I borrowed a friend’s copy of Starting Strength; it has been a while, but my impression is that the book is written for athletes who are looking to gain strength for their sport, and was not written for bodybuilders or powerlifters.
Know your purpose and find a program which fits that.
skiracer -
What did you do in the gym today?
[quote]aeyogi wrote:
I borrowed a friend’s copy of Starting Strength; it has been a while, but my impression is that the book is written for athletes who are looking to gain strength for their sport, and was not written for bodybuilders or powerlifters.
Know your purpose and find a program which fits that.[/quote]
I agree that is its goal but its applicable to anyone who wants to know how to use a barbell because its mostly about technique. Looking at the contents pages, there are 284 pages describing how to squat, dl, bench, press, clean and assistance and only 20 pages on programming.
This means 94% is technique instruction for basic barbell exercises, 6% is programming.
[quote]Blackaggar wrote:
[quote]its_just_me wrote:
Bodybuilding would be a lot more straight forward if there weren’t people out there trying to blur the line all the time and turn things around just for the sake of being different.
I blame articles for this (all over the net). If the author has a clue to start with (not just a keyboard warrior regurgitating crap) they seem more interested in selling something, sounding smart, or being original (as if they’ve got to invent something). I understand that as a passion, trainers love to come up with new ideas etc, but it’s not always the best thing for newbies.
You wouldn’t have so many clueless ones around if they just asked all the big guys what to do and got a general consensus (and started listening to their own body instead of changing things all the time because they read it somewhere).[/quote]
Basically a lot of people would be better off if starting strength never existed[/quote]
I hadn’t even heard of starting strength until I joined this site. I remember seeing it recommended in a forum then went and looked up the program and was like “what the fuck?” Why? for the love of God why? is this such a staple???
More than the retardness of a beginner squatting 3x/week and the laughably low volume,there’s just 1 set of deadlifts??? What?
Just like avid followers of p90x, crossfit, and 5/3/1 the SS fan boys are a cult. I’ve talked to several college guys back when I was training at a commercial gym who follow SS, and literally every fuckin’ sentence about their training begins with the phrase, “Rippetoe says…”
/rant
…“there’s a million ways to skin a deer”…
What the hell is starting strength? It sounds gay
Have you heard of the teachings from hany rambod the procreator? Yes my brother…I bring to you the power of fst7…allow it to guide you
[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
What the hell is starting strength? It sounds gay
Have you heard of the teachings from hany rambod the procreator? Yes my brother…I bring to you the power of fst7…allow it to guide you[/quote]
fst-7 is 5 million times better then starting strength lol
from what i see with starting strength is that and correct me if im wrong because this is just how I see it im not saying its fact:
it relies on the weight gain to put the strength on the bar, not the programming.
What I mean is simply
If your training only 3x a week with a extremely low volume on low rep sets you will not be burning a lot of cals during this time, not even during the week if this is the only thing you do which is probably the case for a lot of people.
If you activity is low and your cramming 6000 calories a day which 2000 of them come from milk you will gain weight
when you gain weight your lifts go up.
I dont know i just think the program itself is garbage and the reason people add so much to their lifts is due to beginner gains and the inevitable weight gain - which a lot in a lot of cases ive seen on this site from ppl that use it is fat.
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
skiracer -
What did you do in the gym today?[/quote]
Back day:
Squats 5x5 @ 305lbs
Superset: 5 x chinups to max (5 first, 1 last)
High Pull 5 x 5 @ 135
3 circuits of: bent over bar rows x 6-10 / incline bench curls x 8-10 / Farmer’s Walk @ 70lbs / row grip cable pulldown x 10-15
Snatch-grip Platform Deadlift - 3x8 @225lbs
I also will never forget in the one riptoe article he says about having an ice chest? I forget exactly but i think he was saying, why do this when you can do THIS and have an ice chest! I dont know why but that cracked me up because
[quote]skiracer wrote:
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
skiracer -
What did you do in the gym today?[/quote]
Back day:
Squats 5x5 @ 305lbs
Superset: 5 x chinups to max (5 first, 1 last)
High Pull 5 x 5 @ 135
3 circuits of: bent over bar rows x 6-10 / incline bench curls x 8-10 / Farmer’s Walk @ 70lbs / row grip cable pulldown x 10-15
Snatch-grip Platform Deadlift - 3x8 @225lbs[/quote]
Squats on a back day?
I used the high pulls before but they got dangerous for me once i was using over 3 plates a side
I would change to - just a suggestion
Deadlifts
Pullups
Dumbbell/Barbell rows
[quote]Blackaggar wrote:
[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
What the hell is starting strength? It sounds gay
Have you heard of the teachings from hany rambod the procreator? Yes my brother…I bring to you the power of fst7…allow it to guide you[/quote]
fst-7 is 5 million times better then starting strength lol
from what i see with starting strength is that and correct me if im wrong because this is just how I see it im not saying its fact:
it relies on the weight gain to put the strength on the bar, not the programming.
What I mean is simply
If your training only 3x a week with a extremely low volume on low rep sets you will not be burning a lot of cals during this time, not even during the week if this is the only thing you do which is probably the case for a lot of people.
If you activity is low and your cramming 6000 calories a day which 2000 of them come from milk you will gain weight
when you gain weight your lifts go up.
I dont know i just think the program itself is garbage and the reason people add so much to their lifts is due to beginner gains and the inevitable weight gain - which a lot in a lot of cases ive seen on this site from ppl that use it is fat.[/quote]
A little piece of me inside dies everytime I read a newb tell another newb on the forums that “The program is DESIGNED to work only if you eat alot.”
Well, I think you just blew up that theory pretty definitively…lol. Of course you have to get fat to see your numbers go up, cuz the program sure as hell ain’t gonna do it. Personally, most of the guys I see using SS are the “I’m afraid of getting fat” crowd, so they don’t overeat and they stay quite weak.
[quote]jskrabac wrote:
[quote]Blackaggar wrote:
[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
What the hell is starting strength? It sounds gay
Have you heard of the teachings from hany rambod the procreator? Yes my brother…I bring to you the power of fst7…allow it to guide you[/quote]
fst-7 is 5 million times better then starting strength lol
from what i see with starting strength is that and correct me if im wrong because this is just how I see it im not saying its fact:
it relies on the weight gain to put the strength on the bar, not the programming.
What I mean is simply
If your training only 3x a week with a extremely low volume on low rep sets you will not be burning a lot of cals during this time, not even during the week if this is the only thing you do which is probably the case for a lot of people.
If you activity is low and your cramming 6000 calories a day which 2000 of them come from milk you will gain weight
when you gain weight your lifts go up.
I dont know i just think the program itself is garbage and the reason people add so much to their lifts is due to beginner gains and the inevitable weight gain - which a lot in a lot of cases ive seen on this site from ppl that use it is fat.[/quote]
Having actually done the program, I can assure you that setting a 3x5 PR 3 days per week on the squat rack is genuine ass-busting work. I don’t know how strong your constitution is, but there were plenty of sets where I HAD to sit down afterwards and I sure slept like a baby on that routine. I also lost 14 lbs., which probably means I lost 20ish lbs of fat since I definitely put muscle on my legs. My gripe is that it did nothing visually evident for my UPPER body. My measurements there didn’t budge. I’d quite frankly love to be the guy with the 495 lbs squat, and clearly a strength program is the fastest way to get there. But I sure as hell don’t want to be the guy squatting that who looks like a raw chicken wing up top. I don’t think Mr. Popular or any other intelligent body builder would tell a guy like me who is 34 and already too fat to pound 6000 calories/day. They’re saying to increase my PROTEIN intake while keeping a low-carb balanced diet with enough of all 3 fats to keep the hormone levels right.
Yes big fat dudes can lift more all else held equal and SS is a great system for getting your SQUAT up - but I don’t see it doing much for the other lifts unless you’re really starting form the hole.
5 million? I think you mean 7 million. The holiest of numbers.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that hitting a bodypart 4-5x/week (lower) versus 2-3x/week (upper) is going to make you grow out of proportion.
[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
Four months is a blink of an eye where physique transformation is concerned! Think ‘busting your ass’ for four years. [/quote]
[quote]4 months! WTF! This is a long game, think years, not months…
[/quote]
+1
If I had understand this back then, my first four years would’ve been so much better.
P.S. Blackaggar found another bandwagon hu? Big boy, with knowledge hu? Stop the prohormones please.
Starting Strength isn’t a problem, it’s been good for many. Sadly I’m one of those who went straight into “bodybuilding”.
[quote]Aaargh wrote:
[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
Four months is a blink of an eye where physique transformation is concerned! Think ‘busting your ass’ for four years. [/quote]
[quote]4 months! WTF! This is a long game, think years, not months…
[/quote]
+1
If I had understand this back then, my first four years would’ve been so much better.
P.S. Blackaggar found another bandwagon hu? Big boy, with knowledge hu? Stop the prohormones please.
Starting Strength isn’t a problem, it’s been good for many. Sadly I’m one of those who went straight into “bodybuilding”.[/quote]
EDIT:
Im actually going to put you on ignore lol im not feeding the troll
[quote]Aaargh wrote:
P.S. Blackaggar found another bandwagon hu? Big boy, with knowledge hu? Stop the prohormones please.[/quote]
It’s not really relevant, but I for the life of me am incapable of reading this without Stewie’s voice in my head saying it…
[quote]Aaargh wrote:
[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
Four months is a blink of an eye where physique transformation is concerned! Think ‘busting your ass’ for four years. [/quote]
[quote]4 months! WTF! This is a long game, think years, not months…
[/quote]
+1
If I had understand this back then, my first four years would’ve been so much better.
P.S. Blackaggar found another bandwagon hu? Big boy, with knowledge hu? Stop the prohormones please.
Starting Strength isn’t a problem, it’s been good for many. Sadly I’m one of those who went straight into “bodybuilding”.[/quote]
yup you’ve got the pics to show for it too…
OP I know you said you want to cut off some chub, but don’t make the mistake of not eating enough carbs to fuel your training sessions and then to aid recovery, especially on tough days like when you squat and pull. not being able to go balls out when you train will have you spinning your wheels.
have a look at training logs of people who have the same goal as you. look through threads about experienced members who have achieved real results (there are many in the BB section and in the stickies). start your own log if you haven’t already.
and don’t be afraid to take pics to track your progress and vids for form critique. the added accountability is a nice bonus.