Hey, what are the best protein shakes and best protein bars that I can get at a non specialist store (i.e a supermarket)? What should I look for and what should I avoid? Some of them basically seem like a super unhealthy chocolate bar packaged as a protein bar.

Unlikely. You should probably begin Starting Strength because of the vast gains you will make on said program. Additionally, you can change your workouts to swap or add a set of high-repetition lower-resistance work. Rip has suggestions for people who want to do these kind of silly substitutions.

Keep in mind that you will lose out on substantial strength gains by switching to a bodybuilder-type routine but will only see marginal size/mass gains. The Starting Strength program is probably 10% less efficient than a bodybuilding program for rank novices who want to focus on their size and physique while a bodybuilding program is probably 60-70% less efficient at building strength than Starting Strength.

Basically you should complete the Starting Strength program with perhaps minor modifications on the Wednesday workout to allow for high-rep work. As I said before, Rip has suggestions somewhere on the Internet for this.

All novices are the same regardless of longterm goals, perhaps barring lol weight issues.

Learn to enjoy whole foods. Beef, eggs, milk, nuts and veges. Get a plain whey protein and then you can design your own flavour everytime for shakes or get a flavour if you want. You don't need bars. Snack on jerky or take some hard boiled eggs or something.

I'm currently doing Ripptoe's program. I'm 26yr old, 6'1" 205lb (21%BF).

In the past few weeks I've increased the number of calories I intake per day from 3100 to about 3700. Most of this is because I've increase the amount of milk I consume per day by 45oz over what I had previously.

Since adding the extra 600 calories, I've gained more fat mass than muscle mass. Is it possible that 3700 calories exceeds the amount I need to generate decent muscle growth, and the extra 600 cal is adding mostly to stored fat? Should I go back to 3100 calories a day if this keeps up for a few more weeks, or will this also hurt my rate of muscle growth. I'm looking to add lean mass, and I'm ok with adding a little more fat right now during the winter, but I don't want to get too chubby. I don't want the weight gains I'm seeing to be mostly fat.

i would maintain my weight until the lifts get hard. for a guy of your size that would usually be a mid-high 200 squat, mid-high 300 deadlift, low 200 bench, etc. i really think one of the biggest mistakes people make in SS is pounding food too early. goes hand in hand with progressing the big lifts too slowly though.

Anyone have any recommendations on where I can order a few standard plates under 2.5 lbs for microloading? I found a few places online but I don't really want to order from some unknown site and end up waiting for weeks.

Thanks Miles.

I've just gotten back in the gym for about 3 months after about 4 years of little to no weight training, so my lifts are still low. My current 1RMs are;

Squat: 225lb (3 x 5 x 200)
Bench: 208lb (3 x 5 x 185)
Deadlift: 253lb (1 x 5 x 225)

I'll plan on going back to roughtly 3000 calories a day for now. I was seeing good progress, but my waist wasn't growing as fast as it is now.

if you've been doing SS for 3 months, i'd worry this is the case. once your form gets decent you should be good for several 15-20lb jumps on the deadlift.

These aren't standard plates, but everyone here that uses them has been happy with them.

i think pounding food is fine. So is maintaining. It all depends on your progress. If you find yourself struggling with just 3K cals, you can up to 3300-3400 instead of 3700.

SS for 3 weeks only, higher volume routine before that. I'm getting more confident with the deadlift also. Jumped 15lb this week.

Two days ago I increased the weight on my dumbell press by 3kg (on each dumbell). I was able to do 3 sets (5:4:3). Today when I tryed the same weight, I couldnt even do the initial rep on my 1st set ( I could extend my left dumbell up but not my right ( left handed so left side of my body is slightly stronger which is bad)).

So my question is:

Is it normal to lose strength like this i.e 2 steps forward/ 1 step backwards rather than just a linear progression of strength gains.

Also is 48 enough of a gap between doing an exercise such as the benchpress or deadlifts? I usually do 72hr intervals while I'm off creatine and 48hr intervals when I'm taking it.

Thanks.

I've gathered the impression that most people here dislike curls. Is there any reason not to do them/any negative effects?

Most people here prefer a functional strength philosophy to exercise, which means doing natural compound movements like picking something up off the ground, or pushing something over your head. There are more applications for this type of strength in our everyday lives and it is natural because our bodies have evolved to do these sorts of movements.

So, one reason not to do curls is that you can work the biceps while working more muscles and developing functional strength by doing chins. Also, accessory exercises can begin to interfere with recovery for the more important, heavier lifts. Finally, most new posters in this forum are novices, which means they can make bigger gains much easier doing the compound lifts anyway.

While this is mostly true, I just wanted to point out that the label "functional training" refers to something entirely different.

Strength itself is functional, and the body generally moves as a unit (blah, blah...). The term "functional" as it is commonly used to describe an approach to training (you'll often hear PTs use this), unfortunately, usually refers to a horribly misguided training philosophy that usually involves squatting on bosu balls, mimicking sports movements with exercise equipment, and other silly stuff (often involving all things Swiss).

Yes, I have to stop using the word "functional" since it has been completely hijacked by the PT field. When we say "functional" in this forum, we usually mean heavy compound lifts or good core stability work (not dumb **** like training on unstable surfaces for non-rehab purposes).

I don't use the word functional since its the mark of the idiot. Seriously, how is someone unfunctionally strong?

It's official. I've marked myself as an idiot. Well, now what?

And yeah, I didn't know PTs had hijacked the word "functional" since the little bit I know about exercise comes entirely from this forum. I just heard Rip (another idiot) use the word in this video, and I understand it is part of his whole philosophy on training. (Which influences this forum a lot.)

lol passive aggressiveaments

Aggressive modding incoming

Maybe his next essay can explain how someone is unfunctionally strong, perhaps they can penis curl 1000 lbs, but their **** is too short of a lever arm to apply meaningful work production.

My bass guitar weighs quite a bit and due to the nature of how playing the bass works, it can be over my shoulder, and always the same shoulder for a long time. If I wasn't lifting weights, could you say my right shoulder is un-functionally strong?

I guess not even then because it's strong enough for what it needs to do.

There is no such thing as unfunctionally strong; some strength is more functional and some strength is less functional. To say "functional strength" is to imply the former.

i.e. deadlift strength is more functional than leg extension strength because the motion trained in a deadlift has many applications outside of the gym and the leg extension does not

If by standard you mean 1" and not olympic standard then order from here: http://www.bushipower.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?

I just received my order from them for the .9 and 1.25 plates and they are perfect, shipping was less than a week too.

As if this was reasonable in any way.