PLEASE HELP GUIDE MY PROGRAM:-

Pre-info about me:
I am 6ft, 155 pounds, me atm:



Desired results are of course gain weight/muscle/develop the chest especially.

For a few weeks I've been working under the (perhaps suboptimal) advice in the stickies and beginners threads of other forums;
3x/week
been doing 8 reps of everything.
So of the exercises I do (mostly sticking to core, I do little else other than- squats, deads, bench, pull-overs, bicep curls, bent-over rows). I usually work up to max (at 8 rep) in about 6 sets.
e.g. a typical squat would be, say

8x20kg
8x40kg
8x50kg
8x55kg
8x60kg
8x65kg

I mention the last few weeks' activities as I'm hoping you guys can guide me as to which of the routines on http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi...inner_Programs is for me (as each has the word 'Basic', 'Starting', 'Novice' &/or 'Beginner' in the title!)

Also two brief questions:
1. If I GOMAD, am I supposed to read between the lines and chug half a gallon of whole milk/day as I'm used to having next to no milk at the moment?

2. Is the rule of thumb "1.5g protein/lb body mass/day" exactly what I should be aiming for?

Thanks

Nice jeans.

buy Starting Strength.

1. sure start slow and build up

2. 1-1.5gs should be fine. no need to freak out if you area little less or more.

Game,

start with the following program for a couple of weeks (this is from 'Practical Programming for Strength Training' by Rippetoe):

• Squats
• Press/Bench (alternating)
• Deadlifts

After a couple of weeks, add power cleans, alternating with deadlifts.

After another 3-4 weeks, deadlift once a week, PC once a week, chins/pull-ups once a week. Accessory exercises at the end is fine (like back extensions/Glute-ham raise after chins, planks after DL e.g.).

Get the book/DVD.


You have to care about total cals as well, not just protein. Chances are you're eating too little unless you actually track this at first.

cheers for those, guys

Also, forum regs prolly get this a lot but- why tf is SS so expensive?? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Starting-Str.../dp/0976805405

And is the idea behind only doing the
Squats
Press/Bench (alternating)
Deadlifts
and losing all the other exercises that I am demanding too much recovery/rebuilding in the time, and the extra workouts I'm currently doing are actually detrimental to my progress?

question:

How do I motivate myself to start and stick to a moderate regimen of good diet and exercise?

No, the point with deadlifting every workout at first is that you are, in fact, able to recover from them. After a short while they'll be too taxing to do every time. Since DLs are such a good compound exercise you want to milk that for the initial noob period.

Assistance exercise aren't added for the first 4-6 weeks to allow proper recovery.

lol @ the £220 SS book, good find.

Some water cooler style questions.

When actors have to go from skinny to bulk in a 6 - 9 month period of time is it likely they take roids? Bale, Reynolds etc.

With all the money and resources available to them and amount that it matters that they get big why is it that all these actors apart from the 300 crew always do the workouts that H&F seems to hate so much?

My gym made my work out Day A: Box Squat, Bench, Ring Rows Day B: Deadlift, Press, Chin Ups. My gym's a good place and the two owners are v educated, they deliberately choose this over SS, thoughts? Any ideas of the reasons? Is this a common program?

Amazon's out of stock so there's always one seller selling w/ a hope at a massive price.

Other than sports, vanity, being useful and harder to kill what are the benefits in being strong? It seems 99% of people are living lives were it's hardly ever needed and getting strong is just an achievement for the sakes of an achievement.

Very very likely. Bale has undergone some extraordinary weight changes. However, he could gain a lot of weight back from "muscle memory". But he still definitely took steroids to go from Machinist to Batman.

The health risk (minor for medium term supervised use) vs reward ($10s of millions) means many are obviously juicing.

It's like $25, and that is the first edition and not sold anymore brand new which is why it's probably so expensive. Get the second edition, called starting strength basic barbell training. Go to the starting strength website and order the book directly from the publisher. You will probably have to do a phone/email order since I'm not sure they have their website setup to ship to the uk as a default. I'm pretty sure they'll do it though if you speak to them.

Because your trainer thinks he knows what he's doing more than Rip does, obviously. He's mistaken though.

$30 SS

I have been on GOMAD for about a month now and I highly recommend "Lactose Intolerance Therapy" pills. They are $12 for 32, you take 2 the first 2 days and 1 every day after.

The opposite end. Patrick Bateman to Machinist is far far far far more damaging.

A nice cycle of steroids for the average American would probably be a huge +EV proposition. Purely through changes in body composition and the delay of obesity. Well assuming you could get them to give a half ass effort, which is infinitely more than they would anyway.

Yeah I think he took up chain smoking to get there as well.

It helps your posture, so if you have an office job and sit in a desk all day then it can be good for your back. Or if you have a manual labor type job, which I have at the moment handling packages at UPS, it can make the work easier and make you more resilient to aches and pains. It's obviously helpful for little things like moving furniture and carrying in the groceries. It also makes your bones healthier by making them denser. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

I'll go ahead and ask this question for both me and him (UPS also). Is SS the proper workout for someone putting in that kind of exercise volume? Recovery in SS is so important and you're really not going to get that with UPS and SS.

Rip's opinion

Follow up: Should I stretch my pecs before deadlifting?

Normal warehouse work does not remotely compare to the work done at UPS. Lawn mowing is closer but still much easier. Whatever, its probably covered in Practical Programming and this seems like a good reason to buy it.

A couple questions:

I'm doing SS to gain mass (I'm 5.85ft) and have gone from about 140 to 149 pounds in 3 weeks. At the moment I'm eating at about an 800-1000 calorie surplus on off days and 500-900 on workout days. Should my caloric intake vary on on and off days?

Also, I know most people say I can eat whatever I want as long as I eat enough and get enough protein but is there any difference in how my diet is constructed? That is will 50 carbs/25 fat/25 protein and 30 carbs/38 fat/22 protein differ in any way as far as my muscle growth/body shape/health is concerned? I guess my ideal bodytype would be muscular but not 70s big, I'd like to be fairly toned with a flat stomach. Is it better to just bulk up huge and then cut the fat or is there a way to just mostly gain muscle without sacrificing improvement in the lifts?

Ooh, 1 more. I think my warmup (dynamic excercises) is pretty good right now but I haven't done anything post workout. I wouldn't mind getting more flexible so maybe doing some static stretching would be beneficial. How soon after my workout should I do this, how long to hold each stretch and what stretches would you recommend? There's a billion out there so it's hard to choose.

Caloric intake doesn't need to vary that much. As long as you average a solid surplus you will be fine.

Macro breakdown matters very little assuming you get sufficient protein, eat some vegetables and fruits, and take some fish oil. You will gain fat as you gain lean body mass, but you are very light right now. Dieting off fat is much much easier than putting on muscle for the first time.

Static stretching outside the gym is encouraged. Hip flexors, adductors, hamstrings are often tight in people. It's not too hard to find some positions you like and hold for 20-30seconds for few reps.

What do fruits, vegetables, and fish oil do to help progress?

How does wearing a weightlifting belt affect the development of the abs in SS, if at all?