Novice Programming: SS vs PP

[arrack979]

Coach Rippetoe,

Could you please comment on the reasons the the differences between the two basic novice programs suggested in SS and PP. Specifically, I am wondering why there is so much less emphasis on pulling from the ground in PP as you only have the DL on day #2 of a 3 day per week rotation, with no other pulls from the ground whereas in SS you suggest alternating A and B workouts that alternate the PC and DL. It seems like a significant difference to me given your comments on the ability of the DL to tax the body, am I wrong? Was there a reason for the change or is either one fine.

Additionally, my "fitness club" has recently changed management and as a result I have been informed that PC's are no longer allowed. Until this situation can be rectified, do you think Speed DL performed as you describe in the intermediate programming section are an acceptable substitute along with some pull-ups properly placed in a novice program?

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you'll read carefully, pg 155 states "A good example of this type of program might be the following:" This leaves some room for individual interpretation, about which, by the way, I am becoming irritated that most people seem unwilling to do. And on the next page, 156, the second paragraph suggests what is essentially the same workout suggested in BBT.

And if your club won't let you clean and you cannot rectify the situation there, you need to change clubs. Really. There is no substitute for cleans, as I have discussed elsewhere.

[Misanthrope]

This leaves some room for individual interpretation, about which, by the way, I am becoming irritated that most people seem unwilling to do.

Why bother trying to interpret something when someone on the Internet can do it for them?

Unfortunately, with weight lifting forums, as I'm sure is the case with other areas, the Internet is all too often seen as a substitute for engaging one's own common sense. I'm predicting an entire generation of learned helplessness in our future...