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StrongLifts 5x5

Beginner 3 days/week 12 weeks Linear progression Powerlifting

StrongLifts 5x5 is the novice linear progression: two workouts, alternated three days a week, with the weight going up every single session. It is built into Ægir Iron and free to load for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster.

What this program is

StrongLifts 5x5 is Mehdi Hadim's packaging of the 5x5, the full-body barbell template that runs back through Bill Starr, whose The Strongest Shall Survive came out in 1976, to Reg Park before him. Two workouts alternate across three training days. Workout A is squat, bench press and barbell row. Workout B is squat, overhead press and one heavy set of five deadlifts. The squat is in every session, which is the point: on a novice program the squat is the thing that drives everything else.

A: Squat 5x5 · Bench Press 5x5 · Barbell Row 5x5 B: Squat 5x5 · Overhead Press 5x5 · Deadlift 1x5 Week 1: A B A Week 2: B A B

Why the progression is per session, not per week

This is the whole program, and it is what separates StrongLifts from every other 5x5. The weight goes up EVERY workout, not once a week: five pounds on the squat, bench, press and row, ten on the deadlift. Three sessions a week means the squat climbs three times a week, which is why a novice can add so much so fast, and also why it eventually stops. When you miss reps you repeat, and when you miss three times you deload ten percent and climb back. If you want the same two workouts climbing once a week instead, that is Classic 5x5.

At a glance

Discipline	Powerlifting
Experience level	Beginner (the first program to run, or the one to come back on)
Length	12 weeks
Training days	3 per week, alternating A and B
Equipment	Barbell and a rack
Loading	Percentage of your max, climbing every session, resolved live from your PR page and rounded to the nearest five pounds.
Price	Free for individual lifters and rostered athletes

Free for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster. Coaches pay only for roster tools.

How it works in Ægir Iron

StrongLifts is written in pounds added to the bar, and a template cannot know what is on your bar, so Ægir Iron carries the same climb as a percentage step instead. You choose where to start, with light being closest to the program as written, and how fast it climbs, and every set is then priced off your maxes and rounded to the plate. The climb stops at about 96 percent of the max you entered, the most a twelve-week linear progression can plausibly add, and a flat last block is much closer to how a linear progression ends. Nothing here is flagged as an all-out set: on StrongLifts the answer to a missed rep is the deload, not a bigger jump.

Load StrongLifts as is, or adjust the starting point, the pace or the lifts before you create it. Save your version as a reusable template that a coach can assign in a couple of taps.

Original source

Ægir Iron's template is built from these sources. Under each one is what the template takes from it.

Hadim M (n.d.). StrongLifts 5x5. stronglifts.com.The A/B novice linear progression: squat every session, 5x5 (deadlift 1x5), adding 5 lb a workout (10 lb deadlift)
Starr B (1976). The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training for Football. Fitness Products Ltd..The 5x5 lineage StrongLifts is described as building on (history only; no number comes from it)

Start StrongLifts 5x5

Open Ægir Iron, go to Program and choose New Program, then the Program Wizard. On the first screen pick Powerlifting, then choose StrongLifts 5x5 from the cards under WHAT DO YOU WANT TO RUN? It is free on iOS, Android, and the web, with your data synced across all three.

Load StrongLifts 5x5 free →