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Strength training 3x a week. Why strength? Strength is the most generalized adaptation there is. Training to be strong improves every component of fitness: s

by wdewind 12y ago

Strength training 3x a week. Why strength? Strength is the most generalized adaptation there is. Training to be strong improves every component of fitness: strength (duh), power, agility, balance, flexibility, endurance (all 3 types) and coordination. I would also make the argument that in day to day life strength is the most important attribute of fitness for someone in the western world. The ability to carry a bunch of heavy bags of groceries, to rack a computer, help a loved one in an emergency etc., almost all depend primarily on strength. It's also the primary adaptation for injury prevention and rehab (knee and back especially). People may have different fitness goals, but for someone who is untrained by far the best thing they can do is a strength program for 3-5 months before training more specifically for their goals. I'd recommend Starting Strength, which is a simple and popular program (popular is important, because like certain programming languages it has tons of community support behind it so it's easy to ask questions and get answers). http://www.startingstrength.com/ http://www.startingstrength.com/

gadders 12y ago
This, except 4x a week and doing a modified 5/3/1 (but Starting Strength is better for a beginner).
- wdewind 12y ago
  5/3/1 is a great intermediate/advanced program, but yep, agree SS for the beginner.
beachstartup 12y ago
i would also add that strength or at least the appearance of it is a deterrence against a lot of bad things that people do to each other, especially in dense cities which a lot of us live in. it's the difference between being an easy mark and being someone bad people completely avoid.
rickdale 12y ago
Starting strength is OK, but I feel like the best start for strength training is to start by training your grip with http://www.ironmind.com/ http://www.ironmind.com/ .. And then I would get a kettlebell and do 1 handed swings, goblet squats, and turkish get ups. Specifically, do up to 5 sets of 5, with 5-10 minutes of active rest in between. Active rest meaning you can shake your muscles you just worked out in a relaxed way. I'll jump rope sometimes. Never push yourself to failure. Always leave something in the tank. But I got all of that from Pavel Tsatsouline on a Tim Ferris podcast titled The Science of Strength. Been practicing that and so far I have had some good results. Grease the groove as Pavel says.. http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/01/15/pavel-tsatsouline/ http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/01/15/pavel-tsatsouline/
- wdewind 12y ago
  Grip training is good, but I'm not sure it's necessary for someone who is untrained. You'll get a fair amount of grip training by doing deadlifts. Kettlebells are also ok, but pretty suboptimal. They are harder to incrementally load, the technique is more complicated, less of an emphasis on strength etc. Turkish get ups have absolutely no place being recommended for novices/untrained population, sorry to disagree there. Tsatsouline is one of the better fitness gurus around, but he still gives a ton of really questionable advice. I definitely favor Rippetoe, who isn't perfect but overall his logic has way fewer holes.
  - rickdale 12y ago
    So rather than a basic gripper, you would rather have a 'untrained' person start with deadlift? Deadlifting is one of the most complex weight lifting movements there is.[0] I know its tempting to defend beliefs and I like Rippetoe as well. I have done starting strength. My point is just be open enough to listen to Pavels ideas. For Pavel its not about building muscle and adding weight, for Rippetoe it is. And there is a big difference. Pavel is talking purely about strength. Not adding to the engine, just making it run optimally. [0] From Pavel on podcast listed in above comment.
    - totalrobe 12y ago
      Deadlift is not complex. Stand close to the bar, bend over and pick up the weight with your back flat. Press, clean and jerk, and snatch are certainly complex, but deadlift not so much. Turkish getups are a great way for a beginner to drop a kettlebell on their head. From my experience being a gym rat, a majority of beginners have decent deadlift form with minimal training.
      - ccameron 12y ago
        I think you are underestimating how easy it is to get injured while performing the deadlift with improper technique. Naturally with little weight the technique isn't as critical, but load the bar and it's an entirely different story. I think the squat is on par in technicality, which lift is more technical I think is irrelevant.
Kiro 12y ago
Since you didn't mention muscle size once... do you think I'm a loser for lifting weights primarily for hypertrophy?
- wdewind 12y ago
  Not at all, but this was a thread about fitness not aesthetics. Overall I'd still recommend a few months of strength focused training before shifting into a more hypertrophy focused program. For a novice you're going to experience a fair amount of myofibrilar hypertrophy doing a strength based program anyway, and when you shift over to a body building focused program you'll be able to get much faster sarcoplasmic hypertrophy due to increased weight you'll be able to do for reps.
  - Kiro 12y ago
    Alright, fair point!
- oafitupa 12y ago
  Why would you ask such a question? If anything made you a loser, it would be worrying about whether others think you are a loser.
  - jarin 12y ago
    Maybe they mean it in a Hans and Franz kind of sense?
gt565k 12y ago
I think most people will find Strong Lifts 5x5 to be a better choice than Starting Strength, as it does not require power cleans, which are usually forbidden in most gyms. They are both more or less the same though, and focus on compound lifts.
- wdewind 12y ago
  I think the point about power cleans is fair (although if you read the book they aren't really required, many reasons why you wouldn't do them), but the 5x5 progression is way too much volume way too early.
  - jclos 12y ago
    As long as the recovery aspect is on point and if you are not too time-limited, there really is no reason not to have as much volume as possible.
  - tel 12y ago
    I've been doing 5x5 for about a month now. Everything except OH Press has been tracking very nicely---a bit of challenge but I can always make it through with a focus on form and be prepared for next workout. But I'd like to understand better your concern about volume. If I face this deficiency, what will it feel like? How should I get around it?
    - londonymous 12y ago
      I had problems with the OH Press just because the minimum increase when you're starting out is so much relative to the total weight. I think I started out at 25kg so with the smallest plates at 1.25kg, the first few increases were around 10% each — tough to pull off every week.
      - tel 12y ago
        That's a good point. I kept attributing it to missing form, which is probably not half bad to focus on, but maybe this is more of a mere "suck it up and go" sort of situation, haha
dceddia 12y ago
I've been doing strength training as well. As a skinny kid during high school weighing ~116lbs or so, it was a shock when I turned 27 and was hit 150lbs. I was getting tired more easily, stairs were harder than they used to be... I decided then that it was time to do something about it. I use Mark Lauren's You Are Your Own Gym program (book + companion app), and it's been great. The program is 10 weeks long, it's all bodyweight exercises using stuff you have around the house. There are 4 difficulty settings, and program is 10 weeks long. The app is nice because it walks you through the exercises with videos and timers. I feel like I've got a ton more energy and I'm in a more positive mood more often. Not having to go out to a gym is a huge plus for me. I don't like gyms much, always feel out of place and like I'm competing with other people there. Plus there's the hassle of having to drive there, shower, drive back... it just adds a lot of overhead to something that needs to be as easy as possible to ensure consistency.
- morb 12y ago
  I also recommend YAYOG program. It's $3 now for the app and I really think it's worth that price. I think it was $7 when I got it, and it was money well spent. Timers, videos, descriptions, warm-up and cool-downs, everything is set up so you can just start working out. Also, you can lurk http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness and http://www.reddit.com/r/yayog http://www.reddit.com/r/yayog. Every question has already been answered.
jere 12y ago
I tried Starting Strength a few years ago. I was really pumped about the program, but I had a lot of trouble with it. I read the how-to sections multiple times, watched Rippetoe videos, and even sought out a trainer at one point. No matter what, the exercises always felt awkward and I never felt like I was doing them correctly. I tried power cleaning a few times I simply didn't get it. It made me feel like a complete doofus. When I deadlifted, I was able to lift less than a 12 year old girl. Squat was the worst. I got up to about 235 (not counting the bar). I know this isn't a large amount, but it totally killed me. Just so brutally tough. I had some knee pain that flared up around that point and my elbows hurt all the time. Once after finishing a set, I was drenched in sweat and I felt nauseous for about 10 minutes. Another time, I felt the left side of my face go numb for a split second... I realized then that it wasn't for me.
- mertd 12y ago
  You deadlifted less than a 12 year old girl but squatted 280lbs? Something doesn't add up.
  - ZitchDog 12y ago
    A 12 year old girl weighs about, what, 80 pounds? But sort of awkward to pick up, so I think it checks out :)
    - Lawtonfogle 12y ago
      Tall ones (taller than me) can get up to at least 130.
  - freehunter 12y ago
    It doesn't take a lot of forearm strength to hold a bar on your shoulders. It takes a LOT of forearm strength to bring up 415 resting on your fingertips.
    - pdiddy 12y ago
      Avoid putting the barbell high on your shoulders or you risk back pain/injury. Put the bar on your traps and hold it place with your hands. This is what makes it a full-body exercise.
Eric_WVGG 12y ago
regarding older people and strength training, I know far more men in their 40’s—50’s who are physically fit than I do men in their 20’s. I think Crossfit is the new mid-life buying-a-Porsche.
nether 12y ago
> Why strength? Strength is the most generalized adaptation there is. Training to be strong improves every component of fitness: strength (duh), power, agility, balance, flexibility, endurance (all 3 types) and coordination > People may have different fitness goals, but for someone who is untrained by far the best thing they can do is a strength program for 3-5 months before training more specifically for their goals I mostly agree with this, though if endurance is your long term goal you'll need to train very differently after the 3-5 months base period. SS is high-intensity activity with eye-popping heart rates, for a few hours a week. Endurance is long hours of low-intensity activity, marathons and the like. I train for mountaineering/alpinism and the weightlifting component is very different: 7-10 reps per set at low weight and minimizing mass accumulation while maximizing recruitment of existing muscle. You can very well have too much mass while climbing.
- Ma8ee 12y ago
  Are you confusing SS with something else? It's not at all high-intensity like cross-fit and similar. It is just as heavy weights you can manage (with good technique) for 3 sets of 5 reps for most excercises.
  - nether 12y ago
    No, I mean SS. I own 2nd and 3rd editions of the book and followed the program for 14 months. I remember the copious warmup sets. It's not the constantly high, frenetic workout like Xfit, but the blow-out effort for the 1x5 deadlifts where your face turns beet red is as far from endurance training as you can get. 10 minutes of warmup sets capped by a few high-intensity sets isn't endurance, 2 hours of running with light breathing is. You see this in comparing the physiques of elite strength vs endurance athletes.
    - Ma8ee 12y ago
      Of course it is very far from endurance training. I just didn't recognize your description of the program. I'm trying to do both. I lift 3 days a week and run 3. I'm well aware that the lifting is suboptimal if I want to be a good runner and the running inhibits my gains from lifting, but I'm very happy about the general physique I'm building this way. (If I just could stop eating so much!)
makeset 12y ago
I started out this way, and eventually got into the sport of powerlifting, which is competition in the three main strength training movements (squat, bench press, deadlift). I train 4x/week, 1.5-2 hours each. Being a weight class athlete keeps my diet in check, and I lean down to six-pack abs for the summer months when I compete. Pushing eye-popping weights for maximal singles will get you injured (yes, even with perfect form), but I've found that's what it takes to get me off the couch.
chuckcode 12y ago
Starting strength and similar routines are great but be very careful of starting light and maintaining proper technique as getting injured can really impact your health and happiness in a lot of ways especially as we get older. It is very easy to get injured doing squats or power cleans with any kind of sizable weight. For example the injury rates in CrossFit are estimated to be between 20-75% [1,2] of participants which means you're more likely to get hurt than to get fit. Personally I don't think this is due to the exercises being more dangerous but rather that the excellent group motivation of CrossFit working a little too well and people overreaching in their lifts. For people starting out I highly recommend taking it slow, being patient and giving your body time to adapt. Start with a basic fitness class or trainer and work your way up to more strenuous exercises. The fitness subreddit getting started guide [3] and FAQ [4] have a lot of excellent information and links to other resources. [1] http://ojs.sagepub.com/content/2/4/2325967114531177.full http://ojs.sagepub.com/content/2/4/2325967114531177.full [2] http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/publishahead/The_nature_and_prevalence_of_injury_during.97557.aspx http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/publishahead/The_... [3] http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started [4] http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq
- wdewind 12y ago
  > It is very easy to get injured doing squats or power cleans with any kind of sizable weight. For example the injury rates in CrossFit are estimated to be between 20-75% [1,2] of participants which means you're more likely to get hurt than to get fit. Personally I don't think this is due to the exercises being more dangerous but rather that the excellent group motivation of CrossFit working a little too well and people overreaching in their lifts. One of the primary reasons I recommended Starting Strength is because it's not crossfit. Crossfit != squats and power cleans, and those injuries are not for squats and power cleans. Starting strength has built in regulation so you don't need to worry about going too fast or too slow. It also tells you when and when not to use power cleans. Just read the book.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  Good technique can be tough to get right without somebody on hand who really knows what they are doing. It has taken me years to get to a textbook squat.
oh_sigh 12y ago
I agree with you completely, just adding my two cents: I've done strength training for 5 years and am just now getting into volume training(strength is basically moving high weights for low number of reptitions, volume is moving medium weights for a high number of repititions). If I could go back, I would do a mixed routine from the beginning. Strength gains are nice, but the aesthetic gains from a volume routine are amazing, and are a really nice motivating factor to keep it up.
- hdivider 12y ago
  Interesting. Never encountered volume training before. Seems like the benefits could go beyond aesthetics. Is medium weights + high repetitions all there is to it, or is there some more theory here? Got any links? :) Can only find references to German volume training - not sure if that's the same.
  - jclos 12y ago
    "Seems like the benefits could go beyond aesthetics." They do. Volume, usually defined using tonnage (weight x reps x sets) at a certain intensity (% of your maximal strength) is the main predictor not only of hypertrophy but also of strength gains in training. That is why all of the strongest powerlifters, who are only interested in moving as much weight as possible, train in that way (medium/heavy weights). Coach/powerlifter Greg Nuckols has written two books on the topic (The Art of Lifting and the Science of Lifting) which are sort of summarizing the literature on the subject, but you can find a lot of the content for free on his blog strengtheory (for example this post: http://www.strengtheory.com/more-is-more/ http://www.strengtheory.com/more-is-more/) Two other web pages offering meta analysis of the literature are http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/strength/#3 http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/strength/#3 (about strength) and http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/hypertrophy/#3 http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/hypertrophy/#... (about hypertrophy)
    - hdivider 12y ago
      This is very helpful. Thank you!
stinos 12y ago
Would you say strength in general would be a better (more healthy in the long term) goal than just endurance/condition? Training to be strong improves every component of fitness: ... and coordination Do you mean eye-hand type of coordination? Anyway it sounds a bit odd to me: training coordination (as in a basketball shot, a frisbee throw, a bunnyhop with a bike) to me always seemed to be pretty much seperate from training strength/muscle volume? Sure strength would allow you to throw a ball/disc further or make you jump higher, but not necessarily with better accuracy?
- tghw 12y ago
  I've found strength to be extremely useful in golf. Before I made a concerted effort to get stronger, I could hit a drive in the 275 yard range if I swung hard and got lucky with it not slicing too badly. Now I can take a more measured swing and I hit it just as far, but much straighter. This goes doubly for iron shots, because I'm now 1-2 clubs lower for the same distance, giving me much more control and forgiveness. The other benefit, especially of a barbell program like Starting Strength, is stronger stabilizer muscles (both core and others), which provide a better "platform" for whatever skill you're exercising. I'm not sure if it applies to all skills, but intuitively it makes sense to me that you can use more muscle for finesse without sacrificing power if you're stronger.
- wdewind 12y ago
  I think you need both, I don't think it's an either or situation. I think strength is the most important thing for a novice, and then after that you need to add conditioning as appropriate for your goals (ie: are you just trying to be healthy or are you training for a marathon?) > Sure strength would allow you to throw a ball/disc further or make you jump higher, but not necessarily with better accuracy? Imagine hitting an incoming baseball pitch. Do you think it's easier to make the bat go exactly where you want it to be when the bat feels heavier or lighter?
- pdiddy 12y ago
  >Would you say strength in general would be a better (more healthy in the long term) goal than just endurance/condition? I would definitely say this when speaking in general terms. Strength training normally focuses on full-body exercises, but endurance training (think cross-country running or cycling--not sprinting) does not. I was just reading an article talking about the importance of strength training for runners which emphasized that most injuries come from muscle imbalances. Personally, I do both. My goal is to lift three times a week and then do endurance the other days. If I had to choose I would stick with lifting for health reasons. It also depends what your goals are. Once you get to a certain point, you can't do endurance exercise and expect to hypertrophy.
shamney 12y ago
strength training 3x a week will with no other exercise will leave the average person with extremely poor cardiovascular fitness. if you lack the strength to carry out household tasks you would be better off with basic bodyweight exercises. the average western person is sedentary and does not exercise enough, so it makes little sense to recommend 3 hours a week of training that consists of mainly of recovering between sets. there is also no evidence for the preventative benefits of heavy lifting. for the average person who starts lifting to feel and look better, starting strength makes no sense: it is sub optimal for increasing mass, is hard and not that enjoyable compared to less intense weightlifting routines, increases the length of workouts, interferes with training for other sports, is incompatible with serious participation in sports (outside of powerlifting), requires rapid and unhealthy weight gain for progression for many trainees... even if you don't agree with all my points, at least ask yourself if it makes sense to recommend a highly specific sports training routine to everyone looking for basic fitness advice.
- wdewind 12y ago
  Let's go point by point: > strength training 3x a week will with no other exercise will leave the average person with extremely poor cardiovascular fitness. This is actually not true. I wont argue it's going to give you the same level of cardiovascular conditioning as running daily, but it absolutely gives you a baseline of cardiovascular conditioning. Since we are talking about basic fitness, I would still hold to my recommendation that strength is the most important thing for the first few months, especially for a sedentary population that is likely to hurt themselves doing high impact running. I would agree that after those first few months cardiovascular fitness should be considered, and in fact most strength programs include conditioning as well. Starting strength does not because it's not meant to be run for more than a few months before going into intermediate programs that do in fact contain conditioning. > there is also no evidence for the preventative benefits of heavy lifting. for the average person who starts lifting to feel and look better, starting strength makes no sense Re: evidence of preventative benefits, I'd suggest reading this article http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/barbell_training_is_big_medicine#.VSgoMxPF-8s http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/barbell_t... Re: looking better, this thread is not about that...so... > it is sub optimal for increasing mass On the contrary, given a year and body building goals I would absolutely be recommending strength based training for a great amount of that time. I suggest you read Practical Programming which goes into detail about why this is, but the short version is myofibrilar hypertrophy vs. sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is a very real difference, and the former is far more important for mass during the novice phase, and for allowing the latter to be quickly added during intermediate phases. > requires rapid and unhealthy weight gain for progression for many trainees... This is a pretty poor understanding of the starting strength program and its nutritional recommendations. Have you read the book or just internet forums like /r/fitness where idiots talk about it? > even if you don't agree with all my points, at least ask yourself if it makes sense to recommend a highly specific sports training routine to everyone looking for basic fitness advice. If you think starting strength is a sports training routine then you do not understand the basic principals of the program or the philosophy. Please respond to my initial justification, which is that strength is the basis of all fitness and provides gains in every area, as well as the fact that I explicitly recommend a short period of time for strength training.

by wdewind 12y ago

gadders 12y ago

This, except 4x a week and doing a modified 5/3/1 (but Starting Strength is better for a beginner).

wdewind 12y ago
5/3/1 is a great intermediate/advanced program, but yep, agree SS for the beginner.

beachstartup 12y ago

i would also add that strength or at least the appearance of it is a deterrence against a lot of bad things that people do to each other, especially in dense cities which a lot of us live in. it's the difference between being an easy mark and being someone bad people completely avoid.

rickdale 12y ago

Starting strength is OK, but I feel like the best start for strength training is to start by training your grip with http://www.ironmind.com/ http://www.ironmind.com/ .. And then I would get a kettlebell and do 1 handed swings, goblet squats, and turkish get ups. Specifically, do up to 5 sets of 5, with 5-10 minutes of active rest in between. Active rest meaning you can shake your muscles you just worked out in a relaxed way. I'll jump rope sometimes. Never push yourself to failure. Always leave something in the tank. But I got all of that from Pavel Tsatsouline on a Tim Ferris podcast titled The Science of Strength. Been practicing that and so far I have had some good results. Grease the groove as Pavel says.. http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/01/15/pavel-tsatsouline/ http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/01/15/pavel-tsatsouline/

wdewind 12y ago
Grip training is good, but I'm not sure it's necessary for someone who is untrained. You'll get a fair amount of grip training by doing deadlifts. Kettlebells are also ok, but pretty suboptimal. They are harder to incrementally load, the technique is more complicated, less of an emphasis on strength etc. Turkish get ups have absolutely no place being recommended for novices/untrained population, sorry to disagree there. Tsatsouline is one of the better fitness gurus around, but he still gives a ton of really questionable advice. I definitely favor Rippetoe, who isn't perfect but overall his logic has way fewer holes.
- rickdale 12y ago
  So rather than a basic gripper, you would rather have a 'untrained' person start with deadlift? Deadlifting is one of the most complex weight lifting movements there is.[0] I know its tempting to defend beliefs and I like Rippetoe as well. I have done starting strength. My point is just be open enough to listen to Pavels ideas. For Pavel its not about building muscle and adding weight, for Rippetoe it is. And there is a big difference. Pavel is talking purely about strength. Not adding to the engine, just making it run optimally. [0] From Pavel on podcast listed in above comment.
  - totalrobe 12y ago
    Deadlift is not complex. Stand close to the bar, bend over and pick up the weight with your back flat. Press, clean and jerk, and snatch are certainly complex, but deadlift not so much. Turkish getups are a great way for a beginner to drop a kettlebell on their head. From my experience being a gym rat, a majority of beginners have decent deadlift form with minimal training.
    - ccameron 12y ago
      I think you are underestimating how easy it is to get injured while performing the deadlift with improper technique. Naturally with little weight the technique isn't as critical, but load the bar and it's an entirely different story. I think the squat is on par in technicality, which lift is more technical I think is irrelevant.

Kiro 12y ago

Since you didn't mention muscle size once... do you think I'm a loser for lifting weights primarily for hypertrophy?

wdewind 12y ago
Not at all, but this was a thread about fitness not aesthetics. Overall I'd still recommend a few months of strength focused training before shifting into a more hypertrophy focused program. For a novice you're going to experience a fair amount of myofibrilar hypertrophy doing a strength based program anyway, and when you shift over to a body building focused program you'll be able to get much faster sarcoplasmic hypertrophy due to increased weight you'll be able to do for reps.
- Kiro 12y ago
  Alright, fair point!
oafitupa 12y ago
Why would you ask such a question? If anything made you a loser, it would be worrying about whether others think you are a loser.
- jarin 12y ago
  Maybe they mean it in a Hans and Franz kind of sense?

gt565k 12y ago

I think most people will find Strong Lifts 5x5 to be a better choice than Starting Strength, as it does not require power cleans, which are usually forbidden in most gyms. They are both more or less the same though, and focus on compound lifts.

wdewind 12y ago
I think the point about power cleans is fair (although if you read the book they aren't really required, many reasons why you wouldn't do them), but the 5x5 progression is way too much volume way too early.
- jclos 12y ago
  As long as the recovery aspect is on point and if you are not too time-limited, there really is no reason not to have as much volume as possible.
- tel 12y ago
  I've been doing 5x5 for about a month now. Everything except OH Press has been tracking very nicely---a bit of challenge but I can always make it through with a focus on form and be prepared for next workout. But I'd like to understand better your concern about volume. If I face this deficiency, what will it feel like? How should I get around it?
  - londonymous 12y ago
    I had problems with the OH Press just because the minimum increase when you're starting out is so much relative to the total weight. I think I started out at 25kg so with the smallest plates at 1.25kg, the first few increases were around 10% each — tough to pull off every week.
    - tel 12y ago
      That's a good point. I kept attributing it to missing form, which is probably not half bad to focus on, but maybe this is more of a mere "suck it up and go" sort of situation, haha

dceddia 12y ago

I've been doing strength training as well. As a skinny kid during high school weighing ~116lbs or so, it was a shock when I turned 27 and was hit 150lbs. I was getting tired more easily, stairs were harder than they used to be... I decided then that it was time to do something about it. I use Mark Lauren's You Are Your Own Gym program (book + companion app), and it's been great. The program is 10 weeks long, it's all bodyweight exercises using stuff you have around the house. There are 4 difficulty settings, and program is 10 weeks long. The app is nice because it walks you through the exercises with videos and timers. I feel like I've got a ton more energy and I'm in a more positive mood more often. Not having to go out to a gym is a huge plus for me. I don't like gyms much, always feel out of place and like I'm competing with other people there. Plus there's the hassle of having to drive there, shower, drive back... it just adds a lot of overhead to something that needs to be as easy as possible to ensure consistency.

morb 12y ago
I also recommend YAYOG program. It's $3 now for the app and I really think it's worth that price. I think it was $7 when I got it, and it was money well spent. Timers, videos, descriptions, warm-up and cool-downs, everything is set up so you can just start working out. Also, you can lurk http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness and http://www.reddit.com/r/yayog http://www.reddit.com/r/yayog. Every question has already been answered.

jere 12y ago

I tried Starting Strength a few years ago. I was really pumped about the program, but I had a lot of trouble with it. I read the how-to sections multiple times, watched Rippetoe videos, and even sought out a trainer at one point. No matter what, the exercises always felt awkward and I never felt like I was doing them correctly. I tried power cleaning a few times I simply didn't get it. It made me feel like a complete doofus. When I deadlifted, I was able to lift less than a 12 year old girl. Squat was the worst. I got up to about 235 (not counting the bar). I know this isn't a large amount, but it totally killed me. Just so brutally tough. I had some knee pain that flared up around that point and my elbows hurt all the time. Once after finishing a set, I was drenched in sweat and I felt nauseous for about 10 minutes. Another time, I felt the left side of my face go numb for a split second... I realized then that it wasn't for me.

mertd 12y ago
You deadlifted less than a 12 year old girl but squatted 280lbs? Something doesn't add up.
- ZitchDog 12y ago
  A 12 year old girl weighs about, what, 80 pounds? But sort of awkward to pick up, so I think it checks out :)
  - Lawtonfogle 12y ago
    Tall ones (taller than me) can get up to at least 130.
- freehunter 12y ago
  It doesn't take a lot of forearm strength to hold a bar on your shoulders. It takes a LOT of forearm strength to bring up 415 resting on your fingertips.
  - pdiddy 12y ago
    Avoid putting the barbell high on your shoulders or you risk back pain/injury. Put the bar on your traps and hold it place with your hands. This is what makes it a full-body exercise.

Eric_WVGG 12y ago

regarding older people and strength training, I know far more men in their 40’s—50’s who are physically fit than I do men in their 20’s. I think Crossfit is the new mid-life buying-a-Porsche.

nether 12y ago

> Why strength? Strength is the most generalized adaptation there is. Training to be strong improves every component of fitness: strength (duh), power, agility, balance, flexibility, endurance (all 3 types) and coordination > People may have different fitness goals, but for someone who is untrained by far the best thing they can do is a strength program for 3-5 months before training more specifically for their goals I mostly agree with this, though if endurance is your long term goal you'll need to train very differently after the 3-5 months base period. SS is high-intensity activity with eye-popping heart rates, for a few hours a week. Endurance is long hours of low-intensity activity, marathons and the like. I train for mountaineering/alpinism and the weightlifting component is very different: 7-10 reps per set at low weight and minimizing mass accumulation while maximizing recruitment of existing muscle. You can very well have too much mass while climbing.

Ma8ee 12y ago
Are you confusing SS with something else? It's not at all high-intensity like cross-fit and similar. It is just as heavy weights you can manage (with good technique) for 3 sets of 5 reps for most excercises.
- nether 12y ago
  No, I mean SS. I own 2nd and 3rd editions of the book and followed the program for 14 months. I remember the copious warmup sets. It's not the constantly high, frenetic workout like Xfit, but the blow-out effort for the 1x5 deadlifts where your face turns beet red is as far from endurance training as you can get. 10 minutes of warmup sets capped by a few high-intensity sets isn't endurance, 2 hours of running with light breathing is. You see this in comparing the physiques of elite strength vs endurance athletes.
  - Ma8ee 12y ago
    Of course it is very far from endurance training. I just didn't recognize your description of the program. I'm trying to do both. I lift 3 days a week and run 3. I'm well aware that the lifting is suboptimal if I want to be a good runner and the running inhibits my gains from lifting, but I'm very happy about the general physique I'm building this way. (If I just could stop eating so much!)

makeset 12y ago

I started out this way, and eventually got into the sport of powerlifting, which is competition in the three main strength training movements (squat, bench press, deadlift). I train 4x/week, 1.5-2 hours each. Being a weight class athlete keeps my diet in check, and I lean down to six-pack abs for the summer months when I compete. Pushing eye-popping weights for maximal singles will get you injured (yes, even with perfect form), but I've found that's what it takes to get me off the couch.

chuckcode 12y ago

Starting strength and similar routines are great but be very careful of starting light and maintaining proper technique as getting injured can really impact your health and happiness in a lot of ways especially as we get older. It is very easy to get injured doing squats or power cleans with any kind of sizable weight. For example the injury rates in CrossFit are estimated to be between 20-75% [1,2] of participants which means you're more likely to get hurt than to get fit. Personally I don't think this is due to the exercises being more dangerous but rather that the excellent group motivation of CrossFit working a little too well and people overreaching in their lifts. For people starting out I highly recommend taking it slow, being patient and giving your body time to adapt. Start with a basic fitness class or trainer and work your way up to more strenuous exercises. The fitness subreddit getting started guide [3] and FAQ [4] have a lot of excellent information and links to other resources. [1] http://ojs.sagepub.com/content/2/4/2325967114531177.full http://ojs.sagepub.com/content/2/4/2325967114531177.full [2] http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/publishahead/The_nature_and_prevalence_of_injury_during.97557.aspx http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/publishahead/The_... [3] http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started [4] http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq

wdewind 12y ago
> It is very easy to get injured doing squats or power cleans with any kind of sizable weight. For example the injury rates in CrossFit are estimated to be between 20-75% [1,2] of participants which means you're more likely to get hurt than to get fit. Personally I don't think this is due to the exercises being more dangerous but rather that the excellent group motivation of CrossFit working a little too well and people overreaching in their lifts. One of the primary reasons I recommended Starting Strength is because it's not crossfit. Crossfit != squats and power cleans, and those injuries are not for squats and power cleans. Starting strength has built in regulation so you don't need to worry about going too fast or too slow. It also tells you when and when not to use power cleans. Just read the book.
sliverstorm 12y ago
Good technique can be tough to get right without somebody on hand who really knows what they are doing. It has taken me years to get to a textbook squat.

oh_sigh 12y ago

I agree with you completely, just adding my two cents: I've done strength training for 5 years and am just now getting into volume training(strength is basically moving high weights for low number of reptitions, volume is moving medium weights for a high number of repititions). If I could go back, I would do a mixed routine from the beginning. Strength gains are nice, but the aesthetic gains from a volume routine are amazing, and are a really nice motivating factor to keep it up.

hdivider 12y ago
Interesting. Never encountered volume training before. Seems like the benefits could go beyond aesthetics. Is medium weights + high repetitions all there is to it, or is there some more theory here? Got any links? :) Can only find references to German volume training - not sure if that's the same.
- jclos 12y ago
  "Seems like the benefits could go beyond aesthetics." They do. Volume, usually defined using tonnage (weight x reps x sets) at a certain intensity (% of your maximal strength) is the main predictor not only of hypertrophy but also of strength gains in training. That is why all of the strongest powerlifters, who are only interested in moving as much weight as possible, train in that way (medium/heavy weights). Coach/powerlifter Greg Nuckols has written two books on the topic (The Art of Lifting and the Science of Lifting) which are sort of summarizing the literature on the subject, but you can find a lot of the content for free on his blog strengtheory (for example this post: http://www.strengtheory.com/more-is-more/ http://www.strengtheory.com/more-is-more/) Two other web pages offering meta analysis of the literature are http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/strength/#3 http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/strength/#3 (about strength) and http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/hypertrophy/#3 http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/hypertrophy/#... (about hypertrophy)
  - hdivider 12y ago
    This is very helpful. Thank you!

stinos 12y ago

Would you say strength in general would be a better (more healthy in the long term) goal than just endurance/condition? Training to be strong improves every component of fitness: ... and coordination Do you mean eye-hand type of coordination? Anyway it sounds a bit odd to me: training coordination (as in a basketball shot, a frisbee throw, a bunnyhop with a bike) to me always seemed to be pretty much seperate from training strength/muscle volume? Sure strength would allow you to throw a ball/disc further or make you jump higher, but not necessarily with better accuracy?

tghw 12y ago
I've found strength to be extremely useful in golf. Before I made a concerted effort to get stronger, I could hit a drive in the 275 yard range if I swung hard and got lucky with it not slicing too badly. Now I can take a more measured swing and I hit it just as far, but much straighter. This goes doubly for iron shots, because I'm now 1-2 clubs lower for the same distance, giving me much more control and forgiveness. The other benefit, especially of a barbell program like Starting Strength, is stronger stabilizer muscles (both core and others), which provide a better "platform" for whatever skill you're exercising. I'm not sure if it applies to all skills, but intuitively it makes sense to me that you can use more muscle for finesse without sacrificing power if you're stronger.
wdewind 12y ago
I think you need both, I don't think it's an either or situation. I think strength is the most important thing for a novice, and then after that you need to add conditioning as appropriate for your goals (ie: are you just trying to be healthy or are you training for a marathon?) > Sure strength would allow you to throw a ball/disc further or make you jump higher, but not necessarily with better accuracy? Imagine hitting an incoming baseball pitch. Do you think it's easier to make the bat go exactly where you want it to be when the bat feels heavier or lighter?
pdiddy 12y ago
>Would you say strength in general would be a better (more healthy in the long term) goal than just endurance/condition? I would definitely say this when speaking in general terms. Strength training normally focuses on full-body exercises, but endurance training (think cross-country running or cycling--not sprinting) does not. I was just reading an article talking about the importance of strength training for runners which emphasized that most injuries come from muscle imbalances. Personally, I do both. My goal is to lift three times a week and then do endurance the other days. If I had to choose I would stick with lifting for health reasons. It also depends what your goals are. Once you get to a certain point, you can't do endurance exercise and expect to hypertrophy.

shamney 12y ago

strength training 3x a week will with no other exercise will leave the average person with extremely poor cardiovascular fitness. if you lack the strength to carry out household tasks you would be better off with basic bodyweight exercises. the average western person is sedentary and does not exercise enough, so it makes little sense to recommend 3 hours a week of training that consists of mainly of recovering between sets. there is also no evidence for the preventative benefits of heavy lifting. for the average person who starts lifting to feel and look better, starting strength makes no sense: it is sub optimal for increasing mass, is hard and not that enjoyable compared to less intense weightlifting routines, increases the length of workouts, interferes with training for other sports, is incompatible with serious participation in sports (outside of powerlifting), requires rapid and unhealthy weight gain for progression for many trainees... even if you don't agree with all my points, at least ask yourself if it makes sense to recommend a highly specific sports training routine to everyone looking for basic fitness advice.

wdewind 12y ago
Let's go point by point: > strength training 3x a week will with no other exercise will leave the average person with extremely poor cardiovascular fitness. This is actually not true. I wont argue it's going to give you the same level of cardiovascular conditioning as running daily, but it absolutely gives you a baseline of cardiovascular conditioning. Since we are talking about basic fitness, I would still hold to my recommendation that strength is the most important thing for the first few months, especially for a sedentary population that is likely to hurt themselves doing high impact running. I would agree that after those first few months cardiovascular fitness should be considered, and in fact most strength programs include conditioning as well. Starting strength does not because it's not meant to be run for more than a few months before going into intermediate programs that do in fact contain conditioning. > there is also no evidence for the preventative benefits of heavy lifting. for the average person who starts lifting to feel and look better, starting strength makes no sense Re: evidence of preventative benefits, I'd suggest reading this article http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/barbell_training_is_big_medicine#.VSgoMxPF-8s http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/barbell_t... Re: looking better, this thread is not about that...so... > it is sub optimal for increasing mass On the contrary, given a year and body building goals I would absolutely be recommending strength based training for a great amount of that time. I suggest you read Practical Programming which goes into detail about why this is, but the short version is myofibrilar hypertrophy vs. sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is a very real difference, and the former is far more important for mass during the novice phase, and for allowing the latter to be quickly added during intermediate phases. > requires rapid and unhealthy weight gain for progression for many trainees... This is a pretty poor understanding of the starting strength program and its nutritional recommendations. Have you read the book or just internet forums like /r/fitness where idiots talk about it? > even if you don't agree with all my points, at least ask yourself if it makes sense to recommend a highly specific sports training routine to everyone looking for basic fitness advice. If you think starting strength is a sports training routine then you do not understand the basic principals of the program or the philosophy. Please respond to my initial justification, which is that strength is the basis of all fitness and provides gains in every area, as well as the fact that I explicitly recommend a short period of time for strength training.