Newbie Masterclass: Why Newbies should pick Starting Strength over a body part workout split

    I said I was going to write on macro-nutrients, but I thought you guys may be more interested on the training aspect of things, so I'll keep that one for a little later :).


     Just got your gym membership. Went to the local supplement store, got yourself some protein powder and a brand new t-back singlet. You're pumped up and ready to smash out your first workout. Time to slap on some mass! Your best mate gave you a workout split and tells you "it's top notch, I got it from this website brah, it's legit". Bicep Curls and Cable-cross overs, ad infinitum. You're all ready to go, right?

How to get a big chest: Cable Cross-overs x 100
(not really)

                                                          WRONG! 


    This is a mistake that a lot of beginner lifters fall into - getting caught up in using all the shiny machines like the pec deck, and isolation exercises like Dumbbell Tricep Extensions, all the while forgetting the bread and butter movements of bodybuilding - the compounds!


   The compound exercises - the big lifts like the squat and deadlift, and upper body lifts like the overhead press, bench and barbell row - are the cornerstones of bodybuilding, and the exercises that have stood the test of time as bodybuilding staples.

Activate most of the muscle groups in your body
with the deadlift.

    Why are these exercises so good? Why not pick a lat pull-down over a barbell row? The main premise behind this training philosophy, is that the compound movements will always activate more muscles than a simple isolation movement. A compound movement like the back squat will not only hit the quadriceps, but will also activate the hamstrings, glutes, hip adductors and the core.


   This large activation of muscle groups makes the compounds overall superior exercises vs. isolation. Isolation exercises do have their place, though compounds will always be always be able to stress more muscles, and to a higher degree, which results in better overall physique development. The only way to build a truly complete physique, is to have compound movements at the forefront of your program. 

Tom Platz - King of the squat. Arguably the best overall
 leg development, even by today's standards.

    Isolation exercises should be used as their name suggests - to isolate and further develop muscles that aren't targeted fully by compounds. They serve simply to develop and stress the muscles in ways that compounds cannot - they should be used to supplement your routine on top of compounds, they shouldn't be the main focus of it.


    Some of you are probably reading this and thinking "Well, ok, that makes sense, but what does that have to do with me? I just want to start lifting weights". Well, this is where it gets interesting for beginners. One of the fundamental principles behind bodybuilding, as well as many other forms of physical training, is that of progressive overload.

Flex Wheeler- A product of 
progressive overload.

    Progressive overload is the principle that in order to increase your strength (and mass), you must place the muscles under increasing stress, or in other words, overload them. There are a few ways to overload a muscle:

• Increased volume: increasing the amount of reps per set, or increasing the amount of sets (thus increasing reps in a round-about sort of way).
• Increased intensity: Making each individual rep harder, slower negative rep, more explosive positive rep. Shortening rest times between sets.
• Increased frequency: Body parts do not require a full 7 days to recover. You can hit a muscle 2 (or some muscles even 3 times a week), and yield improved gains.

    For beginners, overloading is easy. Since most beginners will have almost no physical training base, they can gain strength and mass doing just about anything in the gym. Over time though, strength and mass gains will eventually slow down, and newbies will have to start overcoming plateaus with increasing muscular and nervous system stress.

Mike Mentzer, the King of intensity.

    These easily achieved gains are commonly referred to as "newbie gains", and are generally the easiest strength and mass gains a lifter will ever make in their career. This period gives beginners an opportunity to build a strength base, that will serve them well into their 2nd and 3rd years of training and beyond. 

   The most efficient way to build overall strength when first stepping into a gym, is to start off with a program such as Starting Strength, which incorporates all of the compound movements into one program (as well as one olympic lift). This will give beginners a great overall strength base within the first couple of months of lifting, as well as improving the neural connection between mind and muscle, which is vital to higher level strength and mass gains. Beginners will also see and increase in core stability, which will also serve them well when trying to progress lifts later on along the line.


 Once a good level strength is attained (between 2-5 months of training), beginners will be able to move onto progress-based routines such as Madcow 5x5, which is a program fundamentally based upon the principle of progressive overload, and looks to push progression from week to week through slowly increasing the weight.

Power Cleans - fire up the nervous system, and activate
most of the muscles in your body.

    Squeezing every last bit that you can out of your newbie gains will serve you well later on in your lifting career. Having bigger lifts will have great carry over to other isolation and assistance exercises. For example, if you are squatting 315lb for reps, this will have a level of carry-over to your leg press which may be around 7-8 plates a side. Having greater strength on assistance exercises will give you more flexibility when selecting set/rep structure (e.g, start off with 4 plates, then 5, 6 etc - ascending weight/pyramiding). If you were only to squat 200lb, your leg press may only be 4 plates, which does not give a hell of a lot of flexibility in terms of changing your training style, and you will be more or less restricted to uniform weight.

    In conclusion, if you want to get big, and build the physique that you dream of, then you must not neglect the compounds, they are any lifters best friend, and the fastest way to get to beast mode.