So was Rippetoes' SS a hoax?

[safcpaul]

Was squatting, bench pressing, deadlifting, overhead pressing and power cleaning for 5 reps several times per week a hoax?

And I love it when people blame lifting weights for getting fat.

Even by Misc standards, this is unbearably illogical.

This right here. Diet gets you fat not your program

[Brozef]

I personally did very well on a 5x5 program.

Just watch you calories and forget GOMAD and you're gtg

[drvillain]

This right here. Diet gets you fat not your program

truth, but telling teens that they don't need to worry about what they eat had me fukd up. Not to say it was Rippetoe that said that, but I got that from somewhere.

[mcdojo]

Pretty sure SS was 3 deloads (when you fail the same weight for 3 workouts you deload) and then you were done with it. Considering you put up weight every workout, it was always designed to be used for a short period.

[DrewDarden]

Pretty sure SS was 3 deloads (when you fail the same weight for 3 workouts you deload) and then you were done with it. Considering you put up weight every workout, it was always designed to be used for a short period.

This.

And that's why he wrote Practical Programming, a follow-up to Starting Strength with a variety of directions people can take their training after that initial "starting" period.

[MrBourbon]

Pretty sure SS was 3 deloads (when you fail the same weight for 3 workouts you deload) and then you were done with it. Considering you put up weight every workout, it was always designed to be used for a short period.

With the caveat that your diet, sleep recovery etc were in check, yes third deload meant you were ready to move on.

[low_clazz]

Do people still do Stronglifts? Felt like that routine was way overrated as well...

[jakobi]

This right here. Diet gets you fat not your program

isn't that the point for SS?

you get big, you get strong...

[lsiberian]

Rippetoe is the Dave Ramsey of exercise. His program works if you do it as actually written. But most people don't do it as written. It's also not the most optimal program, but it works if you do it. You won't win competitions doing it, but it can get you up to work weight for an intermediate program pretty quickly. Also it doesn't matter what beginner program you do. Just do one. You won't be doing it very long anyway.

[rectifryer]

SS was too good for strength gains, so newbs would stay on it and develop awkward physiques.

[PenorBrahNoHomo]

Here's what you end up looking like with SS + GOMAD

Naw it's this

[SwimBrah]

ss : meh
gomad : lol

[jakobi]

Naw it's this

SS is good for building big drumsticks

[PowerPal]

Mark Rippletoe should be locked up for crimes against humanity

[ralphlaurenbrah]

Yeah it’s dog****

[78novacaine]

As others have said, it is a solid program, for an ABSOLUTE beginner to follow for 2-3 months until they outgrow it and move onto more intermediate programming. (Upper lower or PPL split typically) I wish I had gone that route from the jump instead of spinning my wheels doing bro splits with a metric fukk ton of random junk volume for the first 2 years or so that I lifted. Completely squandered my noob gains TBH...

And the GOMAD thing, from what I can tell was basically his way of countering the "I eat soooooooo much and just CAN'T gain weight" guys that might eat 4k calories one day then 1,500 the next 3. Then it got twisted by tards on the net into thinking that was recommended for anyone running the program.

[multiplemiggs]

Naw it's this

Lmfao. Reps off rc.

[PowerPal]

Naw it's this

[Aristotelian]

Not sure how it could be called a hoax, like others said. There are a few templates out there (I used WS4SB 3 from Joe Defranco) that can change you, completely, from some almost middle-aged desk jockey to something of a beast.

The aesthetics is largely a kitchen issue - thought everyone agreed on that.

[Schism45]

Scam. Back in the day the workout journal section was chock full of "cutting and recovering from shoulder injury after rippetoes" diaries myself included.

He probably ruined millions of teens/early 20's people's bodies because tons of those journals petered out when people failed to successfully cut. No one should be doing gomad and on that alone it's a scam.

The actual programming was so imbalanced it was a guaranteed shoulder injury for anyone who ran it long enough.

You can talk all day about "2-3 months max" and it's true you can get strong as fuk fast, but the reality is he spends half his book trashing accessory lifts and bodybuilding, no beginner in the world is going to think "after 2-3 months I should find a drastically different routine to follow" after reading his book demonizing everything that isn't a compound barbell lift.

If you had a mentor who could pull you off Rippetoes after 2-3 months and get you to pivot to a split then it could be good, but that is not at all a natural pathway after reading the book as a beginner with no other lifting knowledge.

[78novacaine]

Which program do you wish you would have ran for those first two years instead?

What would have been your timeline for running it (based on time ran? or lift goals hit? or amount of deload times needed?) and which program would you have done next?

If I could start over with what I know now, I would run Starting Strength (with some added pull work, rows/chins) for 2-3 months, then an Upper/Lower split based around compound movements, then when that stalled move on to a PPL split.

[78novacaine]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to 78novacaine again.

Got a particular U/L regiment handy/in mind? I’m wrapping up SL’s soon myself. Thx again brah

I've never personally ran an Upper/Lower so no recommendations, sorry. Grouchyjarhead's beginner powerbuilding routine was the first "actual" program I ran, and I had pretty good results with it. Went from that to 5/3/1 (and many variants thereof) until last year when I switched to a low volume/high intensity PPL approach and haven't looked back.

Current split is -

Monday - Push
Tuesday - Pull
Wednesday - Legs
Thursday - rest
Friday - Push
Saturday - Pull + legs
Sunday - rest

Usually about 10-15 total working sets (main lifts + accessories), no more than 2-3 sets per movement.

[sooby]

Can't really hate on it. It took me to a 3 plate squat for reps in 6 months. It's okay for a beginner to get familiar with barbell movements and to build a base of strength. Expecting aesthetics in a few months of lifting is dumb and wouldn't really happen on any other program. Plus most aesthetics comes down to dieting which isn't really the training program. GOMAD is meant for skinny twinks who have trouble gaining weight.

Looking back on it tho, was it the best program? no. Did I make some good gains? yeah. Would i recommend it? Probably not anymore. There are a lot better beginner programs out there. Still, this is only really meant to be run for 6 months max.

Squats
Deadlifts
Bench
OHP
Pullups
Rows

get strong af on these, add some little exercises like curls/rear delt/side delt exercises after, you should be aight.

[thenightskies]

I did SS rippetoes or some other program like SSX3 i dont remember. i do remember the name rippetoe though

i did that dumb ass program for 4 months. my lifts barely improved. i barely made any gains

i still remember thinking this chit SUCKS. im still mad i wasted 4 months doing that. i never listened to misc for lifting advice again srs

[andres93]

Yeah, it was endorsed by the dairy industry to promote milk consumption.

[BeardBrahhh]

i built my base with it but its only really meant for the first 6 months tops, I think I did 3 months than switched to mad dog 5x5 for another 3, then you got switch to a proper split if you want to bodybuild but imo it does help build the foundation of your strength so when you switch to doing more isolation exercises you can fux with heavier weights in the typical 8-12 hypertrophy rep range

[Beararms]

Its called Starting Strength, not Starting Aesthetics.

I would recommend it for completely new lifters and only ran 3-4 months. It should give you a good base to start with and get you familiar with the big compound movements.
Only thing I would steer away from is drinking all that milk. Just eat some peanut butter sammiches instead.

[deeAvi]

Its called Starting Strength, not Starting Aesthetics.

I would recommend it for completely new lifters and only ran 3-4 months. It should give you a good base to start with and get you familiar with the big compound movements.
Only thing I would steer away from is drinking all that milk. Just eat some peanut butter sammiches instead.

you can get a base better ways. also its a terrible use of beginner gains lol

you can do those exercises and more. and that diet chit dont even get me started

ss was bad. but it was popular in a time when people thought ecto body types and dreamer bulks and clean diets were a thing.

[Manc33]

Look, if only his toes are ripped, how good of a bodybuilder can he be I mean really.

[messomi]

no it wasn't hoax but 99.9% people in this thread never read the book but got their information from a website that had nothing to do with the actual program itself.

it's a beginner program and even more hysterical are the idiots that say that this program makes you fat guess what food makes you fat not a training regime everybody should train with compounds + lifting heavy this has nothing to do with SS itself.