Questions about Men's Journal Article

[Oschisms]

I heard of your program through the Men's Journal article and read Starting Strength because of it. I'm 38 years old, and haven't been in good shape since I was a marathon runner 10 years ago. (I know, I know) I'm interested in starting your program and have a few questions.

In Starting Strength, you recommend a 3 day per week program, alternating Squat Bench Press Deadlift with Squat Press Power Clean. In the Men's Journal article, a "true strength coach" says "by pressing and deadlifting on even days, squatting and doing chinups on odd days, avoiding all other exercises, and adding a little to the bar each time, you'll be stronger than you've ever been in a month's time." (Presumably Sunday's a day of rest)

Later, the author implies that he did a 3 day per week program comprising of the squat, deadlift and bench press every other day.

1) What do you think of these two alternate programs?

2) You clearly prefer to give the entire body a day of rest after lifting, but if you were to break up your program into a 6 day a week program like the "true strength coach" cited above, how would you advise to do it? (I just prefer to go to the gym after work every day, as it seems easier when it's a part of your daily routine.)

[nkelman]

My mums wrote that article brah. Got paid heaps.

[DanO_123]

I heard of your program through the Men's Journal article and read Starting Strength because of it. I'm 38 years old, and haven't been in good shape since I was a marathon runner 10 years ago. (I know, I know) I'm interested in starting your program and have a few questions.

In Starting Strength, you recommend a 3 day per week program, alternating Squat Bench Press Deadlift with Squat Press Power Clean. In the Men's Journal article, a "true strength coach" says "by pressing and deadlifting on even days, squatting and doing chinups on odd days, avoiding all other exercises, and adding a little to the bar each time, you'll be stronger than you've ever been in a month's time." (Presumably Sunday's a day of rest)

Later, the author implies that he did a 3 day per week program comprising of the squat, deadlift and bench press every other day.

1) What do you think of these two alternate programs?

2) You clearly prefer to give the entire body a day of rest after lifting, but if you were to break up your program into a 6 day a week program like the "true strength coach" cited above, how would you advise to do it? (I just prefer to go to the gym after work every day, as it seems easier when it's a part of your daily routine.)

You will stop wanting to go to they gym everyday after about 2 months on the program and you are constantly lifting more weight than you ever have in your life. It gets extremely difficult and you will most certainly need rest days. They will not be an option. Don't be fooled by the first 4-6 weeks. It will be the most difficult lifting you have ever experienced. Do it as written in the book and you'll be a happy man.

[Celedor]

My mums wrote that article brah. Got paid heaps.

Is your "mums" named Daniel?

Here's the article if anyone hasn't read it already.

[DanO_123]

the author didn't describe the program in full. He just gave a quick blurb about it. he bought and read SS and did the program as described. Read the book of you want all the relavant info. You can possibly expect to extract any type of program from his description.

that article has been floating around here so ce it was printed.

[matclone]

I don't know why anyone takes anything written in Men's Journal seriously. Their articles are designed to do one thing: sell magazines. Real advice on fitness can be found in books like Starting Strength and PPST.

[Oschisms]

You will stop wanting to go to they gym everyday after about 2 months on the program and you are constantly lifting more weight than you ever have in your life. It gets extremely difficult and you will most certainly need rest days.

Gotcha. Thank you so much!

[FKYT]

Trust me, you need the rest days. I actually started out just doing an SS workout every other day, and even that got to be too taxing after a few months. Now I strictly go three days per week, and I'm grateful for the extra rest day.

I cringe at the thought of doing max-effort deadlifts 3x per week, as the "alternate program" seems to imply.

[judo.dave]

The Men's Journal article is not advocating lifting every day. He obviously understands proper scheduling and at no point advocates every-day training.

TRUTH 3: ONCE YOU “GET IT,” YOU’LL LOVE IT.

Shaul’s guys out in Wyoming get massively strong and powerful on precisely three gym sessions a week, each lasting an hour and no more. Louie Simmons, the single biggest name in gorilla-style competitive power lifting, will tell you that 45 minutes is the max length of any smart training session.
...
The human body adapts to stress. Throw us in ice-cold water every day and we’ll sprout subcutaneous fat for insulation; expose us to the desert sun and our skin will darken. What this means for getting in shape is that each week, you have to stress your body a little more than last time — lift a little heavier, run a little harder. Muscles weaken with exhaustion after a workout, but then they recover and typically, a few days later, go into what’s known as “supercompensation,” a fancy word that just means bouncing back a little stronger than before. Soon afterward the muscle fades back to normal again. Work a muscle too soon after the last time you worked it, before the muscle completely recovers, and it’ll get even weaker than before. If you work a muscle too late, after that supercompensation effect fades, you’ll just keep returning to your baseline.
So the whole trick to athletic training — and this is true for everybody from bodybuilders to marathoners to noncompetitive athletes just in it for health, or even vanity — is timing each subsequent workout so it hits the middle of that so-called supercompensation peak, when a muscle has already bounced back even stronger than before but hasn’t yet returned to baseline.
...(Note: here the article includes a chart illustrating supercompensation, though the lines that would correspond to days for a novice are unmarked. The chart text explains normal recovery periods: a week, 48-72 hours, or 40-60 hours, depending on the workout type.)
It can be hard to believe a true strength coach the first time he tells you that by pressing and dead-lifting on even days, squatting and doing chin-ups on odd days, avoiding all other exercises, and adding a little to the bar each time, you’ll be stronger than you’ve ever been in only a month’s time.

He means "lifting days", not "days of the week". So he's just describing a 3x/week A/B schedule.

tl;dr: Even days and odd days are non-consecutive.