[jmilloy]

In general Starting Strength is a great resource. I love the directness and simplicity in focusing on a few key lifts, though I wish it included a barbell row. The difference between 5x5 and 3x5 is pretty small. Both Stronglifts and Starting Strength are for novices and can be used as resources together without issue!

For specifics, Mehdi doesn't insist everyone start at bar weight. From the site:

> If you’ve done the Squat, Bench and Deadlift before, with good technique, you can start with 50% of your five rep max.

It's worthwhile for any novice lifter (or someone getting back into lifting after a long hiatus) to start low in order to (re)develop form and strengthen support muscles. Mehdi describes what to do when you stall, and points out that once you're stalling with any regularity, then you're not a novice and Stronglifts is not really for you. If you stick with it, at some similar point neither 3x5 or 5x5 will work, and you'll need to switch to something like 5/3/1.