Stronglift and Insanity?
BflSaberfan
Posts: 1,272
So I've been reading about strong lift or starting strength, not quite sure the difference just yet or which one will be for me. I am use to only using the machines at the gym. Anyways, on the days I do the Stronglift or Starting Strength should I still do my usual 25 minutes of cardio on the Elliptical, and can I still do Insanity on my off days from lifting?
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Replies
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Hello there, you're describing two contrasting workout programs, so I advise you have a sit down and think what you want out of a program and what fitness goals you want to achieve.
The workout results:
Insanity - Builds insane fitness & is aimed at losing fat.
Starting Strength or Stronglifts - Builds strength & adds muscle.
Nutrition:
Insanity - If you were going to do this program, you would need to eat at least 500 calories below maintenance to lose fat. This would lose you around a pound a week. This may not seem a lot but if you actually look at a pound of fat you will understand that it makes a huge difference.
Starting Strength - If you were going to use this program you would need to eat above your maintenance as it's very difficult to gain strength on a calorie deficit and near impossible to build muscle without eating a little bit over your maintenance. I'd suggest eating 250 above maintenance at first and seeing how you feel. You should aim to put on no more than 1/2 pounds a week as any extra will more than likely be fat instead of muscle, unless you're a genetic freak :-)
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Ps. Running these two programs together will more than likely counteract each other and you will effectively be "spinning your wheels". Focus on a goal & pick a plan to help you get there. Good luck!0 -
I personally do strongliifts and have been for the past 13 weeks. For about the first month and a half to 2 months doing cardio on off days was fine. Now I don't even think about it. It just leaves my legs too dead to squat. It's all going to depend on what your goals are though. If you like the cardio then do it. However as you get further into the program your lifts will probably suffer. What I'll also say is that if youre going to be doing all that is that you need to be eating a lot or you're just going to feel daed all the time.
The difference between Starting strength basically is this
Stronglifst
5 sets of 5 on Barbell rows, Squat, Bench press and Over head press.
1 set of 5 deadlift
Increasing each exercise by 5 pounds after successful completion of all five sets
Starting strength
3 sets of 5 on Power Clean, Squat, Bench press and Over head press. ( Though i think you can sub Rows for Power cleans)
1 set of 5 deadlift
Increasing 2.5% of the weight you successfully lifted the last time you did it.
I like the extra sets in stronglifts but I'm a little crazy.
My 3 month progress with really not much cardio
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/906502-3-months-stronglifts-5x50 -
Pedromcdodge is wrong. You can easily gain strength on cal deficIt. Building strength is not dependent upon adding muscle.0
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Hello there, you're describing two contrasting workout programs, so I advise you have a sit down and think what you want out of a program and what fitness goals you want to achieve.
The workout results:
Insanity - Builds insane fitness & is aimed at losing fat.
Starting Strength or Stronglifts - Builds strength & adds muscle.
Nutrition:
Insanity - If you were going to do this program, you would need to eat at least 500 calories below maintenance to lose fat. This would lose you around a pound a week. This may not seem a lot but if you actually look at a pound of fat you will understand that it makes a huge difference.
Starting Strength - If you were going to use this program you would need to eat above your maintenance as it's very difficult to gain strength on a calorie deficit and near impossible to build muscle without eating a little bit over your maintenance. I'd suggest eating 250 above maintenance at first and seeing how you feel. You should aim to put on no more than 1/2 pounds a week as any extra will more than likely be fat instead of muscle, unless you're a genetic freak :-)
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Ps. Running these two programs together will more than likely counteract each other and you will effectively be "spinning your wheels". Focus on a goal & pick a plan to help you get there. Good luck!
I mostly agree with you. But even at a deficit he will see strength gains especially since both programs have you start out low. You dont have to gain muscle mass to get stronger. I have already doubled my bench in 3 months and I've been eating at a 500 calorie deficit. Yea will I see less gains at 90-100% of 1rm sure. But it doesn't mean I wont get stronger and lost body fat all at the same time. Down 6% in 3 months.
It will be really hard for your body to recover for either program though as they're both intense.0 -
Hello there, you're describing two contrasting workout programs, so I advise you have a sit down and think what you want out of a program and what fitness goals you want to achieve.
The workout results:
Insanity - Builds insane fitness & is aimed at losing fat.
Starting Strength or Stronglifts - Builds strength & adds muscle.
Nutrition:
Insanity - If you were going to do this program, you would need to eat at least 500 calories below maintenance to lose fat. This would lose you around a pound a week. This may not seem a lot but if you actually look at a pound of fat you will understand that it makes a huge difference.
Starting Strength - If you were going to use this program you would need to eat above your maintenance as it's very difficult to gain strength on a calorie deficit and near impossible to build muscle without eating a little bit over your maintenance. I'd suggest eating 250 above maintenance at first and seeing how you feel. You should aim to put on no more than 1/2 pounds a week as any extra will more than likely be fat instead of muscle, unless you're a genetic freak :-)
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Ps. Running these two programs together will more than likely counteract each other and you will effectively be "spinning your wheels". Focus on a goal & pick a plan to help you get there. Good luck!
Aw this is disappointing. I was hoping to do a mix of strength building and cardio. My goal is to lose 40lbs without losing my LBM (or as very little as possible) My main goal is to thin out but still have muscles and be strong, but little fat, instread of just reducing my calories and the number on the scale and looking fat still.0 -
Hello there, you're describing two contrasting workout programs, so I advise you have a sit down and think what you want out of a program and what fitness goals you want to achieve.
The workout results:
Insanity - Builds insane fitness & is aimed at losing fat.
Starting Strength or Stronglifts - Builds strength & adds muscle.
Nutrition:
Insanity - If you were going to do this program, you would need to eat at least 500 calories below maintenance to lose fat. This would lose you around a pound a week. This may not seem a lot but if you actually look at a pound of fat you will understand that it makes a huge difference.
Starting Strength - If you were going to use this program you would need to eat above your maintenance as it's very difficult to gain strength on a calorie deficit and near impossible to build muscle without eating a little bit over your maintenance. I'd suggest eating 250 above maintenance at first and seeing how you feel. You should aim to put on no more than 1/2 pounds a week as any extra will more than likely be fat instead of muscle, unless you're a genetic freak :-)
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Ps. Running these two programs together will more than likely counteract each other and you will effectively be "spinning your wheels". Focus on a goal & pick a plan to help you get there. Good luck!
I mostly agree with you. But even at a deficit he will see strength gains especially since both programs have you start out low. I have already doubled my bench in 3 months and I've been eating at a 500 calorie deficit. Yea will I see less gains at 90-100% of 1rm sure. But it doesn't mean I wont get stronger and lost body fat all at the same time. Down 6% in 3 months.
It will be really hard for your body to recover for either program though as they're both intense.
My screen name is deceiving. I'm a woman lol 5'2 158lbs.0 -
Hello there, you're describing two contrasting workout programs, so I advise you have a sit down and think what you want out of a program and what fitness goals you want to achieve.
The workout results:
Insanity - Builds insane fitness & is aimed at losing fat.
Starting Strength or Stronglifts - Builds strength & adds muscle.
Nutrition:
Insanity - If you were going to do this program, you would need to eat at least 500 calories below maintenance to lose fat. This would lose you around a pound a week. This may not seem a lot but if you actually look at a pound of fat you will understand that it makes a huge difference.
Starting Strength - If you were going to use this program you would need to eat above your maintenance as it's very difficult to gain strength on a calorie deficit and near impossible to build muscle without eating a little bit over your maintenance. I'd suggest eating 250 above maintenance at first and seeing how you feel. You should aim to put on no more than 1/2 pounds a week as any extra will more than likely be fat instead of muscle, unless you're a genetic freak :-)
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Ps. Running these two programs together will more than likely counteract each other and you will effectively be "spinning your wheels". Focus on a goal & pick a plan to help you get there. Good luck!
I mostly agree with you. But even at a deficit he will see strength gains especially since both programs have you start out low. I have already doubled my bench in 3 months and I've been eating at a 500 calorie deficit. Yea will I see less gains at 90-100% of 1rm sure. But it doesn't mean I wont get stronger and lost body fat all at the same time. Down 6% in 3 months.
It will be really hard for your body to recover for either program though as they're both intense.
My screen name is deceiving. I'm a woman lol 5'2 158lbs.
Sorry just hard to tell with no profile pic. Doesn't change anything though. Same thing applies for women.0 -
Hello there, you're describing two contrasting workout programs, so I advise you have a sit down and think what you want out of a program and what fitness goals you want to achieve.
The workout results:
Insanity - Builds insane fitness & is aimed at losing fat.
Starting Strength or Stronglifts - Builds strength & adds muscle.
Nutrition:
Insanity - If you were going to do this program, you would need to eat at least 500 calories below maintenance to lose fat. This would lose you around a pound a week. This may not seem a lot but if you actually look at a pound of fat you will understand that it makes a huge difference.
Starting Strength - If you were going to use this program you would need to eat above your maintenance as it's very difficult to gain strength on a calorie deficit and near impossible to build muscle without eating a little bit over your maintenance. I'd suggest eating 250 above maintenance at first and seeing how you feel. You should aim to put on no more than 1/2 pounds a week as any extra will more than likely be fat instead of muscle, unless you're a genetic freak :-)
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Ps. Running these two programs together will more than likely counteract each other and you will effectively be "spinning your wheels". Focus on a goal & pick a plan to help you get there. Good luck!
I mostly agree with you. But even at a deficit he will see strength gains especially since both programs have you start out low. I have already doubled my bench in 3 months and I've been eating at a 500 calorie deficit. Yea will I see less gains at 90-100% of 1rm sure. But it doesn't mean I wont get stronger and lost body fat all at the same time. Down 6% in 3 months.
It will be really hard for your body to recover for either program though as they're both intense.
My screen name is deceiving. I'm a woman lol 5'2 158lbs.
Sorry just hard to tell with no profile pic. Doesn't change anything though. Same thing applies for women.
Now I figure since I sit at a desk all day 5 days a week and do pretty much nothing other than chase kids and housework on Sunday doing 2 hard programs would be okay? No? ETA I have done Insanity before, I couldn't keep up at 6 days a week and only made it through month 1, but doing it every other day seems doable.0 -
Hello there, you're describing two contrasting workout programs, so I advise you have a sit down and think what you want out of a program and what fitness goals you want to achieve.
The workout results:
Insanity - Builds insane fitness & is aimed at losing fat.
Starting Strength or Stronglifts - Builds strength & adds muscle.
Nutrition:
Insanity - If you were going to do this program, you would need to eat at least 500 calories below maintenance to lose fat. This would lose you around a pound a week. This may not seem a lot but if you actually look at a pound of fat you will understand that it makes a huge difference.
Starting Strength - If you were going to use this program you would need to eat above your maintenance as it's very difficult to gain strength on a calorie deficit and near impossible to build muscle without eating a little bit over your maintenance. I'd suggest eating 250 above maintenance at first and seeing how you feel. You should aim to put on no more than 1/2 pounds a week as any extra will more than likely be fat instead of muscle, unless you're a genetic freak :-)
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Ps. Running these two programs together will more than likely counteract each other and you will effectively be "spinning your wheels". Focus on a goal & pick a plan to help you get there. Good luck!
You can build strength and fitness at the same time0 -
Now I figure since I sit at a desk all day 5 days a week and do pretty much nothing other than chase kids and housework on Sunday doing 2 hard programs would be okay? No?
No. For your goals, do the lifting, but not Insanity. You can add in 1/2 to 1 hour of light-to-moderate cardio on three of your off days - make sure you have one full day off - but your body won't have time to recover properly if you try to do both programs.0 -
I think a pretty ideal setup is 3x/week of the lifting and 2-3x/week of cardio. Personally I'd keep it to about 30 minutes or less of cardio, and do it on non-lifting days. I think Insanity may be a bit much. If you plan to do cardio on lifting days I would recommend doing it after the lifting.
Starting Strength and StrongLifts are both excellent programs. Don't be fooled by the simplicity; and don't get ahead of yourself: READ the books. Starting Strength would be my recommendation. It's much deeper, and is written by a guy who's made a career of training novices; whereas StrongLifts is just some guy in the internet.0 -
Now I figure since I sit at a desk all day 5 days a week and do pretty much nothing other than chase kids and housework on Sunday doing 2 hard programs would be okay? No?
No. For your goals, do the lifting, but not Insanity. You can add in 1/2 to 1 hour of light-to-moderate cardio on three of your off days - make sure you have one full day off - but your body won't have time to recover properly if you try to do both programs.
This. You will feel like you can in the beginning. But after you get into the program and start lifting about 85 % of your max weight you will need all that time to recover. The weightlifting will become just as intense as insanity or even more so as you get heavier weights. I think you'll find that you'll end up in the same boat as when you tried to do insanity 6 days a week.
Make sure youre eating plenty with enough protein. This will really help.0 -
you need both cardio and weight training, with lifting once your body adapts move on to something else, change the lifts, reps, sets and you'll be fine. When first starting out you could literally lift rocks and transform your body.0
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with lifting once your body adapts move on to something else, change the lifts, reps, sets and you'll be fine.
you forgot the fundamental one: change the weight (i.e., increase it). that is what makes these programs work.0 -
with lifting once your body adapts move on to something else, change the lifts, reps, sets and you'll be fine.
you forgot the fundamental one: change the weight (i.e., increase it). that is what makes these programs work.
100% agree.0 -
Hello there, you're describing two contrasting workout programs, so I advise you have a sit down and think what you want out of a program and what fitness goals you want to achieve.
The workout results:
Insanity - Builds insane fitness & is aimed at losing fat.
Starting Strength or Stronglifts - Builds strength & adds muscle.
Nutrition:
Insanity - If you were going to do this program, you would need to eat at least 500 calories below maintenance to lose fat. This would lose you around a pound a week. This may not seem a lot but if you actually look at a pound of fat you will understand that it makes a huge difference.
Starting Strength - If you were going to use this program you would need to eat above your maintenance as it's very difficult to gain strength on a calorie deficit and near impossible to build muscle without eating a little bit over your maintenance. I'd suggest eating 250 above maintenance at first and seeing how you feel. You should aim to put on no more than 1/2 pounds a week as any extra will more than likely be fat instead of muscle, unless you're a genetic freak :-)
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Ps. Running these two programs together will more than likely counteract each other and you will effectively be "spinning your wheels". Focus on a goal & pick a plan to help you get there. Good luck!
Aw this is disappointing. I was hoping to do a mix of strength building and cardio. My goal is to lose 40lbs without losing my LBM (or as very little as possible) My main goal is to thin out but still have muscles and be strong, but little fat, instread of just reducing my calories and the number on the scale and looking fat still.
You can attain these goals through strength training alone. I've lost 25 lbs in four months essentially only lifting 3 times per week and eating a high protein diet. I'll do some HIIT cardio here and there but only once a week if at all. Check out Stronglifts... I do it on a deficit too (-10%\-30%)0 -
Hello there, you're describing two contrasting workout programs, so I advise you have a sit down and think what you want out of a program and what fitness goals you want to achieve.
The workout results:
Insanity - Builds insane fitness & is aimed at losing fat.
Starting Strength or Stronglifts - Builds strength & adds muscle.
Nutrition:
Insanity - If you were going to do this program, you would need to eat at least 500 calories below maintenance to lose fat. This would lose you around a pound a week. This may not seem a lot but if you actually look at a pound of fat you will understand that it makes a huge difference.
Starting Strength - If you were going to use this program you would need to eat above your maintenance as it's very difficult to gain strength on a calorie deficit and near impossible to build muscle without eating a little bit over your maintenance. I'd suggest eating 250 above maintenance at first and seeing how you feel. You should aim to put on no more than 1/2 pounds a week as any extra will more than likely be fat instead of muscle, unless you're a genetic freak :-)
I hope this helps.
Jamie
Ps. Running these two programs together will more than likely counteract each other and you will effectively be "spinning your wheels". Focus on a goal & pick a plan to help you get there. Good luck!
Aw this is disappointing. I was hoping to do a mix of strength building and cardio. My goal is to lose 40lbs without losing my LBM (or as very little as possible) My main goal is to thin out but still have muscles and be strong, but little fat, instread of just reducing my calories and the number on the scale and looking fat still.
If you eat at a deficit, you don't need exercise at all to lose weight...but you will lose LBM is you don't weight train. Most people just go all out on the cardio and ignore weight training and lose weight, but end up with little in the way of definition...essentially, skinny fat.
You can lose weight, do strength training, and do some cardio all at the same time. The thing is that if you're truly following a program like SS or SL, it takes a lot out of you and too much cardio is just going to hold you back from recovery. If you're eating at a deficit, it's already hard.
I personally wouldn't recommend doing something like insanity and SS or SL...just too much training there. I've lost 25 Lbs thus far and I do SS 3x weekly. On lifting days, my cardio consists of nothing more than a 30-45 minute walk; on non-lift days, I might do a light jog for 30 minutes or something like that...an aerobic activity, but not one that is blowing me up. I used to do one day of HIIT, but that quickly started interfering with my strength progressions...just too much intensity upon intensity when I was doing that and running a couple miles per day and SS...I felt like I was going to die. Much better when I dialed down the cardio.0 -
Now I figure since I sit at a desk all day 5 days a week and do pretty much nothing other than chase kids and housework on Sunday doing 2 hard programs would be okay? No? ETA I have done Insanity before, I couldn't keep up at 6 days a week and only made it through month 1, but doing it every other day seems doable.
If you are doing SS or SL the way they are intended, they are incredibly intense strength training workouts. You need the proper recovery to benefit from the lifts. SS/SL + Insanity = major over train, possible injury, and not reaping all of the potential benefits of any of those programs0 -
Okay I was hoping to find more on either of these programs on the Internet but looks like I will definitely need the book. I am gettin mostly male responses. Are these lifting programs okay for women do you think? What exactly am I getting myself into here. Lol0
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Also, i'd like to point out that i'm not against cardio on your "off days", but Insanity is a whole new level of cardio and as many have mentioned, recovery will suffer. Squatting 3 times a week is tough & incredibly taxing on the CNS, throwing insanity in there will just increase the strain on the CNS.
Whatever you decide to go with - work hard, eat right and enjoy it!0 -
Okay I was hoping to find more on either of these programs on the Internet but looks like I will definitely need the book. I am gettin mostly male responses. Are these lifting programs okay for women do you think? What exactly am I getting myself into here. Lol
Most definitely ok for women! There are a good number of bad *kitten* lady lifters here, and I'm lucky to be friends with many of them. There's even a SL 5x5 For Women group...
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4601-stronglifts-5x5-for-women0 -
Okay I was hoping to find more on either of these programs on the Internet but looks like I will definitely need the book. I am gettin mostly male responses. Are these lifting programs okay for women do you think? What exactly am I getting myself into here. Lol
Lifting programs are definitely ok for women. I'd encourage all women to fit in some lifting at some point in their routine.
A lot of women think they're going to get massive because they're lifting weights, it's a general consensus but believe me, it doesn't work that way.
If you need inspiration, look for Vanessa Tib online. She's a fitness model and lifts big weights - the benefit of this is plain to see.0 -
Okay I was hoping to find more on either of these programs on the Internet but looks like I will definitely need the book. I am gettin mostly male responses. Are these lifting programs okay for women do you think? What exactly am I getting myself into here. Lol
Most definitely ok for women! There are a good number of bad *kitten* lady lifters here, and I'm lucky to be friends with many of them. There's even a SL 5x5 For Women group...
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4601-stronglifts-5x5-for-women
Excellent link mate, i'll be passing that on - had no idea it existed!0 -
Okay I was hoping to find more on either of these programs on the Internet but looks like I will definitely need the book. I am gettin mostly male responses. Are these lifting programs okay for women do you think? What exactly am I getting myself into here. Lol
Most definitely ok for women! There are a good number of bad *kitten* lady lifters here, and I'm lucky to be friends with many of them. There's even a SL 5x5 For Women group...
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4601-stronglifts-5x5-for-women
Yup, Love those ladies. They're awesome.0 -
Okay I was hoping to find more on either of these programs on the Internet but looks like I will definitely need the book. I am gettin mostly male responses. Are these lifting programs okay for women do you think? What exactly am I getting myself into here. Lol
Hiya! I'm a woman successfully using Starting Strength, and I LOVE IT! Yes, it's absolutely great for women. I'm losing fat and changing my body. My stepdad recommended Starting Strength out of all the books out there--he's a university football team's strength coach.
ETA: here's the link to the Starting Strength wiki, if you haven't already seen this: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki0 -
Okay I was hoping to find more on either of these programs on the Internet but looks like I will definitely need the book. I am gettin mostly male responses. Are these lifting programs okay for women do you think? What exactly am I getting myself into here. Lol
I'll just reiterate what others have stated...absolutely. Not only appropriate for women, but more women should be doing this or a similar program to achieve the desired body comp that most are looking for. Too many women do cardio until their ears bleed and never end up with the body composition they are really looking for...they're afraid to lift because they think they'll get all big and bulky. Not gonna happen I assure you.
My wife does SS with me and loves it.0 -
I agree with most here that the resistance training should be the focus of yor workout. However I strongly disagree that something like StrongLifts + Insanity is automatically overtraining. It's definitely intense, and might be too much for some folks, but you don't know until you try.
I kept up with StrongLifts, P90X 2-3 times a week, and karate 3 times a week for 6 months. You have to eat and sleep properly for it, but it can be done.
The most important thing, I think, is for the OP to pay attention to her body. Give it a shot, and see how you feel. If it's too much, tone it back. If it's not enough, you could consider adding in but ensure that it will still be ok when the lifting intensity increases.
Also, even at very heavy weights, stronglifts is not the same kind of challenge that Insanity is. They're working different things.0
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