Thread: First post, Looking for some advice.

Originally Posted by Braden101

How yas going.

Just signed up, use to spend my time over at bb.com, getting a bit sick of the same answers to every question.

That answer being, do starting strength or you will die!

I have the book, its a great routine and have been using his principles in my fullbody 3x a week and have gained 10 pounds of muscle in a little under 2 months and plenty of strength,which i think is pretty good?

I started weighing 130 lbs now just over 140 lbs and steadily rising. After 2 months i feel my routine is getting stale, stalling on lifts more frequently than i'd like and frankly the workout is just getting exhausting and boring.

My current fullbody 3x a week-
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Press 3x5
Calve Raises 2x12
CG Chins 2x8
Dips 2x8
Hypers 2x8
Ab work

Found a fullbody a/b Template by CowPimp (reason i joined this site). And this is the routine i came up with, let me know what yas think? Set out AXBXAXX...BXAXBXX

Workout A:
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Wide Pullups 3x5
Seated Calf Raises 2x12
Skullcrushers 2x8
BB Curls 2x8

Workout B:
Romanian Deadlift 3x5
Incline Press 3x5 Since you already have bench, which is a chest-dominant lift, I'd change this to a shoulder-dominant/vertical push
Bent Rows 3x5
Standing Calf Raises 2x12
Rope Pulldown 2x8 I assume you're talking about "rope pulls" for the serratus anterior...I love them! thes work well supersetted with DB pullovers
DB Curl 2x8 You already have a bicep isolation...why not thrown in isolation for something you don't have covered? how about weighted planks?

Its a little different to what i have now, though a change of pace would be good, mentally and hopefully physicaly.

Any feedback would be great!

Cheers.

Aside from my minor comments, I really like this program. Compounds -- check. Only a little isolation -- check. Planes of motion balanced -- (once vertical push added) check.

I would mix up the rep ranges, though. Check out Gaz's site for his article on periodization. I can't remember the exact link. I think it's getlifting.info. You can scope his page for the link.

Originally Posted by Phineas

Aside from my minor comments, I really like this program. Compounds -- check. Only a little isolation -- check. Planes of motion balanced -- (once vertical push added) check.

I would mix up the rep ranges, though. Check out Gaz's site for his article on periodization. I can't remember the exact link. I think it's getlifting.info. You can scope his page for the link.

Thanks for the feedback!

I figured i'd use a HIGH incline DB bench for my vertical push(70-80 degrees). Currently use a shoulder press in my routine and wanted to swtch it up and my upper chest has always lagged.If you think its a bad idea i might put in a behind neck press instead?

Though doing a rather high incline bench would take some emphasis off my shoulders and put onto my upper chest i would have thought?


I will deffinently take your advice on the iso lifts and look into periodization, was thinking alternate between heavy/light days.

thanks alot!

10 Rules

1) You must follow the prescribed rest periods as they directly influence the repetition range and weight chosen. If you don't, the weight may be too light or too heavy. This will no doubt be hard to do, as you will be winded. But, you must get into shape to train properly. More so, by using the cumulative fatigue factor, we train hypertrophy over neural recruitment. In otherwords, you will gain muscle instead of just getting stronger.

2) You must follow the variations in grip width and stances to compensate for any weaknesses in your physique and strength.

3)You must use the following notion of failure. When your form becomes bad, that is failure on my program. For example, if I say that you need to do three sets with the weight and be able to complete the required repetitions=10 before increasing weight, what that means is that if you fail on the second and third sets at lesser repetitions, for example 9 and 8, you don't increase the weight until you get all three sets at 10 reps in good form.

4) On your off days, you need to do cardio to help you recover. You will be sore and cardio improves circulation, thus improving your recovery.

5) When you are ready to begin your next six week cycle, begin with the weights that you ended the first three week cycle with. It will be hard, but you will quickly adapt and the program will come into full effect in the second week or so.

6) You will need to get maxes on the following exercises before beginning the program. These numbers will then plug into the program. Without these maxes, you have no place to begin and if they are not accurate, you will impede your progress.

Barbell Rows, wide grip--8 reps.
Front Lat Pulldowns, shoulder width grip, palms facing towards you--11 reps.
Deadlifts--10 reps.
Incline Barbell Presses, shoulder width grip--8 reps.
Flat Dumbell Presses, with the elbows away from the sides of your body--12 reps.
Lying EZ Curl Bar Tricep Extensions (skull crushers)--15 reps.
Dumbell Hammer Curls--15 reps.
Squats, wide stance--12 reps.
Shoulder Press, shoulder width or wider--12 reps.
Barbell Curls, shoulder width--15 reps.
Tricep pushdowns--20 reps

The other exercise poundages need to be done through estimating for that day's session. Once you have the right kind of poundage, note it, and try it for the next time.

7) A superset is done by doing two different exercises back to back with no rest between the exercises. You will rest 2 minutes between supersets, no more.

8) No rest pausing. Once form breaks and you are tired, you are done. We do not want to emphasize the neural aspects. The ONLY exercises that you can push a few extra reps on are calf raises.

9) Do not add exercises or sets to the exercises. Do exactly what is required--no less, no more, and you will grow.

10) If you are not growing one of four things is out of sync: 1) training, 2) nutrition/supplementation, 3) rest/recovery, or 4) outside stress. When these four are in sync, you will grow.

Training Frequency and Exercises

Starting Strength is a really good program. It's not out of laziness that people recommend it so often. But if you're stalling with it you may need to make changes. 2 months isn't really a long time to be stalling on SS though. Still, I can see why you're bored of it.

An incline BP will hit the shoulders a good amount depending on how it's done. I think incline BP and overhead press are relatively interchangeable. One puts a bit more emphasis on the triceps and the other moves it to the chest.

I think your current routine is pretty solid.

10 pounds of muscle in under 2 months is godlike.

Originally Posted by ceazur

10 pounds of muscle in under 2 months is godlike.

Not for a beginer using mostly compound movements it's not.The trick is not getting discouraged when you start stalling on lifts.Phineas is right mix up the rep ranges. Periodization is key, and Gazs site has great info.

Thanks for the feedback guys. made these changes to the routine.

Workout A:
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Bent Rows 3x5
Seated Calf Raises 2x12
Tricep Iso (Skullcrushers) 2x8
Ab Work (Weighted situps/hanging Leg Raises) 2x8

Workout B:
Romanian Deadlift 3x5
Incline Press 3x5
Wg Pull ups 3x5
Standing Calf Raises 2x12
Bicep Iso (db or bb curls) 2x8
Oblique Iso (Weighted twisted sit ups) 2x8


Have looked into periodazation and was thinking of maybe alternating between heavy/light days each workout?Not sure if what ive planned is the right idea?

Heavy days - Compounds - 3x5 Iso's - 2x8
Light Days - Compounds - 3x10 iso's - 2x15

Can anyone guess what I'm getting ready to ask?

You could do a heavy/medium/light program without even changing the rep range.

3x5 @ 6RM = Heavy
3x5 @ 8RM = Medium
3x5 @ 10RM = Light

I would go Mon/Wed/Fri = Medium/Heavy/Light.

If you usually stagger your sets (ie. Pyramid the weights) rather than keep the same weight for each set, theres another way you can implement this method by making your maximum weight on the medium day 80% of your max weight on the heavy day, and 60% on the light day. Or similar.

Its a nice simple method, but it works.

Texas method is loosely similar to SS and may also help you make gains.

Originally Posted by Merkaba

Can anyone guess what I'm getting ready to ask?

Diet? Why ab and obliques? Umm..goals? Rationale for rep ragne?

Diet is in check, i have been gaining steadily since i started.

My goal is primarily to get bigger and stronger.

My rationale for rep ranges -
3x5 for my main lifts so i can lift heavy focusing on strength and am able to up the weight every workout.
2x8 for iso's as i can lift at less intensity, hopefully putting a little more emphasis on hypertrophy than strength while not overtraining my smaller muscles.

With light days i basically figured i would double the reps and lift at roughly half the intensity.( still not too sure about this periodization) Might stick with just lifting heavy for a while, if im seeing results no point in changing it up just yet.

ab/oblique - This im not too sure about, its either i split the two or i just do ab and oblique each workout, maybe just change up the excersizes each time? I was just trying to find something to even out the workouts.

Workout B sub shoulder-width or close parallel grip chins for wg and do 'em weighted if possible.

How is your shoulder development? Lagging, or do you have good size already through your delts?

I have been doing CG weighted chins for the past 2 months, which is why i want to change to wide grip pulls.

Shoulders have never really been a problem, have added about 45lbs to my OH press in 4 or 5 weeks and alot of size has come with that.