[quote]JayPierce wrote:
[quote]fisch wrote:
I agree with whoever said not to do starting strength if you want a balanced muscular physique. You have been lifting long enough now to know how to push yourself somewhat, and how to perform the basics. That’s all starting strength is good for in my opinion. That and getting you squat to blow up for beginners.
Just look at the program, you only bench 1-2x a week and do OHP 1-2x a week, and some power cleans. Thats ALL your upper body work. Combined that’s less work then most people give ONE bodypart in a week, let alone your WHOLE upper body. You really think your bench or OHP is going to go up much, or that your upper body is going to pack on a lot of muscle? I had the same problem as you, bench never really went up much on Starting Strength.
You want muscle on your biceps, triceps, shoulders, and back? Do a program that actually hits those bodyparts with more then a few sets of bench. As someone else said, look at Kingbeefs routines. they are good, balanced. If all you want is a good squat or deadlift then just keep doing Starting Strength for awhile.
I don’t think food is his problem people. He dropped 10 lbs then gained 10 lbs in 3 months, that’s probably pretty fast for gaining, assuming it took 1 to 1.5 months to drop the 10 lbs. How much progress do people think you can make in 3 months? You can’t force muscle growth by overeating.[/quote]
It’s Starting Strength, not Starting Bodybuilding or Starting Physique Enhancement. The whole purpose of the program is Bench, Press, Squat, and DL. So yes, you’re right, but it’s still good for its intended purpose.
I gained 25lbs in two months on SS and made good gains on my lifts. But then I switched to a Push/Pull with arms and calves thrown in. A few months and more good gains later, I switched to Push/pull/legs with arms and calves. I think that’s a good progression for a beginner because it slowly adds volume to each group as work capacity improves.
You can’t force muscle growth by overeating
You can’t force muscle growth by over-lifting
You can’t force muscle growth by oversleeping
But if you do all three at the same time, you’d be astounded at the results. People who hadn’t seen me in a few months didn’t recognize me until they got close.[/quote]
You’re right, it’s Starting Strength not Starting Bodybuilding. Im just saying he’s done it for 3 months, made good progress, learned the lifts, learned what its like to push yourself in the weight room, and made some body composition change. He wants his upper body to gain some muscle. Starting Strength is not the program for someone who wants bigger arms, shoulders, or a big back. He’s outgrown it, it’s time to move on, not slightly tweak it. You did that yourself, you switched off SS after 2 months.
Like I said, I did SS for 5 months. I listened to the advice of some people here when I first posted questions, they all said “eat everything!!” and “force feed yourself, your a beginner it’ll be mostly muscle”. So I ate everything in site and pushed myself very hard, and made a lot of progress. I also got fat, gaining 40 lbs in 5 months. It wasn’t necessary to eat so much food, just eating over maintaince by 500-1000 calories would’ve worked almost as well to put on muscle, and avoid a lot of excess fat. SS taught me how to push myself and perform the lifts. However, it does not produce a great upper body, which is what the OP says he wants to improve.
Im always careful to say “force feed yourself all day” to beginners because some of them take it literally. Just eat enough to gain weight each week, progress will come.
