Starting weight is the bar. Pretty sure no one is going to kill themselves. The entire point of 5x5 programs is that A) it's for beginners, and B) you start from zero. It's a fine beginner's program.
It's a subpar beginner program because it recommends complex, high-risk lifts when there are much safer alternatives that can achieve the same results.
Even professional lifters injure themselves while squatting with low weight. If you're not competing, there's no reason to choose barbell back squats over any of the alternatives.
> Even professional lifters injure themselves while squatting with low weight.
People hurt themselves on the lat pulldown machine every day too. I've seen people roll ankles on bosu ball bicep curls. Injuries happen - it's all about calculating the risk.
