Stronglifts and swimming

Stronglifts and swimming can be combined. Beginners should start with one of the two and establish a routine around that. Then move on to add the next. Rowing can be a great alternative to cardio if you dislike running.

What is your goal

As you are looking for information around Stronglifts and swimming it is very likely that you are a beginner. It is also likely that you want to get lean and strong. In addition, you don't like running that much so you are looking into swimming as an alternative to cardio. At this point, I would like to ask you:

What are your goals?

Why do you have to do everything at once?

Is this approach likely to succeed?

When I talk to beginners they usually want to do everything at once as fast as possible. In a world with no limitations and an unlimited amount of time, this would be the path to travel. Unfortunately, that is not reality. In reality, time and resources are limited. This is why I encourage you to think about your goals first and get more detail on them. This way you will make sure that you get the most use out of your time.

Most goals in fitness fall into one of these three categories:

Looks
Performance
Health

Which one do you care most about? Do you want to make the front cover of men's health? Do you want to be the fittest in your team to get more time on the field? Are trying to recover from mental or physical illness? Whatever your reasons, they will fall into one of these categories.

While you will have some overlap between the three they also contradict each other. Starving yourself to get leaner does not help your performance on the pitch. Increasing your squat makes you stronger but might not be all that good for your spine and lower back. Never pushing to the limit is very healthy. This is not how champions are made.

Therefore I encourage you to prioritize these three areas to each other for yourself before you pick a program. This way you will see more progress and it is easier to measure progress towards your goals.

Stronglifts

Stronglifts is one of the most popular beginner lifting programs out there. You will train for three times a week. The days in between are taken off. Stronglifts uses linear progressive overload to make you stronger. This means that you add weight in each workout. Once you fail a certain weight on a lift for more than three workouts you scale back. The lifts which are part of Stronglifts are:

Barbell Squat
Barbell bench press
Barbell deadlift
Barbell overhead press
Barbell row

You will squat every day. All other exercises are rotated during the week. The best way to track your progress is the free Stronglifts 5x5 App. All lifts apart from the deadlift are programmed as 5x5. The deadlift will only be done for 1x5 a week.

With this distribution Stronglifts places itself right in the middle of lifting theory. 5x5 is the sweet spot between hypertrophy and strength development. This also means that your results will most likely not be impressive in each direction. This is not inherently bad, just something to be aware of. Compared to your desired results you might get disappointed when you take the middle road.

The biggest advantages of Stronglifts are its low entry point and simplicity. There is no need to do a one repetition maximum test to start. You just start with an empty bar. The progression is simple and feedback is direct. You will know whether you had a good or bad day. If you have a good day you get rewarded by increasing the weight the next time. If you have a bad day you repeat the next time. This sets you up for positive reinforcement. This is why I like Stronglifts 5x5 for beginners.

The biggest disadvantages of Stronglifts are its lack of specificity and marketing. The lack of specificity means that everyone is different. A 40kg Chinese woman needs a different approach from a 120kg rugby player. Even if they are just beginning lifters. Stronglifts treats everyone the same. Light lifters will overreach too quick. Heavy lifters will undertrain in the beginning. In terms of marketing, I feel like Stronglifts underplays the roles of good coaching and diet. A good coach is key in the beginning to set you up for success. Especially when you learn the lifts. A strict diet is the key to muscle gains. This part of Stronglifts is not addressed in full / with lack of detail in the original instructions.

You can read my ten-month review of the program for more details.

Swimming

Swimming is one of the big alternatives to running. When you want to do cardio training it is often recommended when you have health issues. Swimming can also be more fun than running. It is indoors and has less impact on your joints.

The biggest advantages of swimming are its ease on the joints and that you can do it inside when the weather is not great. Lifting can already challenge your ligaments and joints. Therefore it is good to give them a break when you do cardio. In addition, swimming can also be maintained in winter beside a Stronglifts regime. Some summers and winters are just too hot or cold to be outside and run.

The biggest disadvantages of swimming are the facilities you need and the damp. You will often find that you need two memberships to do swimming and lifting. Even if there is a pool in your local gym it is usually not big enough to swim properly or occupied by families. That is not ideal when you want to use it for cardio. The damp is annoying on your gym bag and can even make you sick. Middle ear infections and fungi are way more likely to happen when you swim regularly.

Can you combine Stronglifts and swimming

You can combine Stronglifts with swimming for cardio purposes. If you are a beginner have a look at your goals. If you are mainly interested in strength start with Stronglifts and go regularly for a month before introducing swimming. If your main goal is to lose weight, do it the other way around.

Starting both at the same time usually is overwhelming. It is more important to start a regular routine that you stick to than doing everything for a week. After that quitting because of exhaustion is the effect you want to avoid.

Rowing is a great alternative for cardio inside that is easy on your joints and can be done without extra cost at your local gym.