Ask The Brofessor

How long should I do the stronglift 5x5 for? When is it a good time to go from compound exercises to isolation exercises? Or never?

joestarbill wrote: How long should I do the stronglift 5x5 for? When is it a good time to go from compound exercises to isolation exercises? Or never?

Some people move on to more advanced program when they reach the "intermediate" level. You can find the threshold at this link. Those are weights for 1 rep max. It takes people usually 2-3 years to reach that level.

www.exrx.net/Testing...hStandards.html

Others stays with it, like the creator of the program. Argument can be made that more advanced programs can let you make faster progress than the linear 5X5 program once you've reached intermediate level. I'm current running the 5/3/1 program.

There's no reason to stop compound lifts. Good intermediate and advanced lifting programs should all have the big 3 or 4 lifts in it if you're sticking with strength building programs. You can do isolation excercie along with your compound lifts, they're not mutually exclusive. There are people that only do isolations and I think that's both time consuming and not well rounded. Your squat and DL are going to be what build balanced core and legs, good overall posture and etc.

I am still having trouble with the overhead lift with the empty barbell, so should I downgrade to doing shoulder presses with lighter dumbbells and work up to the 45 lbs?

Brofessor,

How should I take care of calluses on my hands? One of my calluses has been tearing over and over recently. I tried using one of those cheese grinder-like callus removers, but it didn't seem to work.

joestarbill wrote: I am still having trouble with the overhead lift with the empty barbell, so should I downgrade to doing shoulder presses with lighter dumbbells and work up to the 45 lbs?

Using lighter dumbbells and doing pushups to increase your shoulder strength until you can handle the empty barbell sounds like a good idea. Doing handstand holds against the wall might help too.

Disclaimer: I am not a brofessor nor do I have any degree in broscience.

DYShin wrote:

joestarbill wrote: I am still having trouble with the overhead lift with the empty barbell, so should I downgrade to doing shoulder presses with lighter dumbbells and work up to the 45 lbs?

Using lighter dumbbells and doing pushups to increase your shoulder strength until you can handle the empty barbell sounds like a good idea. Doing handstand holds against the wall might help too.

Disclaimer: I am not a brofessor nor do I have any degree in broscience.

Agree, but not sure... about the... hand stand thing...

DYShin wrote: Brofessor,

How should I take care of calluses on my hands? One of my calluses has been tearing over and over recently. I tried using one of those cheese grinder-like callus removers, but it didn't seem to work.

Do you chalk? Stronglift 5x5 has a very good article on callus care. It emphasizes on gripping the bar with your finger rather than your palm.

stronglifts.com/deadlift/calluses/

Alternatively, if you're not training to compete and just do it for general strength and well being, you could also consider gloves. If switching grip doesn't help you, gloves will at least protect your hands from tearing and the down times that come with that. Glove selection is important and thick ones can make gripping the bar hard.

Do you think handstands are too hard? I mentioned it because it doesn't require too much strength and it's a cool skill to have

Yup I use chalk when I do pulling exercises or carries (like farmer walks). Thanks for the link. They say to grip the bar lower in the hand to reduce calluses. Do you think this type of grip is as secure as the mid palm grip?

I've never considered gloves, but maybe it's not a bad idea to use them until the holes on my palms heal.

DYShin wrote: Do you think handstands are too hard? I mentioned it because it doesn't require too much strength and it's a cool skill to have

Yup I use chalk when I do pulling exercises or carries (like farmer walks). Thanks for the link. They say to grip the bar lower in the hand to reduce calluses. Do you think this type of grip is as secure as the mid palm grip?

I've never considered gloves, but maybe it's not a bad idea to use them until the holes on my palms heal.

Lower in the fingers is going to be harder at first. By the nature of alleviating the shear force on your palm, what rips the calluses, more force is needed by your fingers. The benefit is that it shifts callus creation from your palm to your fingers, and those calluses on your fingers will be mostly under compression load instead of shearing load. There's also hook grip that you could try, but they're quite painful to start. You could also look into "reverse" hook grip while grabbing the bar low in the fingers. At the picture on that article, you can see his thumb is on the side of his fingers, touching the bar. You could try placing the thumb on top of your fingers instead. So instead of pinching your thumb with your fingers in the hook grip, you're pinching one of your fingers (I pinch my middle finger) with your thumb.

Hey guys!

I was wondering what are you guys' thought on the possibility of building muscle and losing fat at the same time

I have been lifting for I think 3-4 years? I don't take lifting too seriously because I train mma really often (4-5 days a week) so I just lift 3 days a week for the past 2 years.

My program is also pretty simple, I just do chest / back / legs, and I just do all compounds movement (about 15 sets) so usually I am done within an hour to one and a half hour.

I am pretty sure in half a year I would start actively competing so I can't really afford to go into the bulking and cutting phase again.

With that being said, a little more size and strength wouldn't hurt haha. So I am hoping to get some of you guys' take on it

The above picture is a recent picture of myself, as you guys can see I still have quite a lot of fat to get rid of lol I weight about 155 pounds and 5'9 inches tall.

Thanks guys !

joestarbill wrote:

Whatusername wrote:

joestarbill wrote: I have been doing workout splits alongside my cardio (which Yi has advised against) so I'm doing the beginner workouts that he recommended ("Starting Strength" and "Strong Lift 5X5") instead.

On a side note, I am terrible at pushups, situps and most simple exercises, but apparently I excel at doing chinups and pullups, whats the reason behind that?

I would just like to clarify that you should pick one beginner program and not both. There are also other programs out there other than SS and SL5X5, but those are very popular due to their effectiveness. Even if you don't go with SL5X5, I would highly recommend browsing its website. The creator wrote extensive articles on the main combo lifts, showing the right stance and form. Form and stance is top priority in lifting since that's directly related to safety. Safety first!

Pull-ups and chin-ups requires biceps and lats. Your lats and biceps could be more developed from your activities compare to pecs, tricpe and abs muscles. Me on the other hand can do way more push-ups than pull-ups.

I listed both down, but I chose to do Strong Lift 5X5. Mhmm, when I first decided to start exercising (in April), I could do 5 pull ups, now I can hit 20. However I can only do 10 pushups, 20 situps, 20 squats tops now, but at the beginning I couldn't even do 1 pushup, 5 situps, or 5 squats. Still working on it!

Awesome to hear you're progress..remember consistency is key...when i started lifting again in april of 2014 and weighed in at 165lbs, i experienced 2 separate major setbacks that kept me from lifting for a total of about 8.5 months and now at 205, i feel stronger than ever.you can do it..and you should never take out compound lifts out of your routine because it play a huge role in getting you stronger..compound lifting is life