Starting Strength

I was thinking about beginning the Starting Strength Program or Stronglifts Program for my first ever bulk, but after reading about these programs it seems that they are directed towards complete beginners, as in those who cannot even perform one pull up. If a beginner is one who cannot do a pull up, I am far from that, but I am still looking for a good program for my first ever bulk. Should I stick to these programs or look for something else? I have stuck to isolation exercises my whole life, which makes me want to change up my routine and do a program such as starting strength.

These programs aren’t geared at complete beginners. Just people that aren’t near their genetic potential. This includes people who have lifted a long time but never really progressively added weight to increase strength. Try either of the programs starting with an empty bar or much lower than what you had been lifting and as long as you can keep adding weight nearly every workout, you’re good to go. I like the concept of starting with an empty bar. It’s a little humbling but it let’s you focus on form.

After you start to stall several times and deload, you can start to look at a whole myriad of other programs that achieve your desired objective. By this time, you should have developed a nice base.

I’m starting Stronglifts on Monday. I think it might be a good start on a journey to bulking, but Stronglifts and Starting Strength seem much more focused on strength. Of course, strength is needed to lift heavy weights, which is necessary for bulking, but the rep range is generally higher (8-12 reps) and generally fewer sets (1-3) in bulking routines.

All that being said, I don’t think the programs are only for beginners. Stronglifts starts with an empty bar, but it progresses quickly (adds 15lbs to squat a week), and the manual says if things feel too light to progress even faster. It is simpler than a lot of routines out there (there’s only 9 exercises total), but they’re all compound lifts, working several muscles.

Anyone have any experience with Stronglifts? I’m mostly interested in getting stronger right now. Maybe I’ll use that strength to get bigger later, maybe not. Does anyone recommend/discourage the program?

I started StrongLifts in Jan 2008 at age 45 and stopped somewhere in June of 2008. My squat was probably around 200lb before but would be classified as a partial squat. I started StrongLifts with an empty bar and when I finished I had a 5×5×280lb squat at a weight of 180lb. My Deadlift ended up at 1×5×275lb mostly due to grip and I prefer to not use straps. Bench Press ended at 5×5×205lb.

So you started with an empty bar, but it seems that you were working out before. Did you do any other exercises at the beginning such as isolation exercises to prevent from losing muscle? I have a much stronger upper body than lower body, as I haven’t trained my lower body much before. i was thinking I’ll start the program and add on in the beginning ez bar curles and tricep kickbacks to prevent from losing muscle at the beginning. I feel that I would not be working hard at the program for the first couple of weeks. What do you think?

You won’t lose muscle. The compound lifts will give you far better stimulus than any isolation exercise could.

@jasonman424

For years I did mostly isolation exercises with very few squats and no deadlifts and that was the problem. I think I gained about 8lb lean body mass within the first two months of StrongLifts even when starting with empty bar. You need to make sure that you follow the StrongLifts guidelines on eating an excess of calories to gain muscle. You can later eat below maintenance level to lose fat. If while you are on the program you find you are gaining too much fat relative to lean body mass increase. Note that I do not use the phrase “gaining muscle”. Lifting can increase water retention (in muscle) and bone density.

Don’t introduce isolation exercises until after you have exhausted increases with the 5×5 programs. You may find that a lot of the StrongLifts group seems to denounce isolation exercises and prefers to do intermediate routines that continue with variations of 5×5. It’s a personal choice based upon objectives. I am doing isolation exercises now for forearms, biceps, triceps and calves. I still find the compound lifts the best and the isolation exercises are only done after the compound lifts.

I’m doing Starting Strength, and I’d say that while it’s geared toward beginners, the program defines a “beginner” as “somebody capable of progressing in weight (lifted) every workout.” That often includes people who have been lifting weights for up to a couple of years, if they’ve never been in a serious program of linear progression. The 5×5 programs are all great, but it could be that you end up making good gains on SS (3×5, of course). If so, I’m not sure the added volume would do much more than represent more time in the gym—not necessarily a better training experience.

I’d say that if you don’t know for sure what will work for you, start with SS—the instructional materials in the book and on the DVD are great—and when you exhaust the gains from that (which might actually take quite a while if you eat, eat, and eat), start on a more periodized 5×5 routine.

If your body can handle lifting more weight each time you step into the gym, I see no reason to do anything but SS. It seems simple, and possibly even downright boring, to have your entire program consist of 5 total lifts, but it works great.

Okay, starting Stronglifts today. Gonna start with empty bars on everything but deadlifts. I’m going to try the following increments:

Squats: 10lbs (2x week)
Bench: 10lbs
Deadlift: 10lbs
Overhead Press: 5lbs

Looks like I’m going to be doing 2 lifting days and 1 day of cardio. I’d like to do 3 lifting days and 2 days cardio, but I’m starting the program with my friend and work, who can only go to the gym Mon/Tue/Thu. We’re lifting Mon/Thu and doing cardio on Tuesday. I may just do squats and HIIT on Wednesdays and more cardio on Friday to fill in the days. Anyone have any suggestions?

Don’t do squats 2 days in a row. At least not when you start working up to heavier weights.

Did my first Stronglifts workout today, and it was a lot tougher than I anticipated (well the pushups and inverted rows to failure anyway). I think 2x/week will be just fine.

Thanks for all the info,everyone, you’ve been a great help.

jakjak, good luck on StrongLifts. I’ve been having good success with it so far.

I really would recommend following the program exactly as it’s written in the manual, especially if you’re just beginning. There are two potential issues that I see with your plan.

(1) By increasing your weight in 10lb increments each workout you’re going to be progressing too fast. My experience has been that once you hit a certain weight, increasing by any more than 5lbs during your next workout will be too difficult to perform.

(2) You’ll be increasing your squat weight by 20lbs a week but will only be increasing your deadlift weight by 10lbs. Squat weight and deadlift weight should be in sync.

Take a look at the Stronglift’s forum, there may be advice for those that can’t perform the routine 3 times a week.

I agree with Doo, squats two days in a row will be too difficult while going through SL. It’s taxing enough to increase squats by 5lbs with one or two days in between, let alone increasing it by 10lbs with no break.

There’s nothing wrong with gradually moving yourself into a new routine, in the long run you’ll avoid both injury and discouragement.

Good luck!

@mighty thanks for the advice. Now that I’ve had my first workout, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I guess I was worried that it would be too easy. But the inverted rows and pushups to failure proved otherwise.