What do you think of this routine?

[Thr33]

I'm a highschool wrestler trying to increase my strength base over the off season. I looked around on the internet, and I found this program from stronglifts.com that looks pretty good, but I just want to know whether you guys think my body will be able to handle it, and also whether there's any aspect of it you think I should change. I made a few modifications myself (adding in the neck workout and switching out the barbell rows for Pendlay rows). Also, up to now I've only been doing box squats, not standard squats. Which do you think would be better for this program? Just to give you an idea of my current strength (I weigh a little under 130 at the moment) I can bench 115 and box squat 175 for 5 reps (I've never gone for a single). The program looks like this:

Week 1
Monday:
Squat 5X5
Bench Press 5X5
Trap Bar Deadlift 1X5
Weighted Pullups 3X5
Ab Circuit (2 rotations of prone plank/side plank/15 reps hanging bent knee leg raises/15 reps Russian twists)

Wednesday:
Front Squat 5X5
Overhead Press 5X5
Pendlay Rows 5X5
Weighted Dips 3X5
Four way neck machine 10 each

Friday:
Squat 5X5
Bench Press 5X5
Trap Bar Deadlift 1X5
Weighted Chin-ups 3X5
Ab Circuit (same as Monday)


Week 2
Monday:
Squat 5X5
Overhead Press 5X5
Pendlay Rows 5X5
Weighted Dips 3X5
Ab Circuit (same as before)

Wednesday:
Front Squat 5X5
Bench Press 5X5
Deadlift 1X5
Weighted Pull-ups 3X5
Four way neck machine 10 reps

Friday:
Squat 5X5
Overhead Press 5X5
Pendlay Rows 5X5
Weighted Dips 3X5
Ab Circuit (same as before)


I rotate through those weeks so it goes week 1/week 2/week 1/etc and I'm supposed to try and add 5 pounds to every lift each workout. Also, I'm doing the planks for one minute, and then adding weight once that gets too easy. Thanks for the help.

 

[Chaseg1520]

especially if you are new to it all it seems like a lot of volume IMO... but someone more knowledgeable may come in and correct me

 

[Klotz]

Looks like way too much squatting.

 

[magicman531]

wtf

There aren't any curls or cable extensions in there?

 

[Ziltoid]

hehe...or calf raises.

 

[bfdtuck]

you have all the good exercises in there. just too many at a time. you are gonna shoot yourself in the foot. too much time training for your age, spend more time wrestling in the off season

 

[Krossinc]

This routine shows up here often and while some people will blindly worship Stronglifts I think this routine is terrible and has way too much volume with too little rest. Squatting three days a week at 5x5 is insane, as well as 2 heavy days of benching and a day of heavy deltoid/tricep work.

 

[Thr33]

Yeah, I can definitely see the drawbacks you guys are talking about, and the last thing I want to do is overtrain. What changes/other programs would you recommend instead?

 

[Chaseg1520]

if you are new I would just do the 2-day split or the pull, push, squat routines from the FAQ

Three day Pull/Press/Squat split:

Day one: Deadlifts
Deadlifts 5X5
One or two deadlift assistance exercises
Upper body pull exercise (eg. BORs or pullups)

Day Two: Bench
Bench Press 5X5
One or two bench press assistance lifts

Day Three: Squats
Squats 5X5
Front Squats 3-4X6
Whatever ham/lowback/quad assistance you

 

[JPC]

If that is too much work for you, you can make some simple alterations. Like this.

Workout 1
Front Squat 5x5
Bench 5x5
Deadlift 1x5
Pullups 3x5

Workout 2
Back Squat 5x5
Overhead Press 5x5
Row 5x5
Dip 3x5

Alternate each workout the same way, 3 times a week, but make Wednesday always a light day with 80% of the weight you use on heavy days.

 

[marks]

I do agree, that does seem like a lot of squatting. Maybe do heavy squats just one day a week, the other days substitute lunges or leg extensions instead.

MarksChat Fighting and Training Methods for Unarmed Martial Artists.

 

[flak]

I would consider getting some weighted core exercises in there -- Turkish get-ups, Saxon side bends, dumbbell side bends, weighted decline sit ups, weighted Russian twists, weighted hyperextensions, etc.

 

[Ziltoid]

I do agree, that does seem like a lot of squatting. Maybe do heavy squats just one day a week, the other days substitute lunges or leg extensions instead.

MarksChat Fighting and Training Methods for Unarmed Martial Artists.

MarksChat is a bunch of BS! If you really want to get some RAW Strength...Eric Wong is who you need to contact...



















:icon_chee

 

[DPS831]

back squatting and deadlifting on the same day is pretty damn rough imo. I would at least space those two out

 

[Thr33]

JPC, how much will those changes reduce the strain, it looks like the only difference is the absence of the neck/ab work? Also, who's eric wong?

 

[vince89]

Sounds like youre not exactly a complete beginner, youre 20 pounds away from 1.5x bodyweight for 5 reps so I can imagine those sets are starting to get taxing if you are doing 5 heavy sets rather than just 1. You might want to slowly taper up on the volume as your Squat goes up.

I would take out the Deadlifts if I was you to save some gas. I think Deadlifts are much more taxing and you make better gains overall by Squatting, I like the Ab Circuit but I would also do something with weights.

Overhead Squats, Decline Situps building up to using weight and Decline Twists with weight.

 

[flak]

Keep doing neck work.

 

[Thr33]

Vince89, I will be using weights with the ab circuit once I work up to them. Do you still recommend incorporating those exercises? Also, what are overhead squats?

 

[vince89]

Yes planks and hanging leg raises are both great exercises to strengthen your mid section. However you need something where you can use weight (preferably a barbell so you can make small increments each time) so that you can progressively get your core bigger and stronger.

Overhead Squats are basically a Squat with the bar over your head using a Snatch grip (very wide). If you look up the Snatch Olympic Lift its basically the last part of the lift. The benefit of the lift is that your mid section and shoulders will have to stabilize the weight and stop it from going either forward or backwards.

This will strengthen your mid section big time, if you look at Olympic Lifters they all have huge, thick abs because they do lots of Overhead Squatting with heavy weight. (everytime they do a Snatch)

This will also help your regular Squat, because doing core training while standing up translate more to Squatting than say, crunches or planks.

 

[XTrainer]

I think this is a better routine than a lot of the other posters are giving it credit for. For example, you SHOULD be squatting or front squatting at least 2x per week, and if you're not doing a lot of GPP on the side, definitely 3x. The key is using the right loading schemes. However, if you're fairly new to serious strength training, you can probably get away with increasing the weight every workout for awhile. After that, you'll have put a little more thought into it. My 2 cents in red.

Make sure you train safely.

I'm a highschool wrestler trying to increase my strength base over the off season. I looked around on the internet, and I found this program from stronglifts.com that looks pretty good, but I just want to know whether you guys think my body will be able to handle it, and also whether there's any aspect of it you think I should change. I made a few modifications myself (adding in the neck workout and switching out the barbell rows for Pendlay rows). Also, up to now I've only been doing box squats, not standard squats. Which do you think would be better for this program? Just to give you an idea of my current strength (I weigh a little under 130 at the moment) I can bench 115 and box squat 175 for 5 reps (I've never gone for a single). The program looks like this:

Week 1
Monday:
Squat 5X5 Make these squats heavy.
Bench Press 5X5 Light
Trap Bar Deadlift 1X5This is pretty darn useless. They're basically squats, and you already squatted today.
Weighted Pullups 3X5Heavy.
Ab Circuit (2 rotations of prone plank/side plank/15 reps hanging bent knee leg raises/15 reps Russian twists)


Wednesday:
Front Squat 5X5 These should be hard, but front squats will necessitate a lighter weight.
Overhead Press 5X5
Pendlay Rows 5X5
Weighted Dips 3X5
Four way neck machine 10 each

Friday:
Squat 5X5 Make these squats light
Bench Press 5X5 Heavy.
Trap Bar Deadlift 1X5 Drop it.
Weighted Chin-ups 3X5 Light.
Ab Circuit (same as Monday)

(Apply the same ideas to the next week.)

Week 2
Monday:
Squat 5X5
Overhead Press 5X5
Pendlay Rows 5X5
Weighted Dips 3X5
Ab Circuit (same as before)

Wednesday:
Front Squat 5X5
Bench Press 5X5
Deadlift 1X5
Weighted Pull-ups 3X5
Four way neck machine 10 reps

Friday:
Squat 5X5
Overhead Press 5X5
Pendlay Rows 5X5
Weighted Dips 3X5
Ab Circuit (same as before)


I rotate through those weeks so it goes week 1/week 2/week 1/etc and I'm supposed to try and add 5 pounds to every lift each workout. Also, I'm doing the planks for one minute, and then adding weight once that gets too easy. Thanks for the help.