What do you all think of Rippetoes Starting Strength Program?

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davidjr74

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Apparently alot of good things had been said about it and I think I'm gonna start doin this sometime next week. The Workout goes like this:

Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Standing Military Press
3x5 Powercleans

Train on 3 nonconsecutive days per week

So you alternate workouts like this
Monday: A
Wednesday: B
Friday: A
Monday: B
Wednesday: A
Friday: B

and so on or you could do Tues/Thurs/Saturday or Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday whatever suits you.

Notes*
- Plenty of rest 8-10 hours of sleep
- add 5 pounds to all of your lifts each week
- Eat protein= to bodyweight
- Get plenty of Water
- Good post-workout nutrition

Progression
Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe, pg. 122, Practical Programming Editorial Copy
for young males that weigh between 150-200 lbs., deadlifts can move up 15-20 lbs. per workout, squats 10-15 lbs., with continued steady progress for 3-4 weeks before slowing down to half that rate. Bench presses, presses, and cleans (edit - and rows) can move up 5-10 lbs. per workout, with progress on these exercises slowing down to 2.5-5 lbs. per workout after only 2-3 weeks. Young women make progress on the squat and the deadlift at about the same rate, adjusted for bodyweight, but much slower on the press, the bench press, cleans and snatches, and assistance exercises.
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Anybody try this..have any experience with it? How would you incorporate running into this though?
 
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heard good things about it. Powercleans work the upper back. Theres no horizontal pulling though, but ripptoe does know his stuff, and ive seen lots of programs where powercleans take the place of horizontal pulls.
 
1x5 is probobly because he does squats also that workout, doing both with high volume would be pretty tough. % of 1RM would be whatever you can handle for those sets/reps
 
I would say start off with 80% of your max. Your 5 rep max would be 86% but you want to start off with at least a week or 2 where you know you can get the weight up and you can condition a little. Then after that you can pass PR's every week.
 
jman. Do you know how to powerclean, do you have a PT who can show you? If not, i can try to dig up some vids that have been very helpful for me.
 
Karky said:
jman. Do you know how to powerclean, do you have a PT who can show you? If not, i can try to dig up some vids that have been very helpful for me.
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I have a PT that could show me the technique, but I'm pretty sure I have it down good. But if it is impractical I could always do the bent-rows which Rippetoe suggest if the powerclean gives you problems.
 
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It may be hard to move up in weight as quickly as he suggests, but it all depends at what weight you start at of course, keep us updated...
 
SAT. May 12th WORKOUT A
Bench 3x5 with 120
Squat 3x5 with 135
Deadlift 1x5 with 170

MON. May 14th WORKOUT B
Squat 3x5 with 140
Press 3x5 with 80
Powercleans 3x5 with 95

THU. May 17th WORKOUT A
Bench 3x5 with 125
Squat 3x5 with 145
Deadlift 1x5 with 180

SAT. May 19th WORKOUT B
Squat 3x5 with 150
Press 3x5 with 85
Powercleans 3x5 with 100

TUE. May 22 WORKOUT A
Squat 3x5 with 155
Bench 3x5 with 130
Deadlift 1x5 with 190

THU. May 24 WORKOUT B
Squat 3x5 with 160
Press 3x5 with 90
Clean 3x5 with 105

SAT. May 26 WORKOUT A
Squat 3x5 with 160
Bench 3x5 with 135
Deadlift 1x5 with 200

1.) I'm overall happy with the way the program is going. After today I KNOW it is working because before football camp I couldn't do 3x5 with 135 pounds on the bench press and today I did it and the last set was like no problem.
2.) My Squat just keeps climbing. My MAX ATG squat is 170 last time I checked but today according to calculators my max is now at least 180. O Stupid mistake by the way I wrote down in my log book 160 again on the squat so I accidentely used the same weight twice. (suppose to do 165 today)
3.) Never military pressed more in my life. This week was the most I have ever done. I strained my upper back just a little bit because I jerked on the last rep so I gotta remind myself not to do that again.

So far this program is working great! Its been 2 weeks and I feel alot stronger. I'll keep you all updated on the program.
 
I think any program like this is worth 'trialling' if you like and good for a change up. I think the rate of increasing the weight of the exercises may be a little tough, but i see that as a positive thing.
 
Proteinboy said:
heyyyy can you link me to it? :D il be thinking about doing this for sure!
oh, and nice gains bro!
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Streamline said:
I think any program like this is worth 'trialling' if you like and good for a change up. I think the rate of increasing the weight of the exercises may be a little tough, but i see that as a positive thing.
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The rate seemed a little crazy at first to me but for 2 weeks it hasn't been a problem. I also started off with 75% of my max when I started so I was given a little run. Its odd; I have seen more progress from doing 3 exercises then when I did 6-7 exercises.
 
i want to do this routine too. even though i have 8 months exp to weight training, i think that with the accesory work, i will make great gains with it! and i have read that the "intermediate" is a trainee with around 2 years exp. i will begin this routine when my rehab is over and i will make a journal on it.

so before the work sets, you are expected to do warmup sets? like if my worksets were
deadlift@240=5/5/5
deadlift@240=5/5/5
deadlift@240=5/5/5

, then i would do some warmups before those like
deadlift@100=5
deadlift@150=4
deadlift@200=3

is that adequate for warmups?

just wondering:
jman, with all respect, are you a noob?
 
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Proteinboy said:
i want to do this routine too. even though i have 8 months exp to weight training, i think that with the accesory work, i will make great gains with it! and i have read that the "intermediate" is a trainee with around 2 years exp. i will begin this routine when my rehab is over and i will make a journal on it.

so before the work sets, you are expected to do warmup sets? like if my worksets were
deadlift@240=5/5/5
deadlift@240=5/5/5
deadlift@240=5/5/5

, then i would do some warmups before those like
deadlift@100=5
deadlift@150=4
deadlift@200=3

is that adequate for warmups?

just wondering:
jman, with all respect, are you a noob?
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For one, you only do Deadlifts for 1 set. Like here is an example
Bench
Warmupsset- Barx5
Warmupset- 65x5
workset- 135x5
workset- 135x5
workset- 135x5

For the second set of warmup use half the weight your working with and then use half again for the first set. I keep a log book at home so I can keep track of the volume I am adding on by doing the warmups.

And I wouldn't want to add accesory work. The program said not to add any accessory work because you get alot more arm work then you think.

And the noob question...It depends on how you define "noob". Knowledge; definetely not I know alot more then what you might think. Training most likely because I am very close to benching my bodyweight and I'm not even close to squatting or deadlifting 2x. But this doesn't matter because with this program (even if it is a Beginner program) I am making the best gains I have ever had.
 
ok cool. im thinking about doing this and after a week, i will add accessory work slowly. but only pullups and dips. i think that pullups and dips can really help my progression. especially pullups.
 
TUE. May 29 Workout B
Squats 3x5=165
Press 3x5=95
Cleans 3x5= 110

THU. May 31 Workout A
Core Workout (hanging leg raises 2x5, 10 pound crunches x 10)
Squat ( Only 1 set of 5 with 170, technique was horrible and nearly injured myself)
Bench 3x5 with 140
Deadlift 210x5 (technique not good either, gonna fix this up along with my squat)

SAT. JUNE 2 WORKOUT B
Squat
Warmup Sets- Practiced technique with weight under 100
Set 1- 95x5
Set 2- 115x8
Set 3- 135x6
Set 4- 155x4
Set 5- 175x2

So I fixed up my squat technique with a very good article by Mike Robertson
Testosterone Nation - 10 Tips for Flawless Squattin'

Military Press 3x5 with 100 (last rep was like a push press though)
Clean 3x5 with 115

NOTES*
1.)My lower back started to take a toll on the Squat on Thursday. So I decided to fix my technique. I think its pretty much perfect now so my next workout I am going to reset the weight and restart with a better technique. With my new technique I am no longer sore in my back or any where for that matter; I don't use the foam padding no more because I found out that it gives you a forward lean and I don't wear a belt no more becuase your lower back needs to strengthen up anyway.
2.) The Military Press is starting to get really heavy. I'm probably going to stick around 100 for a while until it gets a bit easier.
3.) The Bench Press is getting really heavy also but I think I can still progress. 3x5 with 140 is the most I have ever done so my chest is getting stronger.
4.) My Deadlift technique needs some fixing up to. Next time I deadlift I'm resetting the weight to work on getting my form down right.
5.) I'm very proud of my Power Clean progression. My max before the program was 120 and on June 2 I did 3x5 with 115. So next time I powerclean I will be working out with my max.
6.) I'm slowly adding in accessory work; nothing to the arms though. I added a little Ab workout. After 2 weeks or so I think I'll start throwing in Calve Work.
 
If you're interested in the Starting Strength program, I invite you to check out the new Starting Strength Wiki:

startingstrengthwiki.com

-Tim Donahey
 
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