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One of the articles the author links to is a lot more helpful and concrete [1]. The meat of it: "Shaul’s guys out in Wyoming get massively strong and powerful

One of the articles the author links to is a lot more helpful and concrete [1]. The meat of it: "Shaul’s guys out in Wyoming get massively strong and powerful on precisely three gym sessions a week, each lasting an hour and no more. Louie Simmons, the single biggest name in gorilla-style competitive power lifting, will tell you that 45 minutes is the max length of any smart training session. But you can’t spend the first 15 minutes watching CNN from the treadmill and the last 15 “warming down.” Every second has to count, and it all starts with understanding the four basic muscular aptitudes: strength, power, muscle mass, and muscular endurance. [...] The whole trick to athletic training — and this is true for everybody from bodybuilders to marathoners to noncompetitive athletes just in it for health, or even vanity — is timing each subsequent workout so it hits the middle of that so-called supercompensation peak, when a muscle has already bounced back even stronger than before but hasn’t yet returned to baseline. [...] It can be hard to believe a true strength coach the first time he tells you that by pressing and dead-lifting on even days, squatting and doing chin-ups on odd days, avoiding all other exercises, and adding a little to the bar each time, you’ll be stronger than you’ve ever been in only a month’s time. Thanks to the fitness industry, we’re so conditioned to equate sophistication with complexity — and to think we’ve got to “work each body part” — that our gut just says, No way; that can’t work. But it works like magic, and the entire body hardens up in unison. Finally, keep it simple; understand that variety is overrated. Variety does stave off boredom — it’s fun to mix in new exercises all the time — but a guy who hasn’t trained in a long time, if ever, will get stronger faster on the simplest program of squats, dead lifts, and presses, three times a week." [1] http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/print/ http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness...

ebiester 15y ago
If you are serious about it, there's a book by Mark Rippetoe called Starting Strength that explains this in more detail.
- hkmurakami 15y ago
  That's the program I follow as well, and the article conveniently refers to it. I knew most everything in the article, but I thought it would be an excellent piece to show any of my gym "fuckaround-itis" friends.
  - llimllib 15y ago
    my friends and I at the gym say that the guys who do that are on the "barbershop workout" plan. All talk, no work :)
    - hkmurakami 15y ago
      I love the "barbershop workout" analogy! The original "Fuckarounditis" article on Leangains: http://www.leangains.com/2011/09/fuckarounditis.html http://www.leangains.com/2011/09/fuckarounditis.html
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
- llimllib 15y ago
  And a (somewhat disorganized) wiki about the book, with enough info to learn the lifts and do the program, here: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wik... Using this program and nothing else, between November 1 and December 23 of this year, my squat went from 180 to 270, my deadlift from 180 to 305, and my bench press from 120 to 165. You do not need to be an expert, or know how to lift to do the program. It is (for me) almost exactly one hour a day, three days a week. Make working out a habit, not a question of willpower. It needs to "just be", or else you, if you're at all like me, won't do it. That's why I don't care much about variety; I don't need variety in brushing my teeth either. edit: Also, the /r/fitness FAQ is quite good: http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness
  - matwood 15y ago
    Congrats! That's some pretty big gains < 2 months. I have been lifting long enough now that those sorts of gains are a forgotten memory. My deadlift is at 525 now, and I'd like to say that 600 seems reachable, but damn it's just so heavy. It's to the point where I can feel a strength difference between 1-2 lbs of more/less bodyweight. I often wonder if there is a way to figure out my personal potential max in a lift. I love dead lifting, but it would be nice to know if I'm at 50% of my possible strength or 90%. The hour workout touches on some studies that I have read that going over an hour often doesn't get you much with respect to strength training. Another good book is "The New Rules of Lifting."
    - llimllib 15y ago
      I love deadlifting, if I wasn't in the offseason training for a sport I might be able to get up into your realm :) There's something so basic and satisfying about picking up something really heavy. It seems (from my reading) that once you reach weights like yours, progression gets much harder. There's lots of tricky assistance work you need to figure out, you need to eat like a friggin animal, and you need to work just hard enough to not overtrain. In other words, good luck!
      - 15y ago
- nosequel 15y ago
  I started there a few years ago, progressed past that to his other book, "Practical Programming for Strength Training", and now I'm all over the place. I went from more of a distance person to competing in strongman. I compete in a lightweight division, but still only doing 4 or 5 exercises consistently I'm at a 550lb deadlift, 450 squat, and 350 bench. I think when I started I was about half at each of those. Do a few exercises, do them right, and do them with extremely high intensity and it'll get you places! Plus, I solve most of my bugs while lifting!
- dredmorbius 15y ago
  Which is strongly referenced in "Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie". Which is to say: both the referenced article and Rippetoe's books are excellent references.
matwood 15y ago
Great post. It hits on one of the many problems I have with xfit. The workouts are so different every time it's hard to track progress.
jmduke 15y ago
That 'supercompensation peak' is pure soft science, but the overall message is dead on: if you're at the gym, act like it. It boggles the mind to see people my age baffled at their inability to lose weight when their cardio involves reading a magazine while on a stationary bike and their weightlifting involves bicep curls.
- nunb 15y ago
  Can you cite some links that I can look up? "supercompensation peak" appears to be too general a search term.
jmduke 15y ago
That 'supercompensation peak' is pure soft science, but the overall message is dead on: if you're at the gym, act like it. It boggles the mind to see people my age baffled at their inability to lose weight when their cardio involves reading a magazine while on a stationary bike and their weightlifting involves bicep curls.
rquantz 15y ago
That article was posted here last spring, I believe (forgive me, but I'm on my iPhone at the moment and too lazy to look up a link to the discussion). Reading that article planted the seeds that led me to start barbell lifting three months ago. I've always been scrawny, so it's been amazing to watch my body transform. I've gained 25 pounds and my squat strength has doubled. I've tried gym memberships in the past, so it's hard for me to put my finger on exactly why I've been able to stay motivated this time around. Having hard, quantifiable gains may be the biggest factor, and perhaps even more than that, having quantifiable losses when I skip a workout. When I missed a week at the beginning of november (I was out of town), I had to knock 10 pounds off my squats in order to get through them. That is not a good feeling. Definitely worse than being charged five dollars. Edit: ok, I looked it up -- http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213 I'd also like to add, reading Rippetoe and Kilgore flipped a switch for me. If you can write 60 pages about how to do a squat, then weightlifting can be a geeky activity.
- dredmorbius 15y ago
  Good point on geeking out on strength training. About 5 years ago I set a goal for myself of both understanding as much as I could about strength training, and accomplishing as much as I could. Rippetoe is indeed a true geek of iron. I've managed to hit a 500# deadlift and mid-300s for squat, trying to get both of them up above that, but it's tough to make progress now. Another great resource for the squat fanatics is Boris "Squat Rx" Bachmann's "Squat Rx" YouTube series: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C03D688F10C4DE1F http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C03D688F10C4DE1F
nunb 15y ago
If anyone wants to see just how bare-bones Shaul's gym is, he's got a channel on Youtube. This was the guide I used to make my sandbags (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j6yE8LbQTg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j6yE8LbQTg). The fastest way to get started on this kind of program imho, is to look up youtube videos of the exercises, and pick up a smartphone tracker. I use Strength by Airlock Software on Android. (Lite version URI https://market.android.com/details?id=com.airlocksoftware.strengthlite https://market.android.com/details?id=com.airlocksoftware.st... and the creator also recently released an excellent HN reader on Android) There's no point doing a program like this without keeping logs, and a smartphone is the easiest way to do that. That particular app is also very newbie friendly. Finally, once your weights increase, please spend more time learning technique. Look up Squat RX, "So you think you can Squat" etc. Videos imho are best, though if you want to really geek out, read Rippetoe, Verstegen, McRobert, Kilgore etc too.

ebiester 15y ago

If you are serious about it, there's a book by Mark Rippetoe called Starting Strength that explains this in more detail.

hkmurakami 15y ago
That's the program I follow as well, and the article conveniently refers to it. I knew most everything in the article, but I thought it would be an excellent piece to show any of my gym "fuckaround-itis" friends.
- llimllib 15y ago
  my friends and I at the gym say that the guys who do that are on the "barbershop workout" plan. All talk, no work :)
  - hkmurakami 15y ago
    I love the "barbershop workout" analogy! The original "Fuckarounditis" article on Leangains: http://www.leangains.com/2011/09/fuckarounditis.html http://www.leangains.com/2011/09/fuckarounditis.html
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
llimllib 15y ago
And a (somewhat disorganized) wiki about the book, with enough info to learn the lifts and do the program, here: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wik... Using this program and nothing else, between November 1 and December 23 of this year, my squat went from 180 to 270, my deadlift from 180 to 305, and my bench press from 120 to 165. You do not need to be an expert, or know how to lift to do the program. It is (for me) almost exactly one hour a day, three days a week. Make working out a habit, not a question of willpower. It needs to "just be", or else you, if you're at all like me, won't do it. That's why I don't care much about variety; I don't need variety in brushing my teeth either. edit: Also, the /r/fitness FAQ is quite good: http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness
- matwood 15y ago
  Congrats! That's some pretty big gains < 2 months. I have been lifting long enough now that those sorts of gains are a forgotten memory. My deadlift is at 525 now, and I'd like to say that 600 seems reachable, but damn it's just so heavy. It's to the point where I can feel a strength difference between 1-2 lbs of more/less bodyweight. I often wonder if there is a way to figure out my personal potential max in a lift. I love dead lifting, but it would be nice to know if I'm at 50% of my possible strength or 90%. The hour workout touches on some studies that I have read that going over an hour often doesn't get you much with respect to strength training. Another good book is "The New Rules of Lifting."
  - llimllib 15y ago
    I love deadlifting, if I wasn't in the offseason training for a sport I might be able to get up into your realm :) There's something so basic and satisfying about picking up something really heavy. It seems (from my reading) that once you reach weights like yours, progression gets much harder. There's lots of tricky assistance work you need to figure out, you need to eat like a friggin animal, and you need to work just hard enough to not overtrain. In other words, good luck!
    - 15y ago
nosequel 15y ago
I started there a few years ago, progressed past that to his other book, "Practical Programming for Strength Training", and now I'm all over the place. I went from more of a distance person to competing in strongman. I compete in a lightweight division, but still only doing 4 or 5 exercises consistently I'm at a 550lb deadlift, 450 squat, and 350 bench. I think when I started I was about half at each of those. Do a few exercises, do them right, and do them with extremely high intensity and it'll get you places! Plus, I solve most of my bugs while lifting!
dredmorbius 15y ago
Which is strongly referenced in "Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie". Which is to say: both the referenced article and Rippetoe's books are excellent references.

matwood 15y ago

Great post. It hits on one of the many problems I have with xfit. The workouts are so different every time it's hard to track progress.

jmduke 15y ago

That 'supercompensation peak' is pure soft science, but the overall message is dead on: if you're at the gym, act like it. It boggles the mind to see people my age baffled at their inability to lose weight when their cardio involves reading a magazine while on a stationary bike and their weightlifting involves bicep curls.

nunb 15y ago
Can you cite some links that I can look up? "supercompensation peak" appears to be too general a search term.

jmduke 15y ago

rquantz 15y ago

That article was posted here last spring, I believe (forgive me, but I'm on my iPhone at the moment and too lazy to look up a link to the discussion). Reading that article planted the seeds that led me to start barbell lifting three months ago. I've always been scrawny, so it's been amazing to watch my body transform. I've gained 25 pounds and my squat strength has doubled. I've tried gym memberships in the past, so it's hard for me to put my finger on exactly why I've been able to stay motivated this time around. Having hard, quantifiable gains may be the biggest factor, and perhaps even more than that, having quantifiable losses when I skip a workout. When I missed a week at the beginning of november (I was out of town), I had to knock 10 pounds off my squats in order to get through them. That is not a good feeling. Definitely worse than being charged five dollars. Edit: ok, I looked it up -- http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213 I'd also like to add, reading Rippetoe and Kilgore flipped a switch for me. If you can write 60 pages about how to do a squat, then weightlifting can be a geeky activity.

dredmorbius 15y ago
Good point on geeking out on strength training. About 5 years ago I set a goal for myself of both understanding as much as I could about strength training, and accomplishing as much as I could. Rippetoe is indeed a true geek of iron. I've managed to hit a 500# deadlift and mid-300s for squat, trying to get both of them up above that, but it's tough to make progress now. Another great resource for the squat fanatics is Boris "Squat Rx" Bachmann's "Squat Rx" YouTube series: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C03D688F10C4DE1F http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C03D688F10C4DE1F

nunb 15y ago

If anyone wants to see just how bare-bones Shaul's gym is, he's got a channel on Youtube. This was the guide I used to make my sandbags (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j6yE8LbQTg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j6yE8LbQTg). The fastest way to get started on this kind of program imho, is to look up youtube videos of the exercises, and pick up a smartphone tracker. I use Strength by Airlock Software on Android. (Lite version URI https://market.android.com/details?id=com.airlocksoftware.strengthlite https://market.android.com/details?id=com.airlocksoftware.st... and the creator also recently released an excellent HN reader on Android) There's no point doing a program like this without keeping logs, and a smartphone is the easiest way to do that. That particular app is also very newbie friendly. Finally, once your weights increase, please spend more time learning technique. Look up Squat RX, "So you think you can Squat" etc. Videos imho are best, though if you want to really geek out, read Rippetoe, Verstegen, McRobert, Kilgore etc too.