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There are a lot of recommendations for Starting Strength here and I think the book is great for describing how to do a certain kind of lift. I read it and was

There are a lot of recommendations for Starting Strength here and I think the book is great for describing how to do a certain kind of lift. I read it and was still lost about frequency, how to minimize injury, etc. It doesn't give you the practical "do this" sort of advice a true beginner needs or at least this true beginner needed. I really like Julian Shapiro's guide for the first few months of weight lifting: https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro I'd recommend the trainer part though - I tweaked my shoulder trying to just figure it out on my own.

exhilaration 5y ago
So I'm a big Starting Strength believer, it was transformational for me (specifically the deadlift, it's life-changing), but in addition to the book the YouTube channel is great: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC5FaqTBy0c1jlRUHKu4SuXQ https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC5FaqTBy0c1jlRUHKu4SuXQ Since this is a technical crowd, I would suggest firing up YouTube-DL and downloading every video from the channel. The content is so incredibly valuable that I could see them putting it behind a subscription at some point. Once you have it locally you can just sort by filename and watch all the instructional videos on the squat or deadlift etc.
npsimons 5y ago
> It doesn't give you the practical "do this" sort of advice a true beginner needs or at least this true beginner needed. What are you talking about? He lists an example two week program complete with sets and reps in that book, plus outlines exactly how to find the weight you should be lifting with. Form is rigorously specified, to the point I've managed to stay injury free from lifting while never having been coached. As someone who had done practically no strength training (benching with friends every once in a blue moon), SS:BBT took me from completely ignorant to regular lifter.
bumby 5y ago
>It doesn't give you the practical "do this" sort of advice a true beginner needs or at least this true beginner needed. His other book “Practical Programming” does. I find his writing needlessly verbose, but he does cover a lot of different programming options.

exhilaration 5y ago

So I'm a big Starting Strength believer, it was transformational for me (specifically the deadlift, it's life-changing), but in addition to the book the YouTube channel is great: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC5FaqTBy0c1jlRUHKu4SuXQ https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC5FaqTBy0c1jlRUHKu4SuXQ Since this is a technical crowd, I would suggest firing up YouTube-DL and downloading every video from the channel. The content is so incredibly valuable that I could see them putting it behind a subscription at some point. Once you have it locally you can just sort by filename and watch all the instructional videos on the squat or deadlift etc.

npsimons 5y ago

> It doesn't give you the practical "do this" sort of advice a true beginner needs or at least this true beginner needed. What are you talking about? He lists an example two week program complete with sets and reps in that book, plus outlines exactly how to find the weight you should be lifting with. Form is rigorously specified, to the point I've managed to stay injury free from lifting while never having been coached. As someone who had done practically no strength training (benching with friends every once in a blue moon), SS:BBT took me from completely ignorant to regular lifter.

bumby 5y ago

>It doesn't give you the practical "do this" sort of advice a true beginner needs or at least this true beginner needed. His other book “Practical Programming” does. I find his writing needlessly verbose, but he does cover a lot of different programming options.