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Thread: The Bill Starr model, from "the Strongest Shall survive
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08-10-2008, 04:01 AM
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Tulkas
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#1
The Bill Starr model, from "the Strongest Shall survive
The Big Three
This is a description of Bill Starr's strength training program described in The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training for
Football (1976).
I recommend reading Bill Starr's book, even if you?re not a football player. This program was the base for routines such as
madcow 5x5, timed total tonnage, the texas method,...
What Are The Big Three? The Big Three are the Squat, Bench Press & Power Clean. The reason Bill Starr chooses these
movements is that they build strength in all major muscle groups. Even though Bill Starr?s program is designed for building
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movements is that they build strength in all major muscle groups. Even though Bill Starr?s program is designed for building
overall strength and explosiveness in American Football players, it can be used to build strength and explosiveness in any other
athlete.
Programming the Big Three. The Big Three are trained 3 times a week in a heavy/light/medium fashion. Which means you don?t
train with maximum poundages every workout.
* Heavy Day: ramp up to one heavy set.
* Light Day: ramp up to 80% of the heaviest set on Heavy Day.
* Medium Day: ramp up to 90% of the heaviest set on Heavy Day.
Sets & Reps. 5x5 is used for The Big Three: 5 sets of 5 reps. The weight is increased on each successive set, the 5th set being
your strongest set. The first 4 sets are used to warm-up to your heavy 5th set.
For the advanced trainee, a change of rep range can be useful:
* Presses. Instead of doing 5x5, the trainee does 3x5 reps, 3x3 reps & 1 "back-off" set of 6-10 reps. Sets of 3 enable the
trainee to handle heavier weights on the final set. The back-off set insures sufficient work. Back-off sets can also be applied
to squats, but are less useful for pulls.
* Squats. Tens, fives and threes is another proven rep range. One would do 5x10 on Monday, 5x3 on Wednesday and 5x5 on
Friday, increasing the weight each set. The difference with this routine is that a trainee goes to the maximum each workout.
The program still follows the heavy / light / medium system, based on total tonnage. Even though the tens utilize the
lightest weight, they produce the most total work load. The threes produce less workload and the fives something in
between.
Circuit Method. The Big Three are trained with the Circuit method. The trainee does one set of an exercise and then moves on to
the next exercise. When he has done the first set of every exercise, he will do the same for the second set, the third set, and so
on.
The Circuit Method insures all exercises obtain equal attention and workload. This might not be possible due to a lack of
equipment, so the trainee may do all his sets of one exercise before moving on to another instead. It could be a good idea to
change the heavy/light/medium structure if you drop the circuit method. For example:
* Monday: Heavy Squats, medium Bench Press & light Power Clean.
* Wednesday: Light Squat, heavy Bench Press & medium Power Clean.
* Friday: Medium Squat, light Bench Press & heavy Power Clean.
Substituting Exercises. Although it is perfectly possible to do the program with nothing but the Big Three, variations are possible
and recommended when you stall. This is where we replace the big three on some of the workouts by exercises that have a carry
over on them.
An important thing to remember with these substitutions is that a trainee goes heavy on each of the lifts. If he does only bench
press in the program, he would decrease the load on light and medium days. However, if he does military presses on light day, he
should go to the maximum on this exercise. The muscles involved in benching still get some rest, because of the lighter load that
is used on the military press, so it can still count as a light day.
The general rule is: put the heaviest load on heavy day, the lightest load on light day and the one in between on medium day. This
can be accomplished by lowering the weight on the same exercise or by choosing a less stressing exercise. Bill Starr describes the
following:
* Overhead Presses. These can replace the bench press on a light day or medium day, as they are less stressful to the
shoulder girdle. Behind the neck presses would be done on light day and military presses on medium day.
* Incline Bench Presses. Similar to the overhead presses, we can replace the bench press with incline press on medium day.
* Front Squats. Because lighter loads are used compared to the back squat, Front Squats would replace back squats on light
day
* Power Shrugs. A good way to overload the pulling muscles, and thus a good replacement for power cleans on heavy day.
This is an advanced exercise that should not be put in the program without enough experience in the power clean.
* High Pulls. A good replacement for power cleans on heavy or medium days. It works the same muscles as the power
clean, but has some advantages. There is no stress on the wrists and more weight can be used. Doing the power clean on
light day is still recommended to keep the form which you have developed. Just like power shrugs, this exercise is more
advanced.
Weekly increase. This routine would be nothing if you didn?t make progress. The goal here is to increase the poundage on each
heavy day, and derive the poundages on medium and light day from this heavy day.If you have substituted certain exercises, it is
not always possible to derive the correct weight from the heavy day, as you do another exercise. In that case, you could just
improve the poundage of the same day the week before. General rule: only increase the weight when you successfully did all the
planned sets and reps the previous week.
Putting it all together. An example says more than a thousand articles. So here are a few:
The basic program (the weights used are only examples):
Monday, heavy day:
squat: 5 x 135, 5 x 165, 5 x 185, 5 x 205, 5 x 225
bench press: 5 x 135, 5 x 155, 5 x 175, 5 x 190, 5 x 200
power clean: 5 x 115, 5 x 135, 5 x 145, 5 x 155, 5 x 165
Wednesday, light day:
squat: 5 x 135, 5 x 150, 5 x 160, 5 x 170, 5 x 180
bench press: 5 x 135, 5 x 135, 5 x 145, 5 x 155, 5 x 160
power clean: 5 x 115, 5 x 115, 5 x 115, 5 x 125, 5 x 135
Friday, medium day:
squat: 5 x 135, 5 x 155, 5 x 175, 5 x 190, 5 x 205
bench press: 5 x 135, 5 x 150, 5 x 160, 5 x 170, 5 x 180
power clean: 5 x 115, 5 x 125, 5 x 135, 5 x 145, 5 x 150
A little more advanced, and with the different heavy/light/medium structure:
Monday:
Heavy squat: squat 5x5
Medium bench: Incline bench press 5x5
Light power clean: power clean 5x5
Wednesday:
Heavy bench: bench press 5x5
Medium power clean: High pull 5x5 (90% of Friday's heavy set)
Light squat: Front squat 5x5
Friday:
Heavy power clean: High pull 5x5
Medium squat: Squat 5x5 (90% of Monday's heavy set)
Light bench: Military press 5x5
Including shrugs and more advanced rep ranges:
Monday, heavy:
squat 5x10
squat 5x10
bench press 3x5, 3x3, 1x6-10
High pull 5x5
Wednesday, light:
squat 5x3, 1x6-10
Behind the neck press 3x5, 3x3, 1x6-10
power clean 5x5
Friday, medium:
Squat 5x5, 1x6-10
Incline bench press 3x5, 3x3, 1x6-10
High pull 5x5
There are countless possible variations on this program: using different exercises, adding assistance work, adding a workout,
changing de set/reps structure,... . This article only describes the pure basics of the program. Further information can be found in
the book and in "Practical Programming"
I do not recommend adding too much. Make sure the extras don?t interfere with progress on the main 3 lifts.
This article can also be found here: http://stronglifts.com/bill-starrs-s...the-big-three/
Flying Fox = me
P.S.: English is not my native language, but I did my best to make it readable. If you find a weird sentence or mistakes, do not
hesistate to comment. The same goes for people who know the program and find a mistake in the content.
Last edited by Tulkas; 08-10-2008 at 07:23 AM.
08-10-2008, 04:05 AM
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all pro
Powerbuilder
#2
I guess you missed this http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=809027 My 5x5 thread
Bodybuilder, n. A weight lifter too weak to be a powerlifter.
Powerlifter, n. A weight lifter too fat to be a bodybuilder.
HIT Jedi, n. The fitness equivalent to Al Qaeda, except
rather than fly planes into buildings, devotees fly
steaming piles of dogmatic horse**** into your ears
and down your throat.
Every thing works..........for about 6 weeks.
Hard gainer = under eater
_____________________________________________
R.I.P.
Lynn Larsen
5/17/86 - 9/14/06
Bridgeport Ct.
08-10-2008, 04:10 AM
Tulkas
Registered User
#3
Originally Posted by all pro
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Registered User
Oh yeah, I forgot about that post. usefull for extra examples.
I still like mine better
I guess you missed this http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=809027 My 5x5 thread
08-10-2008, 04:14 AM
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all pro
Powerbuilder
#4
I suppose I could just go ahead and scan the entire book and post it. LOL!
Originally Posted by Tulkas
Oh yeah, I forgot about that post. usefull for extra examples.
I still like mine better
Bodybuilder, n. A weight lifter too weak to be a powerlifter.
Powerlifter, n. A weight lifter too fat to be a bodybuilder.
HIT Jedi, n. The fitness equivalent to Al Qaeda, except
rather than fly planes into buildings, devotees fly
steaming piles of dogmatic horse**** into your ears
and down your throat.
Every thing works..........for about 6 weeks.
Hard gainer = under eater
_____________________________________________
R.I.P.
Lynn Larsen
5/17/86 - 9/14/06
Bridgeport Ct.
08-10-2008, 04:19 AM
Join Date: Jun 2008
Tulkas
Registered User
#5
You could...
But I prefer a short summary for internet articles.
Originally Posted by all pro
I suppose I could just go ahead and scan the entire book and post it. LOL!
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08-10-2008, 06:58 AM
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mjw8204
Registered User
#6
Are you going to cite where you ripped that information from?
http://stronglifts.com/bill-starrs-s...the-big-three/
Looks like you copied and pasted that article word for word and then failed to cite it in your post. I especially like the part where
you said that you hoped you made it readable. It's pretty easy to do that when you're stealing your information from someone
else.
Stealing another person's work and presenting it as your own (which you did by not citing your source) is called plagiarism.
Originally Posted by Tulkas
Oh yeah, I forgot about that post. usefull for extra examples.
I still like mine better
Last edited by mjw8204; 08-10-2008 at 07:01 AM.
08-10-2008, 07:11 AM
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Tulkas
Registered User
#7
Before you start accusing, ask nicely. We might have resolved this without insulting each other.
Flying Fox=Tulkas=me
In short, I wrote it, and I did mention where I ripped the information from (the strongest shall survive). But I'm glad to hear you
knew about that article.
So what do you think of it?
Originally Posted by mjw8204
Are you going to cite where you ripped that information from?
http://stronglifts.com/bill-starrs-s...the-big-three/
Looks like you copied and pasted that article word for word and then failed to cite it in your post. I especially like the
part where you said that you hoped you made it readable. It's pretty easy to do that when you're stealing your
information from someone else.
Stealing another person's work and presenting it as your own (which you did by not citing your source) is called
plagiarism.
This post was submitted by StrongLifts.com reader Flying Fox.
P.S.: if you don't believe I wrote it, don't bother me with posting it here, just send a PM to medhi from stronglifts and ask.
P.P.S: I really like that Jim Wendler quote
Last edited by Tulkas; 08-10-2008 at 07:14 AM.
08-10-2008, 07:18 AM
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mjw8204
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#8
I've referred to article a number of times for information. If you wrote it, it would have cleared up a lot of confusion by linking to
the article itself and stating that you wrote it. From my vantage point, I saw someone citing the book, but it also looked they lifted
information from another person's website. There are a lot of disingenuous people on this forum. If you are really the author of
the article, I apologize for my response.
Originally Posted by Tulkas
Before you start accusing, ask nicely.
Flying Fox=Tulkas=me
In short, I wrote it, and I did mention where I ripped the information from (the strongest shall survive). But I'm glad
to hear you knew about that article.
So what do you think of it?
P.S.: if you don't believe I wrote it, don't bother me with posting it here, just send a PM to medhi from stronglifts and
ask.
08-10-2008, 07:21 AM
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Tulkas
Registered User
#9
You're right, I can hardly blame you for reacting like that (you didn't react to harsh actually).
I'll put a link in the opening post.
Do you really refer to that article a number of times? I was beginning to fear no one read it and my effort to work with medhi was
in vain.
Originally Posted by mjw8204
I've referred to article a number of times for information. If you wrote it, it would have cleared up a lot of confusion
by linking to the article itself and stating that you wrote it. From my vantage point, I saw someone citing the book, but
it also looked they lifted information from another person's website. There are a lot of disingenuous people on this
forum. If you are really the author of the article, I apologize for my response.
08-10-2008, 10:09 AM #10
08-10-2008, 10:09 AM
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notbuff
159 in pic
#10
Nice write up dude.
I'm surprised Starr doesn't have any deadlifts in there.
Go Team Venture!
-------
Zerg Player
08-10-2008, 12:05 PM
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Tulkas
Registered User
#11
He writes that the injury risk outweighs the benefits for a team of football players.
He also never trained deadlift alot because it is easy to overtrain deadlifts. Here's another article from him about the deadlift:
Originally Posted by notbuff
Nice write up dude.
I'm surprised Starr doesn't have any deadlifts in there.
It would be quite easy to incorporate this type of deadlift training in the "Big Three" program, simply by working in goodmornings.
08-10-2008, 01:12 PM
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CaptainGorgeous
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#12
Great article. Thanks a lot.
08-10-2008, 08:49 PM
magiata93
Registered User
#13
great article i like the pictures. but when he performs the power clean, i think there should be one more picture before the end of
the lift, because it doesnt show the bottom position, and i think thats where most people have trouble doing the power cleans.
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08-10-2008, 11:18 PM
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Tulkas
Registered User
#14
It's not an article to instruct the power clean.
Wich "bottom position" are you talking about by the way?
Originally Posted by magiata93
great article i like the pictures. but when he performs the power clean, i think there should be one more picture
before the end of the lift, because it doesnt show the bottom position, and i think thats where most people have
trouble doing the power cleans.
08-11-2008, 02:21 AM
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N@tural1
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#15
Originally Posted by Tulkas
He writes that the injury risk outweighs the benefits for a team of football players.
He also never trained deadlift alot because it is easy to overtrain deadlifts. Here's another article from him about the
deadlift:

Breach of copyright?
It would be quite easy to incorporate this type of deadlift training in the "Big Three" program, simply by working in
goodmornings.
08-11-2008, 02:25 AM
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Tulkas
Registered User
#16
I suppose not, found it on americanpowerliftevolution.net
Originally Posted by Natural2
Breach of copyright?
08-11-2008, 02:29 AM
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N@tural1
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#17
Lots of stuff is to be found on the internet, it doesnt mean you have the legal right to reproduce it.
Originally Posted by Tulkas
I suppose not, found it on americanpowerliftevolution.net
08-11-2008, 03:28 AM
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Tulkas
Registered User
#18
That's true. If the owners of the magazine that published this article 40 years ago, I'll remove it here.
Originally Posted by Natural2
Lots of stuff is to be found on the internet, it doesnt mean you have the legal right to reproduce it.
08-11-2008, 03:39 AM
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N@tural1
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#19
Tulkas
Your original post was a straight out copy and paste and yet you claim that
"you made it as readable as you could"
I agree with whats been said already, copy and pasting another persons work and then hinting thats its your own is out of order.
Last edited by Natural2; 08-11-2008 at 04:59 AM.
08-11-2008, 04:02 AM
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Tulkas
Registered User
#20
Read the rest of the posts in this topic, and de last remark I made before the P.S.
Meanwhile, i'll wait for the next person with accusations.
Originally Posted by Natural2
Tulkas
Your original post was a straight out copy and paste and yet you claim that
"you made it as readable as you could"
B.S.
I agree with whats been said already, copy and pasting another persons work and then hinting thats its your own is
out of order.
08-11-2008, 05:01 AM
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N@tural1
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#21
Let me see if I have this right.
Are you saying that this is a copy and paste of an original article that you wrote over at stronglifts?
And that the original article was 100% hand written by you with no copy and paste work?
Originally Posted by Tulkas
Read the rest of the posts in this topic, and de last remark I made before the P.S.
Meanwhile, i'll wait for the next person with accusations.
Last edited by Natural2; 08-11-2008 at 05:36 AM.
08-11-2008, 05:46 AM
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Tulkas
Registered User
#22
Yes and no. It was copy pasted, but I adjusted a few details that I didn't like.
So, yes, you got it right
Is that hard to believe?
Making book reports isn't that hard.
Yes, it was hand written (typed actually), based on Bill Starr's book. Mehdi from stronglifts adjusted some layout issues and told
me were te shorten the article.
I actually rewrote an other article that I wrote for dutchbodybuilding.com (a really bad article) about bill starr, to fit
stronglifts.com, and translated it.
Oh, and I also translated this article back to a more readible dutch version on this forum:
http://www.krachtsporten.com/forums/...showtopic=1085
Originally Posted by Natural2
Let me see if I have this right.
Are you saying that this is a copy and paste of an original article that you wrote over at stronglifts?
Originally Posted by Natural2
And that the original article was 100% hand written by you with no copy and paste work?
08-11-2008, 06:35 AM
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tdog69
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#23
I believe this article was done prior to the existance of digital copy right laws and I am sure the original writer would be happy
that this article was scanned and presented anywhere to educate users.
Originally Posted by Natural2
Breach of copyright?
Fat Man Typing
08-11-2008, 07:33 AM
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N@tural1
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#24
Right, I understand now man, I miss-understood originaly, my mistake and apology
Originally Posted by Tulkas
Yes and no. It was copy pasted, but I adjusted a few details that I didn't like.
08-11-2008, 07:34 AM
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Tulkas
Registered User
#25
No problem.
Originally Posted by Natural2
Right, I understand now man, I miss-understood originaly, my mistake and apology
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