For individuals interested in building muscle, the goal is often to do so as rapidly as possible. Many bodybuilders and coaches will say that it can take years to build a thick, heavily muscled physique, but others point out that, with good strength training practices and a sound diet program aimed at increasing lean body mass, you can put on a great deal of muscle in a hurry. These coaches typically focus on very basic weight lifting methods and advocate huge caloric intakes, even at the risk of gaining some body fat while gaining muscle.
Starting Strength
The Starting Strength (SS) program, developed by Mark Rippetoe, is very basic, yet athletes who follow the program have gained as much as 10 lbs. of muscle a week, for short durations. Rippetoe, with 30 years of experience as a strength coach, focuses on basic barbell training methods, working out three times per week. The SS method uses basic linear progression, by adding a very small amount of weight to the barbell each time you perform a given exercise. Sometimes, according to Rippetoe in the book, “Starting Strength,” that addition my be as little as 2 lbs.. For nutrition, Rippetoe recommends eating as much good as possible, and adding a gallon of whole milk each day on top of that. While he acknowledges that an athlete may add some body fat in the process, the muscle gains are worth it. Rippetoe advocates losing the gained body fat after you have reached your muscular weight goal.
Stronglifts 5X5
Based on the work of strength coaches like Rippetoe and the legendary Bill Starr, Stronglifts focuses on basic barbell lifts, such as the bench press, squat, deadlift, and rows. These coaches and many other realized that having an athlete lift really heavy weight, a couple of times a week was the ideal way to pack on a lot of muscle mass in a hurry. Using the same GOMAD, or “Gallon of Milk a Day” program as Rippetoe, the Stronglifts program claims that an athlete can gain 25 lbs. of muscle in 25 days on their program.
Beyond Brawn
Bodybuilding coach Stuart McRoberts is somewhat of a heretic in the bodybuilding world. Instead of the traditional “bodypart” training and split-routines of traditional bodybuilding, McRoberts advocated a simple barbell-based program over twenty years ago, when most bodybuilders, professional and amateur alike, had moved to dumbbells and machines for their workout strategy. In his 2007 tome, “Beyond Brawn,” McRoberts even goes so far as to provide aspiring bodybuilders mathematical formulae to determine how big they need to be in order to be “aesthetically pleasing.” McRoberts explains that his program, focusing on basic lifts, will help an athlete gain more muscle, faster, than any traditional routine that they might find in their favorite bodybuilding magazine.
References
- "Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training;" Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore, PhD; 2007
- "Beyond Brawn;" Stuart McRoberts; 2007
- "Stronglifts 5X5;" "Mehdi;" eBook
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