hey everyone, im about to start starting strength again after having taken some time off due to a back injury. before i start, i just want to clear up a few things.
whilst previously on rippetoes, after about two weeks i was really struggling with the weights, in fact, i injured my back doing squats, so i stopped. im sure that had i continued, i would not have been able to increase the weights for much longer. is this normal after such a short amount of time? and yes, i was sleeping and eating in excess, and my starting weights were low (i could probably had done 20 reps with most of the weights).
secondly, is starting strength really as effective as people say it is? how does it compare to west side for skinny bastards? would you advise against starting this instead of rippetoes?
lastly, starting strength gets really monotonous. has anyone else found this?
thanks.
This time start at a lower weight and take smaller jumps. Be patient, slow and steady wins this race.
SS or variations on it is the best possible program for novices by definition. Why? Because it allows the quickest possible progression for someone at that level of training experience. WS4SB is by all accounts a fantastic program (in fact I'm about to begin it). But it only allows progression once a week so is by definition an intermediate program. It'll work for you, just much slower than SS. (assuming you are a novice)
If you find SS is getting monotonous, add some different accessory exercises in on friday. Just do what you want, but be judicious and don't use up too much recovery ability.
You should be able to pick it up where you last left it. Your warm up sets might help indicate if you need to drop the weight, but I doubt you should have to after one week off. Unless you're eating & rest really sucked due to the illness
cool...but will this slow down my progress?
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I was sick last week as well. I'm picking up right where I left off, but it is HARD. I really wish I'd repeated the last week instead. Both deadlifting and the squats were extremely difficult to get. I thought I was going to have an aneurism on my deadlifts. I'm really concerned about my next workout. I'd advise stepping it back a week.
First guy: You need to tighten up your form up a bit on the squats; the bar path is all over the place on some reps. Descending a bit slower might help. Good depth, but you keep lowering your chest. In sum, the power cleans are a wreck, but the individual problems should be easy to fix. Basically, you're all over the place when you land, and the bar is racked unevenly at times. You're not bending your arms before you jump, and you're racking with your elbows up, which is good. Perhaps, you should lower the weight and practice until you get the form down.
Second guy: Not deep enough on the first view. The second view looked a lot better. The third view was high, but just by a hair. Unfortunately, even a micrometer above parallel is unacceptable. Everything else looked good.
First guy: You need to tighten up your form up a bit on the squats; the bar path is all over the place on some reps. Descending a bit slower might help. Good depth, but you keep lowering your chest. In sum, the power cleans are a wreck, but the individual problems should be easy to fix. Basically, you're all over the place when you land, and the bar is racked unevenly at times. You're not bending your arms before you jump, and you're racking with your elbows up, which is good. Perhaps, you should lower the weight and practice until you get the form down.
Second guy: Not deep enough on the first view. The second view looked a lot better. The third view was high, but just by a hair. Unfortunately, even a micrometer above parallel is unacceptable. Everything else looked good.
Oh thanks for the info!
I will definitively keep practicing until I get my squat top notch!
I just wanted to ask a couple of things about the video
1 - I think my 3rd set was the best of them all, precisely because I tried to go slower. Is that true or am I seeing things that are not there?
2 - Is there any power clean that resembled what a good one should look? I still have the motion path fresh on my mind, specially because of the video and that would help me do them more "like the right one"
3 - I keep telling my buddy to get lower. I told him to look at the floor and he it seems to have helped. Any other tips for that?
I just wanted to ask a couple of things about the video
1 - I think my 3rd set was the best of them all, precisely because I tried to go slower. Is that true or am I seeing things that are not there?
2 - Is there any power clean that resembled what a good one should look? I still have the motion path fresh on my mind, specially because of the video and that would help me do them more "like the right one"
3 - I keep telling my buddy to get lower. I told him to look at the floor and he it seems to have helped. Any other tips for that?
Thanks
Maybe I was a bit harsh about the power cleans, but only because if you continue to do whatever makes you rack the bar that way, you're asking for trouble when the weight gets heavy. I'm not experienced enough to know exactly what it could be, so just be aware of it and maybe you'll realize what causes it.
Try to stop all the parading around with the bar after you rack it. That will come with practice as your coordination improves. You're supposed to stomp as you rack the bar, which you do well; but, you want your feet to land prety close to the spot they started from. Your stance is significantly wider. Again, just be aware of it, and you'll get better with practice.
This is pretty nit-picky, but I also noticed that you're kicking your feet slightly backwards when you jump on a few reps. Don't do that. You want to fully extend your ankles, so jump for all you are worth...more or less straight up. Look at the bottom of page 184. Eventually, you won't leave the ground enough to get that kind of extension, but get used to the feeling of jumping like you will.
Bar path is good and like I said, you keep your arms straight and rack with the elbows up. These are the most common issues, so you're definitely on the right track. Like I said, the issues you have are minor, but collectively will cause major trouble later on if you don't fix them.
Don't get discouraged. It took me almost three months before I felt like I had good form. Even now, I'll do something wrong like jump too soon or rack with my elbows too low. I think most people will agree that the power clean is the most difficult lift in this program to master.
Maybe I was a bit harsh about the power cleans, but only because if you continue to do whatever makes you rack the bar that way, you're asking for trouble when the weight gets heavy. I'm not experienced enough to know exactly what it could be, so just be aware of it and maybe you'll realize what causes it.
Try to stop all the parading around with the bar after you rack it. That will come with practice as your coordination improves. You're supposed to stomp as you rack the bar, which you do well; but, you want your feet to land prety close to the spot they started from. Your stance is significantly wider. Again, just be aware of it, and you'll get better with practice.
This is pretty nit-picky, but I also noticed that you're kicking your feet slightly backwards when you jump on a few reps. Don't do that. You want to fully extend your ankles, so jump for all you are worth...more or less straight up. Look at the bottom of page 184. Eventually, you won't leave the ground enough to get that kind of extension, but get used to the feeling of jumping like you will.
Bar path is good and like I said, you keep your arms straight and rack with the elbows up. These are the most common issues, so you're definitely on the right track. Like I said, the issues you have are minor, but collectively will cause major trouble later on if you don't fix them.
Don't get discouraged. It took me almost three months before I felt like I had good form. Even now, I'll do something wrong like jump too soon or rack with my elbows too low. I think most people will agree that the power clean is the most difficult lift in this program to master.
I thought a bit of backward movement was acceptable on the clean. Hectorhorse should definitely keep his feet still after the stomp. I think he's trying to get forward to get back to where he started. Other than that, they looked OK to me (i.e., better than mine). I agree with the squat critique. Chest up and out.
I thought a bit of backward movement was acceptable on the clean. Hectorhorse should definitely keep his feet still after the stomp. I think he's trying to get forward to get back to where he started. Other than that, they looked OK to me (i.e., better than mine). I agree with the squat critique. Chest up and out.
Backward movement is okay, backward kicking is not. If your entire body ends up slightly behind where you began, that's okay. But you're supposed to jump, not just kick your feet to the rear.
Google "crossfit cindy" and do that one day a week. This has been discussed a bunch on strengthmill.net.
I had a question about that. If your incorporating 2 crossfit workouts into the program how would you strucutre it? like would it be right after or on days off?
for example
mon workout a
tues wod
wed workout b
thurs off
fri workout a
sat wod
?
wod= cindy
I had a question about that. If your incorporating 2 crossfit workouts into the program how would you strucutre it? like would it be right after or on days off?
for example
mon workout a
tues wod
wed workout b
thurs off
fri workout a
sat wod
?
wod= cindy
I've never done this, just repeating what I remember from strengthmill. Best to go there and look for posts by KSC. This might also be in the wiki. I think the advice is to start with 1 cindy and do it on saturday (assuming a M/W/F rotation).
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I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice, i started the program to day just finished the A workout and felt stronger than i thought i would 120lbs squat 90lbs bench and 135lbs deadlift, i know not exactly strong but thought i'd be much weaker lol.
Anyway i digress, firstly i workout in my room which has a ceiling too low to perform the standing press, is there a better alternative to seated or am i gonna be stuck doing seated presses? I know some might say go outside but carrying the weights down a ladder and two flights of stairs is gonna be a pain in the ass plus there's no garden so any suggestions.
Also on the B workout i want to keep the cleans in for my rugby performance but i also do alot of rowing and already had chins and barbell rows in my training prior to undertaking this program, should i ditch the two exercises or is there an effective way to program them in without affecting my performance?
I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice, i started the program to day just finished the A workout and felt stronger than i thought i would 120lbs squat 90lbs bench and 135lbs deadlift, i know not exactly strong but thought i'd be much weaker lol.
Anyway i digress, firstly i workout in my room which has a ceiling too low to perform the standing press, is there a better alternative to seated or am i gonna be stuck doing seated presses? I know some might say go outside but carrying the weights down a ladder and two flights of stairs is gonna be a pain in the ass plus there's no garden so any suggestions.
Also on the B workout i want to keep the cleans in for my rugby performance but i also do alot of rowing and already had chins and barbell rows in my training prior to undertaking this program, should i ditch the two exercises or is there an effective way to program them in without affecting my performance?
Do a kneeling press if you absolutely cannot do a standing press.
Ditch the rows and chins for now. When you're further into the program, gradually add the chins to Fridays if you feel like you can handle it, but be prepared to drop them if your recovery is hindered.
On your knees boy! There has also been a suggestion to balance sitting on one of those ab balls while doing your presses, but it doesn't sound too safe to me.
Personally, I advise going to a gym, but I know that's not a good option for some (especially if you're on an island...).
I agree with 6 on the accessory exercises. You'll need every bit of your recovery time on this program. Anything you add runs the risk of cutting into your gains. Adding chins down the road is viable though.
Alright so I've been working on Rippetoes for about 5 weeks now and I just had a week away from school for reading week and was unable to get into a gym back home (thought I'd take advantage of a free week trial haha). When I get back into my university's gym on Monday, should I go back to my previous workout's weight or advance my weights as if I didn't have the week off. I'm thinking the former, but I'm interested in what people think.
Alright so I've been working on Rippetoes for about 5 weeks now and I just had a week away from school for reading week and was unable to get into a gym back home (thought I'd take advantage of a free week trial haha). When I get back into my university's gym on Monday, should I go back to my previous workout's weight or advance my weights as if I didn't have the week off. I'm thinking the former, but I'm interested in what people think.
You have several things going on. I'll address the depth issue:
1. Make sure your feet are shoulder width apart. I can't see them in the video. Use something to measure your shoulder width, put it on the floor, and mark the distance. Then, put your heels on that mark. Sometime you think you're at shoulder width when you really aren't.
2. Make sure your feet are pointed outwards at about 30 degrees.
3. Make sure your knees track over your feet. You may need to force your knees outward.
When you do all of that, you'll be able to squat down between your legs. It's particularly important for someone with a bit of a belly as it creates room for the belly to go between the legs. It looks to me like you're only a couple of inches too high so you're not far off. You don't need to go ATG.
Beyond that, we need to talk about the low bar position, knees sliding forward at the bottom, and hip drive. I hesitate to throw too much information at you at one time. Work on the depth first.
Pretty sure I'm at shoulder width with feet pointing out 30 degrees but now that you mention it I better measure to be sure.
I've been working on pushing the knees out but I think I need to do it more.
I tend to find myself rocking back on my heels and it really feels like I'll go over backward if I sit back any further. In this vids I can see that the bar is sitting further forward than mid foot which was surprising to me.
I thought I was focusing on hip drive but I think I still don't undrstand exactly what that should feel like. I have had my wife push down on my sacrum in order to help me get the idea but still not there yet.
The low bar vs high bar is another good point... My shoulder inflexibility is making it really hard to get much lower than you see on the video, though it is slowly getting better. I'm doing dislocates now in order to work on it.
As far as keeping the knees from sliding forward is it mostly an issue of pushing them out or is there some other cue I should focus on?
[QUOTE=LFOD;291659721]As far as keeping the knees from sliding forward is it mostly an issue of pushing them out or is there some other cue I should focus on?QUOTE]
That's where Rip would use his TUBOW. (Terribly Useful Block of Wood). It didn't work for me. I solved it with a little more forward lean which forced me to keep the butt back more which kept the knees back.
Have you done that stretch where you squat down, clasp your hands together, and push your knees out with your elbows?
As far as keeping the knees from sliding forward is it mostly an issue of pushing them out or is there some other cue I should focus on?QUOTE]
That's where Rip would use his TUBOW. (Terribly Useful Block of Wood). It didn't work for me. I solved it with a little more forward lean which forced me to keep the butt back more which kept the knees back.
Have you done that stretch where you squat down, clasp your hands together, and push your knees out with your elbows?
Yeah, I use that as part of my stretching / warmup before every squat workout. Still haven't tried the block of wood yet...
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