New Strength People - How long to give it a go?

[SteveL]

If I can convince a person to give SS a go how long should I try to get them to commit before they decide it's not for them? I'd like to go long enough that they see real progress. I'm thinking three months but a few people I know would consider that "oh that's too long". I know it kills me to hear that but there it is. Thoughts?

[Mark E. Hurling]

I wouldn't be too doctrinaire on the timeline as a metric. I'd focus on getting them under or gripping the bar and increasing weight session to session and using that as the metric to spur them on with. Nothing motivates like success and improvement. Each pound added to the bar each session, week, or month represents success and improvement. At some point it is most likely to become self sustaining. Have them keep records and that alone will show them their progress.

[SteveL]

I wouldn't be too doctrinaire on the timeline as a metric. I'd focus on getting them under or gripping the bar and increasing weight session to session and using that as the metric to spur them on with. Nothing motivates like success and improvement. Each pound added to the bar each session, week, or month represents success and improvement. At some point it is most likely to become self sustaining. Have them keep records and that alone will show them their progress.

That is a really good point. Just get them to start.

[John Janecek]

That is a really good point. Just get them to start.

Yes!! Write it all down, Rip wrote somewhere to write in in columns so you can see several weeks(?) side by side on the same open notebook. 6-7 weeks together of top worksets and you've went up. I have a 9th grade gymnast that comes in in the morning before school with her mother (ages 14 and 45), they started at about 65x5x3 on the squat and didn't look too bad. Came in the following Wed and daughter said she had to help mother into car later that day she was so sore, they showed no signs of anything wrong and after the set of 5 DL the mother even said "hmm, thats it?"

Anyway, lowered it to 55x5x3 and worked up 5lbs each workout. About week #8 they hit 110x5x3 and could see it all in the notebook. I made a point to say "wow, look you DOUBLED your leg strength in 8 weeks". They were pretty proud of themselves...

[SteveL]

Yes!! Write it all down, Rip wrote somewhere to write in in columns so you can see several weeks(?) side by side on the same open notebook. 6-7 weeks together of top worksets and you've went up. I have a 9th grade gymnast that comes in in the morning before school with her mother (ages 14 and 45), they started at about 65x5x3 on the squat and didn't look too bad. Came in the following Wed and daughter said she had to help mother into car later that day she was so sore, they showed no signs of anything wrong and after the set of 5 DL the mother even said "hmm, thats it?"

Anyway, lowered it to 55x5x3 and worked up 5lbs each workout. About week #8 they hit 110x5x3 and could see it all in the notebook. I made a point to say "wow, look you DOUBLED your leg strength in 8 weeks". They were pretty proud of themselves...

That's awesome.

[Walter Palmer]

Anyone who will not stay with a program - any program - for 90 days is not really committed. And, if they say that is "too long" before even starting the program, the chances of them staying with it are very slim. Good suggestions above to convince them but experience suggests that it is unlikely to work. Strength training is a purely volitional effort and it is very hard to convince or talk someone into it.

[George Christiansen]

MEH is correct if the deciding factor is their estimation of the "value" of the effort, but from a purely logistics point of view, I'd say that 12 weeks (sounds like less commitment than 3 months to my ears) is a good metric to tell someone that they should clear 75 minutes an evening thrice a week.

People will see improvement much further before that, but 12 weeks can have someone stronger than they would have even imagined getting before starting the program.

After that they are either hooked or not.

[carson]

Yes!! Write it all down, Rip wrote somewhere to write in in columns so you can see several weeks(?) side by side on the same open notebook. 6-7 weeks together of top worksets and you've went up. I have a 9th grade gymnast that comes in in the morning before school with her mother (ages 14 and 45), they started at about 65x5x3 on the squat and didn't look too bad. Came in the following Wed and daughter said she had to help mother into car later that day she was so sore, they showed no signs of anything wrong and after the set of 5 DL the mother even said "hmm, thats it?"

Anyway, lowered it to 55x5x3 and worked up 5lbs each workout. About week #8 they hit 110x5x3 and could see it all in the notebook. I made a point to say "wow, look you DOUBLED your leg strength in 8 weeks". They were pretty proud of themselves...

55 X 5 X 3. 110 X 5 X 3. What the hell is the point for numbers and weights like that?

[57bergstrm]

Its the novice effect, nice job, I wish I was there when I was 14

[John Janecek]

55 X 5 X 3. 110 X 5 X 3. What the hell is the point for numbers and weights like that?

Increasing strength in a complete novice who's never lifted before. There's a book out on it now.


I have a senior (starting oline) football kid who is snatching 225x2 and cleaning 275x3 inseason right now days before a football game. When he was a "hefty" 9th grader he could barely snatch 85-95lbs without falling on his butt..

I guess at that time I could have threw my hands up in the air and said "what the hell's the point"....