dumbbell/kettlebell split squats or lunges. If you do barbell conventional deadlifts, be sure to include some single leg Romanian deadlifts, as well. Skip barbell rows altogether (especially crummy pendlay rows, which are terrible for building muscle) and do single arm rows, instead. Alternate sessions of barbell overhead press with single arm dumbbell/kettlebell overhead presses. You're probably fine with barbell bench press as long as you include some sort of dumbbell (bilateral is fine here) bench press variation, such as incline dumbbell bench press or even dumbbell floor presses. Using these unilateral and dumbbell/kettlebell variations will help prevent problematic imbalances that can occur when only doing barbell training. 

The 7th problem (okay, I admit, I've lost count) with StrongLifts 5x5 when it comes to building muscle is terrible SFR. SFR stands for stimulus to fatigue ratio. If building muscle is the goal, we want the most stimulus for the muscles we're training with a given exercise while minimizing systematic fatigue. This allows us to effectively train hard, productively, AND frequently. Barbell squats, conventional deadlifts, bench press, pendlay rows, and barbell overhead presses all have notorious stimulus to fatigue ratios. They're very taxing on the body, irrationally so compared to the muscles we want to train with the exercise. Take conventional deadlifts, for example. We want hamstrings and glutes when doing hinges. Well, the deadlift (an exercise I loved for a decade) hammers the lower back, grip, core, and traps along with hamstrings and glutes, BUT the hamstrings and glutes are almost NEVER the limiting factor in the lift. Something else always gives out before those muscles we're actually trying to stimulate. And anyone who's ever deadlifted hard, close to failure knows that the entire body, inside and out, is exhausted for days after.  Meanwhile, a Romanian deadlift (or B stance or single leg RDL) hits the posterior chain more effectively, with less load, and less systematic fatigue resulting in more muscle, better recovery so that you can build more muscle and train hard more frequently (assuming you're volume isn't too high).

Finally, problem number 8 (of many many more which I will leave out) is the little guys get left out. "The little guys" = isolation exercises. Isolation exercises are not as important as compound exercises, but, if you're claiming a program as the go-to recommendation for "getting jacked," and it doesn't include any direct exercises for the biceps, triceps, calves, abs, or side delts, I'm going to spit out my coffee and cry, "poppycock!" 

Again, feel free to leave out isolation exercises if you just want to get stronger on a few specific barbell lifts or if you just want to casually compete in local powerlifting meets. But if you're going to claim a program promises maximum muscle, that program better include exercises for each muscle group. Sure, pushes and pulls involve the arms, but not to a significant enough degree to put on a significant amount of muscle – heaven forbid – enough  muscle to appear jacked. StrongLifts 5x5 wastes a ton of time and energy on compound lifts while leaving no time or energy for everything else. That's why there's a meme associated with StrongLifts 5x5 physiques — a T-Rex body. Other memes will simply show a fat slob. There may be a few people (out of the millions that have tried the program) that have built impressive, aesthetic physiques doing StrongLifts 5x5, but they're the exception, not the rule. And many more decently jacked people who have done the program at one time or another didn't get jacked from StrongLifts 5x5, but rather got jacked doing other programs either before or after their StrongLifts 5x5 journey.

But Benen, if StrongLifts 5x5 is so bad, what should I do instead? I like the idea of full body training!

My friend, you're in luck. Because, as many of you online and in-person know, I am an over-sharer...for better or for worse. 

I'm all about efficiency. So 2-5 full body sessions is an appropriate medicine. (Most will do best with 3-4 probably, but I like high frequency and often do 5 sessions per week while some of my clients only train when they're with me 2 days per week).

I've also built my entire brand and business on time efficient 30-45 minute workouts, so I'll share a plan that is flexible, and gets you a muscle building stimulus in just 30-45 minutes per session. More stimulus than StrongLifts 5x5 offers and less then half the time requirement of a StrongLifts 5x5 session. Plus the program below will have more exercise variation and you'll be able to choose your own preferred exercises for each movement pattern/muscle group depending on your personal preference and equipment you have available. There's no reason to try to make everyone do the exact same cookie cutter barbell exercises.

Also, with the following template you'll be able to adjust workouts as needed so that you're not limited by a gym or certain equipment needs (such as a power rack, bench, barbells, and a gym of patient members that don't mind you taking up the squat rack for 1.5 hours...). Once you understand movement patterns and how to train each main muscle group, you'll be able to train anywhere – even with just you're bodyweight!

Use whatever equipment and exercise variations you like (I'll put several options in as examples). 

Each session begins with a short warmup which will be 1 set of any ab exercise you'd like, along with ome sort of glute warmup (glute bridges or clam shells), and a rhomboid and rear delt movement like bent over rear delt flyes, face pulls, or band pull aparts. 

From there, you'll alternate between 2 sessions, each consisting of 5 exercises.

Session A includes a horizontal push, horizontal pull, lower body hinge, and 2 isolation/assistance exercises.

Session B includes a vertical push, vertical pull, lower body squat/lunge, and 2 more isolation/assistance exercises.

I provide some guidance but these isolation/assistance exercises should be something for the biceps, triceps, calves, and then the 4th option (the second isolation/assistance exercise for session A) could be lateral raises, upright rows, hamstring curls, kettlebell swings, or even hip thrusts depending on your goals and preferences.

I like this program a lot and use it with most of my clients. Sometimes I'll superset 2 exercises or even pair 3 together in a circuit.

This sort of program is ideal for those that want to train 2-4 days per week for 30-45 minutes per session. 

One last time, as review, here's the general template for each session:

Push

Pull

Lower body

Accessory/isolation for arms

Secondary accessory/isolation exercise for whatever you want (side delts, calves, hamstrings, glutes, etc)

While this is full body, there's enough variation in exercise selection each session – such as vertical push and pull one day, horizontal push and pull the other, squats one day and hinges on another day, biceps one day and triceps on a different day – that you could train much more frequently, even on consecutive days. And because the volume each session is relatively low (10-15 total sets per session) you'll likely not be super fatigued or incredibly sore (just suffering a little soreness usually) that you could train 5 or even 6 days per week with this program, if you plan appropriately.

Without further adieu, here's the Full Body Low Volume (aka, FBLV) program for consistent, practical long term muscle and strength gains.

Enjoy!

FBLV

warm up for 1-2 sets before all workouts:

1. glute bridges OR clam shells

2. band pull aparts OR bent over rear delt flyes OR face pulls (cable, rings, or TRX) OR TRX T drill x 15-20 reps

3. core (sample options: leg raise, frog situp, loaded carries, side planks, Copenhagen planks, leg raises, double crunch, dead bugs, ab wheel rollouts) 

FBLV Session A

Ex 1: incline DB bench press, barbell bench press, or pushups-2-3x6-12 or 2-3 x max if pushups 

Ex 2: Single arm rows-2-3x6-12

Ex 3: B stance RDL, single leg RDL, kettlebell swings, hamstring curls, RDL-2-3x10-15

Ex 4: bicep curl variation-2-3x6-12

Ex 5: lateral raises or upright rows OR kettlebell swings or leg curls-2-3x10-15

FBLV Session B

Ex 1: overhead press or clean & press-2-3x5-10

Ex 2: pullups or lat pulldowns-2-3x5-8

Ex 3: Bulgarian split squats, barbell squats, step ups, reverse lunges, or step up to reverse lunge, potato sack squats, front squats, goblet squats, box squats-2-3x6-12

Ex 4: tricep extension variation-2-3x10-15

Ex 5: calf raises-2-3x10-15

Simple enough?

Repeat these 2 sessions for 2-5 sessions per week. Progressively overload, stay consistent, and mind your recovery (taking rest days, finding your ideal frequency, eating lots of protein + fruits + veggies, sleeping well).

Experiment and see what training frequencies, volumes, and intensities work best for you.

Stop being imprisoned by cookie cutter, mainstream, unproductive, time-sucking programs! Adopt a flexible, time efficient program that's designed to produce great hypertrophy (muscle size gains) adaptations without the pains and stress that handicaps gym goers around the world. 

I promise you'll make more muscle gains, while spending less time in the gym, feeling better, and having more fun training using this FBLV plan instead of overrated StrongLifts 5x5 program.

Thanks for reading.

Talk soon.

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