Rip's new article on T-Nation

[Mark Rippetoe]

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_..._novice_you_do

[forgeforth]

I wish I were still a novice so that I could reap the benefits of another artificial growth spurt, although I see no reason why I can't go back on an eating binge after I overcome my gay desire for slight body recomp.

Here's how pathetic the body building/fitness industry is: before I put on 40 pounds doing the program, I was essentially a non-competitive body builder for about 3-4 years. I trained 6 days a week and did all of the necessary super sets and high rep cable pulls the body builders love doing. After all that, and even after bringing my bench press to 315, I was still a novice when it came to true strength training. So my results were pretty unbelievable and I don't even suffer from being skinny. I was 210 before I dropped it down to 160 through body building and wanting 6 percent body fat. Even after that, I put on around 40-45 pounds in less than 2 months and saw my body go through a massive transformation. The fat gains were so negligible that I didn't even check my weight for 2 months. Based on previous fat levels at 200, I thought I had maybe put on 15-20 pounds.

Young novices need to take advantage of the artificial growth spurt and they won't find a program that uses the high caloric intake more productively than basic barbell training.

[danb6177]

great article. Wish I started 20 years ago....my new favorate word is sumbitch

[tan125]

Yeah... same here... I wish I knew about SS about 15 years ago. Ah well... all that would've been accomplished is me being pissed off about the fact that my college gym didn't have squat racks/power cages.

[Dave 321]

It sure is nice to see sensible articles on T-nation once in a while.

[gman]

Since when do you advocate starting with an empty bar?

Here's the most important concept: every time you train – every single workout until this is no longer possible – you go up in weight on every exercise. The first time you do the exercises, start with an empty bar doing sets of 5, and go up in small jumps

[Mark Rippetoe]

Since 2004, when I wrote the first book. Every workout starts with an empty bar. Do you have the books?

[HeavyDead]

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_..._novice_you_do

When I started weightlifting 25 years ago I had no idea what I was doing, so I got the Arnold Schwarzenegger book "Bodybuilding For Men." I'd give just about anything to go back to that time, read this article and FOLLOW IT to the letter.

Thanks, Coach.