Super Squats after Stronglifts 5x5

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hi everybody,
I’m doing Stronglifts 5x5 with accessories for arms for some time, with the current training maxes (for 5 reps):

  • Squats 120kg
  • Deadlift 125kg
  • Benchpress 75kg
  • Overhead press 55kg
  • Pendlay rows 70kg

After the discussion in Accessory Day For Stronglifts 5x5 I’d like to try SuperSquats since the next week, but I have a few questions.

  1. Is it a good idea now, if I’m not so strong at all, as in Stronglifts-Super Squats Hybrid it’s explicitly said, that the OP won’t benefit much from the program, as he’s too weak and aside from BP he’s slightly stronger than me now.

  2. I’m not sure about the composition of the training and the initial weights, as it seems, that nobody is doing the original version from the book (including the breathing exercises for chest widening, as it wouldn’t have effect on adults, etc.).

So, if it is a good idea now, is the following template with a starting weight guesses a good idea?

  • Behind neck shoulder press
    • 3x12 40kg
  • Squats
    • 1x20 100kg
  • Bench press
    • 3x12 60kg
  • Barbell row (Pendlay row??)
    • 3x15 52.5kg
  • Stiff-leg deadlift (Romain deadlift???)
    • 1x15 92.5kg
  • Pullover 1x20 20kg

What do you think about this? I must say, I’ll miss chinups and dips, as these seem to target my arms pretty well (feeling-wise, my arms are still small :smiley: ) and also my upper chest.

My single target would be to simply put on a lot of mass during the next 6 weeks and hopefully get somewhat stronger on big lifts. My usual problems is somewhat poor condition and getting gassed pretty easily, which probably to a lesser extent also correlates with my high blood pressure, which is fortunately successfully medicated.

Thank you very much for every advice!

@T3hPwnisher Could you, please, give me some brief advice on the topic, as a local SuperSquats expert? :smiley:

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Love to talk about this program. Have you read the book?

I absolutely do the pull overs after the squats. I think they’re pretty vital. 20kg is stupidly heavy for them: I’d walk that down to 10kg.

I wouldn’t do a Pendlay row for 15 rep sets. I’d stick with barbell rows, and in the 2x15 style the book lays out.

Squats need to be in the middle, vs the beginning of the program.

Honestly, I would just stick with the book’s layout for the first go round.

2 Likes
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Now that’s a lightning-fast response! :smiley:

I have the book and I got through it pretty fast, I admit, but I did read about the programming.

The basic program looks like this:

  • Seated behind the neck press 3x10
  • Bench press 3x12
  • Barbell row 2x15
  • Biceps curl 2x10
  • Squat 1x20
  • Rader chest pull 1x20
  • Stiff-legged deadlift 1x15
  • Rader chest pull 1x20
  • Toe raises 3x20
  • Crunches 1x25

In this program, I’m not really sure about Rader chest pulls, as it looks really strange and they’re not going to widen my chest, when I’m a grown-up - so, is it better to take pullover over them? Strossen say it might be… Besides from that, I’m not sure about progression on all the exercises - is it 2.5kg (~5lbs) every training session on every one of them?

Also, thank you for the advice!

1 Like
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Definitely take it slower: you’ll find dips and chins DO have a place in the program. The book offers many possible alternative exercises.

I legit wouldn’t run the program if you’re coming into it with an absence of faith like this.

It’s basic double progression. Add reps until you get all the reps, then add weight.

4 Likes
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This is how I ran it, but with dumbell pullovers in place of Rader pulls which is an acceptable alternative as written in the book.

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This.

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OK, I took some time to go through it more thoroughly and I see, that dips and chins are there, but meant as a replacement for benchpress and barbell rows. While I feel my chest more after dips (including the upper part), I’d stay with benchpress and barbell rows here, as a) benchpress is my long-term weakness, which really bothers me and I’d love to improve on the lift and b) I’m not so good at chins (5 in set at most), so I’d like keep barbell row, where I’m able to put on more weight progressively.

For the Rader chest pulls - I do believe, the program is good, but this exercise seems really strange to me. Personally, I’d stick with pullovers, which I really liked in the past. Also, I don’t really think, that my chest could be wider now, only thicker, because of additional mass - if it’s not true, feel free to correct me :smiley:

And OK, double progression seems nice.

Also, I see, that Strossen allows for typical Overhead press to be used instead of Seated BTN press - I’d much prefer this one, as I’m used to it and I don’t really like seated exercising, as I’m working in an office for most of the day…

Also, I don’t really like crunches, so lying leg raises will be the way to go for me.

And finally, I don’t feel so well about leaving “standard” deadlift, but it seems, that Strossen is really keen of Romanian variant with stiff legs, so I’ll probably go with it for 6 weeks, albeit being a little worried about getting weaker on standard ones, which are my favorite lift.

So, my current program would be like this:

  • Overhead press 3x10 45kg
  • Bench press 3x12 62.5kg
  • Barbell row 2x15 60kg
  • Biceps curl 2x10 32.5kg
  • Squat 1x20 100kg
  • Pullover 1x20 10kg
  • Stiff-legged deadlift 1x15 85kg
  • Pullover 1x20 10kg
  • Sitting (???) Toe raises 3x20 60kg (Guess, no idea about the starting weight here)
  • Lying leg raises 1x25

Thank you for all the advice!

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@simo74 @SvenG Thank you both! It’ll be pullover for me too, at least in this run.

1 Like
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Why not just alternate them? 1 workout with dips and chins, 1 with rows and bench. Done in an A/B/A, B/A/B approach.

That’s what I do as well, which you saw in the book is a fine substitution.

I am doing that :slight_smile:

I do a standing BtN press as a compromise.

NEGATIVE. NOT RDLs: Straight Legged Deadlifts. SLDLs and squats are a very time honored combo.

If you get weaker at deadlifting while spending 6 weeks deadlifting, something is amiss. You may get detrained, but that’s about it.

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This sounds cool! Would you stay with the weight progression of 5lbs (2.5kg) for both benchpress and rows? Or would you “compensate” with twice the amount?

Perfect!

Ok, now I’m a little more optimistic :smiley:

OK - I’ll think about this one, I’m still deciding between Overhead press with higher weight and BtN press targeting read delts more…

OK, thank you for this one! Now I see it, I was mistaken for the whole time… Well, Straight (Stiff) Legged Deadlifts it will be!

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There’s no compensation. Remember: this is a program for SIZE. Benching, dips, rows and chins are merely ways to add size to your body. No point in racing to a stall.

Remember that idea I had about A/B/A, B/A/B ?..

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@T3hPwnisher Well, thank you for the advice, I’ll switch also between OHP and BtN press. Today I tried the first session of Super Squats and it was nothing short of terrible… I found out, that for some stupid reason I’m unable to do longer sets, as I simply run out of energy - thus, for OHP, benchpress or squats I was left feeling as a complete idiot, doing like 6-8 reps OK and then suddenly collapsing with no energy left in my limbs. For squats it was 10 with 100kg, but the point is, that with such a lowered weights I should be able to perform better than this, especially with 60kg benchpress… Like, I’m really disgusted with myself today.

Do you have anything for this? Like, I know I haven’t eaten much today, but I haven’t felt so weak for looong time, so I don’t think it’s just that. Should I stick with it just like this, should I do more cardio or something?

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Have you been doing any?

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I was doing like 30mins of treadmill once or twice a week, but I stopped like a month ago due to not having enough time recently…

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If you’re short on time, here’s a great article

But yes: you need to be in shape to train, rather than the other way around.

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What is your 1RM ?

How much weight did you plan to add each workout ? Supers squats is 18 workouts, so if you started with 100 and added 5 per workout you would finish with 185kg for 20 which is top level performance even for a strength athlete. If you added 2.5kg a workout it would finish at 142.5kg which is still a lot of weight to do 20 breathing reps with ?

It sounds to me like you just started too high.

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Thank you! I’ll get the cardio back and we’ll see then…

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It helps to think of it as conditioning rather than cardio, as that’s what this is. It’s not about heart and lungs: it’s about performance.

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I’m not really testing my 1RM, but my 5RM is 120kg. According to this calculator my 1RM should be 135kg and my 10RM 101.3kg. And yes, my plan was to increase by 2.5kg every session, if possible - I didn’t expect it to go so well every session.

For the other lifts, I was OK on OHP the first set, but with the other two I was already done at 7 or 8. With BP it was completely terrible, as 60kg isn’t obviously too much (my 5RM was 75kg in the last Stronglifts run), but 3x12 felt really long…

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As you say, coach!