Progression Settings: Increments, Deload, Frequency

Stronglifts automatically adds weight the next time you do the same exercise if you completed all sets last time.

Example: if you did 5x5 200lb Squats last workout, and you didn't miss any reps, then the weight will increase to 205lb next time you do Squats. Stronglifts will add 5lb to the bar.

You can control how much weight Stronglifts adds each workout and how often it adds weight. Here's how to do this...

1. Open Stronglifts
2. Tap "Start Workout".
3. Tap the weight of the exercise for which you want to change the increments.
4. Scroll down to the progression settings

Increment settings: how much weight to add

The increment setting determines two things:

• How much weight to add
• How often to add weight

By default, if you complete all sets on Squat this workout, then the weight will increase by 5lb next workout. This is the increment setting of 5lb with a frequency of every workout.

A faster progression is not recommended as it's unsustainable. You could however decide to set a slower progression where you add 2.5lb every three workouts instead.

If you want you can also disable this feature. The weight will then be the same all the time.

Deload settings: when to decrease the weight

The deload settings determine two things:

• How much to decrease the weight if you fail
• When to decrease the weight

By default, if you fail to complete all sets on an exercise for three sessions in a row, the weight will decrease by 10% next time. This is the 10% deload setting every three workouts.

You could decide to lower the weight by more than 20% and to do so already after 2 or even one failed attempt. The benefit of waiting until you fail three times to deload is that you may simply had a bad day. It's possible that you're able to complete your sets with the same weightif you try again next time under better conditions (more sleep, better food intake, more focus, better form, etc).

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the weight increase by 5lb despite setting 2x1lb Plates?

Stronglifts increases the weight according to your increment settings. If your increments are set to 5lb, then the weight will increase by 5lb regardless of your plate setup.

The reason for this is that just because you have 2x1lb plates doesn't mean that you'd want to increase the weight by 2lb. You may decide to increase the weight by 2lb on the Overhead Press because that works smaller muscles and is easier to maintain. Meanwhile, you may decide to progress by 5lb on the Squat because this exercise works bigger muscles that can handle bigger increments.

If your increments are set to 5lb, the weight will progress by 5lb. If you've set 2x1lb plates and want the weight to increase by 2lb, you need to change the increments to 2lb as well. Stronglifts will not assume that just because you've set 2x1lb plates, you also want to progress by 2lb. You need to make this clear to Stronglifts by setting the exercise increment to 2lb.

Why does Stronglifts not increase the weight next workout?

The weight will increase if you complete all sets of an exercise. It will not increase if you failed sets, if you disabled the increments, or if you manually entered the weight for your next workout.

• Check that your increments are enabled. Stronglifts > Start Workout > Tap the weight of the exercise that didn't increase > Scroll down to increments. The increments should be on, with frequency set to every workout.
• Check that you didn't enter failed sets. Stronglifts will only increase the weight if you complete every set of an exercise. Say the goal is 5x5 200lb. If you log less than 5 reps on one or several sets, the weight will not increase next workout. You can go to Stronglifts > History > Open the last workout > Check that no failed rep was entered.
• Delete the next workouts on the homescreen to reset the progression. If you manually change the weight of the next workouts, then this will override the automatic progression of Stronglifts. You can reset the progression by opening the next workouts on the homescreen > tap Edit > Delete. Repeat this for every workout on the homescreen.

Please note that completing a set requires only one tap on the set circle. If your goal is 5x5, then you tap the first set circle once to tell it that you did 5 reps. If you tap several times, you are marking a failed set. If the set circle says 0 reps, that means you didn't lift the weight for even one rep and so the weight will not increase next time. The set circles should only be tapped once to mark a completed set. When all sets are completed, and your increments are on, then the weight will increase next workout.

How does the weight progress if I don't complete all sets?

The weight will only increase if you complete all sets of an exercise. The idea is to first complete the sets at the given weight before adding more weight.

• If you didn't do the exercise, if you didn't log any sets, then the weight will repeat next time.
• If you only did a few sets of an exercise, say 3 out of 5 sets, the weight will repeat next time.
• If you did all the sets of an exercise but couldn't complete them, if you failed to reach the goal reps on one or several sets, then the weight will repeat next time

How should I progress if I maxed out my weights?

Switch to a harder version of the same exercise.

Say you're doing the ,Quarantine program. You've progressed to 5x12 with 25kg on Dumbbell Bench Press and Dumbbell Lunges. You could go heavier but your heaviest dumbbells are 25kg. You can't add more weight. What do you do now?

Many people will decide to add reps instead. But this turns the workouts more into endurance than strength sessions. Doing 20-30 reps per set also creates a lot of discomfort and soreness. It can be difficult to maintain proper form. And it takes more time. Instead, you can switch to a harder version of the same exercise.

Example: when you max out on Dumbbell Bench Press, switch to Pause Dumbbell Bench Press. Adding a pause at the bottom of 2-3 seconds will make the same weight harder. You'll need to lower the weight to get the same amount of reps as you did before. Once you've maxed out on that exercise with your dumbbells, you can progress to Pause Dumbbell Bench Press with Feet up. Balance will be harder which makes the same weight harder again.

Note the Quarantine program is set this way. When you go to Stronglifts > Programs > Quarantine, you will see several templates (slide left/right). The idea is that when you're stuck with one template, because you run out of weights, you switch to the next one which has harder exercises. You will for example see that DB Lunges become the much harder Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat.

See also our guide on how to replace exercises.

How should I progress on body weight exercises like Pull Ups and Dips?

Add weight like on every exercise. You can easily do this with a dip belt. This is a belt that goes around your waist. It has a chain to which you hang the plates. You can start out with the smallest increment of 2.5lb or less. Add weight over time just like you do on the other lifts.

Many people are surprised to find that adding weight to these exercises is easier than adding reps. Here's why: if you check a rep percentage table, you'll see that 5 reps is ~86% of your max
, 6 reps is ~84%
, 7 reps is ~81%
, 8 reps is ~79%
, 9 reps is ~76%
, 10 reps is ~74%, etc. What this tells you is that you need to get 2-3% stronger every time you want to do an extra rep. Compare this to adding 2.5lb in weight. Say you weigh 200lb. Going from 200lb to 202.5lb is an increase of only 1.25%.

The other surprising thing is that increasing your weighted pullup increases how many reps you can do without weight (without training it). Say you can only do three pull ups. You get a dip belt and start adding 1lb per workout. After a while you can do 3 pullups with 45lb from your waist. When you do pullups without weight you can now do more than 3 reps even though you never trained that. Body weight pullups have become a lower percentage of your max so you can do more reps.

Here's what this means: say you're 200lb body weight. You could do 3 pull ups at 200lb. You can now do 200lb+45lb for 3 reps. The one rep percentage table says 3 reps is 92% of your max. So your max is 245lb / 92% = 265.7lb. That same table says 9 reps is about 76.2% and 10 reps is about 73.9%. Your 200lb body weight is about 75% of your estimated one rep max of 265.7lb. So if you can do 3 pull ups with 45lb you should be able to do about 9-10 pull ups without weight. You can do more body weight pull ups than before because that has become easier, despite not training directly for it.

If your gym doesn't have a dip belt - I trained in gyms without them too. My solution was to purchase one, put it in my gym bag, and carry it to the gym. And I rode my bike to get there. You can do it too.

How to control the deload when resuming lifting after a break?

Stronglifts automatically detects that you haven't lifted for at least a week. When you resume lifting, it will suggest to start with lighter weights so you can ease back into training and experience less soreness. You will get a prompt titled "Welcome Back" with a button to deload.

When you tap the deload button you will get the recommended deload percentage and the weights that you'll start at. You can move the slider left/right to increase or decrease the deload amount.

If you don't wish to deload, you can simply ignore the card and log your workout. The deload card will disappear when you start your workout.