ExRx.net

maybe you can get some inspiration from the gentilcore routine at the bottom of this article:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... r_big_arms

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

What makes 531 a program beginners couldn't do?

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Prove the impossible!

maybe the 95% x 1+ in week 3, cause it's hard for the absolute beginner to stay at a good form with so much weight.

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

Take note, that the program doesn't advice to begin with your true absolute max levels. The guideline is to take 90% from the 1RM, then take the percents from that number. So for a 100Kg squat the last reps will be roughly 85kg at best, which is 85%. Not that bad for 1-5 reps. Just watching for the technical failure like in every other program too.

Programs like Starting Strength and Stronglifts also go quite intense after a couple of weeks cycles, so the effect will eventually be quite the same.

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Prove the impossible!

I'm not very familiar with those methods, all I ever did was pick a weight lift, a next time if I'm stronger I would lift more.
@ephs In those workouts, do you do one of exrecises (B1 B2, C1 C2) or just pick one?

one common concept is progressive resistance, it says you should aim for an increase in reps or weight every week, workout or so. i would do something like this and not only increase the weight by feel.

i think the letters with 1+2 are supersets.

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

for SS it's right, but you never have to do 1RMs, which is a big difference to 531. stronglifts starts with the empty bar, so you have some weeks til you reach a weight which is hard to handle.

edit: i mean you have to handle weight that is nearer at your 1RM at 531. i never tried the program, but the goal is to achieve more than 1 rep, when you are in the 1RM week or not? is this easily doable?

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

here are the links for the different programs, so OP knows what we are talking about:

531: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... e_strength
Starting Strength: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224
Stronglifts 5x5: http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5- ... g-program/

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

So you go into second exercise immediately after you have done first, makes sense.

Thanks for the links, they'll help a lot :)

yes, you do both exercises and then rest.

no problemo!

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

what's a basic exercise?

you could put in dips on Upper Day B. Inverted rows would work well here too. A good rule of thumb is to balance presses and pulls, so maybe add some face pulls to Upper A.

add another hamstring exercise to Lower A and another quad exercise to Lower B.

the big five + 1, the basis of all human strength:

squat
deadlift
bench press
military press
row
and pull ups

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

i thought we didn't need vertical pulls because you never do that in real life?

and surely every compound lift can fit into one of those categories?

i'm still unsure about pull ups, that's why the list is called big five + 1 and not big six.

yes, it can. but you can't compare leg press to squats, hyperextension to deadlifts, nautilus press to bench press, seated shoulder press to military press or seated rows to pendlay rows, if we are talking about increasing strength here.

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali