Rippetoe's Starting Strength Program great for fat loss?

[Neg_Train]

Currently im using the program which is a fullbody workout 3x a week.

Anyone else use this program and seen great results or do you guys just stick to high reps and cardio?

[PopeGregorius]

Yes.

[AtleastItried]

Starting strength is the gold standard. I didn't do any cardio at all until this month and dropped 40+ lbs. It works.

[Babylon1023]

Starting strength is the gold standard. I didn't do any cardio at all until this month and dropped 40+ lbs. It works.

40lbs huh? Impressive. How long did it take to lose all that? Also does Rippetoe go into detail about nutrition/calories or is it something basic that can be posted for our reference?

[Nick1971]

Starting Strength, and pretty much any weight training program, is not "great" for fat loss. However, they do help the process. Diet is still the ultimate variable in weight loss, or gain. So do the weight training program you want to do based on it's merits for building muscular strength and size. But leave the fat loss to your diet.

[LiftHeavy85]

Starting strength is about adding strength so the book suggest eating a calorie surplus....thats not to say that you cant lose weight doing it.

Any compound lift routine will stimulate weight loss better than a bunch of isolated work so always keep that in mind when deciding what to do.

Fat loss is a combination of Diet + training


I am contemplating going back to it after my deload week because I loved it and hated it at the same time.

check this out and gain some knowledge

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi..._Strength_Wiki

[Babylon1023]

One thing I noticed about SS is the sheer lack of assist exercises. In particular, I don't see much of anything going on for the biceps, triceps, lats, and hamstrings. I mean all he had you doing were squats, deads, chest press, overhead press, and power cleans right? Sure the triceps and hams get some involvement in those exercises, but the bi's and lats hardly at all. Maybe I'm missing the point and he thinks all the muscles are getting trained proportionally doing this program, but the sheer lack of upper body pulling (spare the brief pull used in the power clean) makes it seem like something is missing here.

[Babylon1023]

You can't be serious?

Increasing muscle mass increases your BMR, which will in turn burn more calories and provide much better results.

Are you going to lose weight by not lifting weights? Sure, but it won't come off nearly as fast as if you were to have a proper exercise routine.

What I think he's getting at here is something that's bugged me ever since I seriously started to get educated in the world of weight loss. To suggest that those looking to lose serious weight should lift because weight lifting increases muscle mass and BMR is something of a fallacy. The reason being is that those looking to lose a lot of weight will much more often than not be in a calorie deficit that will both allow them to lose fat at a good clip AND also prevent them from gaining any muscle mass and enjoying the benefits of increased BMR. Yet I hear this explanation all the time, and I think it sets false expectations. The real reason people should lift while on a fat loss program is to prevent the loss of muscle during the catabolic state of a calorie deficit, while also increasing CNS strength and overall muscular/skeletal health. This explanation, sadly, took a while to dawn on me because most weight loss gurus fail to mention it. Sure you can eat at or a little above maintenance to actually build muscle and increase your BMR to burn fat off that way, but it would result in a much slower loss of fat that may not be the best option for the very obese.