Post: #1

Hey there, not sure if this is the right forum but I would really appreciate some help and wisdom.

First my stats and some background

I'm 5'9 and 200 lbs. I've led an extremely sedentary life and continue to do so most of the time. Never played sports or any athletic activities or hobbies.

After spending a lot of time educating myself about getting in to shape I've finally started going to the gym. I'm trying to follow the SL 5x5 program and I’m going to the gym every alternate day but have found my squats and bench press to be very low even for a beginner and am wondering if this is normal for someone with my physical background.

I have flat feet/fallen arches and initially couldn’t squat until i took a wider stance. W.r.t my squats I know my form is correct [knees slightly bent, squatting in-between my legs, squatting slightly below parallel and pushing up using hip drive but I can only squat 30-40 lbs. for 5x5 [using fixed weight barbells] and to go from 30 lbs. to 40 lbs. took a couple weeks!

For the bench press I’m using dumbbells and am struggling to bench even 60 lbs. ie 30 lbs. dumbbells.

I'm sleeping for 6-7 hours and following intermittent fasting and eating about a pound of chicken everyday along with a lot of vegetables and a handful of nuts.

I’m really discouraged since most programs assume you can at least squat and bench the weight of the bar (45 lbs.) and then expect you to add about 10 lbs. each week and I can’t even seem to get to the weight of the bar itself! Help!

Post: #2

(05-15-2014 11:46 AM)Koschen Gai Wrote:  Hey there, not sure if this is the right forum but I would really appreciate some help and wisdom.

First my stats and some background

I'm 5'9 and 200 lbs. I've led an extremely sedentary life and continue to do so most of the time. Never played sports or any athletic activities or hobbies.

After spending a lot of time educating myself about getting in to shape I've finally started going to the gym. I'm trying to follow the SL 5x5 program and I’m going to the gym every alternate day but have found my squats and bench press to be very low even for a beginner and am wondering if this is normal for someone with my physical background.

I have flat feet/fallen arches and initially couldn’t squat until i took a wider stance. W.r.t my squats I know my form is correct [knees slightly bent, squatting in-between my legs, squatting slightly below parallel and pushing up using hip drive but I can only squat 30-40 lbs. for 5x5 [using fixed weight barbells] and to go from 30 lbs. to 40 lbs. took a couple weeks!

For the bench press I’m using dumbbells and am struggling to bench even 60 lbs. ie 30 lbs. dumbbells.

I'm sleeping for 6-7 hours and following intermittent fasting and eating about a pound of chicken everyday along with a lot of vegetables and a handful of nuts.

I’m really discouraged since most programs assume you can at least squat and bench the weight of the bar (45 lbs.) and then expect you to add about 10 lbs. each week and I can’t even seem to get to the weight of the bar itself! Help!

Sounds like you're not eating enough. If I were you I'd keep it simple and skip the diet, just make sure you get ~120-150 grams of protein each day (assuming your 200 pounds isn't all muscle). To make this easy get some whey protein to drink throughout the day and after working out.

Also your squat is weak compared to your presses, get someone to look at your form.

Post: #3

Okay, I'll be straight up.

If you haven't been athletic in your life ever, then you are literally starting from square one, you have no previous strength, no previous experience. So, in all seriousness, you are a blank slate. Everyone starts from somewhere, this is where you are, and you won't be there for very long, beginner gains blow up quick. At 5'9" and 200 pounds, you're carrying a few extra pounds, so what I would do is concentrate on a clean diet, incorporating cardio, and weight train on alternate days. Work your way up to 6 or 7 days in the gym or being active. You're squatting more weight just with your body weight, so when you start to lose, you will notice it getting easier, along with strength blowing up.

PM me if you have any questions on the routine/diet, I've answered some questions and love talking about this stuff.

Post: #4

Your legs should be shoulder width apart and you should go down to parallel and back up (which I see that you're doing).

If you're struggling with that weight, your legs much be really really tiny. You might not have enough of your core muscles built up to support more weight.

Why don't you try doing some cardio first. 5'9 at 200lbs means you're really over weight. Try losing some of that exterior fat first with some cardio and then slowly add on real weight.

Edit: Finalepic has it down. Start doing some cardio and lose weight first. Get your BMI down to a reasonable level and then start lifting.

Post: #5

It would be best to get a foundation involving bodyweight exercises so you can do them more frequently (every day), with higher rep schemes than 5x5 (think 15x5). All you really need to do is write up a list of maybe six or eight bodyweight movements, like pushups, bodyweight squats, etc, pick two or three every day and slay them for sets of 15x5 or whatever. I'd do that for a few months before touching iron.

Post: #6

as TheFinalEpic said, you're literally starting from scratch. the worst thing you can let happen is getting discouraged at a lack of results or initial growing pains. everyone in the gym went through that initial phase, push through it. and at 5'9" you have plenty of weight to lose so consider adding some cardio.

Post: #7

One thing I learned recently on the bench press is hip position is key. To help with this I added a 45 pound barbell weigh on the ground to center between my two feet. I would push my feet together to hold the weight on the ground as a positioning aide. This kept the hip centered which prevents me from rotating my chest too much when benching. If the hip is off the seat, you will put too much pressure on one side and the form becomes terrible. Really helps when you get into higher weights. As for form basically make sure you go all the way to the chest and up. And always have a spotter for weights your not comfortable doing alone. I learned the hard way on that one.

Post: #8

(05-15-2014 11:46 AM)Koschen Gai Wrote:  I'm trying to follow the SL 5x5 program...

I have flat feet/fallen arches and initially couldn’t squat until i took a wider stance. W.r.t my squats I know my form is correct [knees slightly bent, squatting in-between my legs, squatting slightly below parallel and pushing up using hip drive but I can only squat 30-40 lbs. for 5x5 [using fixed weight barbells] and to go from 30 lbs. to 40 lbs. took a couple weeks!

For the bench press I’m using dumbbells and am struggling to bench even 60 lbs. ie 30 lbs. dumbbells.

I don't get what you are complaining about.

First of all, you say you are doing SL5x5, but you are doing the benchpress with dumbbells!?!? Of course it's going to be damn harder to progress if you are using dumbbells, the barbell adds a lot of stability while with dumbbells your stabilisers are going to exhaust themselves quickly. Stick to the barbell, don't mess around with SL5x5, it's a barbell program.

I also don't get your issue with the squats, you've said you've made progress. Progress is progress, don't worry about whether it's slow or not. Not everyone can/should make rapid progress on the squat.

SL5x5 does somewhere say that if you can't squat an empty bar, then to do bodyweight squats and then move onto a standard bar, then progress on the standard bar till you can use the olympic bar; progression should be in 2.5kg/5 pound increments. This is what I did and it worked fine. I also started with greatly below-average strength, but I managed a nice progression that way.

Post: #9

Caloric Surplus

Post: #10

(05-17-2014 04:52 PM)rey Wrote:  Caloric Surplus

Definitely not at this point, he should focus on cutting down, eating clean, and carb timing. After he has cut down to a decent weight, he can look at the caloric surplus, and bulk back up.

Post: #11

Place a very heavy emphasis on negative reps. When you bench or squat, go 3 seconds down, and explode up; for both lifts. This will increase your strength quickly.

Post: #12

It's not working is because you created a bad combination.

SL is a knock off of Starting Strength, where the goal is to create linear progression for the duration of your newbie gains. This is only possible if you're eating at a useful calorie surplus. But you're doing the opposite, you're eating at a high calorie restriction.

From the reported diet, you're probably not even hitting 1000 calories a day (only about 500 cals in a pound of raw chicken without skin). At these levels, it's pointless to try and build strength/muscle. You're better off just doing 30 mins of brisk incline walking on a treadmill twice a day. You'll need to raise the calories to grow.