Starting Strength Phase 2 Program Explained
Origin & Philosophy
Starting Strength was created by Mark Rippetoe, a competitive powerlifter and strength coach based in Wichita Falls, Texas. The program is detailed in his book Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, first published in 2005 and now in its 3rd edition (2011). The companion book Practical Programming for Strength Training covers the programming theory behind the novice progression.
The core philosophy: beginners can add weight to the bar every single session for months — the "Novice Effect." Rather than waste this window on machines or complicated periodization, Starting Strength exploits it with a handful of barbell movements, linear loading, and full recovery between sessions. Strength is treated as the most fundamental physical adaptation — muscle size, power, and endurance all improve as side effects of getting stronger.
Who It's For
- Experience: Beginners who have completed Phase 1 (1–3 weeks of training), or any novice whose deadlift is heavy enough that doing it every session impairs recovery
- Goal: Continue building foundational barbell strength with sustainable deadlift frequency
- Prerequisites: Comfortable with Squat, Bench Press, Overhead Press, and Deadlift form. Willing to learn the Power Clean (or substitute Bent Over Row)
- Diet: Best run on a caloric surplus — you need to eat to fuel recovery and growth. Works on maintenance calories but expect earlier stalls
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Fastest possible strength gains for a beginner — linear weight increases every session can add 50–100lb to Squat in 2–3 months
- Only 3 exercises per session — sessions take 45–60 minutes
- Squatting 3x/week builds movement proficiency fast
- Power Clean develops explosiveness and posterior chain power that most beginner programs skip entirely
- Extremely well-documented — the book has 300+ pages of detailed technique instruction for every lift
Cons
- No direct arm, upper back, or ab work — your arms and abs grow only indirectly from the main lifts
- Power Clean is technically demanding and hard to learn without a coach — many beginners substitute Bent Over Row instead
- Only 1 set of Deadlift per session, and only every other session — some lifters want more pulling volume
- Bench Press and Overhead Press are each only trained 3 times every 2 weeks — low frequency for upper body
- The "eat big" dietary advice can lead to excessive fat gain if taken too literally
Program Structure
- Split: Full body, A/B alternating
- Periodization: Straight linear progression — add weight every session
- Rotation: Week 1 = A/B/A, Week 2 = B/A/B, repeat
- Train 3 days per week on non-consecutive days (e.g., Mon/Wed/Fri)
Workout A has Deadlift; Workout B has
Exercise Selection & Rationale
Every session starts with Squat because it trains the most muscle mass and benefits most from high frequency. Squatting 3x/week maximizes the technique practice that drives rapid novice gains.
The second exercise alternates between Bench Press (horizontal push) and Overhead Press (vertical push). Together they build complete upper body pressing strength. Alternating gives each lift recovery time.
The third exercise is a pull: Deadlift in Workout A and
Substitutions: If you can't do power cleans (no coaching available, no platform, etc.), Bent Over Row is the most common replacement. Rows build upper back and posterior chain strength, though you lose the explosive training component. Rippetoe himself allows this substitution.
Set & Rep Scheme
- Squat, Bench Press, Overhead Press: 3x5 — heavy enough to drive neural adaptation, enough volume to practice the movement. The classic strength-building rep range.
- Deadlift: 1x5 — deadlifts are the most systemically fatiguing lift. One heavy set of 5 is sufficient stimulus for a novice while preserving recovery for the next session's squats.
- Power Clean: 5x3 — cleans are performed in triples because power production degrades with fatigue. More sets at low reps lets you practice the explosive movement with quality technique on every rep.
All sets are straight work sets at the same weight. No AMRAP sets, no back-off sets. Hit your reps, add weight next time.
Progressive Overload
Weight increases per session:
| Lift | Increase |
|---|---|
| Squat | +5lb |
| Deadlift | +5lb |
| Bench Press | +5lb |
| Overhead Press | +5lb |
Power Clean |
+5lb |
When 5lb jumps become too much for upper body lifts (typically after several weeks), switch to 2.5lb jumps using microplates (1.25lb per side). This extends linear progression significantly on Overhead Press and Bench Press.
When you stall (can't complete all prescribed reps for 2 consecutive workouts on the same lift):
- Deload 10% from your current working weight on that lift
- Work back up using normal session-to-session increases
- After 2–3 deloads with no sustained progress on a lift, that lift may need intermediate programming
Each lift is tracked independently. Stalling on Overhead Press doesn't affect Squat progression.
Before deloading, check your recovery: are you sleeping 7–9 hours? Eating enough protein (0.7–1g per lb bodyweight) and total calories? Poor recovery is the #1 cause of premature stalls.
How Long to Run It / What Next
Run Phase 2 for several weeks to several months. This is the longest phase of the novice program — most beginner lifters spend 2–4 months here.
Move to Phase 3 when: Upper body lifts start stalling despite microloading, and you want to add Chin Up for more pulling volume. Or transition directly to an intermediate program if you've exhausted linear progression on most lifts (typically after 2–3 deload cycles with no sustained progress).
Good next steps:
- Starting Strength Phase 3 — adds Chin Up, alternates Deadlift/Power Clean on A days
- Texas Method — the natural intermediate continuation; weekly periodization with volume/recovery/intensity days
- Madcow 5x5 — weekly progression with ramping sets
- 5/3/1 — monthly periodization, very flexible, runs indefinitely
Equipment Needed
- Barbell and plates
- Squat rack or power rack
- Flat bench
- Microplates (1.25lb each) for 2.5lb total jumps — most gyms don't stock these, buy your own
If doing
Rest Times
- Warmup sets: Just long enough to change plates (30–60 seconds)
- Early work sets: 2–3 minutes
- Heavy work sets: 3–5 minutes (up to 7 minutes near max effort on Squat/Deadlift)
Rest as long as needed to complete the next set. Rushing rest is the #1 reason novices fail sets they should make.
How to Pick Starting Weights
If transitioning from Phase 1, continue with your current weights — just start
For
If starting the program fresh (skipping Phase 1), use this method for each exercise:
- Start with the empty bar (45lb) for a set of 5
- Add 10–20lb, do another set of 5
- Repeat until bar speed noticeably slows
- Use that weight as your first working weight
Start lighter than you think. You have months of 5lb jumps ahead — starting light and building momentum is far better than starting heavy and stalling early.
Common Modifications
- Replace Power Clean with Bent Over Row: The most popular modification. Rows build upper back strength but don't train explosive power. Recommended for beginners training without a coach.
- Add Chin Up early: Rippetoe adds chin-ups in Phase 3, but many lifters add 3 sets to failure at the end of Workout B sooner for upper back and bicep work.
- Add Back Extension, Bodyweight: 3x10 at the end of sessions for lower back endurance.
- Microloading: When 5lb jumps become too much for Overhead Press and Bench Press, switch to 2.5lb jumps using fractional plates (1.25lb each side).
- No power clean variant: Replace Power Clean with Deadlift 1x5 on Workout B, making deadlift every session. Only viable if your deadlift is still light enough to recover from — otherwise you'll regress to Phase 1's recovery problems.
Muscle Balance
Try it out in interactive playground!
Tap on squares to finish sets. Tap multiple times to reduce completed reps. Finish workout and see what the next time the workout would look like (with possibly updated weights, reps and sets).
For convenience, you can finish all the sets of an exercise by clicking on the icon. And you can adjust the exercise variables (weight, reps, TM, RIR, etc) by clicking on the icon.
Workout A
Workout B
- Log your workouts there, and have a history of all your workouts on your phone
- It will automatically update weights, reps and sets for you from workout to workout - according to the program logic
- And you can customize the programs in any way, change exercises, the exercise logic, sets/reps/weights, etc.
