# Compound vs StrongLifts 5x5, after the novice gains

> StrongLifts 5x5 adds weight every session and works well for months. Compound's double progression takes over once those jumps stop, no deload needed.

**Source:** https://trycompound.cc/blog/compound-vs-stronglifts/  
**Author:** Scott Shumaker, maker of Compound  
**Published:** 2026-09-26  
**Topic:** The app (app comparison, the app, linear progression, double progression)

## In short

StrongLifts 5x5 adds a fixed jump, 5 lb by default, to a lift every session, which works for roughly the first three to nine months of training and then stops. Compound runs double progression instead: the rep range absorbs the increment, so a missed set costs nothing and the same rule still applies two years in, across a four-day split of 31 lift slots and 25 mobility movements, well beyond StrongLifts' core squat, bench, row, press, and deadlift. Run StrongLifts while the weight keeps landing every session, and switch to Compound once it does not.

- StrongLifts 5x5 adds 5 lb to a lift every session by default; at 3 sessions a week that is 15 lb a week, and roughly 780 lb a year if nothing ever interrupted it.
- StrongLifts deloads a lift 10 percent after 3 consecutive failed sessions, then climbs back up the same 5 lb jumps.
- Compound's double progression never deloads. A missed set repeats the target, and weight is added, 5 lb on barbell compounds or 2.5 lb on isolation work, only once a rep range is topped out.
- Compound's four days carry 31 lift slots and 25 mobility movements; StrongLifts' core 5x5 method is 5 exercises across 2 alternating workouts.
- StrongLifts Pro is $11.99 a month or $59.99 a year, checked August 22, 2026; Compound is $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year after a 14-day trial.

---

StrongLifts 5x5 and Compound agree on the premise: one fixed program, no exercise
library to browse, the app tells you what to lift today. Where they disagree is what
happens once you can lift it. StrongLifts adds weight every session, which is the
correct rule for a true beginner and works for roughly the first three to nine months
of training. Compound runs double progression instead, which keeps working two years
in because the rep range absorbs the increment rather than the session count. Run
StrongLifts while it is still adding weight. Switch when it stops.

## What does StrongLifts 5x5 get right?

It removes the same decision Compound removes: what to do today. Enter a starting
weight and StrongLifts alternates two workouts three times a week, Workout A is squat,
bench press, and barbell row, Workout B is squat, overhead press, and deadlift.
Complete all sets and the app adds weight next time, 5 lb by default on the big
barbell lifts. There is no exercise library to browse and no chart to read.

The StrongLifts app has grown well past the original spreadsheet. It now runs several
linear-progression templates (5x5, 5x5 Plus, 5x5 Ultra, 5x5 Ultra Max, a 5x5
Intermediate program, 5x5 Lite, 5x5 Mini, and Madcow 5x5), and the larger templates
add pull-ups, dips, curls, and skullcrushers on top of the core lifts. None of that
changes the founding idea. A beginner who shows up three times a week and adds the
weight the app tells them to will get strong, fast, without making a single
programming decision.

## Why does linear progression stop working?

Because the rate of adaptation slows with training age, and a fixed weekly jump does
not. The American College of Sports Medicine's position stand on resistance training
progression treats novice, intermediate, and advanced lifters as different populations
for exactly this reason: a novice's neuromuscular system and connective tissue absorb
load increases that an intermediate's cannot, so a jump that works for months
eventually outruns what the body can adapt to between two sessions 48 hours apart.

Run the arithmetic on StrongLifts' own default. Adding 5 lb to a lift every session,
three sessions a week, is 15 lb a week. Carried out for a year with nothing in the way,
that is roughly 780 lb added to a single lift, which is absurd on its face and is
exactly why nobody's squat actually gets there. The method is not wrong. It describes
a beginner's rate of adaptation, and that rate does not hold.

## What does double progression do instead?

It absorbs the increment inside a rep range instead of adding it every session.
Compound picks a rep range for each lift, five to eight for the heavy compounds, and
holds the weight until every set hits the top of the range on one identical weight.
Only then does it add the smallest jump you own, 5 lb on barbell compounds or 2.5 lb
on isolation work, and reset to the bottom of the range. A missed set costs nothing:
the target simply repeats next time. There is no deload built into the rule, because
there is nothing to reset from. [Double progression](/blog/double-progression/) covers
the method and its edge cases in full.

## What does a deload actually buy you?

A few more weeks on the same ramp before you hit the same wall again. StrongLifts'
default rule triggers a deload after three consecutive failed sessions on a lift: the
weight drops 10 percent, and you climb back up in the same 5 lb jumps you were already
taking. Getting back to the weight you failed at takes several sessions of successful
climbing, and once you arrive, you are exactly as capable of continuing past it as you
were the first time, because nothing about your rate of adaptation changed in between.

The deload is a genuinely useful tool for a bad week, an illness, or a missed few
sessions. Used as the standing answer to a stall, it becomes a loop: climb, fail three
times, drop 10 percent, climb back, fail again. Each cycle buys less than the last one
did, because the ceiling never moved. That loop is the reason double progression exists
as a different kind of rule, not a gentler version of the same one.

## What does each program train directly?

StrongLifts' core method trains three movement patterns across five exercises, squat,
bench press, barbell row, overhead press, and deadlift, the exercises in Workout A and
Workout B. StrongLifts' own program page for assistance work says plainly that adding
biceps and ab work is "not necessary," because most gains come from the main lifts,
and offers Pull-Ups, Hanging Knee Raises, Barbell Curl, and Planks as an optional
add-on rather than a default. Compound ships all 31 lift slots and 25 mobility
movements from day one, with nothing to turn on.

| Trained directly | StrongLifts 5x5 (core method) | Compound |
|---|---|---|
| Squat, hip hinge | Yes: squat every session, deadlift | Yes: back squat, deadlift, RDL, hip thrust, split squat |
| Horizontal press | Yes: bench press | Yes: bench press, incline dumbbell press, dips |
| Vertical press | Yes: overhead press | Yes: overhead press |
| Horizontal pull | Yes: barbell row | Yes: row slot, face pulls |
| Vertical pull | Optional, in larger templates: pull-ups, dips | Yes, in the base program: pull-ups, dead hang |
| Direct arms and abs | Optional "assistance work," described as not necessary | Yes, in the base program: curl slot, hammer curl, reverse curl, triceps extension, Pallof press, hanging leg raise, RKC plank |
| Rear delts, side delts, rotator cuff | Not named on StrongLifts' own program pages | Yes, in the base program: face pulls, lateral raise, band external rotations |
| Calves, tibialis, neck | Not named on StrongLifts' own program pages | Yes, in the base program: calf slot, tibialis raise, isometric neck holds |
| Mobility | Not part of the method | Yes: 25 movements, about 10 minutes, after every session |

Direct, targeted work matters for exactly the muscles this table splits on. A review
of weekly training volume and hypertrophy found that sets performed for a muscle
predict its growth in a clear dose-response relationship, and a study that added
isolation work to a multi-joint program found it increased upper-body strength and
size beyond what the compound lifts produced alone. A rear delt or a calf worked only
as a stabilizer in a squat or a row is not getting that direct volume.

## How do the two apps make different decisions?

By deciding different things automatically and leaving different things to you. This
is the shape of the actual disagreement, not a feature count.

| Design decision | StrongLifts 5x5 | Compound |
|---|---|---|
| How weight is chosen | You enter a starting weight; the app adds a fixed jump (5 lb default) every session all sets are completed | The app tracks working weight per exercise and adds the plan's increment only once the rep range is topped out on one identical weight |
| What happens after a missed set | The weight repeats; after 3 consecutive failed sessions on a lift, the app deloads 10 percent by default (customizable) | The target repeats exactly. No deload exists in the rule |
| What happens at a plateau | Deload, climb back to the same weight, repeat | Nothing structural changes; progressionSpeed (1 to 5) can require more successful sessions per jump, but the rule never resets |
| Number of exercises | 5 in the core method; more with 5x5 Intermediate, Madcow 5x5, larger templates, or assistance work | 31 lift slots across 4 fixed days |
| Warm-up included | Not part of the core method | Every session: light cardio, dynamic movement, 3 ramp-up sets at 40/60/80 percent of working weight |
| Mobility included | No | 25 movements, about 10 minutes, after every session |
| Where the data lives | Local by default; an optional account syncs it to StrongLifts' servers | An on-device JSON file only. There is no account and nothing to sync it to |
| Price (checked August 22, 2026, US, subject to change) | Free to download; StrongLifts Pro is $11.99 a month or $59.99 a year | $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year after a 14-day trial |

## Who should use StrongLifts 5x5 instead of Compound?

A true beginner with a barbell and nothing else, for the first six months. That is not
a hedge. If you have never trained before, or you are coming back after years away,
linear progression is the fastest way to get strong that exists, and StrongLifts is a
well-built, faithful implementation of it: three lifts a session, a fixed jump every
time you complete them, and nothing to decide. Somebody in that position should not
use Compound yet. A four-day split with 31 lift slots and a rep-range progression that
moves once every four clean sessions is slower than a beginner needs and more than a
beginner benefits from. Run StrongLifts. Add weight every session for as long as it
keeps landing. That could be three months. It could be nine.

## What does Compound do about the plateau?

It runs double progression on every lift automatically, from the first session.
Hit the target and the app raises it. Miss it and the app repeats it. Top the range
and it adds the jump and resets to the bottom, all without a deload or a decision.
Compound progresses more slowly than a novice linear program on purpose, because past
the beginner phase a rule that adds weight every session is not aggressive, it is
wrong. For somebody two months into training and still adding weight every workout,
that slower pace is strictly worse than what StrongLifts already gives them. For
somebody past that point, it is the rule that keeps working.

## Common questions

### Should a beginner use StrongLifts 5x5 or Compound?

Use StrongLifts 5x5. A true beginner adds weight almost every session for the first several months, and StrongLifts is built around exactly that. Switch once those jumps stop landing, which for most people is somewhere between three and nine months in.

### What happens when StrongLifts 5x5 stops working?

By default, StrongLifts deloads. After three consecutive failed sessions on a lift, it drops the weight 10 percent and you climb back up the same 5 lb jumps you were already taking. That buys a few more weeks before you hit the same ceiling again.

### Does StrongLifts 5x5 train the arms, calves, or neck?

Not in the core method. The base program is squat, bench press, barbell row, overhead press, and deadlift, three movement patterns across five exercises. StrongLifts offers optional assistance work for arms and abs and larger templates that add pull-ups and dips, but its own program pages describe that work as not necessary, since most gains come from the main lifts.

### How is Compound's progression different from StrongLifts' linear progression?

Linear progression adds weight every session at a fixed rep count until it stalls. Compound uses double progression, which adds one rep per session inside a rep range and only adds weight once that range is topped out on one identical weight, so a missed set costs nothing and there is no deload.

### Does StrongLifts require an account?

No, an account is optional. Without one, workouts are saved locally on the device only and cannot be recovered if you lose or switch devices. Compound has no account option at all: training history is a JSON file on the device, and there is no server for it to sync to.

### How much does StrongLifts Pro cost compared to Compound?

StrongLifts Pro is $11.99 a month or $59.99 a year, checked August 22, 2026, and pricing varies by region and changes over time. Compound is $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year after a 14-day free trial, billed by Apple.


## Sources

- [American College of Sports Medicine (2009): Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19204579/)
- [Schoenfeld et al. (2017): Dose-Response Relationship Between Weekly Resistance Training Volume and Increases in Muscle Mass](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27433992/)
- [de França et al. (2015): Effects of Adding Single-Joint Exercises to a Multi-Joint Exercise Resistance Training Program on Upper Body Muscle Strength and Size in Trained Men](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26244600/)
- [StrongLifts: The App](https://stronglifts.com/app/)
- [StrongLifts Support: Progression](https://support.stronglifts.com/article/71-progression)
- [StrongLifts Support: How to Upgrade to Stronglifts Pro](https://support.stronglifts.com/article/98-buy-pro)
- [StrongLifts 5x5 Workout Plan on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stronglifts-5x5-workout-plan/id488580022)
- [StrongLifts Support: How To Recover Your Workouts](https://support.stronglifts.com/article/141-recover-workouts)
- [StrongLifts: Assistance Work for Arms and Abs](https://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5/assistance-work/)

---

*Scott Shumaker, maker of Compound. Builds Compound, an iPhone and Apple Watch app that runs one lifting program and does the bookkeeping. Trains on the pull, push, legs and auxiliary split, and wrote the progression engine described here.*

*Compound: A workout app with exactly one workout in it. Four days, automatic double progression, warm-up and mobility built in. No account, no cloud. https://trycompound.cc*