Weightlifting: Starting Strength

[dk902]

I highly recommend "Overhead Squats".

This work almost everything at the same time

As my friend in the military says, Overhead Squats = All Body Assault.

 

[AJ]

People tell me that I should eat a lot, but I never really tried it because I got stomach issues that don't allow me to eat too much.

I'm in the same boat. I used to force myself to eat as I naturally have a small appetite. Also I'm really busy so I don't have time to prepare foods like dedicated body builders do.

One way around it was to

(1) find foods that take up low physical space but are high in protein.

- cup of egg whites in the morning @ 24g a cup. you can buy this at the store
- Protein bars @ 20g of protein a pop. buy these online for ~$1/bar
- and of course protein shakes.

(2) instead of 3 really big meals intersperse small meals throughout the day.

 

[Basil Ransom]

People tell me that I should eat a lot, but I never really tried it because I got stomach issues that don't allow me to eat too much.

I'm in the same boat. I used to force myself to eat as I naturally have a small appetite. Also I'm really busy so I don't have time to prepare foods like dedicated body builders do.

One way around it was to

(1) find foods that take up low physical space but are high in protein.

- cup of egg whites in the morning @ 24g a cup. you can buy this at the store
- Protein bars @ 20g of protein a pop. buy these online for ~$1/bar
- and of course protein shakes.

(2) instead of 3 really big meals intersperse small meals throughout the day.

Gaining weight is like fucking bitches. In order to succeed, you have to stop being a pussy. Hell, half the advice on this forum boils down to "stop being a pussy." For our purposes, that means eating lots and lots of calories: several whole eggs, whole milk if you can stomach it, several strips of bacon, cream, butter, cheese, fish and fatty meats. Forget fucking around with overpriced undersized protein bars. If you really have trouble, make shakes with a cup of heavy whipping cream, that's 800 calories right there. The skinnier you are, the more sugary carbs you can handle without getting fat.

If you're not gaining weight, you're not trying. You'd rather bitch about being skinny than take decisive action. Show me a hardgainer and I'll show you a guy who's putting down a piddling 3000 calories a day.

Here's an inspirational story:

There was a time at the Old Westside gym where I couldn’t gain weight to save my fucking life.

There was this dude who trained there who could just put on weight like fucking magic. He’d go from 198 to 308 and then to 275 and back down to 198. And he was never fat. It was amazing.

I finally asked him one day how he did it.

“You mean I never told you the secret to gaining weight? Come outside and I’ll fill you in.”

Now remember, we’re at Westside Barbell. And this guy wants to go outside to talk so no one else can hear. Think about that for a minute. What the hell is he going to tell me? This must be some serious shit if we have to go outside, I thought.

So we get outside and he starts talking.

“For breakfast you need to eat four of those breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds. I don’t care which ones you get, but make sure to get four. Order four hash browns, too. Now grab two packs of mayonnaise and put them on the hash browns and then slip them into the sandwiches. Squish that shit down and eat. That’s your breakfast.”

At this point I’m thinking this guy is nuts. But he’s completely serious.

“For lunch you’re gonna eat Chinese food. Now I don’t want you eating that crappy stuff. You wanna get the stuff with MSG. None of that non-MSG bullshit. I don’t care what you eat but you have to sit down and eat for at least 45 minutes straight. You can’t let go of the fork. Eat until your eyes swell up and become slits and you start to look like the woman behind the counter.”

“For dinner you’re gonna order an extra-large pizza with everything on it. Literally everything. If you don’t like sardines, don’t put ’em on, but anything else that you like you have to load it on there. After you pay the delivery guy, I want you to take the pie to your coffee table, open that fucker up, and grab a bottle of oil. It can be olive oil, canola oil, whatever. Anything but motor oil. And I want you to pour that shit over the pie until half of the bottle is gone. Just soak the shit out of it.”

“Now before you lay into it, I want you to sit on your couch and just stare at that fucker. I want you to understand that that pizza right there is keeping you from your goals.”

This guy is in a zen-like state when he’s talking about this.

“Now you’re on the clock,” he continues. “After 20 minutes your brain is going to tell you you’re full. Don’t listen to that shit. You have to try and eat as much of the pizza as you can before that 20-minute mark. Double up pieces if you have to. I’m telling you now, you’re going to get three or four pieces in and you’re gonna want to quit. You fucking can’t quit. You have to sit on that couch until every piece is done.

And if you can’t finish it, don’t you ever come back to me and tell me you can’t gain weight. ’Cause I’m gonna tell you that you don’t give a fuck about getting bigger and you don’t care how much you lift!”

Did I do it? Hell yeah. Started the next day and did it for two months. Went from 260 pounds to 297 pounds. And I didn’t get much fatter. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, though.

Your meals should look like this, or bigger:

When I lived near Fatburger, I'd eat these regularly, quadruple 1/2 lb patties. The tray would be soaked with melted beef fat by the end. I'd momentarily lose my will to live. The Mexican at the counter would give me that knowing nod, and a free soda. Friends would stare at my meals, aghast, maws agape, confident that a myocardial infarction was in my immediate future.

I don't always eat enough to gain. And I'm not huge by any means. But I don't delude myself that I'm a "hardgainer."

 

[dk902]

I've read that article too Basil, good shit. Written by Dave Tate right? He's a big inspiration for me in the weightlifting world and life in general.

 

[flashbang]

When I squat I'm sore for 4 to 5 days minimum. If I squat 3 times a week, the 3rd time, it's extremely hard to match the intensity of the first time.

I agree. I don't think you should squat hard more than once per week. Maybe you can do twice per week if you do front squats once and then back squats (or hack squat, sissy squats, etc.). For me, heavy deadlifts should only be done every 10-14 days.

I can only guess that the three times per week recommendation is for beginners who lack intensity.

Thanks for the reply man. I agree especially about the deadlifts, which done incorrectly can cause mayhem on the spine.

 

[AJ]

Gaining weight is like fucking bitches. In order to succeed, you have to stop being a pussy. Hell, half the advice on this forum boils down to "stop being a pussy." For our purposes, that means eating lots and lots of calories: several whole eggs, whole milk if you can stomach it, several strips of bacon, cream, butter, cheese, fish and fatty meats. Forget fucking around with overpriced undersized protein bars. If you really have trouble, make shakes with a cup of heavy whipping cream, that's 800 calories right there. The skinnier you are, the more sugary carbs you can handle without getting fat.

If you're not gaining weight, you're not trying. You'd rather bitch about being skinny than take decisive action. Show me a hardgainer and I'll show you a guy who's putting down a piddling 3000 calories a day.

I don't always eat enough to gain. And I'm not huge by any means. But I don't delude myself that I'm a "hardgainer."

Easy tiger...

It all depends what the lifter wants. There are many ways to go about this.

Is what you suggested the best way to go about gaining way in the shortest period of time. Absolutely. I went down a similar route for a couple of months packing hard boiled eggs as snacks, eating only chicken breasts for lunch/dinner and gained a decent amount of weight. But no lies.. it sucked.

Now can you gain that same weight on a longer time horizon with less effort focused on eating. Sure. For those that are pressed for time/have a longer time horizon to gain weight/not taking this terribly seriously/and are a bit lazy on eating eating - high protein foods in bursts isn't too bad. Breakfast (cereal + egg whites) 40g, Lunch 50g Dinner 50, Bar 20, Shake 35 gives you close to 200g with minimal effort. I've been consistently putting on lean muscle with it and so it's fine by me. You'll just have to adjust it to how your body responds.

The protein bars are overpriced but I've tried cans of tuna and other stuff and this is the path of least resistance in terms of time and not hating tuna. $1/bar for something that tastes decent isn't terribly bad.

Eating like a monster might get there faster but I think both ways will get to the same spot eventually. Is that being a pussy? I have no idea.

As for the existence of hard-gainers, I haven't seen any evidence for or against it so I can't comment.

 

[Basil Ransom]

Gaining weight is like fucking bitches. In order to succeed, you have to stop being a pussy. Hell, half the advice on this forum boils down to "stop being a pussy." For our purposes, that means eating lots and lots of calories: several whole eggs, whole milk if you can stomach it, several strips of bacon, cream, butter, cheese, fish and fatty meats. Forget fucking around with overpriced undersized protein bars. If you really have trouble, make shakes with a cup of heavy whipping cream, that's 800 calories right there. The skinnier you are, the more sugary carbs you can handle without getting fat.

If you're not gaining weight, you're not trying. You'd rather bitch about being skinny than take decisive action. Show me a hardgainer and I'll show you a guy who's putting down a piddling 3000 calories a day.

I don't always eat enough to gain. And I'm not huge by any means. But I don't delude myself that I'm a "hardgainer."

Is what you suggested the best way to go about gaining way in the shortest period of time. Absolutely. I went down a similar route for a couple of months packing hard boiled eggs as snacks, eating only chicken breasts for lunch/dinner and gained a decent amount of weight. But no lies.. it sucked.

That's the exact opposite of what I recommended. You, like many others, focus on protein to the exclusion of everything else. When you eat sizable portions of whole foods, principally animal products, you will never have to worry about protein consumption.

Someone already said it for me:

From 70's Big (like the other quote),

Listen Skinny Guy, you aren’t trying. You sit down at night and wonder why you aren’t getting stronger as you pick at chicken breast and broccoli. You might even be the guy eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast…like a child.

It’s time to man up Skinny Guy. I don’t like skinny guys, much less you, Skinny Guy. You either think you ought to be skinny like all of the psuedo-manly guys on TV and in movies or you like to be skinny. If you didn’t like being skinny, you’d do something about it. You would take your skinny jeans and skull cap off (you probably wear the skull cap in summer time too), and you would engage in activity that would require you to not be skinny.

Some of you Skinny Guys have actually decided to do something about it, but you haven’t gotten past this phase of BITCHING about everything that goes on. If your name is Skinny Guy and you don’t gain five pounds in the first week of training, then you aren’t trying. Guys in our gym gain 15 pounds in two or three weeks. I have heard some of you rejoice in the fact that you gain five pounds in a month. That disgusts me, Skinny Guy. I know you’ve been skinny your whole life, but get over the fear of gaining some kind of bodyfat. Your name is Skinny Guy for chrissakes! As we have said before, if you have been skinny your whole life, you don’t get to have an opinion on being fat.

Things that are worth doing are typically not easy, but some of you give up and think that you have a special scenario that requires some kind of unique advice that is not A) eat more food, B) squat, press, and deadlift, and C) stop your whiny bitching.

For some reason I have been in a foul mood, and I think it is Skinny Guy’s fault. My patience is wearing thin. If you think you have a form issue with any of your lifts, then pick up Starting Strength and figure out what that might be. There are plenty of videos on Rip’s Q&A Board. Find a coach if you can. Assuming you have done these things, you should know what you are doing wrong and may be able to cue it yourself. If you think your form is “pretty good” and your name is Skinny Guy, then you aren’t eating enough.

From now on, you guys are only allowed to ask for programming advice if you meet the following weight requirements:

If I didn't have a date soon I'd be preparing a big egg, bacon potato and cheese omelette right now .

 

[bengalltigerr]

is it okay to bulk up if you have 20% body fat and you're still skinny?

 

[Giovonny]

Gaining weight is like fucking bitches. In order to succeed, you have to stop being a pussy. Hell, half the advice on this forum boils down to "stop being a pussy."

Ha. "stop being a pussy" is the secret to life!

 

[metalhaze]

that guys is a monster http://www.70sbig.com/blog/2011/08/vince-urbank/

btw you guys ought to check out High intensity training by Mike mentzer.

 

[raliv]

I have googled Starting Strength and looked around but can't find an answer that I think is satisfactory.

What is Starting Strength and how exactly is it different than other weight lifting programs?

I can tell that it is designed for beginners and has a lot of to do with compound lifts and barbells. All of which are great.

But what is so special about this program and why is it getting so much hype lately?

Sorry, experienced lifter here looking for answers.

 

[Vicious]

I hardly do squatz at all anymore. When I did it once a week I couldn't get into my suit pants or my best jeans. Leg muscles put on size way faster than the rest of the body so you have to watch those proportions.

These days I just focus on bench press, rows, total abs and tricep.

 

[Tim9000]

Nutrition (and adequate caloric intake) is important but the standard advice to eat everything is sight is flawed. I tried it and gained a pound a week for 20 weeks. At the end I figured I'd gained about 15lbs of muscle and 5lbs fat. Boy was I wrong. I'd gained about 18lbs of fat and 3lbs muscle, and it took six months of moderate dieting to burn the fat off.

Fat distributes itself throughout the body (including visceral fat behind the abdominal wall, which is insidious). Men who aren't ultra-low body fat to begin with but who are nonetheless trim looking by modern standards will continue to look almost exactly the same to themselves (and anyone seeing them day-to-day) while increasing body fat by several percentage points.

This fellow thinks the overeating advice is bunk and suggests that most men will be able to gain at a maximum 1-2lbs of lean muscle mass per month:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_truth_about_bulking

I wouldn't be surprised if with a *perfect* regimen of lifting and eating I'd get half that (I'm undertaking a serious experiment with a new routine now).

 

[Stitch]

Raliv--

SS is a book (and program), and exactly what you wrote: it is designed for beginners, focused around compound lifts and barbells, and is simple.

One reason the book (and thus the program) is popular and recommended is exactly BECAUSE it is designed for beginners--too many aspiring "weightlifters" just looking to "get jacked and have a six-pack" quickly wind up doing silly isolation exercises or trying to jump into advanced progressions without ever getting the basics down... so a book which devotes 60 pages to squatting correctly and explaining it in a straightforward and clear manner is a Very Good Thing.

Experienced lifters may indeed find much of it pretty basic (on the other hand they may find some good "back to basics" knowledge). But Rip is very unapologetic about it being a beginner's program--that's what it's meant to be, and he even says the equivalent of "when the easy gains stop coming, you'll want to move to something else" in terms of progressions, reps, weights, etc.

But for most people who've never bothered doing basic compound lifts and think doing 30-rep beach-boy curls with 10lb weights is the way to look good with their shirts off... it's good information to get out there.

 

[Chad Daring]

Nutrition (and adequate caloric intake) is important but the standard advice to eat everything is sight is flawed. I tried it and gained a pound a week for 20 weeks. At the end I figured I'd gained about 15lbs of muscle and 5lbs fat. Boy was I wrong. I'd gained about 18lbs of fat and 3lbs muscle, and it took six months of moderate dieting to burn the fat off.

Fat distributes itself throughout the body (including visceral fat behind the abdominal wall, which is insidious). Men who aren't ultra-low body fat to begin with but who are nonetheless trim looking by modern standards will continue to look almost exactly the same to themselves (and anyone seeing them day-to-day) while increasing body fat by several percentage points.

This fellow thinks the overeating advice is bunk and suggests that most men will be able to gain at a maximum 1-2lbs of lean muscle mass per month:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_truth_about_bulking

I wouldn't be surprised if with a *perfect* regimen of lifting and eating I'd get half that (I'm undertaking a serious experiment with a new routine now).

I think the idea of the weight of fat vs muscle is blown out of proportion too. I've been in a state of cutting fat while gaining strength for the past two months and while my strength, muscle definition and size has gone up at a nice pace, I'm still dropping weight like crazy.

We're told that fat weighs so much less then muscle and that a small increase in muscle can have huge change in your body weight, but I"m not seeing it.

I've lost a good amount of fat, but I've also added muscle, and in no way would I have though I had lost 20 pounds (under the old ideas of how much fat and muscle weigh)

Before I would've read 1-2 pound of lean muscle a month and called bullshit, but from my own personal experience that sounds about right.

 

[Pilgrim37]

What's this obsession with gaining mass/weight all about?
Guess it's body building etc
Think you'll change your mind once y'all hit 35....then you'll be trying to work out how to get rid of it!

At 6ft4 I'm around 210 ,eat normal,run and callesthenics 3 x a week

Young Tyson had a great physique....no weights anywhere in his training programme!

 

[dk902]

I don't think you can compare Mike Tyson with your average Joe. He was born with that physique, the type it takes some people many years to build. Nonetheless I'd be very surprised that his whole training regime was void of weights. Do you have a source for this?

Lifting weights is not all about becoming a muscle bound bodybuilder. There is nothing wrong with wanting to add a few pounds to an otherwise skinny frame. This helps develop strength and confidence which has a massive carry over in all areas of life. The only people who question lifting weights are the ones who've never lifted.

 

[bengalltigerr]

slow down pilgirm! as far as I'm aware Tyson did train with weight at least twice a week, unless you got proof nobody is gonna believe that Mike Tyson never touched weights.

 

[Basil Ransom]

What's this obsession with gaining mass/weight all about?
Guess it's body building etc
Think you'll change your mind once y'all hit 35....then you'll be trying to work out how to get rid of it!

At 6ft4 I'm around 210 ,eat normal,run and callesthenics 3 x a week

Young Tyson had a great physique....no weights anywhere in his training programme!

"Eat normal." No wonder you have trouble staying lean. Eating normal in America today means getting fat. In some countries, or the America of 50 years ago, not so much.

Mike Tyson was 218 at 5'10 for a BMI of 31.3. You'd have to gain 47 lbs to get to the same size relative to your height (i.e. 31.3 BMI). And that's lean weight. 99% of people have to lift seriously, for years, to get a physique like that. How do you operate a computer and yet still be so oblivious to reality? Retard or troll.

 

[Giovonny]

Mike Tyson is a freak of nature!

That type of muscularity is just a gift from God. He is only like 19 or 20 in that picture. You can workout perfect, eat a perfect diet, and do the best steroids, buy you still might not ever be built like him.

Some guys are just blessed.