Health, fitness, gains and wellbeing

[OriginalContentGuy]

The best resource I have ever seen for beginners in my fifteen years of training is the book Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe (they made a DVD too at some point) and sold on the Asgaard Company store. The thesis is that strength is the only attribute an untrained person in the general population should care about because virtually every other attribute of fitness will improve with resistance training for a rank beginner, and barbell training is the best modality available to train strength. Different rep ranges produce different adaptations and the Starting Strength program is built around linear progression with sets of fahve five for reasons explained in the book.

The Program™ prescribes the big compound lifts of Squat, Deadlift, Bench and Overhead Press, and Power Cleans. It covers how to do them 'correctly' (which is defined in the book as moving the most weight using the most muscle mass for the longest range of motion) and why those exercises and not others. And it includes all the details you need to train including a training log, equipment, some nutrition, and is truly a complete work.

Rip and Andy Baker's other book Practical Programming for Strength Training is a standalone work on its own, but is page for page the best book on strength periodization and includes example programs for post-novices and intermediate through advanced and elite athletes. Also included in the latest edition are programming strength for elderly populations and women (not a special population; women are half the population).

If your goal is getting faster at running and have never trained I recommend doing the Starting Strength program (correctly, which could take as long as 9 months to a year) and from there I highly recommend training hex bar deadlift regularly and getting that strong without knowing anything else about your sport. If you are a competitive runner already I will still bet if you aren't training hex bar deadlift heavy you are leaving seconds on your splits.

"Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general."
-Mark Rippetoe in Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training 3rd Edition.

Enjoy your lifting!