As the Holidays loom near, life takes on a very rosy-colored tint and everything is lost in a sea of commercialism and family values. However, around New Year’s you realize that the March of Time is inevitable. You begin to reflect upon just how unimpressive your life is and so you make New Years resolutions in hopes they forever change you into a better man. If your New Years resolutions should involve working out, specifically in the weight room, then allow me to suggest a good beginner program.
Starting Strength is a program written by Rippetoe and Kilgore, composed only of compound barbell lifts: squat, bench press, deadlift, press and power clean. The book itself describes these exercises in such excruciating detail that it takes multiple readings to properly appreciate the information provided. Although you will want a few sessions with a personal trainer or coach to independently assess your form, the readings in the book form a very good starting point form wise. There program focuses mostly on learning proper form for the exercises, gaining strength and mass, and steady and gradual progression.
Using good form is one of the most important goals when beginning to lift weights and you must also allow yourself to use proper form by starting with an appropriate weight that you can lift easily. Exrx.net has a very good chart of strength standards for each exercise which can suggest a proper weight for you and help track your progress. Keep in mind when learning your form, you can never go too late and you should always start an exercise with just the bar when learning it. Don’t be afraid to go too light when first walking into the weight room.
The other two goals from Starting Strength of gaining mass and steady progression go hand in hand. Starting Strength calls for a very liberal caloric surplus diet of 2500 to 5000 calories while training, in order to build muscle and put on weight to make it easier to lift more weight at the next training session. The caloric excess will help you add on weight (in 5 pounds increments) for as long as possible. This will make you bigger and stronger, but will also increase the amount of bodyfat you carry. In order to get all you can out of this program, you’ll have to be willing to sacrifice a six pack for heavier lifts. Yet, don’t be too egotistical in the weight room and begin lifting weights you are not ready for. It is a lot easier to keep progressing rather than progressing after you stall. A bigger concern is injury when the weight is serious enough. To be safe, always make sure you do warm-up sets and focus on form before your work-set.
If you are seriously interested in Starting Strength you can go to two different websites: startingstrength.com and startingstrength.wikia.com. The former has a forum in which the author posts new information and handles appropriate questions on the program. The latter is a community built website which offers a lot of information and may help you pick an appropriate program after you find you are no longer progressing on starting strength. T-Nation.org and BodyBuilding.com are also other good online resources for exercise theory. Finally, always keep a logbook and keep track of your progress, so you always know what to do next.
John Valdespino can be reached at [email protected]
