Post: #276

Starting strength is great for developing a base and good technique. After a while though you probably want to reduce your squatting to once per week. Twice per week heavy squats can be murder on your knees. Great program though, however I switch my training up, I still use starting strength/ 5x5 as my basic frame work.

Post: #277

(09-12-2013 03:43 PM)007 Wrote:  Starting strength is great for developing a base and good technique. After a while though you probably want to reduce your squatting to once per week. Twice per week heavy squats can be murder on your knees. Great program though, however I switch my training up, I still use starting strength/ 5x5 as my basic frame work.

I've been squatting 3x per week for 6 months between SS and Madcow. Looking forward to next week when I start a new routine and will only be squatting 1x per week for a while while I cut.

Post: #278

(09-12-2013 01:13 PM)reaper23 Wrote:  man

i just tried doing a session of SS at my current numbers, it was wack

eased up up on the squats and started 275x5x3

but then shoulder press i could only manage 155x3x3
and power clean 215x3x5

and i was wrecked

i can shoulder press 200 and power clean 270 for reference

it ruined my other lifts for the day

nice. Now try doing that 3x per week, upping each lift 5-10lbs per workout, it is the program. I will do this for 12-18 weeks at a time, do nothing else except for maybe sprints and weight vest walks, and jump rope. With a dialed diet I stay lean-ish, around 14% BF. The book and wiki explains more.

It should wreck you but you would generally start around 60% of your maxes. The Press stalls out earliest. The Power Clean scheme is usually 5x3 so thats why you might have burnt faster than normal.

Post: #279

@007

Simply not true. The only way you'd hurt your knees is by doing partial squats. With SS you hit parallel or below for every rep. The lower back on the other hand...

Post: #280

Simply not true? I do my squats ass to the floor with great form. When I mentioned that squatting twice per week can be murder on the knees, I wasn't really talking about injuries per se, rather I was referring to the general wear and tear of it. I used to happily squat twice per week, but after 10 years of wrestling and squatting, your knees start to feel it trust me!

(09-16-2013 07:24 AM)dreambig Wrote:  @007

Simply not true. The only way you'd hurt your knees is by doing partial squats. With SS you hit parallel or below for every rep. The lower back on the other hand...

Post: #281

For anyone who is getting started with the Rippetoe Starting Strength training program, and uses the iPhone or iPod touch, I can recommend this free iOS application for tracking workouts:

Multi-Year Weigh Training App

It's not perfect by any means but I've been using it for about six weeks now and I find it very useful. It calculates your warmup sets, increments bar weight each session, charts your progress in the big three lifts (SQ, DL, BP), and allows you to email yourself a summary of your workout, etc. It has some other programming besides SS in it as well (Stronglifts, 5/3/1, Madcow, etc.) but I haven't played with any of those, so I can't say how they measure up.

Beats using a paper and pencil in my mind anyway. I especially like that warmup set weights are figured out ahead of time for me and I don't have to think about them, just do them.

Post: #282

(09-17-2013 08:54 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  For anyone who is getting started with the Rippetoe Starting Strength training program, and uses the iPhone or iPod touch, I can recommend this free iOS application for tracking workouts:

Multi-Year Weigh Training App

It's not perfect by any means but I've been using it for about six weeks now and I find it very useful. It calculates your warmup sets, increments bar weight each session, charts your progress in the big three lifts (SQ, DL, BP), and allows you to email yourself a summary of your workout, etc. It has some other programming besides SS in it as well (Stronglifts, 5/3/1, Madcow, etc.) but I haven't played with any of those, so I can't say how they measure up.

Beats using a paper and pencil in my mind anyway. I especially like that warmup set weights are figured out ahead of time for me and I don't have to think about them, just do them.

I really love the Stronglifts app, but its not customizable and you can only really do Stronglifts 5x5with it. If it were customizable to any workout it would be the best weightlifting app on the market;
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/strongli...80022?mt=8

Post: #283

Yeah its nice. I have that on my phone as well and played with it but I don't do 5x5 so it's not really useful. If it had a 3x5 option that would be great.

Post: #284

@reaper- SS is a newbie/intermed program. For you, it probably would be better 5/3/1.

Post: #285

Dvy: Yep. From what I've read elsewhere my weights and volumes are just too much for three lifts in one day.

Today was my first day on 5-3-1 boring but big. I was worried about low volume at the higher weights but the 5x10 smoked me.

People swear by this program so I'm going to give it a go. Has there been a 5-3-1 journal on here?

Im ego driven like many so not testing 1 rm at all will be weird but we shall see. Adding reps is not going to get me as excited as when I hit five hundred on DL. But like I said lots of guys swear by it.

Post: #286

After several stalls far too early on, I finally bit the bullet and started GOMAD. It definitely works. My lifts are going up every workout again. I'm fucking stoked.

I was in the "don't wanna gain too much fat" camp too but now I realize I just need to get stronger and worry about losing the fat later. By all accounts, it's much harder to make big gains than lose fat. If you worry about "eating clean" during the beginner stage (like I did) you are usually just going to end up with shitty results unless you are very careful about your macros.

I should have just listened to Rippetoe from that start:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_arti..._grow_more

Edit: By the way, as suggested in this thread I bought some ankle weights for microloading and they work a treat! Press is going up again!

Post: #287

What do you estimate your BF% to be?

Post: #288

from experience, i'd say half gomad works just as well

Post: #289

(10-01-2013 05:46 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  What do you estimate your BF% to be?

Just going from mirror but around 15%.

(10-01-2013 08:22 AM)reaper23 Wrote:  from experience, i'd say half gomad works just as well

It didn't work as well for me. I was still stalling on 2 litres a day. I'm an ectomorph and find it hard to eat enough and also don't have time to cook big meals all the time so that might be why.

Many of us on here are probably dating multiple girls/going out drinking till late. These things also have an effect on recovery too I'm sure lol.

Post: #290

(10-01-2013 05:46 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  What do you estimate your BF% to be?

Just going from mirror but around 15%.

(10-01-2013 08:22 AM)reaper23 Wrote:  from experience, i'd say half gomad works just as well

It didn't work as well for me. I was still stalling on 2 litres a day. I'm an ectomorph and find it hard to eat enough and also don't have time to cook big meals all the time so that might be why.

Many of us on here are probably dating multiple girls/going out drinking till late. These things also have an effect on recovery too I'm sure lol.

Post: #291

At 15% heck yeah go for it. For a little boost put some raw egg yolks in that milk and blend it.

My BF is higher so I've decided to stop with the extra cals and cut fat. I was getting too fat. Lifting and eating a lot is a lot more satisfying though. Good luck.

Post: #292

I get very irritable and angry at the smallest things AFTER HEAVY WORKOUTS. Still have a bit of carry-over short fuse the next morning/afternoon.

I ate a meal before the gym and after. So its not low blood sugar.

Whats your experiences w/this?

Post: #293

(10-12-2013 12:14 PM)DVY Wrote:  I get very irritable and angry at the smallest things AFTER HEAVY WORKOUTS. Still have a bit of carry-over short fuse the next morning/afternoon.

I ate a meal before the gym and after. So its not low blood sugar.

Whats your experiences w/this?

T levels going up

Post: #294

(10-12-2013 12:14 PM)DVY Wrote:  I get very irritable and angry at the smallest things AFTER HEAVY WORKOUTS. Still have a bit of carry-over short fuse the next morning/afternoon.

I ate a meal before the gym and after. So its not low blood sugar.

Whats your experiences w/this?

I'm always in a much better mood after heavy workouts. I can be very irritable normally, which I think is due to stomach and blood sugar problems. After a heavy workout I feel great though.

No idea what could be causing you to get irritable after. Maybe you're hitting it too hard and running yourself down a bit?

Post: #295

(10-12-2013 12:14 PM)DVY Wrote:  I get very irritable and angry at the smallest things AFTER HEAVY WORKOUTS. Still have a bit of carry-over short fuse the next morning/afternoon.

I ate a meal before the gym and after. So its not low blood sugar.

Whats your experiences w/this?

Are you irritable during the workout or just after the workout?

Post: #296

(10-12-2013 12:14 PM)DVY Wrote:  I get very irritable and angry at the smallest things AFTER HEAVY WORKOUTS. Still have a bit of carry-over short fuse the next morning/afternoon.

I ate a meal before the gym and after. So its not low blood sugar.

Whats your experiences w/this?

This happens to me pretty frequently, especially if I suddenly ramp up the intensity of my workouts. It also happens after long days of surfing. I've noticed it happens more if I'm not getting enough sleep and usually getting laid or rubbing one out is enough to take the edge off. Sometimes eating red meat helps too. Nothing calms me down like a rare steak.

Post: #297

Delete

Post: #298

If your knees are struggling, fix your form and/or mobility. Without seeing any video, it's hard to diagnose what.

Quote:I get very irritable and angry at the smallest things AFTER HEAVY WORKOUTS. Still have a bit of carry-over short fuse the next morning/afternoon.

I ate a meal before the gym and after. So its not low blood sugar.

Whats your experiences w/this?

I'm the opposite. Somewhat irritable before, but post training I'm always in the zone. Do you psych up a lot before a heavy set? Try not to do that. Controlled aggression, lift with as much calm as possible.

My current training program (lifting everyday) actually calls for calmness, else my CNS would get fried and I can't recover fast enough. If my CNS suffers a beating, for sure I'd get kinda pissed off (and tired) afterwards.

Post: #299

(10-12-2013 06:05 PM)DickDastardly Wrote:  Have been doing ss for 10 weeks now but for the past week or so my knees have been killing me. Anyone else experience this? Should I take a week off?

Probably a form issue. if I've ever had knee issues with squats its from various sources:

- knees aren't tracking in the same direction your feet are. When I squat my toes are pointed pretty far outwards. For whatever reason that works best for me

- might not be using the 'hip hinge' Stick your ass back and hinge your hip before your knees. Practice doing the romanian deadlift with just the bar. Shoot your hips back without bending your knees at all, thats what it should feel like when you're squatting. A lot of people think squats are just dropping down when they're more of a sitting back motion.

- knees out!!! thats my biggest problem. My knees buckle in quite often. Actively force your knees outwards and that should help a bit.

Post: #300

^^Only irritable after. During I am pacing around the gym like a psychopath. I lift with as much intensity as possible. I do medium-weight, high volume type workouts.That particular day I did 15 sets of deadlifts then 10 sets of hex-saftey bar deadlifts (easier on your back) then abs.

I eat plenty of red meat. Sleep fairly well. Its just I come out of the gym, get in my car, then get crazy road-rage in the parking structure. I get angry if somebody takes too long to make a left turn, if somebody takes too long to insert their ticket in the ticket return, if somebody is backing out slowly, etc etc.