Alright, so I'm looking to start SS, and not knowing anything about lifting (or the program itself) I'm looking to order the book.

This is the one I want, right (novice)? http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.ph...on=show_detail

Also, I'm fairly certain that "Planet Fitness" is a pretty big gym - does anyone know from experience if it will suffice for the SS program?

yes that is the book

planet fitness sucks balls do not join there. Like if you make too much noise someone will come over and ring an alarm or some stupid **** like that.

Also consider ordering the DVD. It's very helpful to see the videos of the excercises and the practical application of what is said in the book plus the coach's remarks. This is especially true when you are completely new to lifting.

met a 22 yo kid today who said he weighed 130ish. I'm guessing ~5'7". I told him GOMAD. I doubt he'll do it.

yaw, planet fitness is the anti-ss gym. In addition to what blackkeys said, deadlifting is completely prohibited. Stay far away.

Planet Fitness needs to be sued for their blatant abuse of the word "fitness". I'm getting angry just hearing about that place. Deadlifting prohibited? No grunting? Christ.

So working out threw my blood work way off and had my doctor show up at my door to drive me to emerg... I should have told her I had been working out as my CK (creatinine kinase) levels were beyond sky high... 5,000 (I don't take supplements)

How can I lower this?

How can you lower it?

Get it tested again, this time give yourself a day or two of rest beforehand and see what happens to that number.

I might try to go with creating a home gym to avoid a lot of the problems. Looking to buy stuff used off craigslist, so in case it starts taking up space and not being used, I can just sell it again and not end up out much cash on the deal. Plus, it's ****ing weights, who cares if its new?

I figure I would need the following stuff-

squat rack - Something like this could serve me well I think:


barbell + weights + clips

bench - perhaps a basic one, can use the squat rack to rack for bench press.

Anything else I should consider getting? I have my own house and a room that I could use for this, trying to figure out how much space I would need, to figure out how much crap I need to get rid of in that room. Looks like foosball table and drumset might be a casualty. The other issue is it's on the 2nd floor above my bedroom, so I probably shouldn't be dropping weights too hard on the ground. Don't need to break through the floor and ceiling. Is this going to be a problem? I have a garage, but really don't want to start parking my car outside.

i spent an afternoon looking for instructions on how to build your own cage, which you could use for the bench. the best one is (not surprisingly) on http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/resources you could probably find a shop to make it for you pretty cheap.

Doubt it. The cage that Rip designed should cost about $500-600 with parts/labor from a metal fabrication shop, which isn't "cheap." Buy a power cage used, not a squat rack, TC.

Thanks for all the helpful responses, guys. I'm pretty upset about the whole "planet fitness sucking" thing considering I have a free membership.

Just bought the book and the DVD, and I'm off to go search for a new gym! Woot!

Those are going to be a little harder to find, I'd imagine. I need to check out the gym at work to see if it has decent stuff. I'm not optimistic since I know it is quite small and can get crowded, but need to check it out. Hopefully it is not terribly crowded early mornings, which is when I usually work out. The only trick with that is I give a ride to work every day to someone, and he doesn't like to come in before 9. I think he's supposed to get another car sometime soon, so maybe that won't be too much longer.

I still am wanting to run as well. Is it a big deal if I run on my off days? Would I be better off running on the same day as a workout (possibly morning run, afternoon lifting, or something of that sort)? Right now, my schedule is something like this:

M-run, T-lift (basketball after work most weeks), W-run, T-lift, F-run (basketball at lunch most weeks), S or Sun - lift. Rest the other day.

I did my own workout last Saturday and was sore for a long time. I did my first SS workout on Thursday and am still incredibly sore in my thighs and glutes from the squats. It didn't bother me at all for running this morning, so it didn't *seem* to be super awful. I'm perfectly fine with slowing my progress on strength a little, since it's not really a primary goal. I also figure I won't be this sore after a few more workouts since I'll be more used to it.

Also, with my squat technique, I'm wondering if I'm possibly doing something wrong with my grip since the vertebrae on my neck feels almost bruised from supporting the bar. My arms are not very flexible and I feel like I must not have had the bar back properly, or just wasn't supporting it enough with my hands. Also, it was on that damn Smith machine, so that could be the problem.

Are you trying to do high bar or low bar?

if it's on your vertebrae, then you're doing it wrong.

if you're doing it on the smith machine, you're doing it extra wrong.

do some scapular retraction drills if you can't get into position to hold onto the bar.

your hands shouldn't be supporting the bar. at all.

I'm trying to increase the number of pullups I can do and I want to increase the number quickly for a fitness test I have coming up. I could do 16 in October but then I did nothing for almost 4 months and now I can only do 11.

I am using the Armstrong Pullup Program, which requires doing pullups 5 days a week. I also lift weights 2-3 times a week and do cardio. Should I do anything else specifically?

What supplements should I use? I usually eat a protein bar every day (30g protein). I don't really want to gain a ton of weight, since that will make pullups harder. I took creatine in high school, haven't used anything else. I probably just need to be on this stuff for a month.

Rows and deadlifts will help get you there, but mainly just putting in pull-up volume is probably best.

I have been trying to get coverage for health insurance for the past couple weeks. I have been turned down by a couple places. I don't have any major illnesses. Only thing I have is my history of Mild Anxiety which isn't considered a major illness. Do I need to apply for a plan with a big deductible ? Does anyone have any suggestions ? Website? Certain company? Thanks

A lot of health insurance info in this thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/79...ferrerid=59859

Looks like I need to have it a lot lower on my back. I'd imagine my hands would be on the bar for balance more than anything, then.

Yeah, Smith machine sucks but was my only option. Gonna try front squats from now on to see how that works. At least until I can find a better option.

Front squats are fine. Basically, you have to squat or you're a homosexual. This is the rule of strength training.

Thanks for the response.

I think my training is probably fine to get there. I'm mostly wondering if anyone could recommend some supplements to get me there faster.

nothing. you don't need supps for this.