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Stronglifts and HIIT [Article]

Posted by Pascal Landshoeft

Dec 12, 2018 9:30:00 AM

Stronglifts and HIIT

Stronglifts and HIIT

 

Stronglifts and HIIT can be combined but might be too much for beginners. Pick one of the two based on your goals to start. Then move on to get a full weeks routine together. 

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What is your goal 

 

Why do you want to combine Stronglifts and HIIT? Do you want to be fast and strong? Lose some pounds maybe? Or just challenge yourself? The reasons can be many and it is likely that you are a beginner. For beginners, it can be quite overwhelming how much choice there is to shape up. I have been there. The first and most important step is to get clarity on why you want a change. Usually, you will find three main goal sets 

 

  • Looks
  • Performance
  • Health 

 

Whatever the Industry tells you or you like to tell yourself these goals can not be achieved at the same time to the ultimate. 

 

If you want to improve your looks you can do little training and basically starve yourself. Your abs will definitely show. Take some pills to extract the water from your body. Get a well-done spray tan. One photo shoot and a day of adobe photoshop later and I guarantee you will look better than most people in the neighborhood. Except you life in Beverly Hills. Is this healthy? Probably not. Did you get stronger, faster or more enduring? No. 

 

If you go for performance it is different depending on your sport. You are a long distance runner and starve yourself out. You look like a ghost of your former self, but you got that new personal record. Is that pretty? Far from it. Did you get healthier? You might even have increased the risk of a heart failure in the long run. Of course, if Performance is what drives you won’t care. Just got to reflect on this before you set a goal. 

 

If you are all about being healthy great for you. You will be happy and balanced. You will, however, lack the intensity in training to ever become a champion in a sport. Competing is not easy and it takes a bit of an edge to win. Having grit and determination are not always mentally or physically healthy. You will also not obtain front cover beauty this way.

 

These are of course blatant generalizations. Still, it is good to reflect what you really want and know that you have to make sacrifices before deciding on a program. 

 

Stronglifts 

 

Stronglifts is one of the most popular beginner lifting programs out there. You will train three times a week and have four days off. Stronglifts works with the concept of linear progressive overload to make you stronger. This means that you will do increase weight on each exercise from workout to workout. To qualify, you have to complete 5 sets of 5 repetitions with a weight. The only exception is the deadlift which is programmed in with 1x5 reps a week. The free Stronglifts 5x5 App is a great way of tracking progress. The exercises you will do are the

 

 

You will squat every day. All other exercises will be rotated. If you fail more than three times on the same weight for an exercise you will deload by 10% for the next week. 

 

The biggest advantages of Stronglifts are its simplicity and low entry point. The progressions clear and easy to follow for beginners. There is no one repetition maximum test needed as you start with an empty barbell. These two effects are excellent to create a sticky beginner program and its popularity is proof. 

 

The biggest disadvantages of Stronglifts are its lack of specificity and marketing. Stronglifts treads everyone the same. This is especially bad for outliers. If you are exceptionally small and weak Stronglifts does not adapt accordingly. Same scenario when you are exceptionally big and strong. The other downside is the marketing. That you will get super strong, ripped and Invincible just by doing Stornglifts is an overstatement. There is not enough detail around diet, rest and modifications. Especially the six-pack claims are out of line as Stronglifts will not help you to get below 10% body fat. 

 

You can read my 10-month review of the program if you are interested in more detail.

 

High Intensity Interval Training

 

High Intensity interval training or HIIT has become very popular. The pinnacle of this movement is the Crossfit craze. It is great to see intensity back in gyms after years of worrying about liability cases against gym owners. 

 

Intensity will get you results in terms of endurance and weight loss. What I don’t get is that you have to put the words High intensity in front of the interval. When I was in Judo camp as a teenager we knew shit was hitting the fan when interval training was programmed for the day. 

 

You can do interval training with almost anything. Barbells, running, swimming, throwing balls through a hoop. It does not matter. What matters is that you have a period of time where you go completely bananas followed by an equal or slightly longer time of rest. 

 

The big advantages of interval training are that you get great results over short periods of time and it’s flexibility. It saves time and equipment to train this way. It also accounts for individual differences. 

 

The biggest disadvantage of this training is yourself. Especially when you are a beginner. Interval training leaves you wide open to be lazy or bring yourself near to cardiac arrest. Especially beginners do not have the right feel for their ideal training intensity. 

 

Can you combine Stronglifts and HIIT

 

Ye,s you can. By combining a strength program with a cardio regime you are already on the right track. By doing both at the same time you might run the risk of "crash and burn". We want you to stay in fitness for good. Start with one of the two until you are comfortable. The go on to the next.

 

If you are mainly about weight loss for looks start with HIIT. If you are not happy with your size, add German Volume training at a later stage. If you want to lift more weight start with Stronglifts and Work your way to intermediate programs line Wendler 531 and Madcow.

 

Before you go high Intensity start with consistency for cardio. Do 20 minutes a day and once that is established start with the crazy stuff.

 

Further reading 

 

Topics: Lift stronger, Stronglifts 5x5, Fitness, Strength, Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, HIIT