# Starting Babylovers's SS?



## rezkon (Dec 17, 2011)

What does everyone here think of Babylovers's SS? if you havent seen it its a adaptation on to Rippetoes SS

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*I Take no credit for this

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*Preface - Results speak loudest*
When people I coach ask me for diet advice, I flat out refuse to give it  to them. Why? Because I sure as hell am not lean enough to be giving  out diet advice. The same applies for everything you do, and the  training advice you take. I know big legs, big squats, big deadlifts and  strength training. I don't know how to sculpt your rear deltoid, and  until I have an awesome pair myself, you would be an idiot to take my  advice. I don't take advice from people weaker than me, or who are not  where I want to be.

Let's be honest. How many people have we seen finish Rippetoes and look  awesome? I'm hard pressed to find any. Even Rippetoe himself posted this  one horrendous looking chubby guy as his flagship lifter and  justification for the program... hardly convincing, and rightly so.

Now the question is, is this because full body training is flawed?  Absolutely not. I simply think SS criminally neglect important training  aspects in an over zealous attempt to 'simplify.'

Now, I'll break things down into various justification. 

*1. Why higher frequency for the beginner.*
Typically this applies to the weak, under conditioned and skinny or  fat/weak guys. People with a comprehensive need a slightly different  approach. For simplicities sake, we will stick to the skinny 130  pounder.

People need to break out of this false paradigm of 'split versus fully  body' and various stupid **** like 'gh release from squats make your  arms bigger.' This type of thinking belongs in the early 2000's when fat  guys who lift weights got on the internet and started justifying why  they look like ****.

The issue at hand is FREQUENCY. How many times a week are you performing  movements. For the absolute beginner this is extremely important. Why?  Because the more often you perform a squat, bench, dead, press etc, the  faster you teach your CNS to activate what you have. This is crucial for  laying the foundation for the rest of your career.

By far my best body part are my legs, and what did I do? Squat a  ****load, and often. Prior to injuries I would squat more often in a  month than most people will in 2 years of training. This has incredible  results, and it's because of the same reason splits seem to work. I know  that seems weird, but think how much VOLUME I get training at high  frequency. Doing 60+ reps a week at 90% of 1rm is going to do things to  your legs that not even the most intense 20 set leg session will.

So, this is why the principle behind SS works so well. It just gets  people training often, and training heavy. Any beginner I train does a  modified SS, but until 6 months I won't have the results to show you  all. I will detail my modifications later.

Results speak loudest.

*2. So what's wrong with the current SS set up?*

Current SS program is

ABA, BAB week to week.

A
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Rows/cleans 3x5
2x8 chins*

B
Squat 3x5
MP Press 3x5
Deads 1x5
2x8 dips

*Optional

a. It's too easy at the start, 3x a week for an absolute beginner is a  joke. If we take a typical 5lbs increase starting at 85lbs, and a 15lbs  increase a week, then getting to 225 3x5 takes upwards of 10 weeks...  too long imo. I have two guys who are hitting rock bottom 2 plates after  4 and 6 weeks. And if you're doing a super high calorie diet you simply  get fast whilst wasting 3 months getting a barely passable standard.

(Before you all nit pick about this, take on the general idea, don't start bitching about the specific numbers)

b. Poor exercise selection. 

We typically see people come off Rippetoes with tiny rear delts,  relatively weak upper backs. Some people choose to powerclean which is  absolutely idiotic. It takes far too much technical prowess to get a  powerclean to adequately work the upper back. So people are pressing OH  and flat benching 3x a week with literally no rowing movement. Some are  smarter and do BB rows, but I believe the beginner lacks coordination to  properly do rows in a way that combats the internal rotation from the  pressing. Also, the chin ups are treated as optional when they should be  mandatory, cause squatting works those lats... right?

Furthermore, the back squat 3x a week is also not optimal. I believe  that the session B should instead have a front squat once the beginner  is able to squat over 135lbs. I'm a huge believer in teaching front  squats early, but as I said, I need my guys to get the results before  I'm 100% convinced. As the program gets more challenging, having the  different squat will help alleviate much of the stress and anxiety  people being to feel around it.

c. Too much 'don't curl idiocy.'
I like to think in general, the internet lifting world has grown up from  its infancy. Yes, we get it, people curl in the rack and you want to  make yourself feel better by ripping on them. STFU.

Direct arm work is NOT an issue on SS, and should be entirely descretionary depending on your mood for the day.

*3. So what do we do instead*

a. Train more often! I advocate a minimum 3x a week, but how often are  beginners, once the initial soreness subsides after the first week  gunning to train more. To which fat unconditioned idiots always cry  'overtrainig.' Let me make this very clear. Someone who can't squat  225x5 is physically incapable of overtraining. You simply do not have  the CNS recruitment to overtrain. So, instead of sticking to the A B A, B  A B, format, train as often as you feel like it. If you can go 6 days  straight alternating the two workouts, all the power to you, if you are  starting to feel to beaten up, drop back to 3-4. Either way, just train  MORE often. You need to stop thinking session to session, and instead  sit back and realise how much more volume you will complete over a 6  month period training 4x a week instead of 3. That's a 33% load increase  just from doing one extra session. 

b. Be smart with the exercises.
Don't powerclean. Try and do rows, but most importantly you MUST do the  chin ups, Preferably widish grip and overhand, following workout A. If  you are feeling good, do DEEP dips for workout B. I also have no issue  if the beginner does something like cable rows after the chin ups. SS is  extremely negligent of the upper back.

c. If you want to curl. do the ****ing curls for ****s sake.

*What should it look like instead

The two days:
A
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Chins 15-20 total reps, add weight or use assisted.
Rows 3x5 SUPER STRICT.
Optional: Cable rows, 3x8 bicep work, 3x8 rear delt flyes, do this at  your own discretion. If you don't feel like it, don't worry

B
Front squat 3x5
MP 3x5
Deadlifts 1x5
Optional: 15-20 reps of dips, 3x8 tricep work

Training frequency:
I prefer people not to think about training on the exact say, I simply  suggest a minimum of 3 sessions. If you are feeling good, are eating  lots and recovering well, trying and train more. Sometimes people have  bad days, feel tired, stay up pate to finish assignments, and some days  you wake up ready to squat Jupiter.

DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF TO TRAIN MORE. SIMPLY ADD OR DEDUCT SESSIONS PER A WEEK AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION DEPENDING ON HOW YOU FEEL.

LIKEWISE, DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF TO DO THE OPTIONAL WORK, JUST JUDGE IT ON THE FAY

I think on this program, most people will get where they want much  faster after having built a fantastic base. I strongly dislike SS in its  original template, and believe this not only better, but more fun. This  also addresses the imbalances we see so often coming out of Rippetoes.

I wish to state one more time, for the beginner I think higher frequency  is the absolute best to get those rapid changes. If after 3-5 months  things slow down significantly, do whatever you want. Upper/lower, a  full blown 5 day split, whatever. Either way, I think the work capacity  you develop from training like this will aid you in whatever your goals  are.
*​


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