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Ways To Get Less Information
The first edition of the book is much more coach-focused than the second. Perhaps you have the wrong edition for your situation? (The rest of my answer assumes that you have the second edition.)
If you're looking for less information as you get started, you could try StrongLifts 5x5 instead, or look through the Starting ...
12
Moving around a weight room has caused more injuries than training has, for me.
You can trip, people leave crap strewn about, and as you mentioned it's easy to drop a plate. Shoes won't protect you from a falling 45lb but they'll probably prevent or at least greatly minimize a stubbed toe. Something stupid like that can sideline you for a week. Walking ...
11
There's actually a number of strength sports, where people who don't compete train similarly to competitors in those sports. A brief understanding of them will help you decide what would be a better match for you:
Bodybuilding is primarily building and shaping your muscle for aesthetics. However, there is a big nutritional component to bodybuilding that's ...
10
Ideally, your knees travel out directly in the same line as where your toes are pointing, and your toes should be pointing out at somewhere between 20° and 45° from a line drawn perpendicular to your torso straight out in front of you.
If your knees are collapsing in, yes, it is poor form. It indicates that you have relatively weak leg abduction. (Remember,...
10
Wow, you're lucky! Kudos to your gym for acquiring one of these. I wish my gym had one too.
What is that?
It's commonly referred to as a "bamboo bar" because of its resemblence. It's actually plastic, as I'm sure you've surmised if you've tried it out.
Eric Spoto (one of the best bench pressers in the world) is a strong advocate for incorporating the ...
9
Rest is as important to your progress as the exercising itself (if not more). If you added in any extra workouts you'll just compromise your progress. This is even emphasized by Rippetoe in the book.
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Holding your breath is common, standard, well-accepted powerlifting practice. Hold your breath throughout each rep of squatting, deadlifting, and pressing.
Holding your breath helps keep your chest locked. Breathing during the rep encourages you to move your chest, meaning you lose the tightness in your abs, upper and lower back. This invites injury. For ...
9
Any fitness regimen can be done by women.
As far as the gains, that is going to be highly personally dependent. Another woman (or even man) might increase every few days, someone else might only go up every couple months. It will depend on many factors, only one of which may be nutrition.
Training history, regular sessions, proper form/technique, proper ...
8
There's a couple points to it, and while it has to do with recovery, it also has to do with consistency. The chief problem that causes people to fail endeavors is a lack of consistency. While you may be able to keep track of whether or not you are on a lifting day or a rest day, your friends and family won't unless its always the same days and same times. ...
8
I can assure you that with proper form it is safe, provided you take the proper precautions. I just squatted 200kg without any spotters a couple weeks ago. Deadlifts are less of a challenge, because it is easier to drop the lift.
Use safeties with your squat rack (like these)
Practice dumping the bar on the safeties with a weight you are confident you can ...
8
This sounds like muscle fatigue and is absolutely normal and expected. This happens to every single person who works out.
Your muscles aren't going to be able to curl forever during a workout session. You're breaking down muscle fibers with each repetition. This means the muscle will be temporarily weaker.
Resting and eating repairs muscle fibers, and make ...
8
Everyone wants a six-pack and everyone wants to increase core strength, but should you do abs exercises every day to accomplish that goal? Some of the most frequent questions I get about abs training are – “Can you work out abs everyday“, or “Should I workout abs everyday“? Conventional wisdom tells you the more abs exercises you do, the better.
The short ...
7
Starting Strength is an AB alternating workout, so if you were to do it once every week (or every other week) then you'd have almost a full month before you did the same workout again. This is definitely not optimal. However, since Starting Strength is such a balanced routine, it won't be the end of the world.
Now, some strength training will always be ...
7
You will be severely limiting your strength gains. Note that I am talking about the amount of strength you will be able to gain, not just the rate of gaining strength.
In order to understand why, you have to understand a bit about General Adaptation Syndrome. Essentially, to disrupt homeostasis (the body's current happy place) to build strength you need ...
7
It doesn't matter how much time you can invest, there's simply no point to it. Your body grows muscles while you're resting, as long as there's a sufficient impulse. Maintaining that impulse does not require a lot of time.
The reason many strength programs are not 5-day programs is not because most people don't have enough time, but because it can actually ...
7
It's best to understand the the concept of stress and recovery. Stress includes activities such as training (Starting Strength in your case) as well as emotional and pressure related sources. Recovery is the process of adapting to deal with that stress. It includes both rest and nutrition.
You can't maintain linear growth forever. The Starting Strength ...
7
Go ahead if it floats your boat
You can do anything you want. You are a free-willed being. As Jean-Paul Sartre notes, you are in fact condemned to freedom, and the responsibility that unavoidably comes with it. However, Sartre also insists that "freedom itself is not free. We are compelled to act freely; there is no way to avoid being free." Modifying the ...
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Step 1:
Detail your goals, and prioritize them. You will find that building a good base of strength will help take you a long ways toward your goals.
Step 2:
Figure out how you should be eating to address your immediate goals. While you are a beginner, you can cut body fat and gain strength at the same time. However, you may start hitting plateaus ...
7
Presuppositions
The presuppositions in this question are mistaken. A) It is possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time if the conditions are right. B) It's not true that one should not change one's training program while cutting--one should still do some heavy lifting, but the program should change.
The point of heavy lifting during a cut is to ...
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In short, following a competent fitness program is the single best thing that you can do.
But let's explore your question more and extrapolate on why that is. First and foremost I want to point out that this isn't a stupid question, it's entirely valid. The stupid thing to do would be to NOT ask questions and pretend to know what you're doing, in that ...
6
Tweaking the program to fit your goals is something everyone will need to do at some point. When tweaking the Starting Strength program, don't adjust the lifts that are in the A/B sessions; but doing it 2x/week instead of three is perfectly acceptable. I wouldn't go any lower than that for the program to do you any good. Of the two options you presented, ...
6
To call out exactly what the program is, because it wasn't immediately obvious with the 2nd edition book, check out the Basic Structure of the Program. Some of this information I had to extract from the "Practical Programming for Strength Training" book, where this is covered in the "Beginner Programs" section.
Essentially, for the first 2-4 weeks you are ...
6
Lots of questions, and hopefully I can help you piece things together. When combining weight training with any kind of a sport, you do have to keep in mind recovery. To that end, you have a couple options:
Tack it at the end of the week. This is a pretty sound idea. You still have a day of recovery between then and the next session. I used this ...
6
You may not be lifting heavy weights just yet, but by the time you exhaust the gains from Starting Strength, you will be. The biggest thing you have to realize about dedicated lifting shoes is that what makes a good lifting shoe is terrible for the other things you want to do. They have opposing goals.
Lifting Shoe Requirements:
Stiff, solid heel with no ...
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Sweatpants, running tights (loose or tight fit), etc.
That said, a pair of military cargo pants/BDUs have always been baggy enough for me and haven't ever inhibited range of motion.
Plus when ninjas come they can't see your legs.
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According to the Nutrition and Bodyweight section in chapter 8, you should stay on the recommended nutrition program (admittedly a bit vague; I wish he had devoted more book space to this topic) for at least 3-4 months.
The fat guys should be approaching 20% by now as well, since their diet has been about the same since the beginning; but their ...
6
Sometimes flaring is unavoidable, but you should avoid it if you can. Essentially it wastes energy on an already difficult lift. A good setup for overhead standing press is as follows:
Thumbs around the bar--as long as you are a beginner
Hands grabbing just outside the shoulders (this will bring your elbows up some)
Bar across the deltoids (shoulders), ...
6
There are several different approaches I have found to deal with this very problem:
Get your own squat rack for your house.
Clean the bar from the floor.
Get a spotter to help you.
Use the bench press barbell rack so you are only cleaning from waist up.
Use the steinborn lift.
Each of these has their own pros and cons, and you'll need to evaluate what is ...
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