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The Starting Strength Novice/Beginner Programs

 

The Original Starting Strength Novice Program

Workout A 
3x5 Squat 
3x5 Bench Press 
1x5 Deadlift 

Workout B 
3x5 Squat 
3x5 Press 
5x3 Power cleans 

Workouts A and B alternate on 3 non-consecutive days per week.


Ulei avocado  (click the download link. You'll still need a program that can edit spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel or the free to own OpenOffice.org) 
Or try the on-line version.

Onus Wunsler Beginner Program (from SS):

Workout A 
3x5 Squat 
3x5 Press 
1x5 Deadlift / 5x3 Power Cleans (Alternating) 

Workout B 
3x5 Squat 
3x5 Bench Press 
3x10 or 5x10 Back Extensions (unweighted if progressing to GHR, weighted if not) 
Chin-Ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps 

Workouts A and B alternate on 3 non-consecutive days per week.

Practical Programming Novice Program:

Monday 
3x5 Squat 
3x5 Bench press / Press (Alternating) 
Chin-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

Wednesday 
3x5 Squat 
3x5 Press / Bench Press (Alternating) 
1x5 Deadlift

Friday 
3x5 Squat 
3x5 Bench Press / Press (Alternating) 
Pull-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

(see also The Wichita Falls Novice Program)

Basic Starting Strength Questions

Which Version Should I do?

This largely depends on how often you'd like to powerclean, deadlift and do pull-ups. If you want to deadlift and powerclean 1-2x/week and pull-ups aren't a priority (you'll get to do them eventually) do The Original Starting Strength Program. If you'd like to Deadlift, powerclean and do pull-ups about equally, do The Onus Wunsler Beginner Program. If you don't ever want to do powercleans and you only want to deadlift 1x/week, but you'd like to do pull-ups 2x/week do The Practical Programming Novice Program. You will gain extraordinary amounts of strength on any one of these fine programs.

Can I incorporate power cleans into the Practical Programming Novice Program?

Yes, you can. This isn't a "published" routine but it is one that Rip teaches at his gym. For this reason it's called "The Wichita Falls Novice Program." It looks like this:

Wichita Falls Novice Program

Monday 
Squat 3x5 
Bench press/press 3x5 (alternating) 
Chin-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps 

Wednesday 
Squat 3x5 
Press/bench press 3x5 (alternating) 
Deadlift 1x5/Powerclean 5x3 (alternating) 

Friday 
Squat 3x5 
Bench press/press 3x5 (alternating) 
Pull-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps



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