Look boys and girls, barbells are the most efficient way to load the human musculoskeletal system and stress the body. If you want it to be easy or, more commonly, easier week to week you need an attitude check.
As a competitive powerlifter, Jordan has competition best lifts of a lb squat, lb bench press, lb overhead press, and lb deadlift as a lb raw lifter. By: Austin Baraki. By: Michael Ray. By: Jordan Feigenbaum. Popular Searches: Pain back pain Austin Baraki son Charlie charlie son you resistance recovering from injury beginner paleo slub The bridge The bridge free download forum crepitus joints greyskull burpees Bridge.
Barbell Medicine - From Bench to Bedside. What was it? Back to Articles. Read More by Jordan Feigenbaum. More Articles. Now, the next argument is that this program is for beginners. We could, yes, but isolation lifts are incredibly valuable to beginners, too.
All of this makes isolation lifts an incredibly powerful way for beginners to build muscle faster. Those isolation lifts are also simpler and safer, making it easier for beginners to stimulate muscle growth right from their very first workout.
The low-bar squat is given a massive emphasis in Starting Strength. Every single workout starts with three sets of squats, giving it twice the training volume of any other lift. Our quads and glutes are by far the biggest muscles in our bodies, and they have incredible potential for growth. The squat is thus the single best lift for adding pounds of muscle to our frames.
For men who are eager to bulk up their upper bodies, the mismatch of goals grows even starker. It can be frustrating to see our squat strength skyrocket while our bench press lags behind, and while our upper back and biceps are barely being worked at all. We can move up several pants sizes while still looking fairly similar in our t-shirts.
Starting Strength is a program that works quite well when people are taught how to do barbell training by an in-person coach. To make things harder still, skinny beginners tend to have less muscle mass on their frames, longer spines, and lankier limbs. Oftentimes we wind up failing because of our lower back or grip strength, or because our shoulders fall out of position at the bottom of the bench press.
A simple solution to this problem is to start with easier progressions. Now, a lot of people worry that by starting with easier variations of the big lifts, yes, they might be safer, easier to learn, and foster better long-term lifting techniques and habits… but it might mean missing out on short-term muscle growth. I remember being skinny.
I remember wanting to build muscle as fast as possible. I wanted to start lifting, to start growing. If we choose simple brute-strength lifts, then instead of spending weeks improving our coordination on the big compound lifts, we can open the floodgates of muscle growth right from our very first workout. For example, instead of spending weeks trying to learn how to do a low-bar back squat to full depth without rounding or arching our lower backs, we can do a goblet squat.
The setup is much easier: all we need to do is grab a dumbbell or weight plate. And holding that weight in front of us keeps our torsos more upright, making it easy to squat to full depth without jamming up at the hips. It also makes it easier to keep our hips in a neutral position while squatting, which sets us up for better squat technique in the future. Because of how much easier it is to learn, most people are able to do a goblet squat with solid technique during their very first workout.
Not perfect technique, no, but good enough. The same is true with the other big lifts. By swapping out some of the more advanced lifts for simpler brute strength lifts, we can shrink the learning curve, speed up muscle growth, reduce the risk of injury, and develop better longterm lifting form. On the other hand, athletic lifters or people training with an in-person coach might not have any problems starting with some of the more advanced lifts.
It depends. A workout stimulates 24—72 hours of muscle growth, meaning that if we want our muscles to be growing steadily all week long, we need to be training them every 2—3 days. Plus, our hands, our lower backs, and our traps are worked with almost every exercise. And so for beginners who are still sensitive to muscle damage, it can really help to have dedicated recovery days between our workouts.
Finally, Starting Strength also has the advantage of alternating the exercise selection from workout to workout. One workout we do the bench press, the next workout we do the overhead press. One workout we do the deadlift, the next workout we do the power clean. This gives our muscles, joints, and connective tissues a bit of variety.
It tends to reduce overall wear and tear, and it also yields more balanced muscle growth. Starting Strength uses three full-body workouts per week to train every muscle three times per week. In fact, people who are new to lifting weights tend to be quite sensitive to weight training, and so starting with too many sets can cause excessive muscle damage and soreness , increasing our recovery needs, and impairing our ability to build muscle.
This is a true beginner program. There are just 3 sets per exercise and just 3 exercises per workout. In fact, because the deadlift can be disproportionately fatiguing, the training volume is dropped even lower. That requires being fairly fresh. And so using lower training volumes is often ideal. Starting Strength is great for this. We do enough work to stimulate those neurological adaptations, but not so much that we cause too much muscle damage or fatigue.
Perhaps the first week starts with just two sets per exercise, then three sets in the second week, and then four sets in the third week. Is that necessary? But can gradually increasing our training volume speed up muscle growth? Starting Strength is just 3 sets per muscle, 3 times per week. Now, does that mean that we should add extra sets to Starting Strength to stimulate more muscle growth?
Probably not. Most beginners doing Starting Strength are already working some muscle groups, such as their lower backs and grips, pretty hard. Plus, low-rep sets tend to be pretty hard on our joints. If we just bumped the training volume higher, we might start to run into recovery issues.
For that goal, it makes sense to do just a few heavy sets each workout. Starting Strength recommends doing 5 repetitions per set on every lift except for the power clean. In that case, doing 5 reps per set instead of 3—4 reps per set is a nice way to get a bit of extra muscle growth while gaining strength. To understand why that is, we need to consider that we stimulate muscle growth by putting mechanical tension on our muscles.
The heavier the weight is, the more tension we put on our muscles with every rep, which is good. The problem is, the heavier the weight is, the fewer reps we can do with it, and so we put less tension on our muscles per set. The lower the rep range, the more sets we need to do, at least to a point. When comparing low-rep sets 3—5 reps against moderate-rep sets 8—20 reps , we see that the moderate-rep sets stimulate more muscle growth per set.
At that point, every set seems to stimulate a similar amount of muscle growth. Now, some experts blow the hypertrophy rep range a bit wider than that. Mike Israetel, PhD, argues that the hypertrophy rep range is 5—30 reps per set. Greg Nuckols, MA, believes that the hypertrophy rep range is 4—40 reps per set. We also have evidence showing that we can stimulate as much muscle growth with just 3 sets of 12 repetitions as we can with 7 sets of 4 repetitions study. The other thing to consider is that lifting heavier weights in lower rep ranges tends to be harder on our joints and connective tissues.
Starting Strength is a strength training program, and so it uses fairly low-rep sets. Most research shows that we can stimulate more muscle growth per set when lifting in moderate rep ranges. Starting Strength only has 3 sets per lift, combining lower rep ranges with fewer sets. Starting Strength is a beginner strength training program that uses linear progression. When we can complete our sets with a given weight, we add more weight to the bar.
Milo starts by carrying a small calf, but every day that calf grows heavier, and so his muscles gradually adapt to become stronger over time. We can add weight, we can add reps, and we can add sets.
In fact, adding sets is one of the most reliable ways to progressively overload our muscles. If we can only lift 2.
After all, at a certain point, adding more sets can start making our workouts too long, too tiring, or too difficult to recover from. The linear progression in Starting Strength is an elegant way to gain strength, and it can work quite well for gaining muscle size, too.
Starting Strength was designed to improve upon powerlifting training to make it better for gaining general strength. So, what if we modify Starting Strength to be better for helping a beginner gain muscle size?
The foundation of Starting Strength is solid. We only need to make a few changes:. Start with 3—4 lowered reps and gradually add reps over time. The rows and biceps curls will help you develop the strength you need, too. But you can swap them out with any isolation lift. For example, if you want to build a thicker neck , you could do neck curls and extensions. The lifts are a bit easier to set up, the rep ranges are a bit higher, and the isolation lifts are quick and easy. If you want to blast through the workouts in less time, though, you can superset the exercises together , doing a set of squats, resting 60 seconds, doing a set of push-ups, resting another 60 seconds, doing your second set of squats, and so on.
The final sets of each exercise can be taken to muscular failure when you feel confident in your technique, especially on isolation lifts.
Swap out any lifts that hurt your joints for reasonable alternatives. Is this a perfectly ideal beginner bulking workout? Not quite. Yes, Starting Strength will help people increase their muscle size. However, since the program heavily prioritizes the low-bar back squat, most of those size gains will be in the hips and thighs. The best way to increase muscle strength is to increase muscle size, especially if your muscles are currently rather small.
So even if your main goal is to get stronger, it often makes more sense to train for muscle size than for muscle strength. The exception is for powerlifters who are specifically trying to increase their 1-rep max strength on the squat, bench press, and deadlift.
In that case, it makes sense to train those specific lifts in the 3—5 rep range to develop maximal strength. But even then, including assistance lifts in moderate rep ranges to build muscle will help increase strength even faster, and with less likelihood of running into a strength plateau. Yes and no. Strength training is designed to make our muscles stronger for their size, whereas hypertrophy training is designed to make our muscles bigger and stronger.
With that said, most strength training routines will indeed stimulate some muscle growth, just not as efficiently as a hypertrophy training routine would. How do the two styles of training compare? If we look at a systematic review of all the research, it seems that hypertrophy training stimulates about twice as much muscle growth as strength training per set, and with less fatigue, and with a lower risk of injury.
Or, at the very least, to include a mix of both styles of training. After all, nothing is forcing us to train for only size or strength. Many of the best workout routines combine both styles of training. Starting Strength , though, is a pure strength training program. There are no moderate-rep sets and no isolation lifts. We have a full article on the differences between the two programs here. As a general rule of thumb, doing more sets will stimulate more muscle growth , at least up to a point.
But for beginners, the opposite can be true. A better way for a beginner to build more muscle is to increase the number of reps per set, not the number of sets. Starting Strength is quite good at what it does.
Plus, we could build muscle even faster and in a wider variety of muscles by increasing the rep range, progressing the volume, swapping the power clean for a vertical pulling movement such as chin-ups , and adding in isolation lifts.
Another problem with Starting Strength is that it starts off with fairly advanced variations of the big barbell lifts. That can work well for athletic lifters who are being coached in person, but for skinny beginners trying to do the program on their own, it creates a big learning curve that needs to be overcome before much muscle growth can be stimulated. It can also ingrain some poor lifting habits which can be a pain to fix down the road. And it may lead to some aches, pains, pulled muscles, or lower-back fatigue.
His specialty is helping people build muscle to improve their strength and general health, with clients including college, professional, and Olympic athletes. How do you see this? It also works triceps more fully than benching and eliminates leg drives n excessive arches as common in benching.
If someone wants to prioritize progress on the upper-body lifts, I think it makes sense to put the upper-body lifts first. If I recall correctly, a lot of the classic bodybuilders, such as Steve Reeves, would save the lower-body lifts until nearer to the end of their workouts. Personally, I like to mix it up. Some workouts start with upper-body lifts, some with lower-body lifts. And I often superset them together. For instance, a set of front squats, rest 1—2 minutes, a set of chin-ups, rest 1—2 minutes, and then back to front squats.
Dips can be a great chest builder, especially if you learn forward while doing it. Totally up to you. I think it would have the same issue as the bench press. Leg drive allows us to use heavier weights and engage more muscle mass, arches seem to be quite safe and do a good job of working our spinal erectors, and retracting our shoulder blades makes the bench press quite safe on our shoulders.
I like the idea of also having movements that let the shoulder blades roam free, though, such as push-ups and overhead presses. Thanx for the response. Your suggestion of super setting upper body lifts with Lowe body lifts seems good and it shall be time efficient too.
Awesome article like always Shane. Any tips or words of advice? Your calves will often grow a bit from stabilizing your squats if you let your knees drift forward, as is done with most front squats. However, the stimulation is fairly minor, and so the growth will be minimal and brief.
Does it matter if our calves fall behind from a general strength perspective? Rip points out all the subtle things to do during a lift, but without turning a basic lift into rocket science. If you like high volume training, well and good. But the thing people forget is that this is a program for beginners!
Low volume is just what they need. Once you get through the beginner gains — the reversal of atrophy, this program of getting to where you would be if you lived a life of real effort and toil — then up the workload if you are so inclined. Starting Strength goes back to the old school. I had been trying out a lot of newer stuff, equipment and exercises, but the Starting Strength method of lifting brought me back to the way my father trained and gained enormous strength, no funky stuff required.
A squat, a press, and a pull. Three exercises, hard work, and done. There is a reason this is old school. Sure, there were folks back then peddling all kinds of stuff, but how come nowadays every muscle or fitness magazine has the be-all-end-all article on developing insert bodypart here and then has another one the next month? Ninety percent or more of the population could just do Starting Strength, as written, over and over again and meet all of their needs.
I learned that no matter how solid the information is you are putting out, no matter how simple and effective your program is, people will monkey with it. Before I bought the book, and really understood what the program was about, I googled it to try and see what exactly it was.
This was years before actually talking to Rip, or I never would have done it. They were missing the point. Some have the ingenious idea of guaranteeing you will put plus pounds on your lifts, because, rather than have you start on a manageable weight and do a real linear progression which can be expected for a rank beginner the copycats have you start with the bar, and add five pounds a session.
There were plenty of lifters doing sets of 5 and all that before he wrote Starting Strength! I know tons of lifters who only gave up on Flex magazine routines and started training full-body, basic barbell training, and are stronger and more muscular because of Starting Strength or its influence.
Lots of CrossFitters who used to be metabolic junkies have realized that by getting stronger, taking three months and just doing the basic lifts, those 95 pound barbells fly up with ease, pushups seem easier, and the metabolic stuff is far less taxing because they are using a much lower percentage of their strength to do the work. In short, he most likely brought it to you.
One of the best things I learned from Starting Strength was to deadlift less frequently. I had done this three times a week in the past here and there, and I always stalled or got weaker. Power cleans are now one of my favorite exercises, and all I have to do now is jump and catch. I read a critique by an Olympic lifter once of the jump and catch method as espoused in Starting Strength, carping about how this method of teaching the lift was too simple, ineffective, and one of the main causes for the impending apocalypse.
He proceeded to lay out what sounded like the way a proper lady does a power clean, and to me it was akin to an admonition to always ride a horse sidesaddle. Now, his method may have been the way Olympic lifters do cleans, but not all who begin lifting weights aspire to a career in Olympic weightlifting. His rigid adherence to this esoteric method of cleans when there was no safety issue involved seemed akin to a classical karateka complaining to a reigning MMA champ that his success was for naught given that he did not have to wear a uniform, carry stone pitchers of water up and down an ancient temple staircase, and do lots and lots of bowing.
Even if I were to have to do less weight, this is the method I would use for performing the lift. Set the bar. Pull through the hips, second pull…now! Here it comes! Okay, racking bar on shoulders, dipping down slightly, oh no! My God what will I do! Maybe I can just drop this next to the guy in the salmon colored singlet on the adductor machine, make it look like he did it, then run out of the gym and never come back!
Ok, go! Maybe I got a little carried away, but the point is that the simplest way to do something safely, works. Using the more natural technique I could power clean nearly , with his method I struggled with even I have tried a lot of things in regards to shoulders and helped more than a few others sort this issue out for themselves.
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