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I have just started doing Stronglifts 5x5 (which is almost the same as Starting Strength). Hopefully in say 6 months time I have made good progress, but are also starting to plateu. In order to get stronger it is then recommended to decrease sets and reps: Madcow 5x5 or The Texas Method.

However at this stage I probably am not interested in getting stronger. Instead I want to maintain my strength while increasing muscular endurance. To be a bit more precise we can say that I want to maximize the weight I can do for each of the lifts in Stronglifts for 25 reps. I would say my ideal is the physique of a crossfitter. However it seems a bit intense and potentally dangerous except for very well trained, versatile and technically proficient athletes. Also their programs are quite complex. Maybe I could train almost like a crossfitter for some time first, with a simpler program, but with some of the aspects of a crossfit program.

How would I train to achieve this? Is there any program you could suggest?

I am aware that increasing the 1RM will increase the endurance. However 1RM calculators typically only goes to 12 reps. This indicates that strength in the 25 reps range is somewhat disconnected from max strength.

I notice that in crossfit they use alternating heavy and volume days. During the volume days they do each exercise for time. Maybe I could do 3 x 1 min each exercise with as many as possible reps.
Also in crossfit they seem to do circuit training. That is first 1 set of squat, then 1 set of bench, then 1 set of barbell row. Then redo this complete sequence two times. I guess this is not so easy to achieve in the gym where one typically have to wait in queue. But I could do supersets. Squat could be combined with barbell row for instance.

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    You say that your ideal is the physique of a crossfitter. Care to be more specific? The physique of a crossfitter ranges from skinny middle-aged stick figures, to beasts performing solid olympic lifts. – Alec♦ May 26 '18 at 12:11
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    crossfit is about performance not about look. many athletes looks good, but they train for performance. I think you talk about strength endurance, but strength endurance only one part of crossfit. For strength endurance we typical do sets with short rest. example for benchpress: 5 x body weight benchpress than immediately max pushups, two minutes rest and five rounds. Example for squats: do sets 10-8-6-3 each time increasing weight up to 80% of max. than 60% of max max reps. Main idea is to lower weights and increase volume and intensity of training. – dpa May 30 '18 at 8:14
  • Yes physique was a bad choice of words. Appearance do matter, but not as much as capability. What I am interested is in enduring strength, since I think this will have more carryover to daily life and is healthier. As an example I do not care much about being able to 1 RM 150 kg in bench. But I sure would like to be able to bench 75 kg for 50 reps. – Andy May 30 '18 at 10:40
  • Thanks dpa! Is the point of the initial 5 heavy bench presses to make the following push ups seem light in comparison? I saw something like this on a youtube video: youtube.com/watch?v=h3hMCXjcQnI where they first bench 315 lbs before going on to bench 225 lbs for reps. The squat setup sounds like pyramid training? – Andy May 30 '18 at 13:44
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    Yes is similar to youtube video which you share. Just whole point is 5 rounds. you can use lighter barbel or push ups. Push ups don't require spotter. squat setup yes is like pyramid, just finish with max reps of relative light weight. There is only examples, workout which we sometimes do. But in general you need programming your training with strength part which include relative big weights and endurance part which include relative light weights and done to failure. – dpa May 31 '18 at 10:53

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