Hey, I'm sure you have all noticed that for almost a year when I first joined this forum, I was preaching NROL to everyone. Now I'm preaching Rippetoe's routine for everyone to do. Well, they are both great routines, but after experiencing them both first hand, I would like to write up a little comparison on both of them.
First off, let it be known that
almost anything
WILL work. If you lift heavy things consistently, for an extended period of time and eat a lot of food, your body will adapt to the difficult tasks you put it through. It will get bigger and stronger, and you will build muscle, burn fat, and it will become more efficient at doing the difficult tasks it is constantly required to do.
However, although almost anything will work, there are certainly much faster and more effective ways of training to allow you to reach your goals faster.
NROL - The New Rules of Lifting Excellent book! It taught me how to lift properly. I highly recommend it to anyone just starting out.
The program(s) in the book are pure genious. First off, the routines are made up of all compound exercises, which you really can't go wrong with.
The main thing about this program though, is that it will make you a great "all-around" athlete. Because of the constant changing of reps, sets, rest times, and exercises, your body is constantly forced to make new adaptations. There is no main focus in this program. You get bigger, stronger, leaner, more endurance, and cardio. Some days you do heavy 5x5's, and some days you do relatively light 3x15's, etc... The routine switches completely every few weeks, and the sets, reps, exercises, and rest times also change. Sometimes it has you working on getting your max lifts up as high as possible, and sometimes it has you doing circuit training.
All-in-all it is a very well thought out program, which targets all your weaknesses. It hits every type of rep range, and it doesn't neglect any aspect of training (endurance, fat-loss, strength, hypertrophy, etc....) Sometimes you'll want to puke because of the high-rep, short rest time routines, and other times you'll go balls out and lift heavy a** weights for low reps.
It's a great program if you want to get into great all-around shape.
Rippetoe's Novice Routine from "Starting Strength" I was a little skeptical about doing this routine when I first heard about it. I heard about it from another forum, and I eventually bought the book. I mean, it only has 3 - 4 lifts per workout, and how the hell can that possibly give me all those big, pretty muscles that I so desire??? Not to mention the fact that it's called a "novice" routine
. Why on earth would I want to do a "novice" routine if I have been lifting for almost 7 years now?? I'm advanced
.
To be a novice (not to be confused with a newbie) only means that you are capable of increasing the weight you use every single workout. If you are unable to do this, then you are intermediate. The average Joe that you see in the gym are novices, despite how long they have been training for. If they have never done a basic, linear progression such as this one, then they are more likely then not still capable of getting novice gains.
Well everything I was skeptical about before was complete bulls***. This routine is balls to the wall, in your face, no bulls*** weight lifting. It is so not a p***y routine, it's not even funny.
The beauty and effectiveness of the program:
- Only 3 - 4 lifts per workout
- Uses sets of 5
- Uses only the most basic compound lifts
- Squat every workout
- Increases weight in small amounts every single workout
- Only uses barbells
3 - 4 lifts every workout, 3 days a week - Well recovery is one of the most important aspects of training. You can beat the hell out of your body during one workout, then rest a day or two, and then you have to go back and do it again (only heavier). Now, if there was like 6 or 7 BIG COMPOUND lifts per workout, how would one expect to continue to make progress for a long time? The weight doesn't stop going up, so if you think one workout was hard....well it doesn't get any easier the next time. Each workout starts with full, atg squats. It is then followed by a push (OH press or Bench press, alternates every workout). It is then followed by a pull from the ground (deadlift or powerclean, alternating every other workout). It is then optional to add chin-ups or pull-ups at the end of each workout. Every workout hits every muscle in your body in only 3 - 4 lifts. And 3-4 lifts is very hard, but just enough to allow you to recover in a day or two so that you can get back in the gym and do it all over again,
heavier.
Sets of 5 - Amazing rep range right there. I didn't realize the beauty of 5's until yesterday. I had to take a break from this routine for a little while due to a lower back injury from poor squat form (you must respect the squat). I've been doing the same basic routine, only with 10's. Let me tell you, 10's are not as good for constant increase in weight as 5's. You get a good burn and pump feeling from 10's, but linear progress every workout can only last so long when doing sets of 10. It can go much longer with 5's. This is speaking from experience. As we all know, different rep ranges work different systems (ie low reps for strength, medium reps for hypertrophy, high reps for endurance). 5's are the perfect mix of strength and hypertrophy (for a more detailed explanation of why this is true refer to Starting strength or Practical programming).
All compound lifts - Self explanatory.
Squat every workout - If you don't squat often, you suck.
Increases weight in small amounts every workout - The key to the program! Every other workout has the exact same exercises, only it gets harder and harder and harder and harder every single time. If you struggle to get through one workout, yet you still manage to do it, it only gets harder. The weight doesn't go down, so have fun and don't be a p***y.
The program only uses barbell lifts - Barbell exercises allow you to move the most amount weight. Every exercise incorporates just about every muscle in your entire body, with the exception of possibly the bench press. The human body is capable of lifting some serious amounts of weight when all muscles work in coordination with one another. Barbell training is the "old school" method, and due to the new, "high-tech" training methods, it is rare to see someone doing a program that uses only a barbell and some weights.
People will seriously start to think you are on steroids if you set your ego aside and accept the fact that "novice training" will work for you, and forget everything that you learned from bodybuilding magazines about split this, isolation that crap. As I said, just about anything will work, but some things work better then others. This routine will get you big and strong as an ox. This routine and a bulk diet go hand-in-hand.
So there you have it. In my 7-year (or more) long training history I have only followed 2 serious routines.
For the first 6 years, I did nothing but just go to the gym and lift, rarely increasing the weights. I just kinda did what I though would work and took other gym rats' advice, but I stayed consistent, and it worked (somewhat)!!! I got pretty muscular. I didn't eat much for those 6 years, so I was pretty cut.
I didn't start getting
real results until I started following strict routines though. So that's my comparison of the two.
A good analogy would be to compare the routines to Super Mario Brothers 2 for Nintendo. For those of you that have played that game, you know the different strengths and weaknesses of each character:
New rules of lifting - Mario
Rippetoes - Toad
Circuit training - Luigi
Common split routines composed of lots of isolation work - Princess
<message edited by brihead301 on Friday, June 27, 2008 8:13 AM>