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https://startingstrength.com/get-started/programs

The Starting Strength Program

The Starting Strength Novice Program can be broken down into two workout days, Day A and Day B. The entire body is worked each session. As the trainee progresses through the program, Days A and B are slightly modified to take into account the adaptations in the body of the lifter.

General Notes

The goal of this program is to add weight each and every time you lift, taking advantage of The Novice Effect that allows you to do so. Perform the program on a 3 day per week schedule, on non-consecutive days, i.e. Mon/Wed/Fri, Tues/Thurs/Sat or similar.

Most healthy men between the ages of 18 and 35 or 40 can add 10 lbs to the squat the first 2-3 times it’s performed, 15-20 lbs to the deadlift the first couple times, and 10 lbs the next several times it’s performed. After that, jumps become 5 lbs per workout. For the press, bench press, and power clean, you may get one 10 lb jump, but you may need to start with 5 lb jumps. Later on, you’ll move to 2.5 lb or smaller jumps for these lifts when 5 lbs becomes too much to add every workout. The pattern is similar for females and older lifters, but with smaller increases. Program modifications for older novices are discussed extensively in The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40.

Once you’re into Phase 3 and doing chin-ups as part of the program, some of you will progress to weighted chin-ups. If you can perform 3 sets of 10 reps at bodyweight, then you can do every other chin-up workout as a 3 sets of 5 weighted, while continuing to do 3 sets of bodyweight chins to fatigue on your alternate chin-up days.

The Novice Effect

The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40

The program itself.

Phase 1

(Usually 1-3 weeks)

⊞ table ⊞

Day A

Squat 5 reps x 3

Press/Bench Press 5 reps x 3 sets

Deadlift 5 reps x 1 set

Day B

Squat 5 reps x 3 sets

Press/Bench Press 5 reps x 3 sets

Deadlift 5 reps x 1 set

Phase 1 Notes

In this initial phase, workouts A and B are the same, except that the press and bench press alternate. So if you began the program on Monday and pressed, you’ll bench press Wednesday and press again Friday. The second week, you’ll bench press Monday and Friday and press on Wednesday.

At the end of this phase, if you’re in that 18-35 healthy male demographic, your squat should be 40-50 lbs higher than it started, your deadlift should be 50-70 lbs higher than it started, and your press and bench press each 15-20lbs higher than they started.

Most women (and men over 35 or 40) will begin with smaller jumps – perhaps a single 10 lb jump in the squat, two or three 10 lb jumps in the deadlift, and immediate 5 lb jumps in the other exercises – then proceed to 2.5 lb or smaller incremental increases in some movements sooner.

There is no single prescription for everyone, so common sense and paying attention to how your body responds to the increased weight are your best guides here.

Phase 2

⊞ table ⊞

Day A

Squat 5 reps x 3 sets

Press/Bench Press 5 reps x 3 sets

Deadlift 5 reps x 1 set

Day B

Squat 5 reps x 3 sets

Press/Bench Press 5 reps x 3 sets

Power Clean 3 reps x 5 sets

Phase 2 Notes

In this phase, we introduce the power clean. Your deadlift is now heavy enough that doing it 3 days per week is difficult to recover from. You’ll do deadlifts on Day A as before, and do 5 sets of 3 reps in the power clean on Day B. The explosive nature of the Power Clean will continue to help drive up your deadlift, without the excessive fatigue associated with high frequency deadlifting.

Phase 2’s length is variable, from several weeks to several months, depending on the individual trainee.

Phase 3

⊞ table ⊞

Day A

Squat 5 reps x 3 sets

Press/Bench Press 5 reps x 3 sets

Deadlift 5 reps x 1 set/Power Clean 3 reps x 5 sets

Day B

Squat 5 reps x 3 sets

Press/Bench Press 5 reps x 3 sets

Chin-ups

Phase 3 Notes

At this point you’ve become strong enough to pull enough weight that we limit deadlift and cleaning frequency. Each is alternated on Day A, while chin-ups are performed on Day B. So if you deadlift on Monday, you’ll do chins on Wednesday, power cleans Friday, chins (or weighted chins, see General Notes above) on Monday, and deadlift again Wednesday. This allows adequate recovery.

Phase 3 is also often where people often need to begin micro-load their pressing movements and cleans, adding weight in 2.5lb or smaller increments to continue linear progress.

Finally, Phase 3 is also often where people reach the “Advanced Novice” stage, and add weight to their squats only twice per week (i.e. Monday and Friday), while using Wednesday as a lighter recovery day for squats.

Nutrition (Obese individual)

The obvious primary goal for an obese trainee is to lose excess bodyweight. Increasing strength contributes to this, but proper nutrition is essential to begin making this change.

A balance must be achieved that allows the trainee enough calories to continue gaining strength, but that is restrictive enough to produce weight loss – which will come at quite a brisk pace when this balance is found.

Unless a barbell coach has specific training and knowledge in the field of nutrition, the nutrition regimen for an obese trainee should be handled in consultation with an experienced professional – as long as it is understood that strength training has become and will remain a priority for the long term health of the trainee. If a nutritionist who understands the importance of strength training in conjunction with proper diet cannot be found, then common sense should prevail. Lean meats and veggies? Good. Ice cream and Twinkies? Not good.

One cannot ignore the psychological issues that caused the trainee to become morbidly obese to begin with. Obese individuals all have extremely destructive, unhealthy relationships with food. The specifics of dealing with these issues are beyond the scope of this article, but coaches need to know and understand that these habits will not change overnight. The trainee must control his own compliance.

Program Modifications (Obese individual)

Power Clean Due to the ballistic higher-impact nature of this exercise, the power clean is not recommended for the novice obese trainee. After some bodyweight has been shed and the idea of jumping has become comfortable, the power clean can be used as an ancillary pull.

Deadlift: the bent-over starting position could make the trainee uncomfortably short of breath, due to impingement between the thighs and the belly and compression of the chest cavity.

Should this occur, a full reset between reps should alleviate the discomfort.

Decrease the Range of motion via rack pulls, or putting something under the weights (eg another plate, or some planks) so the lift starts from a higher position

Unlike presses, increasing the weight on the deadlift should initially take priority over achieving a full range of motion. Since it is such an effective strength builder, the trainee should be encouraged to add weight to this partial pulling exercise. As resistance increases, the range of motion can and should be gradually increased as well, and the full range of motion will happen sooner.

Getting Stuck

https://startingstrength.com/article/the_first_three_questions

not enough rest between sets: 2-3 mins may not be enough. it is the Number 1 Error made by novice trainees.

greed/impatience/jumping weight increases too much: he continued use of 10-pound jumps will result in you getting stuck, because 5-pound jumps are sustainable for a long time and 10-pound jumps are not. Likewise, 5-pound jumps don’t work very long on the press, bench press, and power clean, so you have to obtain the equipment necessary to take smaller jumps.

diet & rest: You have to be able to recover from the stress before the adaptation can occur

protein and calories in particular: Most human males cannot make progress on a strength program with a diet of under 4000 calories a day, and on less than 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. The older you are, the more critical protein intake becomes, because as you age protein absorption out of the gut becomes a less-efficient process.

! For obese lifters: do not increase calories, but keep the protein in mind

Sleep may be the most anabolic substance in the world. If you are not getting enough sleep – no matter what the reason – it is very hard to grow, because the most potent recovery occurs during the sleep cycle.

Resetting/deloading the lift

https://startingstrength.com/article/the-reset-why-and-how

definition: DECREASE the weight from previous session

alternative: not adding load since previous setting

Good reasons to deload 5-10%:

Layoff: more than a week not trained: just use same weight. if longer, deload 5%. 3-4 weeks or more: deload 10%

Acute injury: pain prevents you from doing the worksets. After injury, reset 5-10%

Form Creep: you discover major issues with form/technique that could cause injury. this reset does not help if you do not focus on the technique though since you'll get stuck again

The First Training Stall: failed reps & sets for 2nd time in a row despite adequate rest, enough time between sets, eating "4000" calories (for men, women: 2500).

Misused reasons:

redo this paragraph based on the original article. (Misused readon 1)

1.

2.

3.

instead of deloading, just complete the total volume, eg instead of 3 reps of 5 sets, do 5 sets of 3 reps, or 5reps, 4reps, 3reps, 2reps, 1rep.

increase rest time by 3mins in addition to that if it helps

next workload retry 3sets of 5reps again with the SAME load. If you succeed, microload (2.5 lbs instead of 5 lbs ie 1.25kg instead of 2.5kg)

and add in a light squat day (to save energy?)

After Getting Started and finishing the Novice Phase

First, make sure you are actually finished being a Novice: Who Wants to Be a Novice? You Do

Intermediate & Advanced Programs

Intermediate programs are appropriate for those who have already developed their strength using a linear progression.

Rationale, construction, and example programs for intermediates are in Practical Programming for Strength Training.

Who Wants to Be a Novice? You Do

Practical Programming for Strength Training

Program modifications for older intermediates and the very detrained can be found in The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40.

For a taste of some intermediate-level programming, see articles:

The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40

The Texas Method

Five Ways to 5 x 5