Noob to weight lifting and SS

[sasquatch]

Howdy Y'all,

So I decided last week that I'm going to do something about being 6'1" @135 lbs. I've always been really active with swimming, mma, jiu-jitsu, and recently running. I don't necessarily want to quit running, because I need to keep my cardio up, but I'd like to put on as much weight as possible by December. I'm applying for a police academy and I think I'd handle the fighting and obstacle courses a lot better with extra muscle mass.

I was originally going to do stronglifts 5x5 program which I found online last week. However, after doing my first workout I realized that I need a lot of help with technique. Stronglifts site doesn't have a public forum, and the daily emails are starting to seem more like sales pitches. I honestly don't know which program is the best for me, but I joined SS for the knowledge base.

Should I stick with 5x5, or should I do one of Rip's novice programs? At this point, I don't know if I should buy Starting Strength or Practical Programming. What's the difference between the two? Powercleans look freaky, I don't think I could do them without an instructor. If I buy one of Mark's books, will they go into proper diet as well?

Sorry to ask so many questions in one thread, but this is all new to me and I want to make sure that if I'm going to put time into this, that I actually get some results. I don't know if it's realistic, but I'd like to put 20lbs on by December

EDIT - Here's a link to my new training log for those interested.
http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=25911

[Les Hahn]

I would just use the 3x5 (3 sets of 5) for the lifts. There are some other threads on the board you can look at about it, but a lot of beginners thought they recovered better with 3x5. You can do the SS routine too, or stick with the stronglifts program and just do 3x5. It really comes down to if you want to do powercleans or rows, otherwise the programs are pretty similar, escept the rep scheme which you already mentioned. Either way you go, you are on the right track.

I think you have a good plan of attack. Keep running too, since you need to do that for the police academy. You may have to run less (I don't know what you do right now), but you will be able to gauge that by feel. Just make sure you recover for your lifts and add running as long as you are recovering.

Best of luck doing this! It is great that you have a good routine and goals in mind.

[sedition]

how old are you?

[sasquatch]

how old are you?

I'm 24.

EDIT - hmm, my browser seems to be having issues posting threads to this forum. My first reply isn't on here...

Callador, I think I'll stick with stronglifts for now, drop to 3x5, and add 10lbs instead of 5lbs the first few weeks. If I can find a good instructor in San Antonio to teach me how to do powercleans I'll pick those up later.

I was running 3x a week for 2 miles. I'm now sprinting instead so that I can burn less calories and be nicer to my knees

[Les Hahn]

Now when you say 10lb jumps, do you mean 10lbs per session (30lbs per week) or just 10lbs per week total? If you mean the 30lbs, just be careful about moving up too quickly. If you are doing the running and other conditioning stuff, 15lbs per week might be plenty. Just monitor your bar speed and recovery abilities. Don't do fast jumps up to the point of grinding reps... this wil lead to a fast stall.

When I was doing LP (not SS, but something similar), I did the big lifts 2x per week. I also only added 5lbs per session. This left me with a 10lb gain per week. A few times I did a 10lb jump, but there were others where I had to do 2.5 as well. Even 10lbs jumps every week eventually get hard. Now I was trying to maintain/lose weight, so I wasn't eating a calorie surplus. You will be eating more (20lb gain in 4 months), so you might be better off than I was. Maybe someone else can chime in about the running in combination with LP. I didn't do any running, just power walking a couple of times a week for fun.

[sasquatch]

Now when you say 10lb jumps, do you mean 10lbs per session (30lbs per week) or just 10lbs per week total? If you mean the 30lbs, just be careful about moving up too quickly. If you are doing the running and other conditioning stuff, 15lbs per week might be plenty. Just monitor your bar speed and recovery abilities. Don't do fast jumps up to the point of grinding reps... this wil lead to a fast stall.

When I was doing LP (not SS, but something similar), I did the big lifts 2x per week. I also only added 5lbs per session. This left me with a 10lb gain per week. A few times I did a 10lb jump, but there were others where I had to do 2.5 as well. Even 10lbs jumps every week eventually get hard. Now I was trying to maintain/lose weight, so I wasn't eating a calorie surplus. You will be eating more (20lb gain in 4 months), so you might be better off than I was. Maybe someone else can chime in about the running in combination with LP. I didn't do any running, just power walking a couple of times a week for fun.

I intend to add 10lbs per session initially because an empty bar for squats and bench just doesn't feel like anything. After 2 weeks I'll probably drop down to 5lbs per session. Also, I'm not running as much as I was. I'll run a max of twice a week while doing this program. I'm intaking a massive amount of calories with GOMAD/2, so hopefully I can gain 1.5lbs a week while still running.

[disconnect]

The Starting Strength DVD is an incredible resource for technique. You can find clips on youtube, but trust me, just buy the DVD. It shows how to approach the bar, proper movement, a bunch of little things to watch out for, and a number of different body shapes doing the lifts. I was able to figure out cleans with just a little work.

[li4alex]

You should definitely at least buy Starting Strength. It explains the form for each lift in painstaking detail and gives the reasoning behind it. You should buy Practical Programming if you plan to continue lifting weights once your novice progression is finished (3-9 months on average if you do the program. For what the program entails, see: http://startingstrength.com/articles...n_rippetoe.pdf).
To the extent that nutrition is dealt with, it is mainly eat a lot. You may or may not be familiar with the term GOMAD (gallon of milk a day), which, at your weight and height, should definitely be very strongly considered.
To hold you over for now until the book(s) arrive, you should check out the starting strength wiki (http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi..._Strength_Wiki). It has videos, although if you really feel you need it, I'd also recommend getting the Starting Strength DVD.
Addendum: according to other threads, the third edition of Starting Strength is due to come out early September. So you could wait until mid-September (shipping and whatnot) to get it, or you could just spring for the second edition now.

[sasquatch]

You should definitely at least buy Starting Strength. It explains the form for each lift in painstaking detail and gives the reasoning behind it. You should buy Practical Programming if you plan to continue lifting weights once your novice progression is finished (3-9 months on average if you do the program. For what the program entails, see: http://startingstrength.com/articles...n_rippetoe.pdf).
To the extent that nutrition is dealt with, it is mainly eat a lot. You may or may not be familiar with the term GOMAD (gallon of milk a day), which, at your weight and height, should definitely be very strongly considered.
To hold you over for now until the book(s) arrive, you should check out the starting strength wiki (http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi..._Strength_Wiki). It has videos, although if you really feel you need it, I'd also recommend getting the Starting Strength DVD.
Addendum: according to other threads, the third edition of Starting Strength is due to come out early September. So you could wait until mid-September (shipping and whatnot) to get it, or you could just spring for the second edition now.

If the 3rd edition is almost out, I'll just wait for it. I'll probably get the DVD and PP at the same time. Thanks for the heads up. I'll use the wiki in the meantime. I was recently introduced to GOMAD, Ijust started drinking 1/2 a gallon of Lactaid a day yesterday. I'm eating about 3500 calories a day, so GOMAD/2 will get me up to 4500-5000 calories.

[Les Hahn]

I see. I didn't know you were starting with the empty bar. You should be good then.

As others have said, if you can afford it get the book and the DVD. The 3 combo pack, which also includes PPST2, is available on Amazon at a good price. I didn't do the SS program, but I bought the book for the lift explanations and all the other good stuff in there. The DVD is nice, since it lets you see the lifts from a couple different lifters.

Think of the books as something you can keep in your library for great reference materials. Even the SS book is so much more than the 3x5 SS program.