SS 5x5 page

[Kingofturtles]

I am starting to plateu on starting strength. I was gonna do madcow 5x5 but really don't have time to read what it's all about, cause from what I've seen it is t 5x5 it's like 1x3 then 2x4 blah blah

I was thinking for the meantime I would continue SS but go 5x5 I stead of 3x5.

Thoughts?

[Ghâshûl]

If you're staring to plateau, then adding more sets to Starting Strength will just make your workouts harder, thus making you platau even worse.
If you don't want to spend the time to read about another program, I suggest doing a deload and continuing with SS 3x5 until you plateau again, and then reevaluate.

[boomingno]

I agree with Ghashul; I did a lot better dropping from StrongLift's five sets down to SS's three sets. I don't see how going in the opposite direction is going to help break through a plateau.

[Dirlot]

Madcow or any other advanced routine...it looks confusing but very easy actually.

[jfreaksho]

Another vote for deloading, and continuing the 3x5.

[zilog]

What I would do in your situation is actually read SS and see what Rip recommends (believe it or not, he does cover this topic). If you "don't have time" then I would suggest you're not actually serious about this which could well account for lack of progress.

[RichMahogany]

What does starting to plateau mean? I agree that this is addressed in Starting Strength. Are you saying you're failing to get your 3 sets of 5 on some of the exercises, or just that they're becoming a grind and you don't think you can continue to add 10#/5# to the various lifts each workout? Sounds like it's either time to deload or microload, depending on which of these is the case.

SSBBT3 is $10 on Kindle. So is Practical Programming. No excuse not to read them. And if you haven't read it, if you're relying on information pieced together from various internet sources, you're NDTP. (If you don't know what NDTP stands for, you're NDTP).