Out of curiosity, what alternatives are there to Starting Strength and when can one switch around? From what I know there are several but [u]I don’t know when to switch/what to choose as an alternative or next step:[/u]
Stronglifts (good but not as good as Rippetoes I hear)
Hypertrophy Specific Routine
Bill Starr-this one is confusing-can someone find the original for me-there are many variations and I don’t know what 1*10 stands for when it asks for 5x5;it also says ramp up the weight to your 5RM but it doesn’t say how much by/what to start with!
All Pro
Any others? When does one do All Pro and SHOULD they? I don’t like the look of All Pro simply because the reps are too high (I used to do programs at 8-12 reps and my strength was increasing 2 reps a session but my overall poundages didn’t go up nearly as much as Rippetoes and people didn’t notice the size I added/they said it was negligent
Arnold’s Beginner Workouts
I read that the beginner workout used in Arnold’s Encyclopedia were what he suggested to his ‘juicing’ friends/when preparing for a contest but I was told doing the workouts once a week/doing it twice a week and eating lots will help-especially for beginners
[quote]
Note that he recommended 8-12 reps for upper body and 12-20 for lower body
Level I:
Mon, Thu:
4x Bench Press
4x Incline Press
4x Pullovers
Chin Up-50’s
4x Bent Over Rows
*Once a week Deadlifts- 10/6/4 to failure
5x Crunches (25 reps)
Tue,Fri:
4x Clean and Press
4x Lateral Raises
*Once a week-Upright Rows- 10/6/4 to failure
*Once a week-Push Presses- 6/4/2 to failure
4x Standing Barbell Curls
4x Seated Dumbbell Curls
4x Close Grip Bench Press
4x Barbell Tricep Extension
5x Reverse Crunches (25 reps)
Wed,Sat:
4x Squats
4x Lunges
4x Leg Curls
5x Calf Raises (15 reps)
*Once a week-10/6/4 Straight Legged Deadlifts
*Once a week-10/6/4 Good Mornings
5x Crunches (25 reps)[/quote]
Apparently Arnold actually did this type of workout in the offseason/prescribed it to beginners-he says 3x a week; I assume 2x a week would also work?
[quote]
Squat 4x10
Bench Press 3x10
Chins/Pulldowns 3x10
Behind-Neck Press 4x10
Barbell Curl 3x10
Sit Ups 4x20[/quote]
A member of T-Nation recommended I create my own workout
[quote]
Do a push/pull/legs split.
6x a week.
3 Days on 1 Day off.
This gives you 4 days of rest between each day/phase of training.
As a beginner, you don’t use heavy enough weight to warrant longer than 4 days of rest.
As a beginner, you don’t use heavy enough weight to warrant a body part split.
Choose 2 basic money exercises per body part and 2 accessory exercises per body part.
E.g. Chest: Flat Bench, Incline Bench - DB Flyes, DB Decline Bench.
For a push day you need to hit your chest, deltoids and triceps. This totals 6 money exercises and 6 accessory exercises.
This is a lot of exercises.
Bench will probably utilize the triceps somewhat as well as the deltoids. So I recommend doing 1 money exercise and 1 accessory for each muscle other than the chest.
BUT…
If you are bringing up deltoids give them the most exercise attention. Same for triceps.
Do 3-6 work sets for each money exercise.
Do 3 work sets for each accessory exercise.
Do 6-10 reps for each money exercise.
Do 8-12 reps for each accessory exercise.
Lift as above, Eat then repeat.[/quote]
Finally my Uncle said routine 1,5 and 6 work well in the following; he’s new to this so why do programs like the above All Pro and Golden 6 and random internet programs work for everyone but it took me several years to find I respond to sets of 5 and most personal trainer programs suck for me?
