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Thread: Starting Strength or Texas Method coming from Bodybuilding

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2020
    Posts
    5

    Default Starting Strength or Texas Method coming from Bodybuilding

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    Hey everyone,

    So for most of my lifting career I suffered from fuckarounditis. In college when I got into lifting and got my newbie gains I made the mistake of skipping leg day too much. I started lifting at 20 but currently I am a 26 yo Male, 5'11, 190lbs. I have primarily done bodybuilding style training and am happy with my physique but very dissatisfied with my strength. My current lifts are Bench 225, Squat 225, Deadlift 335x2, Press 145.

    My question is: because I have never done an official strength program, but have past my newbie gains phase and have done all the lifts for year (albeit probalby shitty), should I start with Starrting Strength as a Beginer to training or Texas Method? My real goal is to maintain my bench and press but significantly focus on increasing my squat. Any insights appreciated!

    Thanks,
    Storkman

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    1,912

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by storkman8 View Post
    have past my newbie gains phase
    With those numbers, not even close to have passed your newbie gains phase. It's not a matter of how long you've been fucking around in the gym, it's what you've done in the gym. You're still a newbie (seriously). And young.

    Are those your single numbers for those lifts? Triples? 20's? Regardless, run the Novice Linear Program (including eating/sleeping right) as written. Chances are that you'll have to rework your form, especially on the squat (low bar/below parallel), so keep the lifts lighter than your current lift numbers for a bit until you get that form correct.

    Trust in the program as written and you'll blow past those current numbers quickly and still be running those novice gains for a few months to come. Even with your preference on bench and press, run the program as written (don't add extra bench/press reps/days), and those will come along just fine.

    For perspective, I'll go with my 2019 pre-COVID numbers. As a (then) 51 year old, running the NLP mostly consistently for ~5 months, bench was 210x5x3, squat 315x5x3, DL 360x5,and press 165x5x3 (I stopped my NLP in December to focus on snowboarding for the winter, as I do every year). With those numbers and the work, I wasn't even considering an intermediate program like TM.

    In addition to the Blue Book, give A Clarification a read. Good info there that will be applicable to you.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2020
    Posts
    249

    Default

    I'm just here to 2nd Bill's recommendation. I messed around in the gym for 20 years from 16-36, even playing college sports. Bit the bullet and admitted I was a "newbie" and I'm running out a linear progression doing work sets at 145, 225, 365, 395 and still moving up every workout (except the squat is stalling).

    Honestly my favorite thing about the Novice linear progression is cutting out unnecessary assistance work I was always told to do. Buy the Blue/gray books and run out your NLP and enjoy adding muscle mass.

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