Stronglifts 5X5 workout

Majestic12

So I have an average, skinny fat build and little muscle. My belly has swelled up over the last year. Whilst I'm not obese, I want to lose weight in all areas of the body (I hate looking at my fat face!), but also want to build muscle.

I've had a look at some training programmes, particularly of the bodybuilding nature. The 5X5 interests me, because they emphaise the exercises all work the core muscles, which could help me build muscle and lose weight/fat.

I was wondering if anyone has personal experience of this programme and if it might be suitable for me?

Theoxinthebox

5x5 is great, especially for a beginner as it gets all of the big lifts in and you can quickly progress the weights as you grow stronger.

Make sure your protein intake is fairly high and you'll make good progress.

stephen77

5*5 is good starting point.

beno123

5x5 is a good starting point as others have said, however when I started out, I went down a different route called HST or Hypertrophy training.

To quickly summarise - 5 gym sessions per week, ensure you workout your 1 rep max.

Start the week with 2 heavy sessions lifting about 80-90% of your 1 rep max, the first session should cover upperbody and second should cover lower back and legs - go for lower reps.

The other 3 sessions should cover chest/arms, back/shoulders & lower back/legs - lift about 65% of your 1 rep max and go for higher reps varying until fail.

For more info Google it.

parking_question_chap

Yea, 5x5 is very good.

However just to caveat the above post. Please dont go anywhere near your 1 rep max (on squats or deadlifts especially) until a qualified proffessional or at least a decent gym reg has given your technique the thumbs up.