Finding Reasons to Go to the Gym

[jshaving]

I've been following Starting Strength for a little while now. Making good progress with it, enjoying it, and I'd say I'm still a novice for sure, so in keeping with the book, I'm only going 3 days a week and the only "assistance" movements I have are chinups, back extensions, and GHR's.

My question is this: I want to go to the gym more often. It's not that I'm in a huge rush to progress, or that I want to go to do lots of curls and ab work, or for social reasons; it's just that I'm young (18), and am at a stage in my life where I have lots of free time and working out is still very fun and exciting to me

Is there any anything I can do that would give me a reason to go another 1-3 days a week? They don't need to be very hard, or draining training sessions, and I am getting lots of sleep and getting in lots of quality of food. I simply enjoy going and would like to be there more.

[Eric Larousse]

No just do the program as written or even do it every other day which will work. It won be very long and you will be vastly stronger than the masses who will not do it. At that point you can prioritize what you want to do as an intermediate whether that be taking up another sport or doing some sort of power building routine or whatever.

[autumnal]

Yeah, I'd say let linear progression run its course. Your'e just trying to build a strength foundation at this point. Once readiy for intermediate programming, there are lots of 4-day options available.

[David McClelland]

I understand what you're saying. If you've got the energy and mindset for this the gym can just be fun in general. I was a member of a Gold's once and went 6x per week. I enjoyed it immensely (even though I didn't know what I was doing program wise) because after I worked out, I took advantage of the sauna, hot tub and indoor pool as much as possible. I spent hours there sometimes.

[Tiburon]

Get other hobbies.

Go to the gym thrice a week, put in the work, and spend the rest of your time eating, sleeping, reading, and chasing tail.

[FatButWeak]

I feel your pain. I too love training, love the gym and was once bored and young. But your first LP should be a special time in a young man's life. Dont rush it. Prioritize your recovery so that it lassts even longer. Now is a good time to learn how to buy good meat and lots of it, and how to cook it. Take your days off and developm skills that you will need in the future like cooking meat. Sunbathing is also good for rest and recovery, if tis possible where you live. Do the program as written and spend the rest of your time enhancing recovery.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Is there any anything I can do that would give me a reason to go another 1-3 days a week?

You could try splitting each session in two, adding some *light* OLs at the end. You could for example try Jerks and Snatches once a week each, keeping them very light and very fast.

IPB

[Fulcrum]

yoga.

I am not joking either.

[Tiburon]

Now is a good time to learn how to buy good meat and lots of it, and how to cook it. Take your days off and developm skills that you will need in the future like cooking meat. Sunbathing is also good for rest and recovery, if tis possible where you live. Do the program as written and spend the rest of your time enhancing recovery.

+1

[Mugaaz]

If you want to be able to train more often you can start learning olympic lifting. You can train the quick lifts more frequently and it will "let" you go to the gym more often without sabotaging your progress.