Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength

[TheSutterDynasty]

If anyone cares to delve into the physiological facts as to why they think that calories aren't a measure of energy please do so. There are a lot of you, yet no one has ever bothered with an actual explanation.

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Search for Zuzana on youtube. If that doesn't motivate you I don't know what will......

The girl from bodyrock? Yeah she's awesome, a female terminator. She has tons of exercises, I just need to select a few to supplement my routine. Recently I joined a small old school no nonsense gym that is pretty bare bone (can't ask for much for $6 per visit right) so I need to alter a few things I've been doing up until now.

One more thing re: starting strength routine, I noticed there are quite few reps, which is okay if you want to bulk up, but as long as "body sculpting" goes I'd recommend less weight/more reps (8-10). Last but not least, some lifts (technique) differ if you are lifter (going for strength) and body builder (going for how good muscle "look"), most glaring example being bench press. I haven't read the book yet (I will) so I don't know what technique Ripptoe uses but it's something to keep in mind.

[Keselke]

Originally Posted by Ark2

Anyone else used this workout program before? I've been going to the gym pretty steadily for a little over a year now but I have always mostly focused on doing isolation exercises (bench press being the main exception). Lately, however, I have been doing some research and I have come to the conclusion that this isn't the way that I should be going considering I want to put on mass.

Anyway, I started the Starting Strength program today, beginning with Workout A, and I have to say, I'm a bit underwhelmed considering that it is only 3 exercises and I was out of the gym in no time. For those that have had experience with it, should I add anything to it or should I just stay the course?

I did this workout for about 3 months

Couple notes
-Made lots of gains in both strength and overall physique
-Depending on your job I found my legs to be extremely fatigued sometimes
-Doing 1 set of deadlifts seems really odd, but dont mess around with the overall program...there are a 2 or 3 exercises like clean and press where alternatives are mentioned
BB.COM have a pretty thorough writeup of the program and adding more to it as you become more advanced(Things like dips and chins are often incorporated)

[NoWorries]

Originally Posted by TheSutterDynasty

Right. So I should believe some random dude on the internet over accepted physiology. Care to tell me how that would, physiologically, result in less fat gain? Care to explain what exactly a calorie is?



My THEORY?! Talk about living blindfolded. My theory happens to be in every basic physiology textbook and paper that is out there. My theory happens to be accepted FACT. There are so many confounding variables and validity issues with your little case study you expect me to believe YOU over science?! Feel free to tell us how exactly your theory works, numbnuts.

It is what it is - my experience with it. I never said otherwise. But if you cared to learn anything else or even just investigate why it may be I posted links to sites with folks that have a lot more credentials than I.

Originally Posted by TheSutterDynasty

And those 'some people' would be you. Science told us the earth wasn't flat, and now you're saying it's nothing more than a behind-the-times archaic thought process?!



Science can explain everything. That's the point of science. I like seeing and hearing examples of people too, but guess what, he's selling you a product. I have no doubt that this program is good. The problem is all the quacks like you who are recommending beginners to eat until they get diabetes/heart disease when they're 40, and lift way out of their goals and capabilities (not saying starting strength necessary meets the latter half of this criteria).

LOL! You sure like putting words in people's mouth...you are the only one saying the above.

No point in discussing this with you - as you just have a pretentious condescending attitude and are more interested in name calling.

In a thread about Starting Strength you have yet to add anything relevant to the original post.

I posted links to sites of people who know a lot more about nutrition and fitness than I do (scienctists BTW -), but you stated you had no interest in learning. I posted it so people can learn the facts for themselves and make their own informed decisions.

As to anyone looking to gain strength, with or without size - Starting Strength is a fantastic program and worth investigating to see if it would meet you goals. The book is a great read and is very detailed on all the excercies.

[TheSutterDynasty]

Originally Posted by NoWorries

LOL! You sure like putting words in people's mouth...you are the only one saying the above.


I posted links to sites of people who know a lot more about nutrition and fitness than I do (scienctists BTW -), but you stated you had no interest in learning. I posted it so people can learn the facts for themselves and make their own informed decisions.

You said this:

Originally Posted by NoWorries

It definitely matters what you eat...I would have put on a ton of fat if I had fries/pizzas sodas etc. at the same caloric intake.

All calories are not equal. Our bodies our hormonal and react differently to different foods.

And I told you why it's wrong and asked you to back up your claim with either an explanation or some science and all you've done is avoid the question.

This is the problem with your type. You make a claim and recommend something to everyone, including naive beginners, and you can't back it up worth #### - you just run your mouth without evidence.

So back it up.

[Ark2]

Well, just finished Workout B today. I increased my squat weight by 10 lbs but I'm still at a pretty low weight so I can concentrate on proper form. It was kind of funny today, because beside me, there were two younger kids squatting heavier weight than me, but when I watched them, I noticed all kinds of problems with their form. Improper grip on the bar, bent wrists, improper stance with their feet, not going deep enough, etc. That's one of the best things with the Starting Strength book, it really drives proper form into your head.

[TheSutterDynasty]

Originally Posted by NoWorries

It definitely matters what you eat...I would have put on a ton of fat if I had fries/pizzas sodas etc. at the same caloric intake.

All calories are not equal. Our bodies our hormonal and react differently to different foods.

Still waiting for a response.

Also, what do people think is the physiological purpose of having a lot of body weight to lift more? Besides having a huge gut to bounce up off of at the bottom of a squat.

[Ark2]

Glad this thread got bumped. I've been increasing the weight that I'm lifting steadily, I've already increased my squat by 40 lbs and my deadlift by 70 lbs. I haven't gained any actual weight though, but as long as I keep getting stronger, I don't mind.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by TheSutterDynasty

Still waiting for a response.

Also, what do people think is the physiological purpose of having a lot of body weight to lift more? Besides having a huge gut to bounce up off of at the bottom of a squat.

Well that's two questions...

The type of energy you eat does affect how your body processes the energy. The specifics of this answer are extremely complex and it would take you several post-graduate degrees to understand why and even then there are lots of things about the body we simply do not know. They involve complex hormonal and feedback systems within the body. I'll give you two examples off the top of my head:

1) If you eat a lot of simple sugars you will get an insulin spike which can encourage your body to put on fat. This doesn't happen with complex carbs which results in more gradual release of sugar into your body.

2) During exercise your body shuts down most of its digestive functions and puts energy into catabolic functions to generate energy. After working out your body goes into a recovery mode. If you eat lots of protein during this recovery period, it encourages your body to build muscle. It's basically a feedback system where if your body is flush with amino acids, your body makes a functional decision that you can indeed support more muscle and have the necessary amino acids (which in nature can be rare) to support the maintenance of that muscle.

Question 2:

Physics. Momentum of an object of greater mass is greater than momentum of an object of lesser mass, assuming constant speed. An object with more mass, can, therefore, more easily move a heavier weight. In addition, being heavier can increase muscle strength since you have to lug your fat ass around. If you look at the champion strong men, they tend to be guys with decent sized guts. Also, unless you are on steroids, your body will not generally gain large amounts of muscle unless you also consume lots of calories....which leads to fat (mass in general).

[Ark2]

Originally Posted by blankall

Physics. Momentum of an object of greater mass is greater than momentum of an object of lesser mass, assuming constant speed. An object with more mass, can, therefore, more easily move a heavier weight. In addition, being heavier can increase muscle strength since you have to lug your fat ass around. If you look at the champion strong men, they tend to be guys with decent sized guts. Also, unless you are on steroids, your body will not generally gain large amounts of muscle unless you also consume lots of calories....which leads to fat (mass in general).

This is very true. I don't recall ever seeing guys in strong men competitions with six packs.