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VII. Will This Program Meet My Goals? Part 2

Question - Will this help me get built like Brad Pitt in Fight Club? Will this help me look like an Abercrombie model?

It depends. If you are a skinny bastard, then yes, this will help. If you are a chubby hubby who is already bulbous, then chances are good you won't ever achieve the lean, angular look of Brad Pitt because you simply aren't built that way. Anna Nicole Smith can diet and liposuction herself to her heart's content, but she'll never be built like Charlize Theoren. If you're a big husky fellow, embrace your inner oaf and stop trying to look like Brad Pitt.

Besides, if you succeed, you might end up with half a dozen adopted children from all corners of the globe.

Question - Wouldn't a 3 or 4-day split work better than this? Don't you need more recovery?

A 3 or 4-day split won't work better for a novice.
It might work better for an intermediate, but probably not.
It probably would work better for an advanced trainee.
It definitely would work better for a bodybuilder preparing for a competition.

Let's look at a typical 4-day split.

Day 1 - Chest/triceps
Day 2 - Back/biceps
Day 3 - Delts/traps/forearms
Day 4 - Legs
Day 5 - off

So in the course of a 15-day period of time, using a 4-day split you would train 12 days, rest 3 days, and squat, bench, row, and deadlift 3x.
Using the Rippetoe novice program, you would train 6 days, rest 8 days, squat 6 times, and bench, row and deadlift 3x.

So you end up training 2x as many days, So you squat half as often and you bench, row, and deadlift the same number of times. Yet you end up training 2x as many days (12 versus 6) and you rest less than 1/2 as often (8 days versus 3).

As a novice, you will need the extra rest times for recovery, especially if you are to maintain consistent progress on the benchmark exercises. Someone more experienced and better conditioned with a barbell will have much greater success with a split-type program than the novice.

Was Mike Mentzer right when he said that HIT is the best way to train? Wouldn't HIT be best for a beginner?

No, and no.

HIT is completely wrong for a novice. In fact, it's the exact OPPOSITE of what a novice needs.

1) HIT relies on failure training. A novice lacks the ability to focus himself so that he can train with the necessary intensity, and he lacks the technique mastery of the exercises to train to failure safely.

2) HIT relies on very brief, infrequent training. There is a certain amount of skill and neuromuscular coordination necessary in order to do the exercises properly. If you wanted to learn how to play the piano, would you practice your chords once per week for 20 minutes at a time, or would you do it more frequently for longer periods of time?

By the same token, how will you learn to do squats properly? By doing warmups and 3 sets of 5 reps, 3x per week? Or would you learn faster by doing 1 set this week, then 1 set the next week?

If you are an experienced trainee, and you want to give HIT a try, then go for it. It tends to work for people who have been overzealous for a long period of time, and even then, it isn't working because HIT is a great program, it's working because HIT is serving as a deload from the higher volume training that increased fitness in the first place.

Question - Pros don't train this way. Ronnie Coleman doesn't and neither does Ed Coan. What makes this so good, and why don't pro's train this way?

Comparisons from one person to another form the basis of all lifting sports. A bodybuilder compares himself to Mr. Olympia, a powerlifter compares himself to the record holder in the squat, Olympic lifters compare themselves to the best at their weight division, etc. For an experienced lifter, comparisons can be beneficial in this respect, as they can provide motivation and a tangible, obvious (although sometimes mobile) goal.

What is NOT beneficial is for a young, novice trainee to compare him or herself to the self-same Mr. Olympia or champion powerlifter/weightlifter/strongman. Why?

1) Do you have the same pharmaceutical regimen as the professional you are comparing yourself to? Their ability to recover will be greatly enhanced because of the almighty "better living through chemistry". If you aren't living better via chemistry, then you simply cannot do what they do and expect it to be beneficial.

2) Do you have the same training experience that the professional does? They've been training awhile, they have learned how their body reacts, and chances are good they have professional assistance as far as nutritionists and trainers who can assist them. They know exactly how THEIR body will respond. You do not know how your body will respond, because you have not trained anywhere near long enough or hard enough to have a clue. Most of you will not have a trainer, or at least a knowledgeable trainer, so there is no way you could possibly juggle all the variables of a complex workout scheme by yourself.

3) Do you have the same genetics that the professional has? Not everyone can be Michael Jordan no matter how much they practice basketball. Not everyone can be Alfred Einstein, no matter how much they study. Not everyone can deadlift like Ed Coan, no matter how much or how hard you train. Chances are good that you won't be able to use the same training program that a professional uses, even if #1 and #2 above are identical to the pro. You simply don't have the genetic makeup. If you do, you will most likely find that EVERYTHING works for you, and then it won't matter much what workout program you choose.

What this boils down to is that a novice or beginner does NOT need to train the way a professional does. Not only would it not benefit you, it will probably HINDER your progress. Many a newb has attempted to do the infamous Arnold Schwarzenegger double-split workout, and has gotten buried within 2 weeks, despite the best intentions and nutrition.

When you start off, you are FAR away from your genetic potential. As a result, the need for training complexity is rock bottom, and your rate of growth and development will be sky high. As you progress toward your genetic potential, your gains will slow down drastically, and the need for complexity in your training will increase just as drastically.

Take advantage of the "novice" status and use the simplest program, as the simplest program will yield the best results for you. Later on, when you know your body better and you have developed the conditioning and knowledge to make significant adjustments to your training, you can do so in a much more informed state of mind and a much better physically conditioned state.

Should I do WS4SB, WS4BB, 5x5 intermediate, 5x5 advanced, HST, HIT, or Rippetoe?

That depends. Rippetoe's "well-known" programs are designed specifically for novice and intermediate trainees. Both 5x5 linear/intermediate and HST make for natural progressions of what Rippetoe uses for his programs. WS4SB has a variety of somewhat technical and sport-specific training methods which may or may not suit your goals (And may or may not be unnecessarily esoteric). HIT...well...HIT might work for you if you have very very poor recovery, or if you are using bodybuilding pharmaceuticals, but I wouldn't count on it. WS4BB is an advanced program only, and it is recommended that you run a 5x5 advanced first, as it is also a relatively high volume training routine.

Beginners and early intermediates should stick with the Rippetoe programs. Intermediates can start to use the 5x5 intermediate, HST, or WS4SB, or one of the variations I describe in Section III - Programming. Advanced trainees can modify HST to suit their needs, or they can try the 5x5 advanced or the WS4BB. If you want to use WS4BB, then you shouldn't need to ask questions on it. If you have to ask questions, then chances are good you aren't ready for it.

Question - Can I do (exercises) on the off days?

No.

Your "off days" are just that...they are "off days". They are necessary for growth. If you are so advanced that you think your arms, abs and traps are "weak points", then you shouldn't be doing this program.

But realistically speaking, your arms aren't "weak points", your ENTIRE BODY is a weak point. So train your entire body. Once you have developed your entire body and made some progress in strength and overall muscular bodyweight, then start worrying about minutae.

Does Rippetoe's novice program work my inner pecs and 'teh biceps peek'

This is a novice program. As such, there is no "bodypart specialization". You can't work your "inner pecs" because you don't have ANY pecs. Similarly, your biceps peak is lacking because you can't have a peak in your biceps if you have no biceps.

If you are developed enough to be able to honestly assess that your biceps peak is weak relative to the rest of your biceps, or that your inner pecs are lagging, then you need to use a more advanced program.

Chances are good, however, that you simply need to add muscular bodyweight in order to bring up your "inner pecs and teh bicept p3ak"

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VII. Will This Program Meet My Goals? Part 3

Question - I'm 15 years old, 5'11, 135 lbs. Will this program help me build up teh bicept p33k?

Kid, you weigh less than my left ass cheek. Worry less about your biceps peak and more about putting on some muscular bodyweight. Even if you develop a pair of 15-inch "guns", you will look like a skinny geek when you put a t-shirt on. You will have outstanding success by putting on 20-30 lbs of muscle. Your shoulders and back will fill out, your chest will bulge, and lo' and behold, your arms will grow as well!

At 135 lbs, you don't need to worry about your peak. Your biceps peak isn't your weak point, your entire body is your weak point. Train with that in mind.

If you simply must Must MUST have a biceps peak above all else, then I suggest you do the following workout:

5 sets barbell curls
5 sets DB curls
5 sets concentration curls
5 sets spider curls
5 sets EZ bar curls
5 sets Hammer Curls
5 sets Incline curls

do this workout 3x daily for the next month, and don't bother me until you're done with the entire month. Now go away.

and stay the hell out of the squat rack while you're doing your curls, mmmmkay?

Question - How can I get big only doing 3 exercises per day? Where is all the isolation work?

How many exercises are necessary to get big? Is it advantageous to do more of a less-effective exercise, or is it advantageous to focus on the most effective exercises?

The gyst of this routine is three-fold

1) Focus your efforts each day where they provide the most "bang for the buck" - i.e. each day, focus on the squat, a press, and a pull from the floor

2) Add weight to the bar and get stronger in those exercises gradually, and you will get big and strong all over your body

3) By learning only a few exercises rather than several exercises, you can progress toward mastery of those exercises more rapidly because your attention isn't divided.

Isolation work is added later in the program, once a base mastery of the truly important "benchmarks" has occured. Anything that takes focus off of the main exercises, or slows progress on the main exercises, is "bad". Anything (legal, moral, and healthy) that helps advance progress on the main exercises is "good". If isolations don't help advance progress, then they are "bad". Since most novices lack the conditioning and the discipline to incorporate isolation exercises into their program without significant amounts of supervision, isolation exercises, for the rankest novice, are "bad", generally for the first week or three.

There is nothing inherently evil or immoral about isolation exercises. In order to obtain a fully developed physique, isolation exercises are not only desirable, but necessary. However, the novice is nowhere near having a "fully developed physique", so this point is moot.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe, pg. 114, Practical Programming
Since the trainee is both inefficient and unadapted, only a few basic exercises should be used, and they should be repeated frequently to establish the basic motor pathways and basic strength....(the) core strength and power exercises develop the foundation of strength and motor control that will allow for later inclusions of more technically demanding exercises, because they utilize all the muscles in the same coordinated fashion that more advanced exercises do

Does this program have enough hamstring work? What about traps and forearms? And what about teh bicepts?

Hamstrings are addressed directly with the deep, full squat. When you lower your hips while maintaining an upright torso position such as in the full squat, your pelvic girdle will pull the hamstrings into a nice stretch. This will elicit an incredibly powerful contraction of the hamstrings at the bottom of the full squat, and in fact, once you go past parallel, your hamstrings take on a very large share of the load, both in hip extension as well as knee joint stabilization. Additionally, all pulls from the floor will activate the hamstrings to some degree from significant (Deadlifts) to moderate (cleans/rows)

Traps and forearms both will get hit hard and heavy during deadlifts, cleans and rows. Traps get additional work from overhead presses as well as squats (gotta hold that bar on the traps!)

Teh bicept gets hit from the rows, as well as chinups. Some people will develop elbow flexor strength and size pretty rapidly from the rows and chins. Others will find they need direct work. Direct biceps work is added in somewhere around the 3rd or 4th week, so don't fret, you'll be able to do your precious curls soon enough.

VIII. General Weight Training Questions, Part 1

Question - Do I really need to squat if my legs are already big?

First off, 3/4 of the people who ask this question are pussies. Don't be afraid of the squat. Learn to embrace it.

Having said that, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and we'll assume you are part of the 1/4 that isn't afraid of the squat. Determine what your goals are. If you want to get as big as possible, all over, then you will most definitely want to become a master of the squat. Your physical structure might not be ideal for the squat. You may have zero aspirations of becoming a powerlifting squat champion. You might not really give a flying fig how much you squat.

But if you SERIOUSLY want to be as large as you possibly can, all over, then yes, you will squat, even if you already have big legs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe, page 19
There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand nd toughness, and overall systemic conditioning as the correctly performed full squat.

Squats spur full body growth when combined with full body training much better than full body training without squats.

If you want to look like some Abercrombie model, then find another program and enjoy your nice, easy training style. If you are serious about adding muscle to your frame, then get under the damn bar and make it happen.

Question - Why do the Bally's trainers tell me that this Rippetoe thing is a fad?

Because the majority of Bally's physical trainers are clueless. This isn't a "Bally's" thing as much as it is a "commercial gym fitness trainer" thing. Some of the trainers are incredibly developed and very knowledgeable. They have a serious interest in fitness, and weight training specifically. They have done their homework and have practical as well as book experience that they use in their training methodologies.

They are the exception rather than the rule, however. Honestly, consider the source. A nationally known and world published trainer who has been lifting weights, training people, and running a weightlifting center for 3 decades probably knows more than the guy who took a class, studied for a few hours, and got some type of basic "athletic certification".

If you are a trainer at 24-hour Fitness or whatever and you take your job seriously, don't get your panties in a wad, save the hatemail, keep the flames to yourself. Instead of getting pissed at me, take some time to increase the competence and knowledge of your coworkers, because they are mostly idiots.

Question - What do "sets across", "pyramiding" and "ramping" mean?

Sets across is a method of weight progression where all work sets are done with the same weight for the same repetition # during a given session. i.e. "3x5x225" means you do 3 sets of 5 repetitions per set with 225 lbs for all of your work sets. This method tends to be very effective at both strength and muscle mass accumulation. The volume allows for mass accumulation and the repetitions, if low enough, provide for good strength development.

Ramping is a method of weight progression where all work sets are done with the same # of repetitions, while the weight increases. For example, "315x3x5 ramped" means you will do 3 ramped sets of 5, with 315 being the heaviest weight you ramped up to.

i.e.

bar x 5 = warmup
135 x 5 = warmup
185 x 5 = warmup
225 x 5 = warmup

255 x 5 = ramp set
285 x 5 = ramp set
315 x 5 = ramp set

Notice that the lightest "ramp" set is still heavy enough to get a training affect, as it is 80% of the 5-RM (more on RM and its uses in the "Programming" section). The idea is to ensure you get to a nice heavy weight at the end of the ramping, but to use moderate weights and reps to get a bit of volume for workload increases and mass accumulation.

Pyramiding is an old-school bodybuilding type weight progression scheme where you start with a lighter weight and do a bunch of reps, then gradually increase the weight while lowering the reps. Its effectiveness is entirely dependent upon your goals and your exact methodology.

1 method of pyramiding for a bodybuilder, used as an example:

Warmups, then...

225 x 12
245 x 10
260 x 8
265 x 4
270 x 1 or 2

Note that the 12, 10 and 8-rep sets essentially obliterate the trainee, and that 2 more sets are performed, but with notably submaximal intensity (%age of 1-RM)? Since "heavy/hard" 8-12 rep sets are good for mass building, a good pump will occur, and the trainee will make some size gains for a period of time, but without some volume/intensity manipulation (or proper chemical assistance), the trainee will quickly stall on a program such as this. It can be VERY effective for periods of time, especially for well-trained individuals, but frequently the training emphasis ends up being placed on the lighter weights and higher reps, which burns the trainee out, rendering their last few sets too light to be of real use.

In many cases, a better way would be to do your warmups, then

275 x 8
255 x 10
225 x 12, 10

Notice that in the 2nd method of weight progression, the total workload is higher, the # of reps performed above 75% of 1-RM (Which could be estimated to be 315~325ish here) is much higher. The maximal 8-rep set is only 260 in the 1st progression method, and tops out at 270 for a rep or 2. A total of 3 sets are performed in the target rep zone of 8-12, and they are performed with less weight. In the 2nd method, more sets with notably more weight are performed in the target rep zone of 8-12 because fatigue is less of a limiting factor.

It simply makes more sense to train heavy when you are at your strongest, and as you fatigue, use less weight. The 2nd method is frequently referred to as "reverse pyramiding". You may also hear reference to "down sets", "burn sets", or "back off sets" to describe the lighter sets performed after the top weight.

Question - I want to setup a home weight room for my son (or for me) in my garage, so I can do this program. What do I need?

1) A power rack - get one that has solid spotter pins as well as easily adjustable, well-constructed J-hooks to hold the bar in the rack. Preferably, get one with a chinup/pullup bar attached. It should be at least 2" tubing, and the holes should be spaced no more than 2" apart. Some very nice racks, especially those made by Williams (sold at EliteFTS.com) have 1" spacing in the bench press area, which can also be useful, as well as costly.

2) An adjustable bench - This specific program doesn't require any adjustments of the bench because you will only do flat benches and standing presses during the novice stage. As you advance, however, an adjustable bench will be very useful. Make sure the bench isn't "wobbly" in the decline or incline position, and that it locks solidly into place at any angle. Ensure that several angles are useable, and for maximum value, ensure that the bench can be set to a completely vertical upright position for use as a seated overhead press seat. If you have the space and the cash, get multiple fixed angle benches. Start off with the flat bench, and as you advance in your training, pick up a seat, a low incline, and a decline.

3) Iron 300-lb barbell set. This is pretty standard, it contains a basic 84" 45-lb bar, a pair of 45s, 35s, 25s, and 10s, 2 pairs of 5s, and a pair of 2.5s. This is not an industrial strength barbell set, it is a basic beginner's barbell set, and will serve it's purpose for at least a year for most people, several years for others. The bar will eventually bend, and you will want to invest in a quality bar. In the meantime, weigh the plates once you get them to make sure they are accurate. If you are going to be performing olympic lifts, then prepare to spend the $$$ on a quality Olympic set with bumper plates. They are expensive, yet they are completely indispensible and necessary for the aspiring O-lifter.

4) Flooring - A few layers of plywood covered with a heavy floor matting will go a long way toward preserving your garage floor. It is also helpful to have several cheaper "singles", pieces of floor that you can move around and position to provide additional protection, especially where the plates touch the floor on deadlifts, cleans and rows.

5) Plate racks - best bet is to pick up 2 A-frame types, and keep one on either side of the rack with one of each pair of weights you have on each A-frame.

6) If you end up buying a few bars (trap bar, Safety Squat bar, curl bar, triceps bar, basic Olympic bar), then get yourself a bar rack as well. Bars and plates lying around your gym are dangerous.

7) Chalk - don't ask. Just buy it. You can get a chalk tray if you like for convenience sake, or you can just toss it into a Tupperware container.

VIII. General Weight Training Questions, Part 2

Question - How much does the bar weigh?

The basic 84" (7-foot) Olympic bar will weigh 45 lbs. The variation that typically comes with metric weights is going to be 20kg (44 lbs)

Curl bars, triceps bars, fat/thick bars, Safety Squat bars, trap bars, etc. all vary greatly in weight, so you are best served by weighing them yourself.

Question - Will this program help me punch harder, I want to be a UFC champion?

Learning to punch harder is as much a function of technique as it is pure physical strength. This program will make you strong. If you are extremely strong, but your punching technique sucks, then you will punch like an oversized puffball, but you'll look pretty strong doing it.

Strength is always a good thing, and assuming you know how to punch properly, then this program can help you punch harder simply by making your muscles stronger.

Question - I bench more than I squat or deadlift. Is this okay, or is this weird?

Yes, it is weird, but it is not all that uncommon. The bench and curl jockey mentality that pervades the typical youth culture certainly lends itself to greater development of that associated musculature despite the inherent relative weakness of the pectoral girdle and elbow flexors/extensors when compared to the hips and legs. I mean, when people say "make a muscle", they don't mean "flex your hamstrings".

Evenly developed people have a stronger deadlift than squat, and their deadlift and squat is much higher than their bench press. If you can bench more in skivvies and a t-shirt than you can deadlift or squat, then you have some serious muscular imbalances. This program will help you correct your weirdness.

Question - Should I work out in the morning, in the afternoon or the evening?

This is going to vary from person to person. There is a bit of evidence that suggests weight training is ideal in the later morning/early afternoon timeframe, especially for adults in their 30s or older, but I would worry less about this and more about what works better for you. Some people train best on a stomach without much food, others train best with several meals in their bellies. You need to find out what works in with your time schedule and your meal planning best.

Question - I'm sore after my first workout, should I skip the next workout?

No, assuming the soreness is basic muscle soreness. If the soreness was felt during or immediately after the training session, then seek medical advice because you might have an injury. If, however, the soreness didn't seem to be problematic until several (i.e. at least 8-12) hours after the training session, then it is probably Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). A good (and common) indicator is that you feel fine when you go to bed, and wake up the next morning with a serious tightness in the muscle that hurts (yet feels good) as you stretch.

DOMS is very common, especially upon the initial undertaking of a training program. Since the volume on the Starting Strength program is quite reasonable, it is almost guaranteed that the soreness isn't actual serious damage. Just continue to work through it for the first several workouts. Chances are good that after the first weekend of rest, you will be fine. In fact, training through the moderate soreness you should feel after the first few workouts will help condition you so that DOMS isn't such a problem after future workouts. The soreness is merely your body's way of saying "you were a Nintendo-playing couch potato for too long."

Interestingly enough, skipping workouts due to DOMS is a GREAT way to guarantee you will continue to get sore after your training.

Train through the basic DOMS. If you have acute, severe DOMS which interferes with basic ROM, then that is a case-by-case basis that needs direct, rather than indirect (via the internet) attention and advisement.

Question - My doctor says that I'm too young to lift weights, and that it'll stunt my growth. Is this true?

Yes, it is true, weight training in youths causes the stunting of the youth's growth...if, by "stunting of growth", you mean "will help the youth develop thicker, denser, stronger bones, muscles and connective tissue."

Weight training will not stunt your growth. This myth arises from a few poorly conceived, poorly conducted studies which demonstrated that some young weight trainees suffered from fractures "related" to weight training.

What they neglected to mention is that almost all cases were the results of unsupervised, excessive loading and poor technique.

So essentially, these studies demonstrated that using too much weight and poor technique can cause injuries in adolescents....
just like it does in adults.

As long as the training is supervised by a competent (And preferably knowledgeable and sensible) adult, incidences of injury are very infrequent when compared to other youth sports, such as football, soccer, basketball and track and field.

Question - I can squat a lot more than I deadlift, and I've done both for awhile. What should I do?

Squat deeper! Unless you are a mutant with stumps for arms or tiny hands, you should be able to deadlift more than you squat after a significant period of training on both lifts.

Assuming your technique on both lifts is fine (this is rarely the case, it's almost always due to poor squat depth), examine what your weakpoints are in the deadlift, and you can make adjustments from there.

If you are weak immediately off the floor, you might notice that after a few reps of a lighter weight, your hands start sliding around. If this is true, then you need to use a mixed grip (one overhand - pronated, one underhand - supinated), and get yourself some chalk. Your body will not pull from the ground what your hands cannot grip securely. Your body will sense the "weak" grip, and your hips and legs simply will not fire optimally, and the bar will sit there on the ground.

For a good demonstration of this, find a weight that is about 5 lbs more than your max deadlift with a double-overhand, chalkless grip. Chalk up, use a mixed grip, and notice how easily you rip it from the ground.

If you notice your lower back rounds frequently, then you need to lower the weight a bit, using a weight that does NOT cause your lower back to round, and get some training volume in so that your lower back gets stronger and becomes conditioned.

The lower back MUST stay contracted solidly, so that your upper body can remain stiff and rigid, thereby transferring power from the hips to the bar. Power has to go through the body, and if the body simply isn't rigid, then power transfer will not occur, and the lift will fail. Your knees will end up locking out, and your hips will fail miserably at trying to lift the weight via your flimsy upper body.

Oh yeah, you can also cripple yourself by destroying your spinal disks.

For more information, get Starting Strength and read up on the deadlift and squat chapters. There are 84 pages dedicated to the performance and execution of these 2 lifts alone, so I won't attempt to reproduce it here. Don't be a cheap bastard, go buy the book.

Question - I can lift <this many> pounds. Is that good for my age, height, weight, sex, experience and astrological sign?

Go here and see where you rank.

What should I do if I have to skip a workout?

Don't. The workout takes ~45 minutes. You'll spend more time watching TV than that today, so don't blow off your workout ya lazy sack a beans!

If missing a workout is unavoidable, then it is unavoidable. Push that training session to the next possible day. Hit it up, and no more excuses for missing a workout! The most important factor in training for beginners is CONSISTENCY.

Question - Should I do a "deload"/"active rest"/"cruise" period after 6 weeks on this program?

No. Stay with this program for as long as it works. Once your lifts all stall, you will reset your lifts and continue on again until you have to reset once again.

Reset no more than 2x before you begin to make adjustments to your training, discussed extensively in Section III - Programming, as well as Practical Programming

Question - How do I know if I am overtraining? When should I deload?

Overtraining is one of the most misunderstood phenomena in all of weight training. Overtraining is a SYSTEMIC event, not a local one. You won't overtrain if you do biceps every day. You will overtrain if, over a period of weeks, you train so hard for so long that your body gets overcome by fatigue and you are unable to recover from your training.

Symptoms of overtraining vary widely from person to person. Severe appetite and energy drops are probably the most common. Aches, fatigue, restless sleep, muscles that always feel fatigued, odd body temperature (odd compared to what you are normally), etc.

For me, I know it's time to deload when I don't want to eat. For you, it might be different.

Remember, it takes SEVERAL WEEKS of hard training before overtraining can possibly occur, and for a beginner, the chances of overtraining on this program are almost 0. You simply will not be lifting enough weight to truly tax your system. You will end up resetting a few times and cycling off of this program before you will overtrain from it.

VIII. General Weight Training Questions, Part 3

Question - Does this program build mass, or does it only add strength?

The bodybuilding magazine world is wrought with huge, vascular, "pumped up" fellows with bulging musculature, ripped abs and pecs, and enormously wide delts and backs. Yet there seems to be a disconnect between the size of their muscles and the amount of weights some of them move. Unfortunately, common sense takes a back seat to fantasy and silliness, and the result is that the novice trainee sees the pro on the cover of a magazine and now believes that he can get "big and hyooj" without making progress in their strength. This is a fallacy, for several reasons.

First, we must define what a "bigger muscle" is. Your muscle, after a workout, is probably slightly bigger than it was when you started the workout. Think about what happens when someone does a few sets of curls, his biceps looks bigger. This happens for a variety of reasons, but for simplicity's sake, we'll just deal with the increased blood flow. That is "the pump" that has been discussed elsewhere. Intermediate trainees know this all too well, and they flaunt it to best advantage. Some keep light dumbbells in the back seats of their cars, and prior to encountering members of the opposite sex (or perhaps the same sex, depending upon which side of the plate they swing from), they will do some "pump sets" to make themselves look nice and 'swole'. However, this effect is short-lived, just as the flushing of your face from a hard workout is short-lived. It does not represent true "muscular size".

For our purposes, we will define 'a bigger muscle' simply as increased muscle tissue. It is beyond the scope of this discussion to detail the difference between myofibrillar hypertrophy and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, except to say that additional myofibrillar hypertrophy is what results in "more muscle tissue", and is the type of size that causes the majority of muscular size and density in the vast majority of Homo sapiens sapiens. This is the type of growth we concern ourselves with. In the future, you can concern yourself with sarcoplasmic hypertrophy when you have been training for, perhaps, a year(ish). But for the novice, you need to understand that you MUST get stronger in order to get bigger.

Why do I need to get strong, I don't care about strong, I care about mass. Ronnie Coleman is bigger than the powerlifters, strength isn't really necessary, is it?

I'll make this as brief as possible.

1) The majority of powerlifters need to eat somewhat limited/controlled calories because they want to remain in their weight class for competition. They want to be as strong as possible while minimizing their overall bodyweight. As such, they eat with this in mind.

2) Lean muscularity coupled with vascularity and small joints creates the illusion of much greater muscular size, whereas smooth musculature and large joints create the illusion of much less muscular size. This is ESPECIALLY prominent in pictures, so bodybuilders, even if they have much less muscle mass than powerlifters, frequently look more "jacked".

3) The type of person who is going to be extremely successful in powerlifting will have very specific structural "abnormalities". Great deadlifters will have longer arms, great squatters and deadlifters will have shorter legs, great benchers will have shorter arms, etc. What is a guarantee is that a champion powerlifter will have a large, blocky waist and thick joint structure. A bodybuilder will have a smaller, more wasp-like waist, coupled with much smaller joints.

4) Powerlifters are frequently endomorphs with some mesomorph tendencies. As such, they will respond to training much more differently than the average bodybuilders, whose body has to be adaptable to losing bodyfat easily and rapidly.

Moral of the story? Don't compare powerlifters to bodybuilders. If you add 50 lbs to your bench without changing your technique, do you honestly think you won't have thicker pecs, delts and triceps?

On a side note, the last 2 Olympias, Dorian and Ronnie, are (or were) widely considered the strongest high-level bodybuilders of their respective times. By now, you've probably seen Ronnie's 800-lb back squat and deadlift, his 585x6 front squat, his 200x12 DB press, his 495 x 10 barbell rows...that is strength.

"Strength" != "1-rep max". Don't get them confused. "Stronger" means that your muscles can move more weight for any given rep range than they could before.

Question - I have injuries, can I do this program?

Under no circumstances should ANYTHING I say be construed as medical advice. The only real advice I'll give you is to find a competent physical therapist/orthopedic/sports medicine doc who lifts weights. If the doc doesn't lift weights, I guarantee that he will give some retarded diagnosis because he probably still thinks creatine is poison and that lifting will stunt your growth.

With that said, if you have injuries, then don't do stuff that hurts your injury, simple as that. Don't "train through the injury", because you'll only make it worse. Get fixed, do a thorough rehab, and THEN think about your training routine.

If you are injured, you work AROUND the injury, not through it.

Question - I don't have a spotter, can I still do this program? What can I do?

A power cage is the answer. Spend 5 minutes during your warmups checking how deep you go on your squats and presses, and set the spotter pins accordingly. Just about any workout is very do-able without a spotter, if you have a power rack. Lack of a spotter is frequently advantageous since many people end up relying on their spotters far too much. If your spotter seems to always get a great pump in his delts and traps while you train chest, then you're probably using the spotter too much. Since NO REPS COUNT if they are touched AT ALL by anyone other than the lifter, there is no real need for a spotter.

How do I warm up properly for my training sessions?

Rippetoe recommends that you first warmup by doing a few minutes on the bike prior to starting your workout. The idea is to get a general increase in body heat and metabolism (no, not for fat burning). This will help prevent injury, as a warm group of muscles and tendons are less prone to injury. You should also do warmup sets for each exercise, although less warmups are generally necessary later in the workout, as the squat and press will get most of the body warmed up relatively well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
As a general rule, it is best to start with the empty bar (45 lbs.), determine the work set or sets, and then divide the difference between them into even increments. Some examples are provided in figure 5." (pg. 196)

For example (weight x reps x sets)

Squat
45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 3 x 1
185 x 2 x 1
225 x 5 x 3 <--Work Sets

Bench Press
45 x 5 x 2
85 x 5 x 1
125 x 3 x 1
155 x 2 x 1
175 x 5 x 3 <--Work Sets

Deadlift
135 x 5 x 2
185 x 5 x 1
225 x 3 x 1
275 x 2 x 1
315 x 5 x 1 <--Work Set

Press
45 x 5 x 2
75 x 5 x 1
95 x 3 x 1
115 x 2 x 1
135 x 5 x 3 <--Work Sets

Power Clean
45 x 5 x 2
75 x 5 x 1
95 x 3 x 1
115 x 2 x 1
135 x 5 x 3<--Work Sets

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
The warmup sets serve only to prepare the lifter for the work sets; they should never interfere with the work sets. As such they should be planned with this in mind. The last warmup set before the work set should never be so heavy that it interferes with the work set, but heavy enough that it allows the lifter to feel a heavier weight before he does the work sets. It might only consist of one or two reps even though the work sets are five or more reps.

(emphasis mine)

Note that in all cases, as you get closer to the actual working weight, you do less reps in your warmups. The idea is to get the feel of progressively heavier weights in the hands/across the back prior to beginning your maximum weight sets.

I will offer this one caveat...stronger/larger lifters may have a serious issue trying to warm up with an empty bar while doing squats. I personnaly cannot perform a squat with no weight on the bar, I need at least 185 or I can't balance properly. You may find it necessary to add, perhaps, a 25 to each side of the bar during your warmups in order to maintain proper technique.

Question - How do I stretch properly?

Like this

DC Extreme Stretches are used after each exercise, when the muscle is warm.

NEVER stretch a cold muscle, make sure you are warmed up first, and only do very light stretches before and during exercise. Save the serious stretching (i.e. 30+ seconds per stretch) for after your exercise, and on your off-days (highly recommended to stretch on the off-days). Avoid serious static stretching before your training. Use some light stretches between sets to keep limber, but don't overdo the stretching between sets. Just stretch enough to keep blow flow steady and to keep the muscles loose. Pay special attention to shoulder girdle and pectoral flexibility, as well as hamstring flexibility.

VIII. General Weight Training Questions, Part 4

Question - Do I REALLY need a squat rack? I have a Weider 110-lb plastic weightlifting set and a bench at home. Can I still do this program without a squat rack?

No. With a 110-lb plastic weightlifting set, no bench, and no rack, you can do a little bit of nothing, and a whole lot of nothing.

Start mowing lawns and save up your money. Do the dishes. Get a paper route. Come wash my car. Whatever. But if you're serious about gaining muscular bodyweight, then get some real equipment. Uncle Joe's 110-lb plastic poptarts won't make you big and strong. Iron will.

Question - Should I use a weightlifting belt, knee wraps, or gripping straps?

The purpose of a weightlifting belt is to provide more efficient stabilization of the torso and lower spine while doing exercises such as the squat, deadlift, clean and row. As you progress in your training to more intense poundages, a belt will eventually become a potentially useful tool. For beginners, squatting and deadlifting without a belt, assuming you are using proper technique, is beneficial because it forces your torso and core stabilizing muscles of the midsection and lower back to get stronger.

HOWEVER...since most people don't have a knowledgeable coach to observe them, I feel very uncomfortable recommending that people skip the belt, so I will take the easy way out.

1) If you have someone watching/coaching you who knows how to perform the exercises properly, then skip the belt, and tell him to be very watchful of your technique, and have them watch for anything, such as lower back rounding or hips tucking "under" that will be indicators of a potential injury.

2) If you do not have a coach, then do your warmups without a belt, and make sure you do at least your last 2 work sets WITH a belt. You may very well be able to get away with skipping belt use during the first set of your

3) IDEALLY, a novice will not use a belt at all until they are moving much heavier poundages. However, I don't want a lawsuit because some knucklehead tried to perform a rounded-back good morning with 100 pounds too much, and tells the orthopedic surgeon "but kethnaab said I should squat without a belt", so I'll say now, to avoid lawsuit, that not only should you use a belt during ALL squats, you'll use a belt during every single exercise you do, and in fact, you shouldn't do any exercise at all because you might drop the bar onto your neck or something...and that would be bad [/personal responsibility]

But seriously, do as much work as you can without a belt, but do NOT push it if you don't have a competent coach. When in doubt, wear a belt. If you decide to use a belt, get a powerlifting belt Notice the belt is the same height throughout the entire length, and only "tapers" inward near the buckle? That is the key. Don't get one of these kind of belts, with the wide back and super-narrow midsection.

As for knee wraps, they are completely unnecessary for now. If you are an older type and you need some support at the knee joint, I recommend you pick up some neoprene "sleeves", such as these. They should be loose enough so that you can comfortably keep them on throughout your entire workout. They should provide a minimal amount of spring while keeping your knees warm and they should also help your knee track properly. Excessively tight sleeves and/or wraps that are wrapped wrong are going to be worse for your knees than nothing at all.

Grip straps are a no-no also. You'll want to develop some grip strength now because if you don't develop it now, you stand to develop a serious strength deficit. Nothing wrong with a more advanced lifter using them at the proper opportunity, but a newb has no need for straps.

Question - Should I start off a program by using machines to develop some basic strength first, then move on to free weights later?

It's very commonplace to recommend machines when a trainee first starts out. Assuming the OP is not a 75-year old woman with osteoporosis, and is, in fact, a young guy or gal (young meaning younger than about 50 or 60), then I'm going to have respectfully but adamantly disagree with this concept. The initial training of a novice, regardless of age (aside from extremes), really is best served, IMHO, by ensuring they move on to basic movements ... bench, military, rows, squats and deads. These are good base exercises and hit virtually every muscle, directly or indirectly.

See, there are several problems when you start off with machines:

1) Development of the prime movers (i.e. pecs, delts, lats) without developing the strength of the associated stabilization musculature (i.e. rotator cuff, spinal erectors, etc)

2) Reinforcement of non-natural motor skills - you learn to do the exercise in the ROM (range of motion) that the machine allows. This will NEVER be a natural range of motion. Starting a novice off with this will reinforce a very negative muscular recruitment pattern which must be un-learned prior to mastery of the basic exercises. In other words, you have to "unlearn" the motor recruitment pattern from the Cybex chest press before you can really learn how to bench properly. The same goes for other exercises as well.

3) Lack of workload conditioning - one of the primary reasons a newb gets bigger so easily when they are new is the rapid conditioning aspect that free weights have on the body. Obviously neural improvement is far more rapid and prevalent in the novice, but the drastic increase in conditioning from "Nintendo-playing couch potato" to "hey, I train 3 hours per week" is enormous, and this results in some pretty substantial strength and muscular gains, aside from the basic improvements in neuromuscular coordination.

Free weights and strength-type conditioning (i.e. sled/log dragging, sledgehammer work, farmer's walks, etc) are far more suited to this, and take advantage of this far better than any type of machine

There's nothing wrong with a more advanced trainee adding in machines, especially near the end of a workout. They are useful for adding volume to a session once you are "smoked" from heavy barbell and dumbbell work, and can be used especially well to focus on weak spots because machines are generally very physically easy to use.

Potentially great and useful tool for a more advanced trainee, but definitely not good for the novice.

DISCLAIMER:-

this was written by Kethnaab from www.forum.bodybuilding.com

here is the original link: http://www.forum.bodybuilding.com/sh...d.php?t=998224

peace

Sentinel

this fucking EDIT deadline fucking sucks!!! DAMNIT! i thought id post the whole thing and then come back and re-link all the Contents links to the posts HERE! fuck...

Any chance you could also throw that disclaimer on the first thread of this post?

This is a great thread for noobs (aka me) btw.

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Resources for lifters and friends of lifters with diabetes.

no. because:
1.) i dont want to
2.) even if i needed to, i cant because the edit function is only for 3 hours
3.) i dont need to because if u click on the first link itself it will take u to the OP's post/thread on bb.com. IF however i had access to the EDIT function right now and i was to re-link all those links to bb.net then yes, i would add the disclaimer in the first post of this thread.

i know. that is why it was added. its not only great for noobs but for everyone in general.