johnsmith182
New Member
the fun of a forum like this is talking, exchanging ideas, developing friendships, things like that, and not being bound by geography. ive gotten a lot of enjoyment out of this forum over the years.
the frustration is seeing essentially the same person pop up again and again. no, i dont mean literally the same person, but differing people all with the same defining characteristic.
this person is essentially a beginner... that is true whether he has been training 2 weeks or two years. his basic goal is to get bigger and stronger. he may not even realize this. he may say he wants to harden up, get a bigger chest... whatever. but basically if he could be reasoned with and accept the laws of human physiology, he would concede that what he really want is to build muscle, simple as that.
this person is also usually lost in the wilderness of muscle magazine training programs, doing things that work only if you are loaded to the gills with steroids, and even then probably arent appropriate to any but a few. these things are almost a guarantee of failure to the average beginner.
over the years, i have advocated a simple approach to training, one that is not new, and definately not fancy. but it works. if done correctly, it works for beginners, and with a little tweaking it works for intermediates, and with a little more tweaking it works for advanced athletes. it has been around in one form or another for 50 years or more, and has worked all that time, and will work for the next 50 years. you wont find it in muslce magazines. it doesnt sell magazines. because when you use it, and use it properly, you progress, and dont need to change what you are doing in frustration every month... and this would limit the value of the next months issue of a magazine, with the new latest and greatest routing from the new latest and greatest lifter.
my introduction to this sort of training was by a good friend of mine. he got his intro to training while living with bill starr way back in the dark ages. he was using it and refining it before i ever started training with weights.
this person has written a book. the book is titled starting strength, and true to the title, is intended to tell you everything you need, from exercise form to how to warm up to how to set up your first program, everything you need to get started on the weights, and get started in a way that will lead not to frustration, but to progress, and lasting progress. its geared towards beginners. but not only beginners will benefit. i personally know of D1 strength coaches and advanced athletes who have read it and written that they picked up valuable hints, things they had never thought of before, that would help them immensely.
i dont want to pimp this book endlessly in 100 threads, thats why i am writing this. i truly think that if you are interested in weight training, you ought to have this book. if you have read thru this forum at all, you know that i am at least somewhat accomplished as a lifter and coach. i also work closely with the author, drink beer with him, have trained with him, and have coached with him. yet i read the book, and picked up a few things. so i really dont think there is anyone so "advanced" as to be able to turn their nose up at the book.
but the beginners, the guys posting on here wanting a routine, wanting to know how to squat, how many days to train... these are people who ought to, really ought to, have this book. these are the people the book was aimed at. the guy or girl who wants to train with weights. who wants to become stronger. they might be 16 years old and heading to the gym for the first time, or it might be a 35 year old who has fooled around with the weights for years, but who hasnt made the kind of progress he wants.
if you fall into these catagories, or anywhere near them, think about spending a little money. itll be the best investment you can make.
the frustration is seeing essentially the same person pop up again and again. no, i dont mean literally the same person, but differing people all with the same defining characteristic.
this person is essentially a beginner... that is true whether he has been training 2 weeks or two years. his basic goal is to get bigger and stronger. he may not even realize this. he may say he wants to harden up, get a bigger chest... whatever. but basically if he could be reasoned with and accept the laws of human physiology, he would concede that what he really want is to build muscle, simple as that.
this person is also usually lost in the wilderness of muscle magazine training programs, doing things that work only if you are loaded to the gills with steroids, and even then probably arent appropriate to any but a few. these things are almost a guarantee of failure to the average beginner.
over the years, i have advocated a simple approach to training, one that is not new, and definately not fancy. but it works. if done correctly, it works for beginners, and with a little tweaking it works for intermediates, and with a little more tweaking it works for advanced athletes. it has been around in one form or another for 50 years or more, and has worked all that time, and will work for the next 50 years. you wont find it in muslce magazines. it doesnt sell magazines. because when you use it, and use it properly, you progress, and dont need to change what you are doing in frustration every month... and this would limit the value of the next months issue of a magazine, with the new latest and greatest routing from the new latest and greatest lifter.
my introduction to this sort of training was by a good friend of mine. he got his intro to training while living with bill starr way back in the dark ages. he was using it and refining it before i ever started training with weights.
this person has written a book. the book is titled starting strength, and true to the title, is intended to tell you everything you need, from exercise form to how to warm up to how to set up your first program, everything you need to get started on the weights, and get started in a way that will lead not to frustration, but to progress, and lasting progress. its geared towards beginners. but not only beginners will benefit. i personally know of D1 strength coaches and advanced athletes who have read it and written that they picked up valuable hints, things they had never thought of before, that would help them immensely.
i dont want to pimp this book endlessly in 100 threads, thats why i am writing this. i truly think that if you are interested in weight training, you ought to have this book. if you have read thru this forum at all, you know that i am at least somewhat accomplished as a lifter and coach. i also work closely with the author, drink beer with him, have trained with him, and have coached with him. yet i read the book, and picked up a few things. so i really dont think there is anyone so "advanced" as to be able to turn their nose up at the book.
but the beginners, the guys posting on here wanting a routine, wanting to know how to squat, how many days to train... these are people who ought to, really ought to, have this book. these are the people the book was aimed at. the guy or girl who wants to train with weights. who wants to become stronger. they might be 16 years old and heading to the gym for the first time, or it might be a 35 year old who has fooled around with the weights for years, but who hasnt made the kind of progress he wants.
if you fall into these catagories, or anywhere near them, think about spending a little money. itll be the best investment you can make.
Its just the best. I could use nearly 99% of the books info for my/our training. The other 1% were the non written content under the quotes 
