Rippetoe's or StrongLifts 5x5?

go with rip. stronglifts is a hack.

What exactly is stronglifts a hack of? It was around before rip and Starting Strength. So who did he hack? He openly admits that he based the program off of things that I wrote long before SS was published, or anyone knew who Rip was, and he has my full cooperation and permission to do what he is doing, in fact I am in the process of writing some articles for his website.
 
Don't waste your time on ignorant responses, they'll always be there and nobody pays attention to them.

I've said before that I like a 5x5 rep scheme best for complete beginners. Start light, spend time on your technique, focus on every rep having "perfect" form, take small breaks between sets. As the weights go up increase the breaks. When it gets hard to recover from, switch to 3x5.

I've also said I like the choice of exercises for stronglifts, if inverted rows are too hard to get with good form (full scapular retraction), switch to another type of horizontal row and start at ~8-10 reps per set.


EDIT: if you are doing sports training at the same time, 5x5 may become hard to recover from sooner. If you strength train 3x per week then 3x5 may work better as opposed to if you have 2 strength workouts per week, but that is something you will have to figure out for yourself.
 
Last edited:
go with rip. stronglifts is a hack.

...

What exactly is stronglifts a hack of? It was around before rip and Starting Strength. So who did he hack? He openly admits that he based the program off of things that I wrote long before SS was published, or anyone knew who Rip was, and he has my full cooperation and permission to do what he is doing, in fact I am in the process of writing some articles for his website.

30sy9hv.gif


lolburn.jpg
 
What exactly is stronglifts a hack of? It was around before rip and Starting Strength. So who did he hack? He openly admits that he based the program off of things that I wrote long before SS was published, or anyone knew who Rip was, and he has my full cooperation and permission to do what he is doing, in fact I am in the process of writing some articles for his website.

No Stronglifts was not around before Mark and SS.
 
That's not taking into account when Glenn cleaned the earth so that it's rotation changed and turned back time.

GLENN PENDLAY DOES NOT ANSWER TO THE TIME AXIS, IT ANSWERS TO HIM! :mad:
 
No Stronglifts was not around before Mark and SS.

Stronglifts THE PROGRAM was around, Stronglifts THE WEBSITE was not.

Mehdi (the stronglifts guy) as per his own words, read both stuff that I wrote, and also stuff from "Madcow" who spent quite a bit of time on the phone with me when he originally put up his website and "version" of the 5 by 5 workout. When he started training in this style, he had never heard of SS or Mark... Since the sources which served for his inspiration have no problem with his website or what he is doing, and in fact cooperate with him, I dont think its fair to call him a hack.

Remember that this type of training predates Rip, predates me, and even predates Bill Starr... none of us has come up with anything really revolutionary, we have mostly just added some useful tweaks and ideas along the way.
 
Stronglifts THE PROGRAM was around, Stronglifts THE WEBSITE was not.

Mehdi (the stronglifts guy) as per his own words, read both stuff that I wrote, and also stuff from "Madcow" who spent quite a bit of time on the phone with me when he originally put up his website and "version" of the 5 by 5 workout. When he started training in this style, he had never heard of SS or Mark... Since the sources which served for his inspiration have no problem with his website or what he is doing, and in fact cooperate with him, I dont think its fair to call him a hack.

Remember that this type of training predates Rip, predates me, and even predates Bill Starr... none of us has come up with anything really revolutionary, we have mostly just added some useful tweaks and ideas along the way.

I do realize this Glenn. New routines are rarely new, more or less I find they build on previous training principles that have been around since the early days of weightlifting.

I was merely stating that SS was available before Stronglifts was, even if the training principles for both existed long before. Many people see it as riding on the successes of SS because of how viral the routine became across internet forums.
 
I do realize this Glenn. New routines are rarely new, more or less I find they build on previous training principles that have been around since the early days of weightlifting.

I was merely stating that SS was available before Stronglifts was, even if the training principles for both existed long before. Many people see it as riding on the successes of SS because of how viral the routine became across internet forums.

Then maybe we could also look at SS as riding on the coattails of those who were on the internet popularizing whole body 3 days a week style programs that concentrated on sets of 5 in the years previous to it being published?

Rips first exposure on the internet came when he was mentioned in an online interview by another guy who was out there preaching about what is basically the SS program long before Rip was. Is Rip riding on his coattails?

The fact of the matter is, SL is no more riding SS coattails than SS is riding the coattails of others all the way back to Starr who published a book on about the same training program about 30 years ago, and who seemed to be riding the coattails of Berry and others who did it long before he did...

Truthfully, no one really did this style of training or talked about it in the modern era till a certain fictional character started promoting it on ONE big bodybuilding website that was pretty popular back around 2000-2001. It spread from there to forum after forum, and SS came out and took a fire and turned it into a firestorm. In the meantime many a person has published their own particular "version" taken from whatever source, doesnt really matter. Madcow, SL, and many others.

No one is "stealing" ideas from anyone else any more than I was when I took a page from Bill Starr's handbook and started using multiple sets of 5 for weightlifters I was coaching in the 90's.

Many add their own little twist. Sometimes something is added by accident. Did you know that what is now known as the "Texas Method" was sort of stumbled upon due to lazy lifters trying to make deals to get out of their squats on friday, and me basically saying that the only way i wouldnt make them do all 5 sets was if they make a personal record for one set?

We all stand on the shoulders of others, and try to reach a little higher.
 
Last edited:
I just patented 5 rep sets.

Anyone who does a set of 5 needs to pay me royalties.
 
thanks for the thoughtful and well written responses glenn. well said. thanks for taking the time to educate me/us.
 
Back
Top