Starting Strength

Dear bloggie,

Just wanted to rant about my latest workout routine which I a couple of weeks ago implemented. It's the "Starting Strength" by Mark Riptose. What's the major difference of this routine? Well, for starters it's "strength" routine instead of "body building" routine. What this means is it's for building strength as in how much you can lift instead of how big ur muscle is. So how does the workout look like? Like tis:

Workout A
Squat 5x3
Overhead Press 5x3
Barbell Row 5x3

Workout B
Squat 5x3
Deadlift 5x1
Bench Press 5x3

Just do 3 session each week, repeat Workout A, then Workout B then Workout A again for 1st week. Next week, Workout B, Workout A and Workout B... Repeat and rinse. I sorta dig the simplicity of this workout, not to mention the time. In case if ur wondering what does 5x3 here means? Well 5 is the reps and 3 is the sets.

While it's just 3 exercises per session, let me assure you these compound exercises will stress ur body. Some probably be thinking, so little exercises where enuff for pump and build muscle in balance? Well, the concept of this exercise is to make strength gains, the best way is to do it as often as possible.

Hence the 2 workout split... We workout our full body thru these 5 big compounds exercises. A very different concept in strength training is that we stress out our CNS (Central Neural System) as opposed to "the pump". Hence each set is done with around 2-3 minutes rest, as we need to be at maximum recovery when we lift for 5 reps with heavy weights.

Personally, I find the workout more intense then my normal body building routine but it lacks the pump sensation as well as worn out feeling which I normally feel after doing around 3 exercises for a muscle group. My muscle also typically recover within 1 day or 2 which so far, with exception of the deadlift and squat day, where I had to sometimes take extra day off for my lower back to recover. Adopting this new routine, I introduce Squat,  Deadlift and even Overhead Press which I never done before into my routine. The squats are also killing me. Squats are actually performed every workout. While I feel my squats really haven't reached the weights to tax my quads yet, I find myself sweating and panting like crazy after performing these every session. As for deadlift, I still am unable to perform it with proper form as my lower back would still sometimes arc at the lowering phrase which put it at a high risk for disc herniation, so I really haven't rake up the weights for this exercise yet. And incase some of u are wondering where's the arms and abs work in this routine, the beauty of this compound exercises is that they indirectly workout the arms and abs. Try doing a overhead press and feel your core working to brace you body upright as u stabilize and push the weight on top of ur head.

Results... Well, nothing dramatic as I made some gains in bench, row and as well for overhead press. However my leg feels quite worn after doing this routine for some time as I suspect the accumulated wear and tear of doing squats every session stacks up. Oddly, I feel my legs are stronger as if there's a it's brimming with energy... Maybe it's just my mind trick... I also feel stronger around my lower back thanks to the squat and deadlift which targets the posterior chain muscle which include my lower back. My lower back is a neglected muscle which I rarely exercise in the past, hence when I did my 1st deadlift, I really feel this part sore.