A word of caution... StrongLifts and Starting Strength promote advanced compound motions (ie., deadlift, bench press, squat, etc). So, it's great to kick start your muscle growth mechanism and gain strength. It's hard to argue against the deadlift, squat and bench press. But personally I've found that these exercises can be difficult and you need instruction. For the bench press you want to arch your back and bring your shoulder blades together to give support as you press so you don't injure your shoulder and/or rotator cuff. The squat and deadlift also aren't simple exercises. Lots of people get injured doing these advanced exercises.
I'd highly recommend watching a bunch of videos on correct form (ie., Starting Strength has a decent dvd and YouTube has some decent tutorials). But even better would be to get a very good personal trainer to teach you these lifts.
I'm just really hesitant suggesting a beginner to go out to the gym and try these moves on their own. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
My other criticism of StrongLifts and Starting Strength is because of the complexity of the movements, the higher in weight you go the more you really should have a spotter and that just makes working out that much more complicated (need to arrange a time to meet someone, etc). If you don't use a spotter and you've progressed to some really heavy weights then it can be dangerous. There's quite of few deaths from the bench press every year.
Personally, rather than pushing myself alone a barbell squat what I'll do is I'll pre-exhaust myself with a few sets of barbell squats (moderate weight) and then go to exhaustion on the leg extension, leg press and leg curl machines. This to me is a much safer route then trying to max out on a barbell squat.
For deadlift, I do a modified stiff-leg deadlift (I learned this by watching Dorian Yates) where I start from a standing position and don't go down all the way. I also use moderate weights for this.
For bench press, I had to learn correct form (after hurting my shoulder a bit thinking I knew how to bench). I go max weight on this but I use one of those assisted power racks for safety.
To me the lifts that Starting Strength and Stronglifts promote are too important to ignore but I just don't agree with their program for everyone. For beginners working out by themselves in the gym and wanting to do the deadlift, squat and bench press... I suggest:
1. Learn proper form on these advanced movements from an expert.
2. Go moderate weight on deadlift and barbell squats if you're working out by yourself.
3. Don't be stupid on the bench press by lifting your max without a spotter. I read that more deaths happen because of the bench press than any other exercise in the gym.
For beginners, I would probably not suggest not StartingStrength/StrongLifts. But rather, I'd suggest working out 2-3 times a week (average 20-30 minutes per workout) using High Intensity Training principles and techniques. The basic principles is doing one set to muscular failure per exercise.
If you're really just starting out, read Body By Science (Little and McGuff) and follow their Big Five exercise program. It's the top 5 exercises (machines) that you do once a week. Just one set each to failure and it only takes 20 minutes/week. The key is going to failure.
If you're wanting more, check out The New High Intensity Training (Darden). He summarizes the basics of H.I.T and gives some decent workouts. He suggests 3 times a week for beginners and the workouts take less than 30 minutes each. Again the key is going to failure with each exercise.
Working out at home, I think, you're going to have to make some compromises especially if you don't want a lot of equipment. Equipment helps because you can lift heavier weights than body weight exercises and that will kickstart muscle growth more efficiently. My wife's been doing P90x the past several months and likes the guided workouts. She's making decent gains but it's a lot of time - about one hour a day, six days a week. To me that's a lot of time/commitment and I think it can borderline on overtraining.
If I had to workout at home (I don't because my gym is just 5 minutes away and currently I'm doing a very-efficient workout just once every 3 days for under 30 minutes), then I would probably get some decent equipment. I'd might go with a good power rack, bench, and barbell/dumbbell set. Here's the workout I probably would do:
1. Leg #1 - I would do mostly squats with the power rack and have the safety bar set up. I would do 4-5 sets with moderately heavy weights to tire my legs out but wouldn't go to total failure with the heavy weights. I might go to failure with a final set with light weight (for safety) or do a final set of air squats (or with dumbbell) to tire my legs out completely.
2. Leg/Lower Back #2 - I would do a modified stiff-leg deadlift (see Dorian Yates do this on YouTube). This would exercise my hamstrings and lower back. I personally don't really like doing full deadlifts. I just feel unsafe with them (just personally). With the stiff-leg deadlift I'd do probably 3 sets with moderate-heavy weight and wouldn't go to total failure (to be safe).
3. Leg #3 - I'd work out my calves by holding a heavy barbell and doing calf raises (standing on toes and back down). I'd do heavy and failure, probably just one set.
Now, the legs are done. I wish I could do leg extensions but that's tough with just a power rack. If you have space or in the future want to expand your equipment, that might be a good piece to have. Also, leg press is a great machine too but would probably take up a lot of room (but squats could perform a lot of the similar function).
4. Chest - I'd do bench press (or incline/decline bench press) with moderately heavy weights, probably 2-3 sets (not to failure). I'd do a final set to total failure with lighter dumbbells (for safety because a barbell if let loose could really do serious damage on your face/throat), pushups, or dips.
5. Shoulder #1 - I'd probably use dumbbells and do shoulder press for one set to failure (warm-up sets ok, but final set should be heavy and to failure).
6. Shoulder #2 - I'd choose one of the following and mix them up: front lat raise, side lat raise, bending over lat raise, shoulder shrugs. One set to failure.
7. Back - You can do a good back workout with pulls-ups and chin-ups using the power rack (if the power rack supports your weight). If it's difficult to do pull-ups/chin-ups, then try using a chair and doing negatives (just the down motion very slowly to build strength). You can also get a power rack with a lat pull down (I don't know how good it is but here's the link, http://www.amazon.com/Valor-Athletics-Inc-BD-Power/dp/B002EJ...). If you have this, then do one set of wide-grip lat pull downs to failure with heavy weight and then immediately follow it with close-grip (palms facing in) lat pulldowns (this combo will work your back like crazy).
8. Triceps - I'd do some tricep extensions (standing or lying down) for one set to failure. (Close-grip bench press is also good. Dips are great as well, especially immediately follow tricep extensions.)
9. Biceps - I'd do barbell curls or isolated dumbbell curls. One set to failure. (Chin-ups immediately following are great to work biceps more.)
10. Abs - I'd mix it up with ab exercises and choose from crunches, reverse crunches, hanging knee raises. Just one set very slow to failure.
My strategy in working out would be to do full-body workouts (that last no longer than 30 minutes) every 3 days. For safety reasons, I wouldn't go to failure using heavy weights on squats, deadlift or bench press (that's why I'd do more than one set and use moderately heavy weight to tire muscles out and with legs/chest I would go to failure using another easier exercise like air squats w/dumbbell or push-ups). For all other exercises the basic concept would be to lift heavy, do just one set, but do that one set to failure. You can do warmup sets (lighter weights for a few to several reps) to warm up the muscles as needed. I would suggest doing rotator cuff warmups/exercises to prevent rotator cuff injury (the most common bodybuilding injury).
Also, for all movements I suggest doing them slowly. This will remove momentum, help prevent injury, and also increase how much your muscles are working out. It's most important when you first start a movement not to to start fast, be jerky and use momentum. This could result in injury. Start slow and controlled.
I also suggest learning proper form for all exercises, but especially the squat, bench press and modified stiff-leg deadlift. There's a good youtube series called So You Think You Can Squat and another called So You Think You Can Bench. For squats remember weight back on your heels, knees out and back arched. For bench press remember back arched and shoulder blades toward each other, and your elbows tucked in a bit. Starting Strength has a decent DVD where Rippetoe teaches several students the squat and bench press (and other movements). For stiff-leg deadlift I suggest watching Dorian Yates do his modified version of the stiff-leg deadlift (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtevN0SWp-o). He doesn't go all the way down to the floor (just below knees). This is my personal preference for safety reasons.
For equipment, I'd recommend a decent power rack (see Amazon), a good bench (Amazon again), and a good barbell/dumbbell set. For the barbell/dumbbell set, I'd recommend some olympic plates (something like http://www.amazon.com/Body-Solid-ORST255-Rubber-Olympic/dp/B...) with one barbell bar and two dumbbell bars.
If you actually follow through with this, I'd love to help you get started and see your progress. I can also suggest more resources along the way. You can get in touch with me at heydave at gmail.com.
I'd highly recommend watching a bunch of videos on correct form (ie., Starting Strength has a decent dvd and YouTube has some decent tutorials). But even better would be to get a very good personal trainer to teach you these lifts.
I'm just really hesitant suggesting a beginner to go out to the gym and try these moves on their own. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
My other criticism of StrongLifts and Starting Strength is because of the complexity of the movements, the higher in weight you go the more you really should have a spotter and that just makes working out that much more complicated (need to arrange a time to meet someone, etc). If you don't use a spotter and you've progressed to some really heavy weights then it can be dangerous. There's quite of few deaths from the bench press every year.
Personally, rather than pushing myself alone a barbell squat what I'll do is I'll pre-exhaust myself with a few sets of barbell squats (moderate weight) and then go to exhaustion on the leg extension, leg press and leg curl machines. This to me is a much safer route then trying to max out on a barbell squat.
For deadlift, I do a modified stiff-leg deadlift (I learned this by watching Dorian Yates) where I start from a standing position and don't go down all the way. I also use moderate weights for this.
For bench press, I had to learn correct form (after hurting my shoulder a bit thinking I knew how to bench). I go max weight on this but I use one of those assisted power racks for safety.
To me the lifts that Starting Strength and Stronglifts promote are too important to ignore but I just don't agree with their program for everyone. For beginners working out by themselves in the gym and wanting to do the deadlift, squat and bench press... I suggest:
1. Learn proper form on these advanced movements from an expert.
2. Go moderate weight on deadlift and barbell squats if you're working out by yourself.
3. Don't be stupid on the bench press by lifting your max without a spotter. I read that more deaths happen because of the bench press than any other exercise in the gym.
For beginners, I would probably not suggest not StartingStrength/StrongLifts. But rather, I'd suggest working out 2-3 times a week (average 20-30 minutes per workout) using High Intensity Training principles and techniques. The basic principles is doing one set to muscular failure per exercise.
If you're really just starting out, read Body By Science (Little and McGuff) and follow their Big Five exercise program. It's the top 5 exercises (machines) that you do once a week. Just one set each to failure and it only takes 20 minutes/week. The key is going to failure.
If you're wanting more, check out The New High Intensity Training (Darden). He summarizes the basics of H.I.T and gives some decent workouts. He suggests 3 times a week for beginners and the workouts take less than 30 minutes each. Again the key is going to failure with each exercise.