How to Switch Training Programs

Stronglifts comes with several pre-built training programs.

You can click the links above to read the detailed guides for each program.

In this article:

Selecting your training program

Training programs consist of several workouts, each with their exercises, sets, and reps. An example of a training program is Stronglifts 5x5. It consists of two workouts A & B, each with three exercises.

You can switch to a different training program like this...

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs
  3. Select your program

When you select a new program you will get a wizard that walks you through the settings for the new program. This includes picking your template, assistance work, and setting your starting weights. None of your old workouts are lost when you switch to a different program.

Choosing a program template

Each training program comes with several templates. These are variations of the program that use different exercises but keep the same structure and theme.

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs
  3. Select your program
  4. Swipe left/right to view the templates.

Example: the basic Stronglifts 5x5 template has Squats in each workout. The second template "Alternate Lifts" puts Front Squats in workout B. If you prefer exercise variation by having a different Squat in each workout, or want to alternate heavier and lighter Squats, you may prefer this template.

Templates can also be used when you've been doing the same program for a while, enjoyed it, but are getting bored. Simply pick a different template and continue the program. You will maintain the overall structure and progression but the new exercises will give you a change.

Replacing Default Exercises

You can easily replace the default exercises of any program. We will give you a list of recommended exercises that you can pick from to get similar results. This feature is particularly helpful if you can't do the default exercises due to some limitations (lack of equipment, pains & aches, etc).

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs
  3. Select your program
  4. Tap "Replace Exercises"
  5. Tap an Exercise
  6. Select one of the recommended alternative exercises

Example: when you pick the Stronglifts 5x5 program and replace Squats, one of the recommended exercises will be the Safety Bar Squat. If you have shoulder, elbow, or wrist pain that prevents you from doing regular Squats, you will usually find that Safety Bar Squats are totally fine. Just replace it.

If you don't like any of the recommended exercises, you can view a bigger list like this:

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs
  3. Select your program
  4. Tap "Replace Exercises"
  5. Tap an Exercise
  6. Tap "Add other exercise"

You'll see an option to create your own exercise at the bottom.

Adding Assistance Work

Assistance work is extra exercises to work small muscles like the arms and abs directly. Each Stronglifts program has options for assistance work. They are not necessary because most of your results will come from doing the main lifts. But they can give you a small boost if you have the time to do more exercises in the gym.

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs
  3. Select your program
  4. Pick a template, then tap "Next: Assistance Work"
  5. Pick your assistance work or tap "skip" if you only want to do the main lifts.

Here too you will have several options for assistance work. Example: Stronglifts 5x5 has options to focus on the Chest/Back with pullups, dips, skullcrushers, and curls... Biceps/Abs with pull ups, curls, hanging knee raises, and planks. There's also an option Glutes/Abs which is popular with women.

Assistance work is not necessary. It's the cherry on the cake. If you're busy and don't have much time to spend in the gym, then it's fine to only focus on the main lifts. The arms of a new or returning lifter who doesn't do direct arm work will not stay small. See our guide for more info: Assistance Work

Setting Your Starting Weights

Stronglifts automatically sets your starting weights for you when you switch to a new program.

We will estimate your max on every exercise based on your most recent workouts. We will then start you off with a weight so that it takes about four weeks to reach your previous best. If your previous best is 5x300lb, and you set your increments to 5lb, we will start you with about 5x285lb. This gives your body some rest and time to adjust to the new program and exercises.

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs
  3. Select your program
  4. Pick a template, then tap "Next"
  5. Pick or skip your Assistance Work

You will see a screen with your starting weights in week one, and how they'll progress each week. You can read how we estimate your max here.

Changing Your Starting Weights

You can adjust the starting weights that Stronglifts gives you like this:

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs
  3. Select your program
  4. Pick a template, then tap "Next"
  5. Pick or skip your Assistance Work
  6. Tap "Change Weights"

You will find several options here

  • Max Lifts: you can enter your best lifts here as RepxWeightxRPE. The RPE stands for how many more reps you think you could have done. With 5x5 the typical answer is 2-3 (or you wouldn't be able to repeat the same weight for five sets). This would equal an RPE rating of 8 or 7.
  • On-Ramp: select how many weeks you want it to take before you reach your recent best lifts. The default 4-week on-ramp gives your body rest and time to adapt to the new program.
  • Increments: how much weight to add each time you do that exercise. The default is 5lb or 2.5kg. Higher is not recommended as it's unsustainable. Lower is great if you have the equipment. You can adjust the increments on an exercise basis (ex: 5lb Squat but 2lb Bench/OHP).

Stronglifts will use your current best calculated from your max lifts. It will multiply the increment with the onramp and deduct that from your best lifts to determine your starting weights. If your max is 5x300lb and you set 5lb/week with a 6-week on-ramp, you'll start off with 5x275lb.

Please note that some programs have the same lifts several times a week. For example: Stronglifts 5x5 has Squats 3x/week and so the weight increases 3x/week. The same 5lb increments with 6 week on-ramp would therefore result in lower starting weights because the weekly Squat increase is 15lb.

Adjusting Program Settings

The change weights screen also has several other parameters to control the program's volume, sets/reps protocol, increments, etc. These settings are available on the change weights screen that you can access using the steps described above. The exact settings depend on the program.

Most programs have these settings:

Top/back-off sets

Top/back-off sets use one heavy set followed by several lighter sets. If you disable this feature, then you'll do straight sets (same weight on all sets).

More info about Top/Back-off sets here.

Low Volume

Low volume reduces the number of work sets per exercise from five to two. This will reduce your time in the gym by about 50% while only losing 20% of the potential maximal gains that you'd get doing more. It will also make the workouts less demanding, and thus less tiring.

Enable Low Volume if your workouts are taking too long because your weights are now heavier, or if the workouts feel too much (too tiring, hard to recover from).

Please note that the Low Volume setting is not available on programs that are already low in volume like Stronglifts 5x5 Lite and Stronglifts 5x5 Mini (both only have two sets per exercise).

Madcow 5x5 specific Program settings

  • Set Interval: how much weight to add between sets. Smaller jumps make the workouts harder. The default set intervals of 12.5% are recommended the first time doing Madcow 5x5.
  • Easy loading: round the weight of the ramp sets to make them easier to load. We recommend enabling it as it will speed up your workouts without negatively affecting your results.
  • Back-off sets: adding extra sets to increase volume. You can enable this for all exercises or only a few ones (for example: Bench only but not Squat/Deadlift).

Note that you can scroll down the screen to see the impact of enabling or disabling any of these settings. You will see how your starting weights will change.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I lose my previous workouts and history if I switch to another program?

No. All your previous workouts will remain. When you go to your history or calendar, you will continue to see every workout that you did before. None of them will be lost after changing the program.

Note that your progress graphs only show exercises that are part of your current program. So if you were doing Stronglifts 5x5 which has Squat, Bench, and Deadlift... but then switch to the Quarantine program that doesn't have any of these lifts... then the progress will graphs will no longer show Squat, Bench, and Deadlift but will show DB Lunges, DB Bench and DB RDL instead. We hide lifts not part of your current training program to avoid clutter and distraction in the progress graphs.

However, as soon as you switch back to a program that has Squat, Bench, and Deadlift, the progress graphs will show for these exercises again. You'll see all your previous progress.

How does Stronglifts calculate the starting weights for exercises I haven't done before?

We use a percentage of a similar exercise that you have done before.

Example: say you start a program with Front Squats. You've never done this exercise before. Your previous best Squat was 5x300lb. We'll start Front Squats with about 80% of your Squat or 5x240lb. We determined this 80% percentage based on our training and coaching experience. Each exercise has its own percentage. This percentage is not meant to be accurate as the exact one will depend on the person's skills and familiarity with the lift, and can change over time. For example: someone very experienced at Front Squats may be able to lift 90% of their Squat.

Once you've logged Front Squats, we'll calculate all future weights based on your last best and not a percentage. The first time we simply want to give you an easy starting point. If it ends up being too easy, you can easily fix that by adding some weight or progressing faster. The main issue we want to avoid is starting you with a weight that is too heavy and causes you to fail in the first workout.

How do I skip the four-week on-ramp when starting a new program?

Set the on-ramp to 0 weeks.

  1. Open Stronglifts
  2. Go to Programs
  3. Select your program
  4. Pick a template, then tap "Next"
  5. Pick or skip your Assistance Work
  6. Tap "Change Weights"
  7. Select "On-ramp" and set this to 0 weeks.

The program will immediately start with your current max in week one. You can do this if you're in the middle of a program that you were logging with the Stronglifts spreadsheets but now switch to the app. There's no need to start with an on-ramp period in this case. You can simply continue where you left off.

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