Question About Program / Rippetoes

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

Hey there, I’ve been reading around these forums, and the articles for about the last month now and I really started to question my program.

Two weeks ago while working out with my crappy old routine, a guy asked me and my buddy what we were doing (lol) and told us to just stick to primary exercises etc. He suggested I do 5 sets of all the main exercises (bench, military, dips, pull-up, bicep curls) each day. (and maybe something else if we have time). And then a leg day once a week.

It seemed to make sense, and I had always seen things like “stick to primarys” and “full-body workout for beginners” around here, so we went with it. Although 5 sets seemed a little excessive, so we decided to go with “just” 4 since we had always done 3 previously.

Well after reading a bit more here, I keep hearing everyone recommend Rippetoes, which isn’t that far off of this, but just spread out a bit more and with less reps. So I was thinking about switching to that since we’re still very much beginners, but my friend says that it’s way too little work and he doesn’t want to make losses.

He said if I posted here though, he’d go along with whatever the feedback suggests. So my question is, is our current program really too much work? Will decreasing the amount down to the Rippetoes level really help us make gains? Although I do think our current program is too much work, Rippetoes just seems like so little. Would it be possible to add a couple exercises to it or would it mess up the “method” behind it?

Right now we’re doing:
Sunday: Dips, Curls, Bench, Pull-up, Military
Tuesday: Military, Pull-up, Bench, Curls, Dips
Thursday: Bench, pull-up, military, curls, dips
(bicep curls are with ez-bar, and everything is 4 sets of 8)

Friday: Squat, Leg Press, Stand calf raises, seated leg extension machine, the opposite of leg extensions (forget what it’s called), and deadlift.
(only 3 sets of 8 for leg exercises)

Btw I’m 19 and 5’9, 180-185lbs. He’s 21 and 5’11, 145-150lbs. We’ve been going steady since February I think, can’t remember exactly when we started going. Progress has been very very slow.

2

What are your goals?

Why do you have 3 upper body days of the 4 days you lift and only 1 lower body day?

IMO you should be able to get away with ONE bench day and still make progress provided you are eating enough.

I just briefly looked over the rippetoe program and to me it seems to be much better then what you are doing now.

I say go and do starting strength, buy the book so can get a good understanding of what you are supposed to be doing.

That will at least be a step in the right direction.

3

[quote]xb-C wrote:
What are your goals?[/quote]

Long-term goal right now is 200/210 lbs @ 10% BF. But I want the lifting numbers to back it up too. After that I’ll decide what to do next.

[quote]xb-C wrote:
Why do you have 3 upper body days of the 4 days you lift and only 1 lower body day?[/quote]

Well, I never really thought of it as upper body vs. lower body, just treated legs like another muscle group of its own except on its own day.[/quote]

[quote]xb-C wrote:
IMO you should be able to get away with ONE bench day and still make progress provided you are eating enough.[/quote]

Yeah but I don’t just wanna progress a little, I want to get the most I can out of it. I’ve already wasted enough time with my crappy programs and my previously bad diet (fixed the second part already though).

[quote]xb-C wrote:
I just briefly looked over the rippetoe program and to me it seems to be much better then what you are doing now.[/quote]

Think it could be better though? Like would adding a couple more exercise be of benefit, or not even worth it.

The program suggests chin-ups for back/bicep. But wouldn’t substituting that for pull-ups and bicep curls be a bit better? I don’t really care that much about biceps, I just don’t want them to fall behind. And pull-ups are more fun anyway.

[quote]xb-C wrote:
I say go and do starting strength, buy the book so can get a good understanding of what you are supposed to be doing.

That will at least be a step in the right direction.[/quote]

I’ll look into it thanks.

4

Rippetoes works. It is pretty much as simple as that. As a beginner it shouldn’t be too unbelievable to add 40-50 pounds to your squat in a month if you do what you are supposed to and work hard. Several people here have done it.

The form is extremely valuable, too. That will help you beyond just the time you are a beginner.

5

One of the biggest limiting factors is going to be how much you eat or don’t eat, not how many times a week you curl or bench press.

Stick to doing rippetoes program, you WILL get stronger if you CONSISTENTLY feed your body to GROW.

6

[quote]Eielson wrote:
Rippetoes works. It is pretty much as simple as that. As a beginner it shouldn’t be too unbelievable to add 40-50 pounds to your squat in a month if you do what you are supposed to and work hard. Several people here have done it.

The form is extremely valuable, too. That will help you beyond just the time you are a beginner.[/quote]

Starting Strength is great, simple and easy to follow with great gains…although the workload for me isnt quite enough, but its easy to add a few more lifts to it and tailor it to your needs.

7

[quote]johnward82 wrote:
Eielson wrote:
Rippetoes works. It is pretty much as simple as that. As a beginner it shouldn’t be too unbelievable to add 40-50 pounds to your squat in a month if you do what you are supposed to and work hard. Several people here have done it.

The form is extremely valuable, too. That will help you beyond just the time you are a beginner.

Starting Strength is great, simple and easy to follow with great gains…although the workload for me isnt quite enough, but its easy to add a few more lifts to it and tailor it to your needs.
[/quote]

Not enough?! Then you clearly aren’t trying hard enough. /sarcasm

After several weeks, maybe a little longer (once your conditioning improves), you may feel the need to add some accessory/isolation work. By all means do it. Pull-ups, dips, and barbell curls are a favorite of mine.

I have gone through Starting Strength several times. The best advice I can give you is to eat and rest.

8

Thanks for the feedback guys, and yeah I know all about the eating. My diet has been clean since February, I just don’t think I was getting enough protein, which I’ve nearly doubled since two weeks ago.

Started Rippetoes today and I feel great. For once, I actually enjoyed doing legs. I’ve always dreaded it because of how much I did all at once by having it in a single day, and since I did deadlifts at the end they always suffered from it. Managed to raise it from 215 to 225 today (two plates PCHAW!) and it felt waaaay too easy. Gonna blast it up to 245 next time :slight_smile:

Anyway, I was browsing an online FAQ of the book and there was so much great info in just the few pages I managed to get through during class, so I’m gonna order the book tomorrow. The guy deserves it, he clearly put a lot of dedication into it and I don’t just want to be another leecher. (my torrent ratio can testify for that :p)

I just wish I had found this earlier =S Gonna recommend this to anyone I know who wants to get started at the gym. (^_^)

Just one question though, is deadlift really only supposed to have 1 set or am I reading this wrong? I’ve always done 3 and never had a problem with it.

9

Just 1 set of deads. Did you see Otep’s post about SS? It links to a wiki that explains all. It’s on page 1-3 of T-Nation beginner forum. Read it and the wiki.

startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#
How_much_weight_should_I_add_from_workout_to_workout.3F

10

Its good that you have taken other peoples advice about following Starting Strength. If I may add a few things:

  1. Don’t substitute exercises. This program works, and you are, as you say, a beginner which means you almost certainly don’t have very extensive programming knowledge. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

  2. The book is mainly about proper exercise form. While this is kind of boring, it is really important. Make sure you read this and do your best to learn proper form. Now is the time to form good habbits, like squating to the proper depth while keeping your back straight, gripping the bar properly when bench pressing etc. You may have to lose less weight, but if you are serious about things, you are going to have to use good form eventually so why not start right away?

  3. Finally, you don’t need to do a ton of volume. Your initial workout play was way too much. You’ll see volume like this in various magazines, but that is mostly intended for people who are taking drugs. Natural lifters will do better with volume similar to what is in Starting Strength.

Good luck!

11

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#Three_Flavors_of_Starting_Strength

Go forth and be strong!

12

[quote]Ryshu wrote:

Just one question though, is deadlift really only supposed to have 1 set or am I reading this wrong? I’ve always done 3 and never had a problem with it.[/quote]

Wait another month before deciding if 1 set is enough. Deadlifts are very stressful on the body and CNS. As a somewhat beginner, it may not seem like enough, but once the weight starts to really get high (for you) it will be plenty.

13

[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
Ryshu wrote:

Just one question though, is deadlift really only supposed to have 1 set or am I reading this wrong? I’ve always done 3 and never had a problem with it.

Wait another month before deciding if 1 set is enough. Deadlifts are very stressful on the body and CNS. As a somewhat beginner, it may not seem like enough, but once the weight starts to really get high (for you) it will be plenty.[/quote]

Thats interesting becuase when I started SS, I thought the same thing, that one set of DLS was way not enough, I was used to 3 sets of 10 or so. Then, I realised that DLs are actually hard work. My DL then shot up nearly 150 pounds, and when I finish that one set of 5 I am spent. Although I think Ill add another set as soon as I get some chalk.

14

Yeah, the Wiki explained it. I was just doing 1 warmup set with a single plate per side and then going right to two plates for 3 sets. Next time I’ll do the 2-3 warmup sets that it suggests and just one set at max.

I’ve been doing DL for like 6 weeks or something already, so I don’t think more sets would be a problem, but I’ll just do exactly what SS says for now without questioning it :slight_smile:

15

[quote]Eielson wrote:
Rippetoes works. It is pretty much as simple as that. As a beginner it shouldn’t be too unbelievable to add 40-50 pounds to your squat in a month if you do what you are supposed to and work hard. Several people here have done it.

The form is extremely valuable, too. That will help you beyond just the time you are a beginner.[/quote]

It’s true (Hi folks. First post here.)

I’ve been doing a variant of Rippetoes (5x5 3x/week. low-bar back squats every day, and alternating bench press, barbell rows, and dips with overhead press, deadlift, and pullups).

In six weeks, I’ve gone from squatting 95 to squatting 180. I add 15 pounds each week (5 a day).

16

Hum, I may look like a total noob, but what is the Rippetoe method? Where can I find it?

17

[quote]Annihilator wrote:
Hum, I may look like a total noob, but what is the Rippetoe method? Where can I find it?[/quote]

Should be able to find it pretty easily by using the search button.

18

Nah, I’ve already done it. I get only threads about it, but nothing explaining it.

19

http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2348713

This should help.

20

Thanks a bunch.

Edit: While I’m here, could I ask something. Is this method good for a 15 years old kid? Because I heard that lifting big squat could screw up my growth and I could end up being even shorter than I would. Is it a myth, or is it appropriated to do all this lifting?

Other question, what is the rest time? Do we choose our own?