| Title | : | Practical Programming for Strength Training |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0976805413 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780976805410 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 282 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2006 |
Practical Programming for Strength Training Reviews
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Overall definitely one of the best books for strength training, specifically programming. I especially appreciate that he spends the first third of the book going overall the fundamental ideas behind training and programming. Understanding Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome and the basic ideas behind getting stronger over time was important. The only thing that I was uncertain of was some of his recommendations for intermediate lifters. First, some of his examples of 'now intermediate lifters' and 'recent novice grads' had squats/benches/deadlifts of around 335x5/250x5/405x5. I find it hard to believe any novice could make linear gains up until this point. I also find his lack of the use of isolation in the Texas Method to be kind of surprising. This stands in contrast to 5/3/1 (which I have done). I feel that the isolation of 5/3/1 is important for recovery and even growth. Then again, 5/3/1 stresses monthly progress instead of weekly like the Texas Method which is likely the primary difference. This brings me to my final point. I find it hard to believe that someone with the lifts mentioned above could make weekly gains on the Texas Method. If your lifts are anywhere in the range of 335x5/250x5/405x5, I don't see how weekly progress is possible. But, I'm going to run his version of the Texas Method regardless (he certainly knows more than me) and I'll see first hand if what he says is true. I'll come back to this review after a couple of months and update it with how I thought his recommendations worked out.
UPDATE:
This works 100%. That being said I found the lack of focus on upper-body a bit problematic. Personally I took out the recovery day and threw in 2 body-building days (one back and biceps and one chest and triceps). It works great, though if you don't have a good endurance/cardio background you may want to limit it to 1 body-building day. Lastly, this is only sustainable on a bulking diet. Overall, would definitely recommend. -
One of the best books if not the best one I've read on strength training methodologies. It dives deep into how to create workouts that give maximum results depending on your current level of lifting experience. Really glad I stumbled upon this book at this time as I've felt like running out of ideas of how to progress in my workouts. Mark does a really good job explaining the core principles and adding specific techniques for advanced lifters to use that produce results. Super excited to try everything I've learned here! If you're going to the gym and want some serious progress this book is a must read even if you're a novice lifter you'll find really good practical advice on starting off right which is very hard to find elsewhere.
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Two factor model for adaptation--recovery and fitness. To gain fitness, you must disrupt homeostasis. This gets harder over time as the body adapts. Beginners can recover and gain fitness between workouts; intermediates in a week; advanced trainees takes months. Intermediates and advanced trainees are in a state of constant fatigue until the end of a training cycle.
Overtraining is making recovery take more than the time you want it to.
Hormonal model of adaptation--compound lifts initially (post-workout) decrease your hormone levels. This is part of the stress the exercise imposes on the body, and is desirable. Over the recovery period, the body compensates by producing high levels of hormones. This increase in hormonal levels is one of the major goals of weight training.
Beginners have it easier--just add weight every workout. Overtraining doesn't last very long because the weight lifted isn't that much, and only lasts a short time. Stick to a small number of core exercises (basically those taught in Starting Strength). Learning too many lifts causes the techniques to blur and the lifts to interfere with each other. (For example, a front squat is similar to a back squat, but still different; trying to learn them both will cause the front squat to interfere with the back squat.)
Intermediates must work on a weekly schedule--one workout must be lighter to avoid overtraining, but still require enough effort to keep fatigue levels up until the end of their (weekly) cycle. Intermediates can learn a larger variety of exercises, presumably having mastered the core lifts as beginners.
Advanced is hard--the cycle is much longer (month/months). Screwing it up leads to huge losses of time. Very few people actually get here, though, unless they are actually focusing on powerlifting or other strength competitions. Even great athletes in other sports will generally be intermediate weight lifters because their focus is not on lifting weights.
Training focuses on specific energy pathways--phospocreatine, or PCR, which lasts for a few seconds; glycogen, which last a bit longer; and oxidative, which is the steady-state reaction that works over a longer period of time. Train the energy pathway your sport uses. If you're a marathoner, train oxidative. Many sports use the PCR and glycogen pathways heavily. Weightlifting focuses on those.
Adaptations from training are of varying degrees of persistence. In general, strength is more persistent than conditioning; which is more persistent than sport-specific skills. -
За разлика от огромното количество други книги относно фитнеса и тренировките с тежести, тази ня��а на корицата си мускулести батковци, макар да е предназначена точно за такива.
Това е сериозна книга за сериозни спортисти и се занимава с програмирането на силовите тренировъчни периоди на средно напредналите атлети, след приключването на началната силова прогресия, описана в
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Докато при начинаещите силата се покачва лесно и това може да става по малко, но непрекъснато, при всяка тренировка, след няколко месеца организмът свиква с натоварването и за понататъшен прогрес е нужна по-тежка тренировка, съответно и по-дълго възстановяване след нея. Това поражда нуждата от по-сложна програма на тренировка/възстановяване, за да може покачването на силата да продължи.
В книгата, треньор Рипетоу описва няколко метода на седмично програмирани тренировки в зависимост от целите на атлета (обща силова тренировка, силов трибой, олимпийско видгане на тежести или допълнителни силови тренировки за кондиция в полза на друг спорт), вкл. доста важната заключителна фаза на методът за начинаещи Starting Strength (която може би трябваше да е част от предишната книга всъщност) и подробна разбивка на четирите фази на популярния Texas Method. -
The complete theory of strength training from the most authoritative source in the field.
Note that for novice trainees, it suffices to read the author's book
Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, though the material presented herein does add valuable theoretical depth. -
This was a great addition after reading Starting Strength earlier this year, Rippetoe's other book. I originally thought that this book may be a little too advanced for me, but after adjusting my program myself after stalling, this book really taught me what was going on, and how I can build a custom program suited to my needs.
There's a lot of in the book about physiology, much like in Starting Strength, but there was ample bits of advice for novice, intermediate, and advanced powerlifters. I skipped the advanced sections since that's way way far beyond my capabilities. This book nailed down some Rippetoe basics, such as working on sets of 5 for strength, and also another thing I learned was about different fundamental variations of exercises that could improve some of the big compound lifts, like variations on bench press and deadlifts. Will look to incorporate his advice immediately. -
This is not fiction but I read it to learn more about weight lifting. It gets a bit repetitive but it is fairly useful. I think the thing I mostly will remember in the long run is how he talks about training "to your potential" -- nothing is ever absolute, there is no discussion of who is "good" or "bad" at weightlifting. Everything is about your potential and your goals -- including "levels" of weight training: he talks about novice, intermediate, and advanced in terms of time and intensity of your workouts, not absolute weight you can carry. It makes the whole thing very approachable and non-intimidating.
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Outstanding. Anyone considering iron work needs to read this (and the book by RIPP).
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I liked this book more than I thought I would! The book discusses the theoretical aspect of strength workout, which is often skipped/overlooked by most training Manuals and even by some gym trainers. And the best part is, everything is explained in layman terms so one doesn't has to Google complicated terms, every 5 mins. It's a must read for anyone who's trying to get into strength training.
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The program itself is great. I was skeptical of my ability to increase my squat by 10lbs 3x a week for several weeks. I was wrong. I've seen great results in my overall strength. My only reason for a 3 star rating is I found it very difficult to pull out exactly what I needed to do during the novice linear progression. There is a great deal of generalities regarding things like rest time, when to introduce power cleans, etc. I realize this is because all humans are not the same so a strict guideline doesn't always work. Well worth checking out. I've read a good deal if fitness books and this is one of a kind in its philosophy and goals. Now that I'm in my mid 30s I care less about a shredded six pack and am looking for longevity in my training.
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Great book. If you are into strength training and can't stand the usual nonsense that you can find on the internet, then this is a book for you.
One thing needs to be emphasized though - it's specifically focused on strength training (as in weightlifting) and not necessarily about building muscles. Latter (hypertrophy) is to some extent the result of the former (strength) but it is not always the case. So if your goal of training is to have nice shredded abs to show on the beach, then you need to find some other book. This one won't help you. -
This is an important book. Rippetoe presents the logical, scientific building blocks of the body's adaptation process. This info is then applied to the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced weight trainer through various time-tested training protocols. Anyone who employs the use of a barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, or any other progressive resistance device will benefit from the information. Like most training, you won't master the material in a single read-through. It will take several repetitions through the book to fully comprehend and understand the depth of info that Rippetoe discusses. But to the persevering and astute student, the lessons here will provide a lifetime of adaptation possibilities. The only negative is for the upfront scientific walkthrough necessary to lay the foundation for the subsequent material--this will lose many readers. Perhaps there is a way to present this info in a more "friendly", gradual manner. Maybe not. Also, while the vast majority of the scientific info presented is rock solid, the Hormonal Fluctuation Model is based on some very preliminary results.
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Solid follow-up to Starting Strength. The first book tells you how to do the exercises. This one tells you when. A lot of information about how to design weight lifting programs and when to change them.
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Esto debería ser parte del programa de educación física de colegio.
Cualquier persona moderadamente interesada en cualquier tipo de deporte obligatoriamente ha de leer esto. Me puso a repasar conceptillos de biología y de todo.
Coach Rip, respect to the maximum. -
The nuts and bolts of strength training with barbells. It was a bit boring, I think I would enjoy this book more had I not been influenced by it indirectly. I probably owe most of my knowledge of strength to Rippetoe indirectly because his beginner system has become the norm. The book covers a large range of how to design a program for strength and the fundamentals of strength training and some in-depth physiology.
Rippetoe is a Texan, he has a no-nonsense attitude to strength training. He has passionate hate against anything commercial and mainstream. He says many gym programs which include machines are designed to maximize profit for the gyms, and not to make anyone strong. He makes a clear distinction between training, and ... exercise. Training is following a plan to meet a goal, whereas filthy exercise is just burning off calories and lifting weights without any particular goal or purpose. Rude.
He gives a firm warning that a lot of exercise science is performed by untrained college novices and the reason why such a large diversity of programs give results is that virtually anything works on untrained novices. When it comes to training novices, everyone's right, but some are more right than others.
The book advocates a low-volume program with lifting three times a week performing barbell exercises. It describes what the lifter can expect in terms of results, and for long before one should switch programs. A novice program is roughly defined by expecting progress each workout, whereas an intermediate program expects progress each week. Rippetoe explains the mechanics and examples of multiple programs which I have found helpful and I have got several new ideas on how to design programs for myself.
The intermediate program, Texas method, is described in detail, where days are split up by volume days, light days/neuromuscular and intensity days.
Some notes:
"Training through a full range of motion and
the correct practice of sport skills will maintain flexibility, just as they have
established it to begin with, and an attempt to further increase flexibility is at
best a waste of time."
Having a Chest, Back day(lats), Shoulders split, triceps work every day, while pectorals once a week:
is an example of poor training organization producing a schedule that includes both inadequate and excessive exercise frequency at the same time.
I'm a bit disconcerted about his dismissal of cardio. He dismisses the claim that cardio increases strength training: "The adaptations required for successful strength and power performance are supplied quite adequately by the stress of the work itself, thus invalidating the argument for including aerobic training in strength and power athletes’ programs." - Which is fair enough, although I think one has to be careful to not falling far into this paradigm of doing everything to increase deadlifts and squat, thinking that's all to fitness. Besides, this seems contradictory to when he says that doing deadlifts and squats benefits from power cleans. He says you will benefit by doing other exercises than power cleans to get better at power cleans:
"In the clean and jerk, for example, simple performance of the exercise will at some point fail to drive adaptation. Once maximum technical performance has been well established, continued repetition of work at the maximum clean and jerk weight will fail to satisfactorily disrupt homeostasis. This is because at maximum weights for the clean and jerk, several factors contribute to the lack of progress – technique, psychological factors, power, and
strength." - Can't the same said with cardio? I mean, when guys are short of breath for minutes after bench pressing heavy, should that be considered a fit, strong person? -
8.5/10
Like Rippetoe's first book ("Starting Strength") this is an excellent beginners guide to strength training, this time focussing more on programming than learning the basic lifts. Rippetoe goes into depth on the physiology of gaining strength, the variables of designing a program, and the major programs he recommends for novices, intermediates, and advanced lifters. For most of us, the novice section and parts of the intermediate section will be all we need, though the advanced lifter section still makes knowledge-satisfying reading. He also covers "special populations" (the first, women, isn't a special population at all, which Rip does acknowledge as he tackles some of the stereotypes regarding strength training for women.) 'Rip' is just as irreverent in this as in Starting Strength, which makes for fun reading, though I could see where some might get offended or disagree with him (i.e., his ranting on national accreditations and his tearing apart the nature of peer-reviewed studies in the ex phys. world). Highly recommended nonetheless! -
This book reads like a textbook, which is not the most exciting, even if you're excited about the material. This books is also very much for coaches or those who are looking to design their own program once they have tapped out on the original Starting Strength model. Is it neccessary to read once you've tapped out on SS and are looking for an intermediate program? Not really. You can find what you need on the internet. Search for "Texas Method" and you'll get the basics. While I would recommend everyone who wants to get stronger by lifting a barbell to read SS in order to get a grasp on the basics, the techniques and how to program for a novice, I would not recommend everyone read this book unless they have asperations of becoming a SS coach. It took me a year to pick through it a little at a time and while there are a couple nuggets here and there, it's not a neccesity.
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This book pretty much lines up exactly with my lifting experience, and gave clear information about program design that is applicable to many athletes. The information is given in conjunction with "why" it works that way, and the reader is left with an understanding not just of how to program their training, but also how to identify issues and troubleshoot them.
I have some concerns about Rippetoe's recommendation that people training strength should be eating so much protein - I was specifically directed by a doctor not to eat that much, and it sounds like medical science is starting to investigate protein consumption and creatine supplementation (also recommended) as a special cause of renal failure. -
The main theses are: 1) much of the literature regarding weight training for the general audience is of insufficient quality; 2) some of the scientific literature suffers from problems such as being generalized to inappropriate populations or lacking rigor in method; 3) weight training should be used by the general population for health and fitness.
The book contains a collection of strength training information backed by scientific evidence that's also informed by practical application for trainees of all levels. In response to this book, I've switched my training from a mix of compound and isolation weight training to primarily power lifting. We'll see how it works out for me. -
Everyone should read Starting Strength.
People who should read Practical Programing:
Professional trainers and coaches, and wannabes
Anyone who is nearing the end of the novice phase of their linear progression
Anyone who wants to design their own programming
There are additional details (not found in SS) relevant to novice trainees in this book, however you may not need to read it especially if you're working with a starting strength coach. But don't let that stop you.
As always with anything Rip produces, the information is of the highest quality and is easily digestible for noobs. -
This is the one stop shop that you'll need to become a stronger, and therefore more useful, human being for the long haul. There is no other resource that I've found in the layman or institutional educational resources that effectively describes the strength and recovery adaptation cycle in a way that is immediately accessible.
The unfortunate fact in the current day and age, people will still look for a prescribed amount of sets and reps instead of the doing the reading themselves and understanding why that programming works. For those inclined to do the reading, this is the book.
