Starting Strength and GPP

[Eva Claire Synkowski]

Originally Posted by Greg Everett

are you calling me fat?

i would never. youre just big-boned.

[Robb Wolf]

Originally Posted by Eva Claire Synkowski

i would never. youre just big-boned.

I was going to say Full-Figured.

In general I'd encourage folks to not worry a huge amount about dropping metcons to a very stepchild status for a time. Once you establish that strength base you will rock the WOD's...after some painful re-acclimation.

[Steve Shafley]

This is very manageable.

I often wonder, though, how much of an impact being so focused on endurance training will have on max strength.

One of the guys I know here decided to drop PL in favor of triathalons.

Talk about a swing from one end to the other.

[Mike ODonnell]

I'd imagine it's a harder road coming from endurance to back to strength....than from strength back to endurance. If I stop squatting and run/bike for 6 months my endurance will be great...but chances are my squat will suck ass and it will take me a while to get back to where I was.....but if I do squats and heavy lifting with no running/biking for 6 months...my endurance may suck at first but it seems quicker to come back. Probably has something to do with fast and slow twitch muscle fiber conversions as I've heard that fast twitch can act like slow easier than slow to act like fast. So if you train to increase fast twitch, then you can still have endurance capacity.

[Allen Yeh]

Originally Posted by R. Alan Hester

Thanks for the workout ideas; I will use some. I will also have to modify some of Coach Rut’s workouts and get creative on my own in order to create some brief metcon workouts. Let me know how it progresses.

Alan

Update:
I've cut back on my lifting days per week to 3 this week, week 1 felt great, week 2 felt ok, week 3 was a terrible for deadlifts, now going into week 4 I'm going to cut it down to 3 lifting days per week and see if that feels any better. I'm still going to keep brief metcons after my workouts and possibly doing ESD stuff on my "off" days.

[Robb Wolf]

allen-
You might consider cutting the volume of every 3rd WO by half. This is something Ido talked to me about and Ive found it very helpful.

[Mike ODonnell]

Originally Posted by Allen Yeh

Update:
I've cut back on my lifting days per week to 3 this week, week 1 felt great, week 2 felt ok, week 3 was a terrible for deadlifts, now going into week 4 I'm going to cut it down to 3 lifting days per week and see if that feels any better. I'm still going to keep brief metcons after my workouts and possibly doing ESD stuff on my "off" days.

Focus on nutrition too....play around with post workout meals. Like Rob said too, take a week at 50% and it should help recovery. If you don't feel stronger with each workout...you are probably overtrained and under recovered. It's really so basic, but we always tend to make it more complicated than it needs to be. Lift, Eat, Rest.

I lift 3x a week, no metcons and my endurance has not suffered when I go for a 1-2 hr mountain bike ride every few weeks....plus I keep lean, feel stronger and have more muscle. Sounds like a good plan to me.

[Frank Needham]

Originally Posted by Greg Everett

Using myself as an example, I've done zero metabolic conditioning for around a year (o-lifting only).

Greg, during this year, how many times a week have you been lifting? Would you mind putting down a few words on what your program is, how long you intend to follow it, and what motivated you to stop Xfit and concentrate on O lifts?

I just started the SS program myself after realizing that "strength before strength endurance" is not just a cliche. One thing though, the 3X per week that Rip advocates seems a little light for me, not much, just enough to make me wonder if I should add to it.

[R. Alan Hester]

One thing though, the 3X per week that Rip advocates seems a little light for me

I thought the above myself when I first started Rip's program some weeks back. Then I realized my folly after adding in metcon workouts too quickly. My strength gains stagnated and my mood soured. I have since removed all metcon from my program and my numbers have continued to rise. In short, be careful when stacking metcon on Rip's program if strength is your true goal.

Alan

[Mike ODonnell]

I once heard that you should leave a strength workout feeling better than when you walked in.....not wiped.

I agree though, if strength is your goal....don't worry about metcon stuff. Focus on strength cycles...worry about the rest later. You will comprise your gains if you try to do everything at once.