Thoughts on starting strength ?

[abett07]

I am interested in what the members on MAB think about the original starting strength program

some people on other forums say that it dosent have enough upper back work and needs a horizontal pull to go with the vertical push

[Off Road]

I think it's a fine program to start with for beginners. I don't think it's perfect and I think there are other great programs out there to consider. I am not a fan of squatting 3 times a week and I also don't really care for power cleans. But a lot of people do fine with it.

[BendtheBar]

The original Starting Strength include cleans and deadlift which target the upper back, so are far as balance I am ok with this. I personally don't advocate barbell rows to novices. It's a lift that can add stress to the lower back, and with a novice using both squats and deadlifts I would prefer to allow those 2 to strengthen the back for a while.

Many of Rippetoe's programs include pullups.

I certainly see no issue with adding pullups or possibly one arm dumbbell rows to basic programs like these. I just don't want a novice to add barbell rows until they spend a few months strengthening their lower back.

With that said, if a novice had a strong lower back and was seeing little direct stress from squats and deadlifts I probably would have to issue with the use of barbell rows.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Off Road

I think it's a fine program to start with for beginners. I don't think it's perfect and I think there are other great programs out there to consider. I am not a fan of squatting 3 times a week and I also don't really care for power cleans. But a lot of people do fine with it.

I side with Off Road on a few things. I do not personally like squatting 3x a week. I prefer squats, deads and squats. I also don't generally program in power cleans for novices.

Point is there are dozens of similar variations are only small degrees away from Starting Strength that would work.

[Off Road]

Tons and tons of people disagree with me, but I still think a McRobert or Christy routine is perfect for beginners. They have good exercise selection, progression schemes, and frequency that everybody can handle from the start.

Starting Strength is a solid routine if you want to go that way. But if you haven't had a chance to check out this thread, do yourself a favor and read it through...

http://muscleandbrawn.com/forums/ful...on-thread.html

[Pull14]

I personally think Starting Strength program is fine. Its not something designed for long term use, rather something that will bring up a novices strength up quickly (nob gains or whatever people call it these days). When a lifter finds himself having the need to reset weight every 2-3 weeks... move along to something else.

The frequency of the lifts I think is important being that the program is designed for those very new to lifting and the 'high' frequency of lifts allows the lifter to really work the technique and make the pattern of movement second nature. Pushing a lift 3 times a week for a total of 15 sets plus many more worth of warm ups will instill consistent technique much quicker than doing a lift once a week. The quicker a movement becomes very consistent, the greater the gains in strength.

Its also organized and planned to an extent, making it easy for novices to complete without veering off course.

[Aurik]

Starting Strength is an excellent problem for novice lifters -- the key is that as a novice lifter you are so far away from your potential that you can fully recover from the stress of a session in two days. It builds on this principle and constantly forces a novice to progress every single workout. By the time you get to the point where you have to reset weights every few weeks, you're by definition you're no longer a novice and are ready to move to an intermediate program?

Is it the BEST program out there for a novice? It depends on who you ask, but it definitely has major WIN in the "KISS" principle standpoint. Squat/Push/Pull -- you can't get any simpler than that.