Strength training programs pros and cons

I think I'll start some strength training later in the year. I've been meaning to do some for about a year now, but I keep putting it off and putting it off.

There's a whole bunch of programs out there; 5/3/1, SS, 5 x 5 (?)...now I've discovered there's the Westside Thingy for Skinny "Dorks".

What are the advantages / disadvantages to all these?

I honestly get overwhelmed with all the info out there...and none of it makes sense to me. It all seems overly complex! So something simple would be cool.

I messed around with weights when I was younger but gave up with weights as I seemed to always hurt myself.

Any input would be cool.

No thanks to Zaad for confusing me more than I already am

Edit: i have no interest in size or how I look...It's purely about getting a touch stronger than I am now, which isn't hard as I am considerably weak in the upperbody.

 

I don't know enough to answer all of your question.

Dips are great - anything with a broad movement like that, I think.

I had most success with pyramid reps.

 

theres any easy program
choose one of these exercises a day:
Back Squat
Bench Press
Front Squat
Deadlift
Overhead Press
Horizontal Row
Pull ups (weighted or unweighted)
Bicep Curl (i have a fondness for these)


and try to get 1-6 sets of 1-6 reps on it.
rotate exercises daily

easy peasy lemon squeezy

 

the basics are compound lifts, that is, lifts that involve multiple joints, such as squats, rows, deadlifts and presses. the weights that make them useful lend themselves to being done for between 15 and 30 reps, or so, in 3-5 sets (5x5, 3x10, 3x5, etc), increasing weight once that amount can be done without excessive effort and with good technique (what is called linear progression, usually replaced with periodization once diminishing returns impose themselves).

sl, ss and 5/3/1 have similar lifts, and cover both the basic compound lifts and some accessory work to plug what might be lacking. they vary in their protocol (the sets and reps, linear prog. vs periodization, etc), but all three work and have associated resources that giv you useful info such as different ways to perform the lifts.

if you just want something super simple, without regard for optimization, off the top of my hea i'd tell you to press overhead and row for many many many sets of 5, squat for several sets of five, and deadlift for a few sets of 1-5 reps, doing each lift at least once a week (rows and presses will be the most amenable to high frequency, and the deadlifts the least if done heavy, most likely.

 

The real benefit for me to having a program is that you don't have to think so much about what you are going to do once you get into the gym. Instead you just do what the piece of paper orders you to do. It prevents a lot of umming and ahhing.

You can download spreadsheets for the more common programs from users that make things easier.

 

You can just get yourself a throwing dummy (or a heavy bag) and lift it like this 200 times daily.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag....us.dis_oc._._&hsimp=yhs-fh_lsonsw&hspart=avg

http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag....us.dis_oc._._&hsimp=yhs-fh_lsonsw&hspart=avg

http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag....us.dis_oc._._&hsimp=yhs-fh_lsonsw&hspart=avg

http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag....us.dis_oc._._&hsimp=yhs-fh_lsonsw&hspart=avg

 

personally i would grab a pair of dice and roll one for sets and the other for reps.
then i would pick an exercise i want to do.

 

This one is my favor. It also meet your requirement "simple" and "no interest in size".

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt54KiYDLto&feature=youtu.be"]YouTube[/ame]

This one can be fun too.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfsJWCcwTUw&feature=youtu.be"]YouTube[/ame]

 

I don't fancy getting the hoover out if the flower pot falls over and all the sand goes everywhere. And the misses will have a right fit.

 

That's why I am thinking of using SS etc.

However...

...that sounds like a great idea. The only change I'd make is a third dice roll to decide the exercise. I'm the most indecisive person ever and deciding what exercise to do would exhaust me.

 

i just hope you dont roll deadlift three days in a row!

you could do 2 exercises a day if you are only lifting 3 times a week

 

I'd be more worried about rolling bench presses three times...hate them and other upper body work. Back stuff is ok though.

 

well use the monopoly rule:
if you roll something 3 times (days) in a row then straight to jail (rest day)

 

It's really simple, choose any one of SS, 5/3/1 BBB or SL, and stick to it as long as it keeps working and your gains keep going up. Until your gains stop, avoid any temptation to tweak the program or anything like that. If you do that, you should be able to make it to 2xbw on squats and dl, 1.5x on bench and 1 x on shoulder press.

I haven't tried WS4SB, but it looks pretty good too. Just pick a program, and stick with that program until you stop making gains. That should keep you going for at least a year, after which you can come back and ask "what do I do now?"

 

Strenght training has a lot of theories and strategies, a simple way to start would be to pick up a good book on olympic weight lifting. My couch was big on olympic weight lifting and all his programs where based around Benchpress, deadlift, and squats. Did a lot of negative retention as well, lowering the bar slow and exploding up, great result fast. When you begin, start with a spotter and figure out what your one rep max is. This will set your bench mark.


Negative side to strength training, what I noticed for me was because strenght training is about pushing a ton of weight, you dont tend to train high reps otherwise you fatigue and your one rep max suffers. So that being said I found that my endurance suffered when I changed my training program, you do however recover this fairly quickly.

 

One of the troubles with the westside programmes is that they are for experienced lifters. I coach quite a few amateur sports people, and for pure strength we follow the standard that olympians have been following for decades 4 x 4 or 4 x 5 on bench, press, dead and squat. There's various cycles but the two I like are:

1 95% 4 rm
2 100 %
3 105%
4 85%

Then reset the 105% as your 100% and repeat.

What I've been finding works with noobs:

1 90%
2 95%
3 100%
4 95%
5 100%
6 105%
Etc

You can get a lot of fast gains out of a no obligation this way.

 

That sounds like a power lifting program.

 

Hey free form, what exactly is the rep and set scheme with that?

 

well since you want to get stronger and arent interested in size maybe a programme entitled westside for skinny guys isnt for you :evil:

seriously any programme works as long as you believe in it and stick with it, especially for new guys, best advice is go to your gym find the strongest guys and ask them for help rather than asking on here were a lot of guys arent really that strong (myself included)

Oh and if you keep putting it off until later in the year it will never happen, if you want to get strong go this week and start

 

Hey Boris!
Things are pretty simple if all you want is strength and more complicated if you want to look better too.

You've said you don't care about size, so:

Focus on compound lifts, lifts that involve multiple joints and muscle groups, as Fish of Doom said.
In your case, you don't really care about isolation exercises ( lifts that involve pretty much one muscle group / joint ) like dumbbell flyes,bicep curls, tricep pushdowns etc - not that you can never do them if you want to, it's fine -.

In my opinion, you should focus on the following exercises:
Deadlift, Squat, Bench Press, Overhead Press, Rows and Pullups.
Also, add dips if it's possible to do them.

You can also have big strength gains by bodyweight training alone if you take into account the progressions and don't do the usual bodyweight endurance / conditioning training.
For more detail into this, read "Never Gymless by Ross Enamait" and "Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade".

However, things with weight training are simpler, the more you lift the stronger you become, if you go at it consistently.

Focus on doing 1-8 reps, foam roll ( like you said you already do in a previous thread ) before/after training, stretch and warm up thoroughly before reaching your working set by doing dynamic stretches and then proceeding to warm-up sets ( meaning, sets that you do with less weight -and maybe less reps- than your working weight with the sole purpose to get you warm and ready for the working weight ).

To tell you the truth, I would never roll some dice to see what I will do today, you want a plan, not some random workouts.

So,long story short, I would do something like this:

Program Rotation:AXBXAXXBXAXBXXA and it goes like this (A is the first workout,B the second and X are non-weightlifting days).

Workout A

Squat 5 x 5 (you can lower the reps even more, but this is a good starting point)
Bench Press 3 x 5-8
Bent-Over Row 3 x 5-8

Workout B

Deadlift 5 x 5 (you can lower the reps even more, but this is a good starting point)
Dips / Overhead Press 3 x 5-8
Chinups 3 x 5-8
(Of course, if you can do more than 3 x 8 Chinups/Dips, add weight or just do more reps/sets)

If you have the time and are willing to, add some core work and some rotator cuff work and general shoulder stability work to avoid injuries.

For rest between sets, well, I am pretty damn sure that you will need to rest between Squat / Deadlift sets than other sets. For a general guideline, since all you want is strength and not size just rest until you feel ready to lift again BUT don't get cold, that's clearly detrimental.

Here's my two cents