Thanks for the support. By 'trial and error' do you mean start closer to my TDEE rather than more to start?

And a couple of clarifications, what kind of schedule would you recommend for carb cycling? With my personal/work schedule, this could work very well for me. What kind of macros are you talking about with your carb cycling?

And what exactly do you mean by using cardio to your advantage while cutting? Do you just mean that it helps burn extra calories for much needed deficit while cutting?

Thanks

Great resource for learning the lifts or SS is:

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi..._Strength_Wiki

(ugly site though, use the menu on the right to navigate it)


I ran it for 6+ months while playing 5-a-side football 3-4x a week with no problems. I'm still weak as hell though, so take that for what it's worth.

Ah yes, thanks I saw the site but didn't see a way of getting around.

Are you just being humble or did you actually not see any results after 6 months of SS?

Best results in terms of strength gain, body recomp & sports crossover (sprint speed is dramatically faster, improved balance etc).

But it made me much more interested in following forums like this and you can't help but compare yourself to others. As a 5'11 72kg guy who has no interest in getting much heavier & works out infrequently, comparisons are not overly in my favour.


Overall I was very happy with the program and what I got out of it.

I'd aim to start with a weight where you can do around 10-12 reps on your AMRAP sets. I'd also suggest filming your squat and DL sets and posting them here for feedback relatively soon; no sense grooving issues that you are just going to have to change.

I'd be surprised if it wasn't -- lots of the back exercises, plus facepulls, which I forgot, is a good remedy to increasing back strength. There's also a program called Neanderthal No More (google it, it's a series of 5 T Nation articles) that has a program you can bolt onto your normal lifting schedule if you decide that's something you're interested in.

Pretty much all of this; a bunch of people on here are much, much stronger than I am, but basing your workout around compound lifts is still a good thing.

Yea I will post videos of my sets but I'm taking a week or two break. Busy time for wife and I preparing for Vegas, when I get back this time next week I'll be getting back to it and post videos to improve form before July hits

Also damn Monte - you're probably right. Postular kyphosis is often attributed to slouching which is what I always thought I did naturally. I read it can be reversed by correcting muscular imbalances. Is this basically the N-No more routine you described? Is there a difference between increasing strength and 'repairing imbalances'?

This is actually pretty exciting for me - my posture is one of the things I hate most about myself

I supposed if you were to purposefully increase strength in the wrong muscle groups you could make it worse but a well formed workout to increase strength should naturally help those imbalances. Targeting strength gains to fix those imbalances would be even better - which is (afaict) the purpose of Neanderthal No More.

Kyphosis will get obliterated by doing lots of face pulls, cable rows, and shoulder dislocations on top of strengthening the lats. Also get a rumbler roller, will help breakdown adhesions and get you better blood flow in the area.

Strengthening your core will also help. And the most important thing you can do is to be aware of your posture. Slouching has you in a relaxed upperbody state, especially around the belly area. Brace that core. Tighten those lats. You will be straight as an arrow.

Here are the dislocations

http://www.bodytrainer.tv/en/blog/73...r+Dislocations

I don't have time to make a thorough post. So just getting ideas out to you. I had the same problem and have been able to fix it a bit. Still have some work to do. Two years ain't gonna erase 34.

Thx AI and loco, helpful advice.
I'm looking forward to starting GSLP workouts and adding in lots of back/shoulder/core accessories

Hey guys I had a couple weeks of relapse including a Vegas trip and some family drinkathons so bit of a setback but I still plan on restarting with this new GSLP program and a new bulking diet as of July 1st. This week will be a test run for me at the gym trying out some GSLP so I have some questions.

If I try what Monte suggested above, which is:

Is it common/acceptable to swap the Squats for DLs? i.e do DL 2x a week and Squat only once? Or alternate i.e 2x DL one week and 1x DL next week? Reason is I don't want to neglect my back. I like doing DLs and I also want to continue working my back to try and reverse my Kyphosis.

Next question is for accessories. I imagine you guys will tell me if I'm doing the DL/Squats and Bench/Press, I can do whatever accessories I want. But how much of something is too much, or when is it acceptable to do a certain area? For example Monday I might want to do some back accessories: face pulls, lat pulldown, back extension, and Wednesday I might want to do arms/abs accessories: curls, crunches, tri press/extension etc. Should I not work one muscle for accessories? Should I spread them around?

General advice for GSLP and its accessories would be welcome here.
Thanks

1. No, squat 2x and DL 1x imo. Correctly done, deadlift isnt much of a "back" exercise anyway.

2. I already recommended Neanderthal No More. I would pick a selection of accessories from that if you really aren't sure what to do. Tons of horizontal pulling and pec stretching (paused wide cable rows etc), thoracic mobility work, facepulls and rear delt work, scapula retractors (dip shrugs and pushups+) etc are what you want to focus on to address your kyphosis.

Curls are fine, 4 sets of max work in the 10-20rep range. Same deal with a triceps accessory. If you start sucking at progressing your press and/or bench press, cut back a little.

Crunches aren't a great ab exercise, look at planks (google RKC plank), cable woodchops and other oblique work.

Rightio thanks. Will try and post form vids sometime this week.

I'm a bit concerned about the bulking. As mentioned I am lean and skinny, but have some stomach fat. After my few weeks of less gym and more drinking, I've put on an extra few pounds on my stomach and its definitely noticeable; affects my posture and feels like I'm carrying around a few extra. Is it a good idea to bulk now? Or should I do another month or two of deficit? I don't want to bulk and put on weight and muscle but still look flabby - what should I do?

Hello buddy. Yep, I do a lot of cardio and rugby training on top of strength work.

In general.

1. Listen to your body, if you are feeling really ****ed, take a rest.

2. That said, don't be a pussy. If you are training properly, some part of you should feel a bit tired every day. Look out for your lifts really dropping off, lower back or shoulder pain, or legs feeling really dead.

3. You can fit plenty of cardio into a routine, especially if you are eating properly. You don't need to be obsessive, but make sure you get protein and carbs before and after every workout. And try and have a proper meal within a few hours of every workout (gym or football). Make sure you sleep properly.

4. Squats are good for your back, also good for posture (they promote a shoulders back stance). So don't skip them over deadlifts.

5. Your main issue right now is you are weak and skinny all over. Spend a few months packing on some muscle all over the place, learning the lifts, getting bigger. Then worry about you "weak spots"

6. Don't worry about your beer belly, everyone has one, most bigger than yours. Filling out your chest, shoulders and back will make you look better even with a higher bf%

7. I would heavily recommend the straight starting strength routine. The wiki link recommended above is great, but broadly, it's the below.

Two alternating workouts.

Workout A.
Squat 3 x 5
Bench 3 x 5
Deadlift 1 x 5

Workout B.
Squat 3 x 5
Standing barbell press, 3 x 5
Power clean 5 x 3 or barbell row 3 x 5

The advantage to this is it's simpler than a 3 or 4 day split, which makes it easier to fit around training for football. Even if you've had days off. Just do the workout you didn't do last time.

With the weight. Start low. Add 5 pounds or 2.5kg every workout to each lift (I.e. You always lift more than you did last time).

8. The workout above is hard. You don't need much extra work. Stay away from the machines, dumbbell curls, etc. they are pretty rubbish.

If you want additional accessory stuff. I would pick one or two (max) of the below each session.

Dips.
Chin ups
Pull ups.
More barbell rows (if you aren't already doing that day)
Heavy dumbbell rows (one arm)
Knees to shoulders or other Core stuff. Planks, ab roll outs, etc)


Good luck pal.

Thanks for the advice

This is basically what I'm most concerned about, since my football is alternating between Mon/Thurs and Mon/Fri, it would be annoying to actively schedule 3 day GSLP program each week. Annoying, but doable.

If I were to do SS as you suggest, are you saying I would only do one A and one B per week? or would you just alternate as often as 'my body allows' as you suggest, without caring about how many you do per week?

Edit: Also, is a day of Squat AND DL standard? It seems that whichever I do second would suffer, no?

Curse of the skinny fats, I had this too. Either you a) cut down to a low enough bf% to do a proper bulk in which case you'll look like you belong in a World Food Relief Organization advertisement or b) bulk up from where you are in which case you're going to look like a fat tub of goo.

There's really nothing for it, you're going to look silly for a bit either way, but you need to add muscle so pick a route and gogogo.

Ah, sorry, should have said. It's normally a 3 day per week programme. So if you were doing mon/wed/fri you would so ABA one week and then BAB the next.

Fitting it around your football. So long as don't do two SS days in a row you should be fine. However, if you are doing much less then 3 times per week, your progress will suffer a bit.

You're a beginner. This is a beginner program. Squats and deadlifts on the same day are fine. They will stay fine for you for a long time. Once you get advanced you might want to split them up but for now don't worry.

That's also the reason, btw, that it's only 1 set of deadlifts. Done properly, a squat hits most of the same muscles as a deadlift does.

Stuck,

To answer the question about whether to bulk or not, I'd use a site like http://1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ to confirm your previous TDEE estimates and then eat at or a little above maintenance for the time being. You'll still have plenty of noob gains for a long while, and eating at a slight surplus should be enough to help you build muscle without putting on a ton of extra fat GOMAD style.

I think GSLP + NNM is a pretty good protocol if you are super concerned about your kyphosis, but as other posters pointed out, just squatting/DLing regularly is going to strengthen a lot of those neglected areas naturally, so you would probably fine sticking with just some random accessory work for the first three to six months.

So what in your opinion (rugby) is the reason for not doing 1x5+ AMRAP sets for my last set of squats and DLs as GSLP suggests?

My TDEE is currently about 2500 (give or take 100) based on the activity level I plan to continue with starting this week. I think for the next couple weeks I will try and eat just at maintenance or slightly above just to get into a routine of eating more (since for a few months I've been eating ~1800) and then move up to 3000 or a bit more from there

I'm not familiar with the GSLP progression principles, but I think it possibly has you squatting slightly less often? Either way, each programme will manage overall work load and recovery in slightly different ways.

I had a lot of success with SS. If you are combining it with soccer, recovery will perhaps be a concern. Working to failure is tough to recover from, although it does have a good training effect.

There is a lot to be said, especially as a beginner, for just sticking to a successful beginner programme without changing it. It does a lot of the planning work for you and you can compare experience on a like for like basis with other trainees without having to know the full detail yourself.

Good point about the recovery, doing AMRAP sets might actually have a negative progression effect on me if I'm going to failure on last sets, where I might not have enough time to recover if I'm playing soccer twice a week

A lot of programs with AMRAP sets advise leaving a rep or two in the tank, especially at the beginning, when your form is going to be pretty crappy.

Regardless, I think you're in sort of a paralysis by analysis stage right now -- just decide on something and do it, and if you (for example) do GSLP don't like AMRAP sets, then stop doing AMRAP sets, or if you do SS and don't like squatting 3x/wk, then don't do it, etc. I'm partial to GSLP because I think squatting 3x/wk is going to be tough for you to work into soccer, but it's not super important. Just supplement your bench/press/squat/DL rotation with a lot of upper back work, some core work (ab wheel or planks, RKC or otherwise) and some vanity bicep/tricep stuff if you want. The specifics don't really matter a ton when you're beginning imo.

What he said.

Everything works.
Somethings work better than others
Nothing works for ever.

If you are eating well, going to the gym fairly regularly and doing a vaguely structured programme that involves linear progression in major compound lifts, you are 95% of the way there. Dont sweat the small stuff.