Rippetoe Question

[KaiserSose]

I'm considering making the transition to Rippetoe. I've been working out for ~ 1 1/2 yrs, but due to injuries / time constraints I haven't progressed as much as I could have.

I think Rippetoe may help me get bigger faster than a traditional 4-day BB split. My only concern is it seems like you get very few sets in per week doing Rippetoe. Furthermore, these sets are never done to failure. I understand that compound exercises take more out of you than isolation ones, but 21-23 a week seems much too low.

Also, what do you all think of the starting strength book? I'd almost rather hire a personal trainer to make sure I'm performing the lifts correctly, but I fear that they may not know what they are talking about. The personal trainers at my country club, for example, advocate doing 3 sets of 20 reps on the bench press machine.

Thanks

[thirddan]

why don't you try the rippetoe program for a bit and see what you think?

also, the higher the intensity (closer to 1rm) that you work the less lifts you are probably going to try...

starting strength is a good book and will probably get you more than hiring the guy you already think is worthless [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[avfletch]

I've just picked up starting strength and practical programming. They are both excellent books. I think you'll do far better getting them and posting form vids to some of the numerous websites out there to gather multiple opinions and help you weed out the ones that don't really know what they are saying.

[theblackkeys]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm considering making the transition to Rippetoe. I've been working out for ~ 1 1/2 yrs, but due to injuries / time constraints I haven't progressed as much as I could have.

I think Rippetoe may help me get bigger faster than a traditional 4-day BB split. My only concern is it seems like you get very few sets in per week doing Rippetoe. Furthermore, these sets are never done to failure. I understand that compound exercises take more out of you than isolation ones, but 21-23 a week seems much too low.

Also, what do you all think of the starting strength book? I'd almost rather hire a personal trainer to make sure I'm performing the lifts correctly, but I fear that they may not know what they are talking about. The personal trainers at my country club, for example, advocate doing 3 sets of 20 reps on the bench press machine.

Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]
The thing is, you'll be squatting heavy 3 times a week. That's plenty of work. You don't need more sets to hit your muscles better, because you're lifting heavier weight relative to your 1 rep max. You can't do a million sets at this intensity.

[TimM]

With warmups its close to 60 sets a week, with about a third of those being 2 or 3 rep sets and the rest 5 reps. Also, it's designed for strength gains, not quick gains in size.