SS or intermediate program for strength?

[Moxy]

Hey all,

I started exercising last year and focused on my own type of BB split that had little progression and mainly resulted in size gains and not so much strength. I now want to focus on building primarily strength and was wondering if SS would be a good start or an intermediate program.

If this would help, an approximation of my 1RM on the big 3 at BW 166 lbs 5'10" are:

~200 lb Bench
~300 lb Deadlift
~200 lb Squat

Thanks.

[veryhrm]

if you're willing to put on 20 lbs yes.

at 5' 10" You should be able to take your low bar squats to at least 3x5x300 on SS novice program. Possibly more. (get the book).

[Moxy]

Thanks for the reply. What do you exactly mean by "if you're willing to put on 20 lbs" if you don't mind me asking? I don't know if you're referring to what I think you are.

[yorick]

Definitely get the book. But, you should be able to increase your lifts with a good LP progression without even having to worry about your weight.

How old are you, by the way?

[Moxy]

Thanks for your reply yorick. I already have the book but haven't given it a too in-depth read. So you think even on the BP I should work with linear progression per workout? And although the book says how to pick a starting weight for each lift, what would you think a good % RM to work with for a lift given your experience.

[Moxy]

I'm 19 years old. Didn't see your question for some reason lol.

[veryhrm]

the 20lbs was referring to body weight gain (and that's on the low end of what you'll see recommended here). Which will be both muscle and fat. Based on what people seem to report around here, it's not likely you'd make much progress on SS if you insisted on staying at your current body weight. The SS program is too aggressive if you're trying to maintain abz. The process is generally: accept some fat gain while doing SS... then do a cut afterwards while trying to maintain strength. Anyway, there are various threads on this around here.

The book has a process to follow to determine your starting weights (though it's, imo, a bit vague). W/ your numbers i'm guessing your bp and squat work-sets would start around 135 and your DL around 225, but do the process in the book. Don't worry if it feels light for the first week or two... it gets heavy pretty quick.

[Moxy]

Thanks again for your reply and info veryhrm, you've been a great help man. I don't mind gaining weight at all--I actually gained around 22 lbs in like 3 months from lifting and eating like a horse--just as long as I don't end up with unreasonable amounts of fat; which I feel will have a lot to do with how I lift and if I follow the program correctly.

And yeah, the book is a bit vague on the selection of starting weights. So my question is--which may be a stupid one lol--are the weights used in the worksets supposed to be close to your 1RM or close to it in order to avoid failure? I'm asking this since I started with 3x5x175 BP today but if I'll make better gains in the long run starting 135 then I'm up for it.

[Alexis]

If your form on the lifts is already good and you did all of them regularly I personally would take 20% off your current 5RM to start.
If you still want to practice form I'd go even lower.

[Tamara Reynolds]

If your 1RM bench is 200 lbs, then yes, starting at 3x5x175 is a bad idea.