Training between SS sessions

[Nick Ryan]

I am going to start the starting strength program this week but I have a question. I really enjoy going to the gym everyday. I do not want to only go 3 days a week. Is it okay to go to the gym in between sessions and do isolation exercises or is there anything else I could do on those in between days? Thank you

[AndrewLewis]

What's more important to you? Making consistent progress or being in the gym everyday?

[dalan]

Now, you're new, training is novel again, your enthusiasm is high and your recovery isn't heavily taxed at this point in your training. Wait a few months when things get heavy and you'll really appreciate the off days.

[Mark E. Hurling]

If you feel compelled to inhale the rarified gym fumes, you could always go there and do some conditioning work. Just not so much it cuts into your recovery from lifting.

[Theseahawk]

I am going to start the starting strength program this week but I have a question. I really enjoy going to the gym everyday. I do not want to only go 3 days a week. Is it okay to go to the gym in between sessions and do isolation exercises or is there anything else I could do on those in between days? Thank you

I think you should do the programme as written, take your rest on the other 4 days. The programme doesn’t last forever and at the end of it, you will know a lot more about how many days you want to train and what direction you want to take training.

If you get 6 months out of SS, you will be a lot stronger going into a 5 day split if that’s the kind of thing you enjoy. The grey book is great for giving you post SS direction and the co-author Andy Baker has some excellent programmes on his own website for those looking for some arm pumping, isolation stuff added into a general strength programme.

But its important to be at the right level of advancement for that kind of stuff and the quickest way to get there is to do SS, which includes the rest days. Adding in the extra stuff now might push a 6 month LP out to 9 months or 12 or who knows. Or might get you stalled at 3 months and thinking you’ve completed it and moving on when you shouldn’t be.

You might get to the end of LP and get straight into something fun with volume and variation, and you’ll get more out of that programme having got strong from SS than if you did it without having first done SS. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll do SS and end up loving 3 days a week, same exercises every time, same order varying the load usually always 5s and heavier week to week.

Either way, you’ll only know if you actually give it a credible run out. If you add bits in, you’re not doing that.