Starting Strength

[Starkler]

I saw this a long time ago, some guy at my gym told me about it and I told him I'd check it out but didn't really find any good information on it until recently I joined bodybuilding.com and I saw it, the problem I have is which is the routine I should use? It's not laid out neatly, or I just suck at reading it. Can someone copy and paste the routine here for me to see because I just can't spot it. :/

Also, I've noticed that it has only 3 workouts per day, I personally feel like that's a bit little, so why is it only 3 workouts / day?

[BoomThunda]

"Mark Rippetoe's first two books detail the technical aspects of each primary barbell lifts and major assistance exercises, and created a program for the basic acquisition of strength using these lifts. This program is known as the Starting Strength barbell training program, or simply Starting Strength. The program involves:

3 sets of 5 repetitions of the squat, bench press, and overhead press;
5 sets of 3 repetitions of the power clean; and
1 set of 5 repetitions of the deadlift;

The bench press is alternated with overhead press and deadlift once a week, using power cleans on the other two days. Weights are gradually increased in each session until strength gains reach a plateau. He advocates 3 sessions per week for beginners and drinking a gallon of whole milk per day if underweight to maximize strength gains."

Pic below doesn't need to be posted, but it's related and hilarious so whatever:


I did SS when I first started working out and it was great for my legs (doubled my squat, 140 to 280 for reps) but didn't do much else. Rippetoe was never that amazing a power lifter and he told his trainee (bubbles in the above picture) to eat around 7k calories a day (not a typo) a lot of which was from chocolate sundaes. The dude is legit insane is what I'm getting at.

You'll do fine eating 3k-4k calories a day and you can work out as many times a week as you want as long as you give each individual muscle time to recover. I do 3 workouts being push/pull/legs with 1-2 days rest between each workout. I'm still getting great strength gains while acquiring dem aesthetics. IMO weightlifting is all about figuring out what works best for YOU.

[Starkler]

"Mark Rippetoe's first two books detail the technical aspects of each primary barbell lifts and major assistance exercises, and created a program for the basic acquisition of strength using these lifts. This program is known as the Starting Strength barbell training program, or simply Starting Strength. The program involves:

3 sets of 5 repetitions of the squat, bench press, and overhead press;
5 sets of 3 repetitions of the power clean; and
1 set of 5 repetitions of the deadlift;

The bench press is alternated with overhead press and deadlift once a week, using power cleans on the other two days. Weights are gradually increased in each session until strength gains reach a plateau. He advocates 3 sessions per week for beginners and drinking a gallon of whole milk per day if underweight to maximize strength gains."

Pic below doesn't need to be posted, but it's related and hilarious so whatever:


I did SS when I first started working out and it was great for my legs (doubled my squat, 140 to 280 for reps) but didn't do much else. Rippetoe was never that amazing a power lifter and he told his trainee (bubbles in the above picture) to eat around 7k calories a day (not a typo) a lot of which was from chocolate sundaes. The dude is legit insane is what I'm getting at.

You'll do fine eating 3k-4k calories a day and you can work out as many times a week as you want as long as you give each individual muscle time to recover. I do 3 workouts being push/pull/legs with 1-2 days rest between each workout. I'm still getting great strength gains while acquiring dem aesthetics. IMO weightlifting is all about figuring out what works best for YOU.

Shit, I don't know if I can eat that many calories. I'll need to figure out a meal plan, but I can never find ones where I can just eat FOOD and not bars or anything like that. Got any good ones?
So does SS help you actually look better and more toned?

[BoomThunda]

Shit, I don't know if I can eat that many calories. I'll need to figure out a meal plan, but I can never find ones where I can just eat FOOD and not bars or anything like that. Got any good ones?
So does SS help you actually look better and more toned?

You don't really NEED a meal plan I assume you're probably a male 16-24 so you don't really need to follow a strict plan since you're probably still growing. You SHOULD eat real food, bars are loaded with sugar and won't get you as big as lots of beef, chicken, potatoes and other carbs, whole milk among other things. You don't need to force feed yourself you just eat as much food as you want that isn't cake or skittles or something. No SS won't get you 'toned' (gimmicky fitness word) actually you won't even look like you work out if you're not in your underwear, lol. SS and other programs like it are good in that they emphasize compound movements, SS is just too leg heavy for most casual lifters. On the other hand you don't want to just do a bunch of bicep curls, even SS could get you bigger arms than that.

Honestly, working out isn't something that you really need to think about too much, you've just got to put in the work at the gym and make sure you get enough food each day and enough sleep each night and you'll do fine.

[Jin-Roh]

work at the gym

I know it's not cheap and not really an option for most people but I said screw the gym and have a workout room with multiple machines and equipment... Was worth it to me. Don't really want to be around a bunch of idiots who are constantly at the gym to insult people and harass woman instead of actually working out. At least that is how it is around here and I'd rather do things in an environment that does not make me want to kill someone. Besides, this saves gas and I am guaranteed a spot on my equipment. I don't have to worry about parking and if I need to take a giant crap, well, that a room away.

[BoomThunda]

I know it's not cheap and not really an option for most people but I said screw the gym and have a workout room with multiple machines and equipment... Was worth it to me. Don't really want to be around a bunch of idiots who are constantly at the gym to insult people and harass woman instead of actually working out. At least that is how it is around here and I'd rather do things in an environment that does not make me want to kill someone. Besides, this saves gas and I am guaranteed a spot on my equipment. I don't have to worry about parking and if I need to take a giant crap, well, that a room away.

Well yeah, that's why I go to the gym but most people are pretty friendly. You might be reading too much into what people are doing, most are just there to work out and nothing more. Everybody I know that lifts weights is pretty encouraging to newbies since we were all there at one point. Either way it doesn't make a difference, work out at home, work out at the gym, just lift heavy things and put them down that's all there is to it.

Tae-kwon-do. I'm gonna take up Muay Thai soon though.

Boom, just for clarification, SS will ONLY get me stronger and not help me to increase size of my muscles for better looks?

Well yeah, it'll help you get bigger muscles than if you didn't lift at all, but, for me at least, a split with plenty of compounds and a few isolation movements is the best for strength and size.

[Jin-Roh]

I saw this a long time ago, some guy at my gym told me about it and I told him I'd check it out but didn't really find any good information on it until recently I joined bodybuilding.com and I saw it, the problem I have is which is the routine I should use? It's not laid out neatly, or I just suck at reading it. Can someone copy and paste the routine here for me to see because I just can't spot it. :/

Also, I've noticed that it has only 3 workouts per day, I personally feel like that's a bit little, so why is it only 3 workouts / day?

You need one day between workout days for light training alone... High-end normally asks for two days between. The reason for that is because you don't built muscle by working out but rather when you're resting. Every time you work your muscles to the minimum required in any building, you are actually making millions of tears in your muscle and destroying the current muscle. Your body basically says 'oh shit' and starts to repair it and it's telling itself that you need better muscles to handle whatever the heck you are doing. The same goes for skin and bones which is why you hit punching bags for fight training. Have you ever heard the saying, too much of a good thing is bad for you? That is true for everything, including water which will actually poison you if you drink too much. You're not going to gain anything if you don't rest every other day AND get a full night of sleep every day. As far as what workout you should do, don't listen to people who try to bullshit about a magical workout that works for everyone. Everyone is different and the only way you're going to know what is right for you is if you seek out someone who would know in real life, like a trainer, or just trying things out on your own.

I'm in the process of working myself back up to where I was in high-school but back then, I did endurance training. You have to understand that there are two basic forms of muscle training. On one side, you have endurance training that focuses on a normal sized built but super strong muscles with the bonus of obvious endurance and speed. On the other side, you have training based on muscle mass. This will basically focus on raw power and gaining huge muscles.

Here are some examples...

Bruce Lee, like most martial artists, built fast and compact but powerful muscles.


On the other side, you have Arnold here like any body builder focusing on muscle mass.


With that said, you don't have to actually focus on one or the other. Bruce Lee focused on endurance based muscle for martial arts and Arnold did mass for body building competitions. They had roles to fit with their builds.

Even tho you don't need to focus on one or the other, it's still good to understand why you would be building muscle in the first place. What will you be using it for?

[Starkler]

That's Bruce Lee.

[kuturu4FA]

I'd def. do starting strength, madcows 5x5 or wendlers 5/3/1.

either of those are great choices for a foundation of strength.

[Starkler]

I don't even know which SS is which. Hell, I never knew there was more than one. Which one should I do?

[Jin-Roh]

That's Bruce Lee.

Yeah I know, sorry about that. Just a typo... lol

I mean heck, I had to type in BRUCE Lee in google to get the image and yet I still brain farted and typed out Jet... Maybe because I'm constantly watching Jet Lee movies. xD