Programming

What is Starting Strength?

Starting Strength is a book written by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. Within the book is a strength training program suited for beginners and newbies looking to become a bigger, stronger and more efficient athlete. Although the program was designed for young male athletes who were approaching weight training for the first time, the strength training concepts presented are applicable to anyone who wishes to get started on the right foot when pursuing the iron game.

Target Audience – Who will benefit from Starting Strength?

One word: Newbies.

Newbie – A novice, beginner, one that is new to something, in this case, strength training.

A newbie can be anyone, any gender, and any age. If one has never trained effectively to build strength and/or muscle mass, they are considered a beginner or a “newbie.” Some people believe they are past the beginner stage because they have “been in the gym” for a certain length of time, BUT if they still have not made much progress in terms of strength gains or muscle mass gains, they are still a beginner and can benefit from the simple and effective programming Starting Strength presents.

Why Is Starting Strength so effective?

The test of time is the reason Starting Strength has been successfully making people very strong for many, many years. The beginners program is solely focused on a handful of compound exercises. Focusing on a few exercises takes the guesswork out of the programming. If one focuses purely on the compound lifts presented in the book while following the programming as outlined, the success rate of the individual making great strength gains is very promising.

What if I (the newbie) want to add extra exercises?

My advice is DO NOT add anything extra, unless you want mediocre results. Newbies are famous for wanting to make their workout routines complicated in hopes of structuring a plan that will make them look like their favorite bodybuilders. While their intentions are great, their inexperience and lack of knowledge almost always fails to serve them. When one is new to training, it’s important to listen to those with more knowledge and who have successfully been through the beginner stage. Therefore, it is wise to listen to your coach or in most cases, the more experienced friend/mentor who has successfully been through beginner strength training programs.

The Basic Starting Strength Workout

Novice Program

Workout A

3×5 Squat
3×5 Bench Press
1×5 Deadlift

Workout B

3×5 Squat
3×5 Overhead Press
5×3 Power cleans

The Starting Strength model utilizes a frequency of 3 times per week emphasizing training on non-consecutive days. DO NOT workout 2 days in a row as your recovery will suffer, and will not allow for maximal gains in strength and lean body mass. To make this simple, I will write it out for you in a 2 week block example.

Week 1

Monday – Workout A

Wednesday – Workout B

Friday – Workout A

Week 2

Monday – Workout B

Wednesday – Workout A

Friday – Workout B

That’s it. Plain and simple. One is performing a total of 5 exercises: Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Overhead Press and Power Cleans. Do not add anymore compounds or accessory exercises to it. However, Rippetoe does suggest that if power cleans are deemed unsafe or impractical, bent over rows can be substituted. So, if this is the case, you have an alternate program.

Alternate Novice Program

Workout A

3×5 Squat
3×5 Bench Press
1×5 Deadlift

Workout B

3×5 Squat
3×5 Overhead Press
3×5 Bent Over Rows

This is the beginners program I suggest due to the fact that most of the newbies I work with are not competitive athletes, therefore the power clean is not necessarily a practical movement. Eliminating the power clean also reduces their risk of injury since they most likely will not have a coach checking and correcting their power clean form often.

Nutrition on Starting Strength

If calories are not taken care of, your hard work will be in vain. If you want to get bigger and stronger, it’s imperative to consume a ton of food. Aim for 15-20 x bodyweight in calories depending on your activity level. If you are a skinny person who is constantly on the go, aim for the higher end of the spectrum. You may even have to eat more than 20 x bodyweight in calories to make the gains you desire. If you are a sedentary individual, you will likely be fine with slightly fewer calories. I have heard of young newbies on this program downing a gallon of whole milk every day, along with 3-4 large meals. This is not a bad idea, and will provide sufficient calories to drive bodyweight upwards as well as support strength and size gains. For more about sufficient calorie intake, I give some general guidelines in my 10 Tips to Build Muscle article.

My Thoughts on Starting Strength

First of all, the credit for this information is due to Mark Rippetoe for developing such an effective program. I can speak for the effectiveness of the programming as I have been through it first hand. I began Starting Strength when I was training for competitive football in jr. high school. I was 14 at the time, and used similar programming all the way throughout high school. By my senior year, I weighed about 180lbs, was squatting and deadlifting with offensive lineman that outweighed me by 40-60lbs. Starting Strength works IF one will make a decision to follow the program as presented. Remember to eat too.

To learn more about Starting Strength and Mark Rippetoe, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Starting Strength.

What do you think about Starting Strength? Have you used this program with success?

An overview of Hypertrophy Specific Training

Hypertrophy Specific Training is a bodybuilding program with a sole focus on muscle gains as opposed to strength gains. I am not saying that gaining strength isn’t necessary in the muscle building process, but the main goal of this type of programming is to maximize hypertrophy.

Bryan Haycock is the author and founder of this training method. He first wrote an article for ThinkMuscle in 2000 about a method, backed by research, he believed would yield the best possible gains in muscle mass. Shortly after, the readers of the ThinkMuscle newsletter had begun testing his methods and getting results. In 2002, he started his website Hypertrophy-Specific.com. Through his site, he provides a detailed description of the HST principles, articles, supplements, and a message board for trainees to ask questions and interact with others in the bodybuilding community.

– What are the HST Principles? -

Mechanical Load

Simply, without getting into a bunch of scientific jargon, weight bearing exercise increases activity within a muscle cell making them sensitive to incoming nutrients for repair. This usually peaks somewhere in the 36 hour period post training via protein synthesis and then returns to normal. If training intensity is managed, and fatigue of the CNS is prevented, one will be able to train again in about 48 hours or so.

Acute vs. Chronic Stimuli

The main idea here is to provide more opportunities for growth via more frequent training sessions. Your typical bodybuilding split consists of working 1 muscle group (usually 12-15 sets per session) 1x per week and resting 5-6 days before repeating the process. Using the HST method, you will training a body part 3x per week whilst staying within the same amount of volume (or slightly less) of a typical bodybuilding body part split routine. By training in this fashion, you are given 3 opportunities per week to grow as opposed to just 1 opportunity. Since protein synthesis returns to baseline in about 36 hours (some variance for level of trainee), and a muscle can recover in about 2 days time, training a muscle group with a low to moderate amount of volume is possible and very effective. Of course the intensity MUST be managed carefully due to an inability to fully recover in between sessions. The consensus here is that the more taxing a training session is on the CNS, the more time needed for optimum recovery. Therefore, this is the reasoning to focus on sub maximal loads.

Progressive Load

This one is simple; if you aren’t adding weight to the bar over time, you most likely aren’t going to make the best possible muscle gains. This principle is especially true for natural trainees. When steroids are added to the mix, things can get really complicated in terms of what it actually takes to produce gains in muscle mass. So make sure that your training is effective in terms of consistent strength gains. Keep a log book to check progress.

Strategic Deconditioning

This is a period of time where one takes a planned break from training. The HST guys recommend 9-12 days after 6-8 weeks of focused training. The reasoning behind the deconditioning is to allow just enough time for some reversal of the adaptations that took place during the last 8 weeks of training, those adaptations being strength gains as well as muscle mass gains. After returning to training, one will obviously be detrained to some extent, and will most likely be unable to use their previous maximal loads they achieved during their last week of training. In theory, this will enable one continued growth whilst consistently using sub maximal loads.

A glance at the HST Bodybuilding Programming

3 full body workouts per week.
3 non consecutive training days.
rest on the off days,or do some brief low intensity cardio.
total of 9-12 sets/week for large muscle groups.
total of 3-6 sets/week for smaller muscle groups.
use compound exercises to maximize the overall load on the muscles.

Using this method, one must add weight to the bar every workout, therefore it is important to know your current 15, 10, 5 rep maxes and adjust your workouts accordingly.

Training can be grouped into 6 to 8 week cycles. 2 weeks of 15 reps, 2 weeks of 10 reps, 2 weeks of 5 reps, then another 2 weeks at 5 reps or negative work. The training phase is followed by a strategic deconditioning period, then for the next scheduled 6-8 week cycle, add 5 to 10lbs to each lift respectively.

Below is a look at what the second 2 weeks of what a Hypertrophy Training cycle looks like.

You can read more in depth about Hypertrophy Specific Training by going to the HST website.

Have you used HST? How did it work for you? Do you still use these principles in your bodybuilding training?

Starting Strength