SS vs 531, Is it really just less volume

[vladimirtzu]

I like 5/3/1 better because you don't have to deal with plateaus, missing weights and trying to figure out if you should push through, are ready for a mini-reset or full reset, etc., as early.

People say SS is a better beginner program all the time, but I think that is overlooking the fact that after about 2.5 months most lifters on SS are going to be in a place where they have to make some tough programming decisions without a whole lot of experience to draw from.

If you have a coach, SS might be better, but 5/3/1 is better if you want to avoid ambiguity for a longer time period.

Most definitely.

Again, it's not that SS doesn't have a dramatically faster rate of progression on paper. It's that it rarely works out like that for anything but the smallest amounts of time.

Again using myself as an example, I got 70 percent of my gains in the first two months of starting strength. But because I fought through all the suggested resets, slowed the progression, etc. etc, I dragged the program out another 3 or 4, making the rate of progression in a 6 month time span dramatically lower then it would have been if I hit it and quit it. And that's the only point I'm trying to make. If you do Starting Strength, do it til shit plateaus, and fuck the resets, move on.

 

[lpaulgib]

I thought SS recommends starting with just a bar?

 

[vladimirtzu]

I thought SS recommends starting with just a bar?

As I recall, you start with just a bar on your very first set but then go up by 20 pounds until the first time it slows down a bit. There's your starting point.

I think SS is an awesome program. It teaches you how to lift. It teaches you how to train hard, and it definitely does capitolize on n00b gains. I just don't think in reality anyone is actually throwing 120-180 pounds on their lift in 2 or 3 months unless they're the most extreme example of a skinny guy that's never moved all of a sudden eating 4000 calories a day and lifting with supervision and good form.

In reality, it's probably about a month til you hit something you couldn't have done with shitty form your first day. The second month probably is mostly actual gains, so that 60 counts. And then probably halfway through the third you stall out for the first time. I'd say take that 90 pounds, which is a huge increase, and move on. Hell maybe reset once and do it again with the rate of progression cut in half but definitely not two more times after that. You're going to spend the majority of the rest of the program in the reset area and feeling beet up as all shit.

edit: Also keep in mind, only the squat actually moves that fast. Deadlift, bench, and military are slower.

 

[toonie]

I thought SS recommends starting with just a bar?

Nah. That's StrongLifts.

For your first session, SS has you add weight and perform sets of 5 until bar speed slows, then repeat that weight for two more sets (or you're done if it's the deadlift..