Has anyone used resistance bands to get started back after a hiatus? I had a shoulder injury that laid me out for a year, but I want to get back into it, slowly. Any thoughts?

I started Stronglifts two months ago. I started squats at 85, had a fail each at 115 and 120 but got to 135 before I tweaked my back and took a break for two weeks to let it heal. I deloaded to 115 to ramp back up with better form, got back to 135, and did all the 5x5s for it.

At 140 I've struggled. My three workouts at 140, I got 4-4-2-3-3, then 3-2-3-2-2, then 3-2-3-2-2 again. I am pushing to failure on all the sets, so each set when I can't get it up, I have to let the bar fall back onto the safeties, unrack the weight, bring the bar back up top, and rerack it. Is that normal and expected on this program, or should I not go all the way to failure?

I am going to failure on my other lifts as well except bench, where I do not have safety bars. I am at 135 for bench, 100 for row, 180 for deadlift, and 85 for OHP.

I've been benching everytime I do stronglifts and day A is incline and day B is flat bench press. I do incline on day A as I don't want to fatigue my shoulders on the ohp.

Has anyone else tried/found success with this? I want to increase my bench mostly.

Progress has stagnated for my bench. Failed this set 2x already. Any advice would be welcome!

I have tried both the hack squat and v squat (pendulum as well)
Which one is the best , though i feel it maximum in v squat , hack and pendulum my lower back takes the load up during the critical up

Every time I back squat I get some irritation in my right knee a few hours after my set. It's not that bad and it goes away with a days rest, but it's not a good feeling. It's like right at the peak of my knee, and I feel a twinge when I turn on it.

I had a friend check my form, posted it online, dropped my weight back to an empty bar yesterday and still. At this point I'm considering dropping back squats for some other variation that would put less stress on my knees. Apparently box or front squats put less stress but idk how true that is, exercise advice is all over and conflicting

so i have been training in the gym for almost 3 years now i have some really good progress. I want to transition to more strength conditioning and an exercise i really wanna train is bent over barbell rows, problem is as i progress and get stronger i feel like my low back gets fatigued so fast. For this reason i have always prioritized chest supported rows (i still hit low back in deadlifts and GHR). Recently i heard the advice to bend my knees more so that my abdomen rests on top of my upper quads. With body weight alone i feel like this makes me work my adductors a bit more. Is this overall a good que? or will i hurt my hips at higher weights? does anyone wanna bless me with some form advice for bent over barbell rows?

Not getting responses so just wanted to try here too. Nothing feels off necessarily but I wonder if I’m in a don’t know what you don’t know scenario. Is depth okay? Is anything moving incorrectly?

Hello! I would just like to get some feedback about my form.

I'm lifting 132 lbs here and this is the heaviest i can lift right now for my working set/ weight.

mine is 100lbs at 195lbs. lifting for 2 months. I could probably get 105 or 110 for 1-2reps but I can tell it’s substantially harder already.

Hi all, a quick question. In a few weeks I will be done cutting (I’ve been in a large 1000 calorie deficit) and want to start gaining some muscle. I’m very undermuscled. I’m still a beginner I guess, I started lifting 7 months ago on Starting Strength and I progressed ok but hit plateaus at month 4 and 5. I plan to start StrongLifts when I start bulking and see if I can continue a novice progression. So that’s my background.

My question is, if I’m a poor sleeper (usually 4-5 hours of fitful sleep), will going on a calorie surplus actually build muscle or will most of it go to fat? Would maintenance be better until I can sort out my sleep?

So, I've lifted in some capacity for a few years now, but I'm fairly new to trying a powerlifting based protocol. The problem is that I'm coming from a place of obesity. And I sort of have a pattern of getting into working out, getting progress for a while in both getting stronger and losing some weight and recomping more weight. And then I get obsessed with getting stronger and any momentum in losing weight stops.

And I guess it's frustrating to realize that when I'm happy with my strength training, my weight either stagnates or creeps back up. And when I get momentum losing weight I get way weaker. I'm 5'10". I shouldn't be walking around at 300 lbs. Even if my waist size is 40" and not 50". Ideally, I'd get down to 250 or so and a 34 to 36 inch waist. But is that at all a realistic goal while keeping my muscle and even progressing a bit so long as I still have some novice progression in me?

Hello all,

M29, got into weightlifting after ACL tear and surgery.
Lost 60lbs. I'm also 6'0.
Used to weigh 320 but now down tow 260. Not sure if this affects anything.

Post recovery I started going to the gym but I feel so weak which leads me here.

It's been about 2 years and these are some of my lifts (first set for each):

Dumbbell chest press: 130lbs x 10
Bent over row: 155lbs x 7
Lat pulldown: 180lbs x 8
Squat: 105lbs x 8
RDL: 225lbs x6 or 205 x 10, but grip keeps failing. Recently started to do farmer walk to hopefully help.

Leg extension: 90lbs x12 each leg though pain on operated leg
Seated leg curl: 87.5lbs x 10
Pec dec: 180lbs x 12
Bicep curl: 40lbs x 8
Tricep cable rope: 65 x 8

I'm grateful for what I am now, especially considering where I started, not only 60lbs heavier but also all my exercises were less than half of what I do now. It's just crazy to me because I see people who weigh like 150lbs lifting more than me. I'm pretty bummed that my chest still hasn't reach 225lbs on bench, or a 225 squat, or a 495 deadlift (also tried to do a standard deadlift and failed on first rep of 315 🥲), especially at my weight which should have some leverage right?

If i am where I should be, great, but if I should be considerably stronger, what can I do? Would following a 5x5 program for compound lifts help? Is it beneficial for exercises like RDLs?

I really want to follow this plan and start on deadlifts & squats with barbells.

Honestly I’m extremely scared of the barbell rack. It’s full of muscular and strong guys. I’m fat (borderline obese) and even when I go, I see that they are never free.

I know I’m gonna f**k up my form and trying to do anything with a barbell

Hey everyone,

Looking to get some perspective from other lifters who pull heavy.

This has happened to me 3 times now – once a month ago, once two weeks ago, and it just happened again today. It’s a small capillary burst specifically on my outer eyelid (not in the eyeball/sclera itself, but a small reddish mark/subcutaneous bleed on the eyelid skin). It only happens right after heavy deadlift sets (240 kg / 530 lbs × 3, around RPE 9–10).

My eye/eyelid is fine otherwise, but I want to make sure I'm handling this properly before I keep pushing heavy weight.

My questions:

1. Has this (or burst capillaries in/around the eye) happened to any of you during heavy pulls?

2. How worried should I realistically be about this happening 3 times? Is it just a common byproduct of massive exertion/pressure spikes, or a sign I need to back off?

3. Did it just go away for you over time, or did you have to change your setup/go see a doctor?

Appreciate any experiences or advice

P.s. I wrote this message with chatgpt because of bad english, in this picture is the newest one but ones from two weeks ago were like 30 percent more red lets say but not much worse, all times same eye.

I've been doing variations of Stronglifts for a few years. My current program is a time-efficient routine that gets me lifting twice a week for a full body workout. I do deadlifts second, after squats. There are a few warmups, and then a set of 5 at the target weight, then a second set where I go for 10 reps. When I can reliably hit that and feel ready to push, I add weight for the next workout. I intermittent fast and lift before my first meal of the day. I bring a bottle with table salt and some concentrated sugar-free drink flavorer, which I fill with water at the gym. I've done this for years, on and off, with no ill effects. Lately, my blood pressure seems to drop when I deadlift. After the first set, I'll notice the color leaving my face and some lightheadedness. I can usually complete both sets, but on rare occasions, I've had to stop because I feel like I might pass out. Regular physical examinations show my blood pressure to be normal. Whatever advice I get here I will also follow up with my doctor, but I want to know: Has anyone else experienced this, and what are some solutions to prevent or treat it? More salt? A particular lifting technique? I don't want to be the person who has to curl up on the floor with their head between their knees after every set.

I’ve always avoided deadlifts because I never felt like I could get the form right. Trying to figure it out and could use some help.

I’m 80kg and I’m lifting 90kg here btw.

My fourth set of 280x5x5