Starting Strength in a big box gym

[Turin39789]

Possible? I'm a total noob to this. I benched some in high school, but I'm the douchbag who walks in and does some curls, a few machines and runs a few miles.

The local big box we signed up at doesn't have bumper plates, the freeweight section is crowded, and a big no dropping weights sign.

So my first steps are to learn the squat and read through the book again. Should I just focus on squats to begin and get my form right before trying to move on to the next exercise.

But other than getting over the hurdle of walking into the weight area and going at it, my big concern is with cleans. Is it worthwhile to learn them and learn to let the weight down without dumping it, or should I just be shopping for new gyms? There is a CF gym in town, but it is pricey, and I really want to start with SS first.

How to determine my inital goal weights for each exercise? Maybe I need to get my nose back in the book. Read the squat section a year ago when I planned to start this, just went through the programming section at the end, then skimmed the cleans.

Hopefully this will turn into a training log, or maybe that will be a new thread. Getting a job without the 3 hour(1.5 each way) commute will help kick that into gear.

 

[NGC_604]

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[Turin39789]

I might, but was hoping not to substitute. The more I think about it the gym just isn't setup for it, but for $15 a month I can live with it and do my lame stuff until I'm ready to start the real program. Louisville is a decent sized town, but hard so far to find a gym setup for it and where I might meet a real life person who squats.

 

[TallBill]

Can you deadlift/bench/squat/press? If so, you'll be ok.

 

[brikis98]

So my first steps are to learn the squat and read through the book again.

Read the book. Cover to cover. If you are going to spend months in the gym lifting weights, it is worth a few hours in the beginning to make sure you are doing it right.

But other than getting over the hurdle of walking into the weight area and going at it, my big concern is with cleans. Is it worthwhile to learn them and learn to let the weight down without dumping it, or should I just be shopping for new gyms? There is a CF gym in town, but it is pricey, and I really want to start with SS first.

If you can't drop weights and they don't have bumpers, cleans will be tricky. However, they are also an incredibly useful exercise for athletic performance and total body strength/power. If you can find a different gym that is better suited for cleans, it is well worth it. If not, then you may have to find a substitute. A typical sub is barbell rows, though I would try to also toss in an exercise that actually builds explosive power, such as box jumps, long jump, vertical jump and/or sprinting. The rest of the routine, however, stays the same: squat, deadlift, bench press, oh press. All that you need for that is a power rack, bench, barbell and plates, which most gyms have.

How to determine my inital goal weights for each exercise? Maybe I need to get my nose back in the book.

It's explained in the book.