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I've been doing strength training (the program is called Stronglifts 5x5[1]) with freeweights for about 9 months now. I just turned 44, and I've never felt bet

by unoti 14y ago

I've been doing strength training (the program is called Stronglifts 5x5[1]) with freeweights for about 9 months now. I just turned 44, and I've never felt better, and I'm stronger now than I have ever been. The program I use describes 3 simple exercises to do 3 times a week, and each workout takes me 30-45 minutes. Very little equipment is needed. It's hard to find good information about this on the net that covers both what exercises to do, how to do them, and how to eat. This program covers all of that, taking you from lifting an empty bar right on up. It's totally free, with an option to pay if you want personal consultation. I used to have knee pain, and I don't anymore. I used to get a sore back from coding all the time, and I don't any more. I seriously recommend trying strength training. [1] http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/ http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-tra...

BryanB55 14y ago
I'm currently doing the 4 hour body workout which sounds similar. I've always been in pretty good shape but after trying some of these 30 minute workouts 3 days a week, I'm a firm believer that you don't need to be spending hours in the gym everyday mindlessly going through the repetitions like a lot of people are led to believe. The page you link to looks a bit like typical internet marketing sales letter spam so I'm a bit skeptical of it, but I'll give the download a try.
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kyllo 14y ago
This. I had a very similar experience, although I did Starting Strength followed by 5/3/1. Squats and deadlifts have done wonders for my low back and knee pain. Over two years of lifting, I have gained about 30 pounds, but my waist size has not changed, suggesting that the weight gain is nearly all muscle. There's no shortcut, all it takes is lots of barbell training and protein intake over time.
- JPKab 14y ago
  I've been on Starting Strength for 3 months, and although I initially gained some fat (due to not getting a lean enough source of protein) I've gained a lot of muscle. I feel much healthier, and like you my knee pain has dissappeared. Squats and deadlifts are awesome, and the overhead press is a highly underrated exercise. (I'm a big distance runner, and I think too much distance running over time atrophied all of my muscles, including my lower body muscles. The reduced strength at the expense of increased endurance made me more susceptible to knee injuries) Edit: In response to those who claim squats are bad on the knees, let me clarify what a proper squat is: Depth. Believe it or not, if you only go to "shallow" depths in your squats, you put more stress on your knees than going "deep"(to a point where you're femur is slightly below parallel with the ground). This is simply physics at work. Stopping the squat at any point that is less than parallel is stressing the knees, rather than the much stronger hip flexors, which bear load in a deep squat.
  - kyllo 14y ago
    Yeah, I used to only jog (2-6 miles at a time) for exercise, but I had lots of knee problems. Then I picked up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and that also kept me in good shape but gave me different knee problems, until I started lifting. Lifting is clearly good for the knees and back. The myths that squats will hurt your knees and deadlifts will hurt your back need to be dispelled.
    - sofal 14y ago
      Now just hold on a second there. As long as we're throwing out anecdotes, let me say that I've been lifting for a few years now and squats completely devastate my knees. I've tried over and over again and no matter what, my knees get a stabbing, debilitating pain when I squat, even at lighter weights. Physical therapy doesn't help. X-rays show no problems. Obsessing about correct posture doesn't help. Squats are just plain bad for my knees.
      - foobarqux 14y ago
        Where is the knee pain, what type of squat are you doing and to what depth?
hbhanu 14y ago
Lifting also encourages proper posture and stretching, both of which work -wonders-. :) I'll have to look into this program, though, haven't heard of it before!
bksenior 14y ago
Look into Mark Ripptoe. He is the beginners bible and also offers ways to venture into more advance stuff if you choose to. I too feel better than I ever have physically.
- ahage16 14y ago
  StrongLifts is basically Starting Strength repackaged for easier consumption with better marketing. For beginners, both will do a great job of getting you in shape, but reading Ripptoe's books is a must for getting into anything more advanced.
toomuchtodo 14y ago
30 year old trying to get in shape here. Thanks for the info! Come join us on /r/fitness (Reddit)!
- mindcrime 14y ago
  Another great forum for strength and conditioning is the S&C sub-forum at http://mma.tv http://mma.tv Or at least it used to be, I haven't logged on for some time, but at one time there were a lot of very knowledgeable folks on there sharing and trading advice and info. There was a good mix of people who were, for example, in college studying Kinesiology and who had a very scientific focus, professional trainers of MMA fighters, various athletes who train themselves (mostly MMA guys, for obvious reasons), etc. Some of the arguments could get pretty heated, but it's a good community of people who really care about strength and conditioning / health and fitness.
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IanDrake 14y ago
I'm going to look into this. I'm halfway through p90x (again) and starting to feel really beat up, instead of really great. This is where I usually get some kind of injury with p90x. Actually, just yesterday I think I pulled my trap a bit. Now it hurts to hold my left arm out (as if reaching to shake someone's hand). Anyway, I work out for surfing. I'm happy with the p90x results, but again, starting to feel 10 years older than I really am at this point and I don't like that. I should mention, I'm doing everything possible with supplements, nutrition, stretching, and rest to fix that. How do you feel on the stronglifts program after some time? Are you frequently sore, tight, etc...? Is it more/less injury prone than other workouts? Thanks!
- pavpanchekha 14y ago
  I'm not the parent, but I'll reply too. I did SL 5x5 for a year, and then moved on to other strength programs. I'm young (20), so my results may not carry over to yours, but I found that SL was great for me. I definitely felt better after every workout, and in general felt a lot more energy. I felt sore after the first two workouts, but that dissipated very quickly. I've also fixed my posture (I've had TSA agents compliment my posture... not sure how I feel about that), feel much stronger day to day, and fixed some back pain. As for tightness and injury... I think a crucial and under-stated facet of strength training is that when you are strength training, the pre-eminent concern is good form. Until you are competing and meets, there's no reason to focus strictly on lifting the highest possible weight. In fact, there is no time pressure, you have plenty of time to set up and rest after sets, no one is watching you, nothing to cause you to sacrifice your form. I just set up slowly, made sure I was confident for every lift, and tried as hard as I could to make each lift go through the full range of motion. It was a surprisingly slow-and-contemplative process (and workouts for me were about an hour each). As a result, I didn't find myself any tighter/less flexible, and I haven't gotten injured. I see a few friends get injured, but they also tend to be the friends who sacrifice form for weight-on-bar most often. There's no need to do that if you just check your ego at the door. Point is, all sports can lead to injury. But strength training is naturally suited to making that easy to avoid.
- unoti 14y ago
  Soreness is seriously not a problem. That's because you start with (the very humbling) empty bar, and add only 5lbs each workout. Eating is key-- the progression and ease of working out is noticeably easier when eating a lot of protein. But even though you're doing squats a lot, and exercises that hit your back, it actually feels good, like you're doing what your body was made for, rather than bad.
drexel 14y ago
The book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe (book and author pretty much universally lauded by the strength training community) is also a great starting point. Beginners can often become overwhelmed by all the differing viewpoints and training methods presented to them when researching strength training but (besides avoiding injury by maintaining proper form and generally listening to your body to allow sufficient recovery time) the most important thing by far in anyone's fitness lifestyle is simply consistency in actually working out.
- alecdibble 14y ago
  I want to second this! Please read "Starting Strength"! It is the most detailed and easy-to-understand guide for executing compound lifts.
- MaybiusStrip 14y ago
  Good book for beginners but Mark has no shortage of critics and enemies in the strength community.
  - nosequel 14y ago
    Who? In both powerlifting and strongman circles he is regarded pretty highly actually. I'm competed in both NAS (north american strongman) and IPF (international powerlifting federation) and the talk of people who actually compete is how much Ripp has done to bring real knowledge to the masses.
  - angersock 14y ago
    Mind expanding on that beyond just "Some people don't like this guy"?
  - ExcitedByNoise 14y ago
    I've seen a few critiques of SS. One particular one was on how he recommends doing cleans, but in general I've found it to be well accepted. I do a variation of SS right now and I enjoy it. It's popular so it's bound to have critics.
  - 14y ago
gaetan 14y ago
Manohar Aich would aggree with you. He was still training at 99 years old: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/indian-mr-universe-100th-birthday http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/indian-mr-univer...
bargl 14y ago
I've been lifting since High School and the best program that I've found is P90X. If you want to start, but you don't understand fitness and/or dieting, it is a great place to start. If you get bored easily and have finished P90X, then move on to Cross Fit. You can easily substitute workout days that don't require equipment for days that do. In HS we did a variant of Strong lifts, the core lifts are great if you want to bulk up, but if you just want to get strong and tone, I'd suggest finding something else. I don't like to do the Olympic lifts only. I know you get a lot of muscles from them but I think everyone needs other exercise too (running, pullups, swimming, biking, etc.)
- ExcitedByNoise 14y ago
  It does depend on your goals. I know many people who do starting strength because they are primarily runners, swimmers, etc. I'm doing a bit of everything now. Olympic lifts, a couple isolations, P90x, HIIT, running, biking, pull/push ups, and yoga (which I think is very important to overall fitness). I want to add swimming into that and attempt a tri. If you only do Stronglifts or Starting Strength, you'll only accomplish what those programs are for, seems like a no brainer, but some people fail to realize this. Also, some people don't realize how much diet impacts all of these things.
tunesmith 14y ago
Wow, I'm reading through the page and can barely get through it because of the bravado. I don't want to "scare the other guys in the gym" or "need a secretary to organize my dating life" all because I won't "lose an arm-wrestling contest to a girl". I know I could just look past that but it seems like that attitude might pervade the design of the workout. What if I just want to be healthy and symmetrical with good posture and strong without being "rock-hard" and "ripped" which would turn off my girlfriend anyway?
- unoti 14y ago
  Just read the link and decide for yourself. I encourage you to give it a shot. Stronglifts 5x5 is very far from deserving of the bravado accusation you make. You start out on this program with a humble empty bar and work your way up. There's no bravado, no flash, no rock hard pump you up crap. Being suspicious is healthy, but read the actual content on either Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength before you criticize their content.
Thrymr 14y ago
As long as everyone's throwing in their experiences: I'm a fan of body weight exercises; no equipment needed (beyond things like a door or a table). I started with Mark Lauren's book [0], which has a set of 10 week programs and lots of exercises to choose from. I could probably plan my own program now, but it was good to have a start to learn exercises beyond the basic push ups and sit ups (although you can get along way with those), particularly (for me) lower body ones like squats and lunges. [0] http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Own-Gym/dp/0345528581 http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Own-Gym/dp/0345528581
orangethirty 14y ago
May you describe exactly what type of equipment do I have to buy? Dumb it down, please.
- rdouble 14y ago
  To get started with home weightlifting, you want an Olympic barbell, rubber "bumper plate" type weights, and a squat stand. If you have the room a squat cage and a bench are also useful.

by unoti 14y ago

BryanB55 14y ago

I'm currently doing the 4 hour body workout which sounds similar. I've always been in pretty good shape but after trying some of these 30 minute workouts 3 days a week, I'm a firm believer that you don't need to be spending hours in the gym everyday mindlessly going through the repetitions like a lot of people are led to believe. The page you link to looks a bit like typical internet marketing sales letter spam so I'm a bit skeptical of it, but I'll give the download a try.

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deleted 14y ago
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deleted 14y ago
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kyllo 14y ago

This. I had a very similar experience, although I did Starting Strength followed by 5/3/1. Squats and deadlifts have done wonders for my low back and knee pain. Over two years of lifting, I have gained about 30 pounds, but my waist size has not changed, suggesting that the weight gain is nearly all muscle. There's no shortcut, all it takes is lots of barbell training and protein intake over time.

JPKab 14y ago
I've been on Starting Strength for 3 months, and although I initially gained some fat (due to not getting a lean enough source of protein) I've gained a lot of muscle. I feel much healthier, and like you my knee pain has dissappeared. Squats and deadlifts are awesome, and the overhead press is a highly underrated exercise. (I'm a big distance runner, and I think too much distance running over time atrophied all of my muscles, including my lower body muscles. The reduced strength at the expense of increased endurance made me more susceptible to knee injuries) Edit: In response to those who claim squats are bad on the knees, let me clarify what a proper squat is: Depth. Believe it or not, if you only go to "shallow" depths in your squats, you put more stress on your knees than going "deep"(to a point where you're femur is slightly below parallel with the ground). This is simply physics at work. Stopping the squat at any point that is less than parallel is stressing the knees, rather than the much stronger hip flexors, which bear load in a deep squat.
- kyllo 14y ago
  Yeah, I used to only jog (2-6 miles at a time) for exercise, but I had lots of knee problems. Then I picked up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and that also kept me in good shape but gave me different knee problems, until I started lifting. Lifting is clearly good for the knees and back. The myths that squats will hurt your knees and deadlifts will hurt your back need to be dispelled.
  - sofal 14y ago
    Now just hold on a second there. As long as we're throwing out anecdotes, let me say that I've been lifting for a few years now and squats completely devastate my knees. I've tried over and over again and no matter what, my knees get a stabbing, debilitating pain when I squat, even at lighter weights. Physical therapy doesn't help. X-rays show no problems. Obsessing about correct posture doesn't help. Squats are just plain bad for my knees.
    - foobarqux 14y ago
      Where is the knee pain, what type of squat are you doing and to what depth?

hbhanu 14y ago

Lifting also encourages proper posture and stretching, both of which work -wonders-. :) I'll have to look into this program, though, haven't heard of it before!

bksenior 14y ago

Look into Mark Ripptoe. He is the beginners bible and also offers ways to venture into more advance stuff if you choose to. I too feel better than I ever have physically.

ahage16 14y ago
StrongLifts is basically Starting Strength repackaged for easier consumption with better marketing. For beginners, both will do a great job of getting you in shape, but reading Ripptoe's books is a must for getting into anything more advanced.

toomuchtodo 14y ago

30 year old trying to get in shape here. Thanks for the info! Come join us on /r/fitness (Reddit)!

mindcrime 14y ago
Another great forum for strength and conditioning is the S&C sub-forum at http://mma.tv http://mma.tv Or at least it used to be, I haven't logged on for some time, but at one time there were a lot of very knowledgeable folks on there sharing and trading advice and info. There was a good mix of people who were, for example, in college studying Kinesiology and who had a very scientific focus, professional trainers of MMA fighters, various athletes who train themselves (mostly MMA guys, for obvious reasons), etc. Some of the arguments could get pretty heated, but it's a good community of people who really care about strength and conditioning / health and fitness.

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IanDrake 14y ago

I'm going to look into this. I'm halfway through p90x (again) and starting to feel really beat up, instead of really great. This is where I usually get some kind of injury with p90x. Actually, just yesterday I think I pulled my trap a bit. Now it hurts to hold my left arm out (as if reaching to shake someone's hand). Anyway, I work out for surfing. I'm happy with the p90x results, but again, starting to feel 10 years older than I really am at this point and I don't like that. I should mention, I'm doing everything possible with supplements, nutrition, stretching, and rest to fix that. How do you feel on the stronglifts program after some time? Are you frequently sore, tight, etc...? Is it more/less injury prone than other workouts? Thanks!

pavpanchekha 14y ago
I'm not the parent, but I'll reply too. I did SL 5x5 for a year, and then moved on to other strength programs. I'm young (20), so my results may not carry over to yours, but I found that SL was great for me. I definitely felt better after every workout, and in general felt a lot more energy. I felt sore after the first two workouts, but that dissipated very quickly. I've also fixed my posture (I've had TSA agents compliment my posture... not sure how I feel about that), feel much stronger day to day, and fixed some back pain. As for tightness and injury... I think a crucial and under-stated facet of strength training is that when you are strength training, the pre-eminent concern is good form. Until you are competing and meets, there's no reason to focus strictly on lifting the highest possible weight. In fact, there is no time pressure, you have plenty of time to set up and rest after sets, no one is watching you, nothing to cause you to sacrifice your form. I just set up slowly, made sure I was confident for every lift, and tried as hard as I could to make each lift go through the full range of motion. It was a surprisingly slow-and-contemplative process (and workouts for me were about an hour each). As a result, I didn't find myself any tighter/less flexible, and I haven't gotten injured. I see a few friends get injured, but they also tend to be the friends who sacrifice form for weight-on-bar most often. There's no need to do that if you just check your ego at the door. Point is, all sports can lead to injury. But strength training is naturally suited to making that easy to avoid.
unoti 14y ago
Soreness is seriously not a problem. That's because you start with (the very humbling) empty bar, and add only 5lbs each workout. Eating is key-- the progression and ease of working out is noticeably easier when eating a lot of protein. But even though you're doing squats a lot, and exercises that hit your back, it actually feels good, like you're doing what your body was made for, rather than bad.

drexel 14y ago

The book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe (book and author pretty much universally lauded by the strength training community) is also a great starting point. Beginners can often become overwhelmed by all the differing viewpoints and training methods presented to them when researching strength training but (besides avoiding injury by maintaining proper form and generally listening to your body to allow sufficient recovery time) the most important thing by far in anyone's fitness lifestyle is simply consistency in actually working out.

alecdibble 14y ago
I want to second this! Please read "Starting Strength"! It is the most detailed and easy-to-understand guide for executing compound lifts.
MaybiusStrip 14y ago
Good book for beginners but Mark has no shortage of critics and enemies in the strength community.
- nosequel 14y ago
  Who? In both powerlifting and strongman circles he is regarded pretty highly actually. I'm competed in both NAS (north american strongman) and IPF (international powerlifting federation) and the talk of people who actually compete is how much Ripp has done to bring real knowledge to the masses.
- angersock 14y ago
  Mind expanding on that beyond just "Some people don't like this guy"?
- ExcitedByNoise 14y ago
  I've seen a few critiques of SS. One particular one was on how he recommends doing cleans, but in general I've found it to be well accepted. I do a variation of SS right now and I enjoy it. It's popular so it's bound to have critics.
- 14y ago

gaetan 14y ago

Manohar Aich would aggree with you. He was still training at 99 years old: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/indian-mr-universe-100th-birthday http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/indian-mr-univer...

bargl 14y ago

I've been lifting since High School and the best program that I've found is P90X. If you want to start, but you don't understand fitness and/or dieting, it is a great place to start. If you get bored easily and have finished P90X, then move on to Cross Fit. You can easily substitute workout days that don't require equipment for days that do. In HS we did a variant of Strong lifts, the core lifts are great if you want to bulk up, but if you just want to get strong and tone, I'd suggest finding something else. I don't like to do the Olympic lifts only. I know you get a lot of muscles from them but I think everyone needs other exercise too (running, pullups, swimming, biking, etc.)

ExcitedByNoise 14y ago
It does depend on your goals. I know many people who do starting strength because they are primarily runners, swimmers, etc. I'm doing a bit of everything now. Olympic lifts, a couple isolations, P90x, HIIT, running, biking, pull/push ups, and yoga (which I think is very important to overall fitness). I want to add swimming into that and attempt a tri. If you only do Stronglifts or Starting Strength, you'll only accomplish what those programs are for, seems like a no brainer, but some people fail to realize this. Also, some people don't realize how much diet impacts all of these things.

tunesmith 14y ago

Wow, I'm reading through the page and can barely get through it because of the bravado. I don't want to "scare the other guys in the gym" or "need a secretary to organize my dating life" all because I won't "lose an arm-wrestling contest to a girl". I know I could just look past that but it seems like that attitude might pervade the design of the workout. What if I just want to be healthy and symmetrical with good posture and strong without being "rock-hard" and "ripped" which would turn off my girlfriend anyway?

unoti 14y ago
Just read the link and decide for yourself. I encourage you to give it a shot. Stronglifts 5x5 is very far from deserving of the bravado accusation you make. You start out on this program with a humble empty bar and work your way up. There's no bravado, no flash, no rock hard pump you up crap. Being suspicious is healthy, but read the actual content on either Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength before you criticize their content.

Thrymr 14y ago

As long as everyone's throwing in their experiences: I'm a fan of body weight exercises; no equipment needed (beyond things like a door or a table). I started with Mark Lauren's book [0], which has a set of 10 week programs and lots of exercises to choose from. I could probably plan my own program now, but it was good to have a start to learn exercises beyond the basic push ups and sit ups (although you can get along way with those), particularly (for me) lower body ones like squats and lunges. [0] http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Own-Gym/dp/0345528581 http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Own-Gym/dp/0345528581

orangethirty 14y ago

May you describe exactly what type of equipment do I have to buy? Dumb it down, please.

rdouble 14y ago
To get started with home weightlifting, you want an Olympic barbell, rubber "bumper plate" type weights, and a squat stand. If you have the room a squat cage and a bench are also useful.