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Your query is difficult to answer. When you begin Stronglifts, you lift an empty bar (20kg) on the first session. The next session the weight increases by 2.5kg - 22.5kg total. The weights increase by 2.5kg each day. There is nothing to stop you starting at 100kg on day one - if you so wish and are capable.
As mentioned earlier, If you fail at a weight three times, the app drops the weight by 10% and you keep going as before - in 2.5kg increments. This will slow progression but, ultimately, you will lift heavier weights. (it worked for me)
So the query about timescale depends on the amount of time you are able to put into it. Ideally, you should have a rest day after each session. The last time I de-loaded to 20kg, I worked every day to bring the weight up quicker - this is not the best idea but it worked for me. Once I found the weight heavy, I was able to build in rest days.The coaching/trainer point is not really for me to answer, as I have never had one. I do think that, TO ME, it would make little difference to the weight I was lifting - I am happy lifting alone and unwatched - I don't need an audience. I can definitely understand that there are some people who need someone there for encouragement.
I would consider a coach/trainer to do a form check for me if I was struggling with form - if I progress from last night up to over 100kg squats - this is a very likely option.There is a lot of good info on-line and in books - written or demonstrated by good coaches eg
Mark Rippetoe
Mike Matthews
Greg Nuckols
Mark Lauren (bodyweight exercises)
Having read a lot of their information, it is all very similar with slight variation. Mark Rippetoe is brilliant for advice on performing the lifts (Starting Strength - book and app).
Mike Matthews provides great info on all aspects of body building - Muscle For Life - website.
Greg Nuckols (very similar to Mark Rippetoe) provides in depth analysis on lifting.I'm not sure if it has been mentioned previously, but Stronglifts is a strength building programme and not a body building one. That is important for anyone considering it. I would presume that it could be used with an appropriate meal plan to assist bodybuilding but, from what I have read, there are other (and possibly better bodybuilding options).
TGR-
I bet you'd lift more if you had a trainer or someone else pushing you on.
You can't read Rippetoe while lifting nor can you examine key body parts while you're at your limit (sometimes not at all, depending on mirrors, position of rack, etc).
Anyway, the evidence from studies suggests you will be stronger with a coach or training partner/group. That doesn't make it a rule but it makes sense to me.
hippy
Over what time period though? If you start lifting weights that are too easy you might just have wasted 2 months of gym time. Also, with no one helping, watching, suggesting you might also never lift properly or find it harder to break through plateaus because there's no one helping to push you. I know when I walked into the gym sans-trainer, there was no fucking way I was going to lift what I would do when he's there. Brrk brrk :)
I need to find the comments and/or studies. This might be one of them:
https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2014/07000/Effect_of_Supervised,_Periodized_Exercise_Training.25.aspx
Storer, TW, Dolezal, BA, Berenc, MN, Timmins, JE, and Cooper, CB. Effect of supervised, periodized exercise training vs. self-directed training on lean body mass and other fitness variables in health club members. J Strength Cond Res 28(7): 1995–2006, 2014—Conventional wisdom suggests that exercise training with a personal trainer (PTr) is more beneficial for improving health-related fitness than training alone. However, there are no published data that confirm whether fitness club members who exercise with a PTr in the fitness club setting obtain superior results compared with self-directed training. We hypothesized that club members randomized to receive an evidence-based training program would accrue greater improvements in lean body mass (LBM) and other fitness measures than members randomized to self-training. Men, aged 30–44 years, who were members of a single Southern California fitness club were randomized to exercise with a PTr administering a nonlinear periodized training program (TRAINED, N = 17) or to self-directed training (SELF, N = 17); both groups trained 3 days per week for 12 weeks. Lean body mass was determined by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Secondary outcomes included muscle strength 1 repetition maximum (1RM), leg power (vertical jump), and aerobic capacity (V[Combining Dot Above]O2max). TRAINED individuals increased LBM by 1.3 (0.4) kg, mean (SEM) vs. no change in SELF, p = 0.029. Similarly, significantly greater improvements were seen for TRAINED vs. SELF in chest press strength (42 vs. 19%; p = 0.003), peak leg power (6 vs. 0.6%; p < 0.0001), and V[Combining Dot Above]O2max (7 vs. −0.3%; p = 0.01). Leg press strength improved 38 and 25% in TRAINED and SELF, respectively (p = 0.14). We have demonstrated for the first time in a fitness club setting that members whose training is directed by well-qualified PTrs administering evidence-based training regimens achieve significantly greater improvements in LBM and other dimensions of fitness than members who direct their own training.