General Discussions > Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Medicine
Beginner weight lifting
Karyn:
I've always enjoyed weight lifting, and I've been sort of half-assing it for a year now. I've done some looking around, and wanted to move into the 5 reps x 5 sets, but I don't think I'm doing it very well. I hate trying to dig through the internets for accurate information on strength building. One book that keeps getting passed around the Lady Lifters on Fitocracy is Starting Strength. Is any one here familiar with this, or any other books for the beginner?
Samhain:
One of the things I've noticed with people trying to do a 5 X 5 program is a tendency to try incorporate exercises that can be done high rep into this kind of workout scheme. The 5 x 5 routine is designed to be a strength building program and though I can't be sure he was the first to do it, it was made popular by Bill Starr's "The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training for Football", written in 1976. The original routine made use of the "Big Three" exercises: Bench Press, Squats, and Power Cleans. There have been several variations of the routine, and sometimes Deadlifts are substituted for Power Cleans. Here is an example of Starr's Beginner Routine:
Bill Starr’s Beginner 5×5
(click to show/hide)Monday (Heavy Day – 85%)
Back Squats: 5 x 5 Ramping weight to top set of 5 reps across 5 sets
Bench Press: 5 x 5 Ramping weight to top set of 5 reps across 5 sets
Deadlifts: 5 x 5 Ramping weight to top set of 5 reps across 5 sets
Wednesday (Light Day – 65-70%)
Back Squats: 5 x 5 using 60% of Monday’s weight
Bench Press: 5 x 5 using 60% of Monday’s weight
Pullups: 5 x 5 Ramping weight to top set of 5 reps across 5 sets
Friday (Medium Day – 70-85%)
Back Squats: 5 x 5 using 80% of Monday’s weight
Bench Press: 5 x 5 using 80% of Monday’s weight
Rows: 5 x 5 Ramping weight to top set of 5 reps across 5 sets
One thing to keep in mind using 5 x 5 routines is that all 5 reps should be smooth and high quality. You don't want to lift so heavy that it is a struggle to get the weight up. You also don't want to lift so light that you can end up doing 10 reps. This usually means working at about 80% of your one rep maximum for that particular exercise.
As I also mentioned above, where I see people running into problems is they try to apply the 5 x 5 to exercises that are typically assistance exercises - lateral raises, chest flyes, bicep curls. Using such a heavy weight for these exercises is asking for an injury.
Plastique:
Cool that you want to get into it more seriously. I get so much enjoyment and satisfaction out of weightlifting; the physical* part of life is so unavoidably major, I don't know why more people don't prioritize maximizing their physical ability. Life's so much more comfortable on a few different levels when you do.
As for specific reading material, I've never done 5x5, and it's been over a decade since I got into it, so I don't have much to offer. I pretty much read everything I could get my hands and mouse pointer on.
* As opposed to the mental, which I think is probably a false dichotomy, but you get my drift.
Squarebanks:
Starting strength is awesome. The book focuses on the biomechanics of the lifts and makes a scientific case that compound lifts like the squat/bench press/deadlift are the best excersises to quickly increase the size and strength of a beginner.
Without a set linear weekly progression of either weight/reps a beginners will just spin their wheels. I wasted a year strictly following P90x, including the diet, and just ended up losing weight and benching only 135lbs as an adult male.
In ~5 months SS took my strength from:
Bench: 100lbs --> 195lbs
Squat: 45lbs --> 225lbs
Karyn:
Thanks!
I downloaded a free book from stronglifts.com . English is not the guy's first language, the book is extremely wordy and talks about things I don't really care about, and is obviously written thinking a woman would never want to lay eyes on this stuff. The core seems solid, though, and his program is a lot like Bill Star's. It sounds like I'll enjoy the Starting Strength book a lot more, especially since I'm sure my squat form is shit.
I can't wait to bench press my boyfriend.
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