Setting up a Program

B

Brian Griffin

New Member
Hi
After months (and seemingly years) of Starting Strength 3x5 and Bill Starrs 5x5 method i was starting to get a bit fed up, then I started reading about this method.
Ive read through the boards and the FAQs and I think I understand it im going to keep the compounds from Bill Starr and maybe add 1 isolation.

Squat
Bench
Rows/ alternate with deadlifts
Shoulder Press
Bicep Curls
Dips

I understand the 2 sets of 15 starting by working your max then count back in 5lb intervals the only thing I dont understand is how I will do this with Dips/Chins or Bicep curls, if I can only curl for 15 with the EZ bar and 40lbs on I cant really go backwards in weight with that
 
You can do 2.5 increments with bicep curls. You may also increment only after two sessions if the max weight really is low. For example, if your 15rm for bicep curls is 40, you may do:

10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40

or

27.5, 30, 32.5, 35, 37.5, 40

or

30, 30, 35, 35, 40, 40

If you have an exercise you can't quite manage to increment 5lbs each workout, then increment only as much as you can for that particular exercise. 5 lbs. isn't a magic number, and strictly incrementing each workout is also not magic. It's just a way to implement progressive loading.

Regards,
-JV
 
Welcome Brian

2 things you can do:

Count in %'s or,

15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, but why do you worry about curls so much?

You could also just do 20, 30, 40 and repeat each poundage twice, take your pick.

I personally like working with %'s
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For dips and chins I normally just do body weight but you can choose to add weight and do the same thing!
 
Don't worry too much about 15s for bis. Focus on the big compounds. You can always add in some isos later in the cycle if you have the time and energy.

If you are going to do EZ-bar curls then I wouldn't start 15s any lighter than 75% of your 15RM - ie. 30lb. I like Jvroig's 30, 30, 35, 35, 40, 40 progression. When the load is light at the start of 15s there's no need to stop at 15 reps either. Just keep going - but avoid failure. Really go for a burn.

During 15s, for dips and chins, if you can do 15 reps for each then do that each time. If you can't, then for chins, you could start the cycle with machine pulldowns and switch to chins for, say, 10s. For dips just do as many as you can without hitting failure. You could add in some partials (ie. reps without a full range of motion) at the end of a set for the burn effect but don't overdo it.
 
Good choice of exersizes too. I do alternate isos rather than hit both bi's and tri's every workout. It's another way you can implement them, and you'd have half as many divisions or increments to deal with.

Welcome back Jvroig, or have you just been lurking?
 
Thanks for the help.
You've also answered my next question regarding the chins/dips if you cant quite manage 15.

Looking forward to starting this program haven't done high rep ranges before usually stuck to the 5x5 4x6 3x8, think my knees will thank me for laying off the 5x5 squats anyway
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Quadancer was thinking of alternating the arm iso's and maybe sticking in some calf raises.
 
<div>
(quadancer @ May 11 2008,8:36)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Good choice of exersizes too. I do alternate isos rather than hit both bi's and tri's every workout. It's another way you can implement them, and you'd have half as many divisions or increments to deal with.

Welcome back Jvroig, or have you just been lurking?</div>
Been busy attending to member registrations and filtering out the board's spam. There are so many active members anyway that it can do without me answering questions. I just saw one night that this new member's post was left unanswered, so I gave him an answer.

Regards,
-JV
 
Just the lack of change I had been doing more or less the same thing for 7-8 months just fancied trying something else for a while see how my body reacts to different types of training.
 
And btw, if you want to do smaller increments this link provides some tips: Microloading. Never tried it but sounds like a good idea.
 
<div>
(electric @ May 17 2008,4:43)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">And btw, if you want to do smaller increments this link provides some tips: Microloading. Never tried it but sounds like a good idea.</div>
I gained a lot of strength my PBs shot up but this was the first time id tried any strength specific training and I was shattered at the end of every workout, didn't gain too much size but I think that was because I was still doing a lot of cardio on off days.
 
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