A common complaint among those who know sweet f**k all about strength is that there isn't enough volume or some such nonsense in the starting strength method. Indeed the beginning stages are somewhat cruisey, but this doesn't last very long. I can still recall the end stages of my linear progression, the horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach twice a week when you know you've got set a new 5RM on the squat, then repeat it twice more, and then back it up on your other lifts. You try distraction - self-talk and stuffing your face with even more food, but the feeling won't go away. It still haunts me. All told, I progressed from 50kg squats on day 1, to 157.5kg(347lbs) x 5 in about 4 months. At this point, my squats were killing me, deadlifts were crap due to bad technique, and both presses were still moving albeit slowly. Squats came abruptly to a halt at this weight, 5-4-3 instead of 3x5 on the first day, and ending up at 4-3-3 three attempts later. Here i...
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Ok, I'll admit it, I told a little white lie in the first post. I didn't actually start out following starting strength. Some googling led me to StrongLifts first, and so that's how I started out. Stronglifts, for those who don't know, is a reasonably (but not optimally) effective program for beginner lifters. Whether it's a rip-off of starting strength or not is something best left to the keyboard warriors (it probably is), but it's ok to start with until, like me, you get interested and then get the blue book and really get to terms with things. My first day at the gym was a Wednesday I believe. I squatted three sets of five at 50kg, benched 25kg for the same sets and reps, and then deadlifted three sets of five at 60kg. This goes against Stronglifts doctrine which tells you to start out with just the bar on all of your lifts - which is just stupid really. I knew that then and I know it now. Had I read the blue book prior to starting out, I wou...