Just started the Novice Linear Program, which is my first dip into lifting. Should I be doing other work (besides abs) while starting out? Examples being curls, tricep pull downs, etc. Or should I stick with just the three compound moves for a few weeks? Thanks.

Hey guys, so I've been getting better at goblet squatting. Currently, my maximum is 10 lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps (since it's a dumbbell movement as opposed to a barbell one). Anyway I had a couple of questions about the goblet squat.

1. Should you hip hinge during it? I've found that doing so helps keep my lumbar spine from arching on the way down.
2. Is it normal to feel at least part of the movement in the lower back?

Hi,

Today it's been 1st workout with full Power Snatch. Before, I've done 2 workouts with PS. But first one was just messing around when I had a lot of free time after the main workout, and second one was just hang snatches.

I thought that I'd learn PS the same way I've learned PC. Starting with 30kg and progressing 2.5kg. Doing it slow off the ground and focusing on explosive part of the movement.

My grip is the widest possible (sleeve to sleeve), and it feels like bar is still too low (not on the hip crease). Maybe I just need some time to practice though.

30kg 65lbs

24 M, 5’11, 210 lbs.

Skied A LOT this winter season (over twice as usual, and tried out double blacks for the 1st time). Probably a bit too much as I felt some strain on my ankle around late Feb/early March, nothing too serious, eased up on skiing, healed just fine.

Re-started SS 3 ish weeks after doing random fluff and pump routine since NYE. All’s well, training’s been progressing smooth (started out even lighter than I’m supposed to on account of my possibly injured ankle).

Today warmed up (forgot to warm up ankle), warm up felt good, I feel good, core felt good, hips felt good, started first set strong, aaand 3rd rep in and I felt a click on my ankle accompanied by significant pain. Stopped, rested, evaluated, stretched and warmed up ankle, tried to start a set again and on 2nd rep in my ankles clicked louder AND even more painful pain to the point I had to bail. Stopped, rested and for the rest of the squat session I switched to moderate (juust above hip level) height box squats where I don’t have to let my ankle fold too much, felt absolutely piss easy and no problem. Finished out of accessories, no problem at all, slight pain on calf raises but nothing major. Just got home and ankle felt stiff and warm and sore but no real big and sharp pain anything like that.

No problem on back, no problem on hips, body felt good, been sleeping and eating good, not feeling overtrained at all. I’m currently on advanced novice where I only deadlift once a week and today wasn’t my DL day so I’ve no way of knowing if DL is possible or not. Where do I go from here? I honestly felt good, I don’t feel like I’m “injured” but that’s probably because all this JUST happened maybe 2ish hours ago? Do I just rest, not squat at all or perhaps temporarily switch to other exercises less stressful on ankles like box squats or maybe even good mornings? Pic related, where the pain is at. Thanks in advance y’all.

A bit ago I made a post about stalling at 220 doing full depth, atg squats. I was given a YNDTP and a bunch of downvotes, so I reflected and asked myself "why am I so hung up on full depth?". Yeah it's cool and feels right, but I decided to switch to the SS squat and at 5'9, 170lbs, I got to 240 which I'm happy with.

Though, I'm starting to feel a stall coming soon. I couldn't make a few reps for the final set at 245 recently, and my lower back is pretty sore after each session. Is this normal? Squats and deadlifts (290) are starting to get real hard. Eat about 3500 calories, and no belt.

Hi,

Just want to share with you guys about Strengthlifting. I found out about this sport couple of weeks ago, and I think it's so much better than Powerlifting.

All rules are from United States Strengthlifting Federation (Recently they've closed, now the federation is "International Barbell Federation"). This text is highly impacted by Alan Thrall's video on his USSF meet.

Strengthlifting consists of Squat, Overhead Press, and The Deadlift ('The' is key here, you will understand why later).

Despite very similar names, and very similar exercise selection Strengthlifting is different than Powerlifting in many(4) ways.

For starters, there is no weigh-in before the meet. There's only weight-out. That eliminates the problem of guys peeing/sweating all their water out before the meet. And you have ONLY ONE chance of weighing. So no "Oh I'm 1lb over my weight-class, give me 30 minutes and let's weigh-in again". On top, you're being weighed immediately after your final deadlift attempt. So there's no queue of dehydrated guys waiting for a scale. You weigh-out and you go home. This saves a lot of time.

Next, there are no lifting commands. No "Start, press, rack". You have to show your knowledge about rules.

Now, about the Press. Your feet can't leave the ground (no jerk press), and your knees must remain locked (no push press). No "Suicide" grip, only thumbs-around. There are no strict rules outside of it. Your hips may move, you're allowed to lean back as long as your knees are locked. Press is also done generally faster than the Bench Press, thus saving some time for competitors. Also, I think that because Press is so technical, it challenges lifters in a different way than the Bench Press.

The Deadlift is a big one. You're not allowed to perform a sumo deadlift. Your hands must be outside of your legs. That's it. Other rules are the same.

These were the main differences between Strengthlifting and Powerlifting. I think that weigh-out system and elimination of sumo deadlifts make this sport (at least USSF) significantly better than the Powerlifting (at least most federations).

Share your thoughts on this :)

I have full strength, full range, and no pain. The left shoulder doesn't have the same look as below. - Should I be concerned - thoughts?

https://preview.redd.it/0x0cjht8masc1.jpg?width=1111&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91054e2faae30d4adb683faa90672b0f615b33a8

Hi,

I've been wondering if anaerobic conditioning (e.g. High intensity Prowler for 10sec) correlates much with aerobic conditioning (e.g. Running 2 miles for time). Like 5RM and 20RM bench presses do. Or is it wrong idea?

Hi everyone,

I've been lifting weights for around 4 years, but I discovered SS 4 months ago and decided to give it a shot to boost my strength and gain more muscle.

I felt good for the first two months, the weight was getting up according to the program and I was eating more than I wanted. However despite this progress, I spend too much time on the gym (~2hours), I gained a lot of weight (67kg->81kg), mostly fat, and almost none of my clothes fit and the ones that do are really tight and I feel unconfortable with my body.

In addition, this past month I could only add 2.5kg to the press where I'm currently stuck, and I can't keep good form on the squat as I feel the bar really heavy on my shoulders. My back constanly hurts because I didn't properly learn how to breath and contract the abs while doing press and my shoulder joints hurt due to the squat.

I want to do a cut to lose all the extra and unnecessary fat while keeping most of my strength and muscle. I know that SS is not a viable option for people who want to cut so I want to ask you how should I proceed? Is there a workaround or should I just quit SS?

M23, 174cm, 81kg, S(127.5kg)-D(140kg)-P(52.5kg)-BP(85kg)

I have been following the program for three months, and I only recently learned about the vertical bar path. How poor is my bar path? Additionally, I would appreciate any suggestions on how to correct it. All advice is welcome!

https://reddit.com/link/1buphkj/video/j3ar2dwju8sc1/player

Hi,

I'm training for army and I have to be good at pull-ups, and it's clear that chin-ups are banished in the army physical test. Do chin-ups highly correlate with pull-ups? Or do I train pull-ups separately after I've reached my goal numbers on main lifts, and when I'm down to cutting weight?

I remember that by the time I was able to do the first pull-up, I was also able to do 2-3 chins.

Check this out.

When Am I Done With Starting Strength? (The Novice Linear Progression)

In depth on Novice programming with Nick and Ray

In Depth on Intermediate Programming with Nick and Ray

I watched both videos. Maybe it's me but I'm confused on how the bench is progressed. Nick says the bench follows the press programming. I wrote down what he said for week 1 after the press has gone down to getting 15 reps with singles. He advises to make the change then. This is what I got from it

WEEK 1 Day 1: Bench (3x5 or 1x5 + backoff sets)

Day 2: Press (3-5 sets of 5 ) at a weight you will hit(not allowed to fail)

Day 3: Press 5-10 singles( he said ~7) + 1x5 bench (heavy)

My questions are: 1)What's happening with the bench on week 2 As it will be alternating with the press

2. how do we know how heavy the press singles are supposed to be? Are we going of numbers that we got when we ran out 15 reps with the press

3. and for the heavy bench how do I know how heavy my singles are to be

For reference My 1RM is 225lbs on the bench ( and it was quite a grind) And I've been doing 5x3 , and my 3RM is 220 And my bench is closer to my squat than my press is. And I do understand the concept of progress each lift after LP

4. what would be the next change after doing back off sets for my squats?

It’s pretty weird, but when I’m deadlifting heavy I fell pain in bone in my butt. Idk how to explain it better it’s just like inside my ass😭 Is it my technique or is there something wrong with me?

Hey all, I m been doing starting strength for about 2 months now. I m 6'3 275 and really over weight. I was very deconditioned so I started low on my weights to get the form down. Currently at 200 pound squat, 160 Bench, 130 OHP, 275 Deadlift. I hit 200 grams of protien a day and 2500-3200 calories depending on lifting day or not. I also do bjj 3x times per week. Here is my issue I m not losing any weight at all. I feel stronger for sure, and I m moving better during bjj but at 2500-3k calories I should be losing weight. I write down everything I eat and track it. I just constantly stay at 270-275. Is there a good chance I m putting on muscle? How long can I do this for as newbie?

(If this is the wrong sub for this question and you know a better one please let me know).

I just transitioned from SS NLP to Texas Method this week. It was successful. Easily hit new squat and bench PRs yesterday on intensity day.

I followed the program as laid out in this old blog post: https://startingstrength.com/article/the_texas_method

During this week I've been reading the gray book, though, and it describes TM pretty differently. It has deadlifts on intensity day instead of volume day, and it has power snatch as an ancillary lift instead of back extensions and chins. Dropping chins seems like a bad idea for me, because I really need to work on them, and there's not much bicep work in the program otherwise.

I'm going to experiment with both, I guess, but I'm wondering if people have preferences or better experiences with one or the other.

I squat and deadlift weekly with volume one week and max singles with a back off the next week. I do my max squat and deadlift alternating. My knees have been hurting pretty bad for the last two months.

I just deadlifted 575 this week and squatted 500 last week. Male 37, 6’ 2”, 280.

I can walk fine, but squatting to pick stuff up hurts and I feel tender. Any advice? Feels like it’s just too much weight and frequency for my body to take.

Edit I wasn’t very clear when I described my programming. I did my best to be more clear here:

On week one I do volume squat and maximum effort deadlift with some back off volume. The following week, I hit maximum effort squat and some back off volume and then volume deadlift.

I’ve read through some of the meniscus info on the SS forums. I’ve been training using SS methodology for 10 years.

My meniscus essentially “fell apart” back in mid November after a few days out pounding the mountains hunting mule deer. This wasn’t an unusual stress for me by any means as I backpack 60-80 days annually and that was my 3rd 8-10 day hunting trip of the Fall.

MRI confirmed 3 tears. Appointment with an Orthopedic surgeon is tomorrow after taking 4 months to get an appointment following X-ray and MRI.

I was extremely disabled and unable to do much for 2.5-3 months but have started DIY rehab in the last 4 weeks. once i could perform air squats without negative repercussions for a week, I started LP with the bar taking 10 lbs jumps. Currently at 155#. Improvement is noticeable on a daily basis, though I do have to squat slow and very controlled with no bounce reflex, though it is slightly uncomfortable and requires a lot of warming up.

My question is simple: does the meniscus respond to the SRA cycle?

At this point, I perceive that I a making progress and have experienced no mechanical locking and normal day to day activities are not burdensome. I have even resumed snowboarding, albeit extremely casual, with a knee brace and only 1 day a week.