After six years off, a return to strength training. Watch me suffer and get strong!

[nyrippetoe]

A long, long time ago I was a Starting Strength success story.

I started strength training with SS back in October 2006 at age 21, tracking my progress here. Y'all were great. Things kicked ass. Over seven months I gained 30 fairly lean pounds and most of my 1RMs passed or came close to doubling. By May 2007 I was squatting 400, benching 300, and deadlifting 500. The Captains of Crush #2 was a bitch but consistently yielded to my grip. But as happens with me, my sports focus shifted (toward gymnastics, then toward rock climbing) and strength training faded into the background. Graduating college and starting a corporate desk job didn't help things much. Balls.

A quasi-successful attempt at a comeback happened eight months later. My bodyweight had dropped 15 pounds and my 1RMs had dropped about 100 pounds each. Not cool. Well, that comeback was strong but it only lasted a few months. Lame excuses and a desk job (and terribly tasty Chinese food) did their thing and things went downhill quick.

Well, now I'm freshly 27 years old and my lifts unsurprisingly suck. I am a naturally strong guy, but strength training fell away - particularly after I tore my meniscus doing gymnastics (surgery to repair). We all know what happens when you spend almost six years away from the barbell.

I returned to the power rack a few days ago and felt weak, yet emotionally awesome. I have no illusions about this return to strength training. It's going to be tough as hell but I'm going to try to stick with it. I know how good it feels to be strong, to progress, to move incredibly heavy things and see what my body can do. And I'm going to use this place for support and accountability. You'll know about my progress and about days when I'm demotivated. And you'll watch me get strong.

I still have a good deal of natural strength but my current goal is to get back where I was. A daunting task. Out of respect to my knee I am starting out a simple Starting Strength program with very low weights... which feel frustratingly heavy. I want to ease my leg muscles into supporting my knee under heavy loads. But linear progression is the name of the game and I'll be moving slowly and steadily upwards. History also indicates that my body is designed to be pretty good at this.

Onward ho, forum-ers. My third day back in the gym happens tomorrow.

[nyrippetoe]

Workout A

Weight: 192.8

I felt pretty relaxed heading into the gym. My radar was still well calibrated and I instantly locked eyes with the power rack. I'm leaving warmup sets out from these posts, so you'll only be seeing my work sets.

I know that these numbers are pathetically low. I can lift heavier. For various reasons I'm starting low. Deal. :-)

Squat - Knee felt fine, lower back was unexpectedly unhappy
115x5
115x5
115x5

Bench Press - Easy
95x5
95x5
95x5

Deadlift - Frustratingly not lightweight. Also, those last two sets were accidents. Didn't mean to run three sets of DLs.
120x5
120x5
120x5

After this workout I got home and reread Starting Strength and Practical Programming cover-to-cover. A fun day!

Oh, and I eat vegetarian now so fuel will be even more important for me to watch.

[nyrippetoe]

Workout B

Weight: 193 pounds

I felt good going into this workout. Totally motivated even though it was the day before Christmas and there were literally three other people in the gym. (I'm Jewish. It would be pretty funny if those other three guys were as well.)

My legs were pretty sore from Saturday, but I was able to achieve full ROM in my squats.

Squat - These felt easier than 115 did two days ago. Just a minute or two of rest between sets.
130x5
130x5
130x5

Military Press - It's totally fun to move poundage over your head. I like these.
85x5
85x5
85x5

Pendlay Row - Felt good, although I wouldn't call them easy
75x5
75x5
75x5

This brings things up to date. I'll be squatting, benching and pulling tomorrow. Stay tuned.

[Andalite]

Goodluck!

[nyrippetoe]

Workout A

Weight: 192.4

Once again the gym was empty save for a few older guys and one skinny chick who was squatting - with good form - almost as much as I was. Cool stuff. I felt very at ease heading into the gym. Having done one workout each of A and B, I knew what to expect. And I LOVE that 35 minutes later I was done. Go novice strength training!

I'm kind of surprised at how weak my legs are relative to my arms. Maybe I have been avoiding stressing my quads because of my knee surgery, but regardless they seem weaker than they should be. I'm curious to see how things go as I progress.

Squat - I must have not been warmed up enough, because my first set felt annoyingly heavy and my second set felt much lighter. This was a fine weight and I'll progress nicely at my next workout.

145x5
145x5
145x5

Bench Press - Lightweight! For extra fun I added a full pause at the bottom of each rep.

105x5
105x5
105x5

Deadlift - Because I can't count, I thought that the barbell during my first (and only planned) work set had 145 pounds on it. After I realized my mistake I made myself do my intended set. Felt good.

135x5
145x5

Time to keep drinking this here half gallon of Mootopia milk. Each serving has 12g of protein and only 6g of sugar!

[Kaptn Krunch]

A vegetarian in TX?!?! Is that even legal down there?

Welcome back.

BTW, I'm going to join you on SS in 2013. Just have to buy a home gym 1st.

[nyrippetoe]

A vegetarian in TX?!?! Is that even legal down there?

Welcome back.

BTW, I'm going to join you on SS in 2013. Just have to buy a home gym 1st.

Vegetarianism works in Austin. In the rest of the state... not as much.

So when are you buying the home gym and getting in on this SS thing? Find that toefur guy in Canada and let's get this party started again.

[Kaptn Krunch]

Vegetarianism works in Austin. In the rest of the state... not as much.

So when are you buying the home gym and getting in on this SS thing? Find that toefur guy in Canada and let's get this party started again.

So I priced power racks, weights, bars, bench etc...And I'd be looking at over $1,000 minimum. My work has 24 hour fitness memberships for $10/month with no contract. Or, I could go to Bally's for $7.50/month with a 1 year contract.

Decisions decisions...

[tmd17]

Good luck man. SS works, looks like it worked for you back in 06-07. I was helping a guy back during summer through PMs and had him doing SS and he made unreal gains.

[nyrippetoe]

So I priced power racks, weights, bars, bench etc...And I'd be looking at over $1,000 minimum. My work has 24 hour fitness memberships for $10/month with no contract. Or, I could go to Bally's for $7.50/month with a 1 year contract.

Decisions decisions...

Your job is to have one of these logs going by next week. Figger' it out! :-)

[nyrippetoe]

Good luck man. SS works, looks like it worked for you back in 06-07. I was helping a guy back during summer through PMs and had him doing SS and he made unreal gains.

Thanks, bro!

[pyaarawala]

Awesome gains back in 06-07! I'm sure you can do it again! Good luck dude. In

[nyrippetoe]

Workout B

My girlfriend and I joined the local YMCA the day prior to this workout, so it was my first time moving a barbell around in their gym. I had to be careful to not destroy low-hanging fluorescent lights in the weight room, but beyond that things went pretty smoothly.

Weight: 192.8

Squat - These were okay. Frustratingly heavy but still not pushing my limits.
155x5
155x5
155x5

Military Press - Geez... I didn't expect these to be hard. I also didn't anticipate losing track of my sets in the middle! I'm pretty sure that four of these happened... accidentally.
100x5
100x5
100x5
100x5(maybe?)

Pendlay Rows - Lightweight! Finally, something that felt solid :-)
85x5
85x5
85x5

@pyaarawala - Thanks for the kind words, bro!

[pyaarawala]

Good session! I remember when I started and 135 felt "frustratingly heavy" too. Eventually everything will fall into place as you progress. Keep it up!

[nyrippetoe]

Workout A

Weight: 195 pounds

This workout felt AMAZING. I finally felt strong under the bar, a good thing because I didn't have much time for rest between sets. I used that rest time well, though. Finished the crossword puzzle! But damn the Y for closing at 3pm for New Years...

Squat - Everything felt good. Didn't rest more than a couple of minutes between sets.
170x5
170x5
170x5

Bench Press - Still putting in a full pause at the bottom of each rep.
135x5
135x5
135x5

Deadlift - Solid. Chest up!
180x5

Man, it's so hard to resist the urge to keep moving weight around when I am feeling this good. Simple, simple simple! No need to complicate things until simple stops working. Gotta keep telling myself that.

Awesome day. I can't wait to be back in the gym on Wednesday.

Over and out.

[nyrippetoe]

Workout B

Weight: 197.2 pounds

I once again felt great going into this workout. Hopefully that will be the norm going forward - feeling positive and strong when I step foot into the gym. I also did my workout in Chuck Taylor All Stars for the first time, and man, what a difference it makes on the squat. I can't believe that six years ago I was moving heavy weight in regular sneakers.

Squat (+15 lb) - Felt strong! Wasn't speedy out of the hole on my last set, but I felt great.
185x5
185x5
185x5

Military Press (+5 lb) - This was a good weight for me. Not too much poundage but enough that my final rep took real effort.
105x5
105x5
105x5

Pendlay Row (+10 lb) - A bit too easy.
95x5
95x5
95x5

Chin Ups - Goal for my next Workout B is to hit eight reps in my second set
1x8
1x6

[Spartanbaziotis]

Wow...it is so cool that you are back haha. So I randomly started reading your first workout journal after starting SS for myself just a couple weeks ago. It was so crazy motivating! Granted, really irritating that I make gains far less quickly than you did, but that's neither here nor there lol. Anyway I ended up reading that entire log, reading your "comeback log" and then being bummed that you had given up on this, and here you are! Soooo yeah, subscribing and good luck!

[nyrippetoe]

Wow...it is so cool that you are back haha. So I randomly started reading your first workout journal after starting SS for myself just a couple weeks ago. It was so crazy motivating! Granted, really irritating that I make gains far less quickly than you did, but that's neither here nor there lol. Anyway I ended up reading that entire log, reading your "comeback log" and then being bummed that you had given up on this, and here you are! Soooo yeah, subscribing and good luck!

Thanks! What an awesome coincidence!

One of the things that I have realized through strength training is that my body is designed for this stuff. It is made to push and pull heavy **** around. But I have helped plenty of friends train and they all have different body types. Everyone - you included - can make fantastic progress through strength training. I just dug up your log and will be following along.

[pyaarawala]

Now that's what I'm talking about! Looks like your body and CNS are starting to remember who they used to be. Just let those lifts keep soaring!

[nyrippetoe]

Workout A

Weight: 196 pounds

Well, now. The past two nights involved a fair amount of mind-altered party time with my girlfriend (fun!), leaving the gym on the back burner. Exercise wasn't forgotten, however. I went for a four-mile run with a friend a couple of days back and had a dream about deadlifting. So, after two days sans gym and some wonderfully sleep deprived nights I wasn't sure what to expect today. I was pleasantly surprised!

Squat - The last rep on my final set felt a bit slow out of the bottom, but I'm pretty sure that I could have exploded up if I had been concentrating more. One thing that I am growing to more and more hate: a mirror about two feet in front of the power rack. I want to be looking at the floor, not at myself. Distracting!

195x5
195x5
195x5

Bench Press - These felt solid.

145x5
145x5
145x5

Deadlift - The Y doesn't have an olympic bar with good knurling, which kind of sucks. Regardless, these worked out fine. Close to a challenge, but everything felt good.

200x5

Dips - Maybe I haven't poked around the gym enough, but it doesn't look like there is an unassisted dip station. That blows. I hate having a near-weightless cushion tapping my shins on each rep. These were solidly hard.

1x8
1x8

Grip Work

Last workout I managed a left handed close of the Captains of Crush #1 and a near-close of the #2 in my right hand. Hell yeah! I trained grip after deadlifting so my grip felt a bit weaker than it did at my last workout but I performed similarly today. Two non-consecutive closes of the #1 in my left hand and a near-close in my right. Eyeballing it, I would say that I'm 2-3 millimeters away from a right-handed close of the #2.

[Spartanbaziotis]

Workout A

Weight: 196 pounds

Well, now. The past two nights involved a fair amount of mind-altered party time with my girlfriend (fun!), leaving the gym on the back burner. Exercise wasn't forgotten, however. I went for a four-mile run with a friend a couple of days back and had a dream about deadlifting. So, after two days sans gym and some wonderfully sleep deprived nights I wasn't sure what to expect today. I was pleasantly surprised!

Squat - The last rep on my final set felt a bit slow out of the bottom, but I'm pretty sure that I could have exploded up if I had been concentrating more. One thing that I am growing to more and more hate: a mirror about two feet in front of the power rack. I want to be looking at the floor, not at myself. Distracting!

195x5
195x5
195x5

Bench Press - These felt solid.

145x5
145x5
145x5

Deadlift - The Y doesn't have an olympic bar with good knurling, which kind of sucks. Regardless, these worked out fine. Close to a challenge, but everything felt good.

200x5

Dips - Maybe I haven't poked around the gym enough, but it doesn't look like there is an unassisted dip station. That blows. I hate having a near-weightless cushion tapping my shins on each rep. These were solidly hard.

1x8
1x8

Grip Work

Last workout I managed a left handed close of the Captains of Crush #1 and a near-close of the #2 in my right hand. Hell yeah! I trained grip after deadlifting so my grip felt a bit weaker than it did at my last workout but I performed similarly today. Two non-consecutive closes of the #1 in my left hand and a near-close in my right. Eyeballing it, I would say that I'm 2-3 millimeters away from a right-handed close of the #2.

I hear ya on the mirror haha. I take the hooks and set them up on the other side, "backwards" according to most people, but it allows me to not be distracted by staring at myself and has no ill effects because you can work in a power rack facing either way!

[nyrippetoe]

Workout B

Weight: 198 pounds

My legs were a bit sore from dancing last night, but otherwise I felt good going into the gym. Found some new tunes to listen to during my workout as well.

The weights that I'm moving now are hitting the point where they are challenging. Not impossible, not completely pushing my limits, but challenging - particularly my military presses. Also, I'm finding that my second set in all of my exercises is easier than the first. I am doing a thorough warmup so this is a bit annoying, but whatever.

Without further ado...

Squat (+15 lb)

210x5
210x5
210x5

Military Press (+5 lb) - Hard!

110x5
110x5
110x5

Pendlay Row (+15 lb) - I keep my form very strict on these

110x5
110x5
110x5

Chin Ups - Hit one more rep than last time

1x8
1x7

Grip Work

With regard to closing the #2 in my right hand I'm closer than the width of a standard piece of cardboard. Almost had a complete close today. Once again I hit a #1 close with my left hand.

[randomalias]

I took a look at your old log, you're going to make some very good progress in the coming months judging by your experience.

[nyrippetoe]

Workout A

Weight: 198.2 pounds

A cool experience:

When I got to the gym one of the power racks was taken. The guys who were squatting in it said that they would probably be 20 - 30 minutes. That sucked, but the second rack freed up pretty soon thereafter so I got started without too much of a wait. Then I saw them benching... three sets of five... wait a minute... we were both doing Starting Strength! And it gets better: the bigger guy used to train at Rip's gym in Wichita Falls. He had some pretty massive lifts, including a 285 pound overhead press in competition. Cool stuff. We'll be working out together on Friday.

So, my workout. Things felt good. I kicked my squat up another 15 pounds and put a belt on for the first time. My bench felt light last time so I kicked that up another 15 pounds and I increased my deadlift by 30 pounds. The squats were tough but everything felt good and Rippetoe-student-guy commented that my squat form looked perfect. Sweet.

Also, big news! I closed the #2 CoC in my right hand today. That came back QUICK and I love it!

Squat (+15 lb)

225x5
225x5
225x5

Bench Press (+15 lb)

160x5
160x5
160x5

Deadlift (+30 lb) - Strangely, I wasn't feeling too fatigued after one set so I threw in a second. Felt good.

230x5
230x5

Weighted Dips

1x8 with 10 extra pounds
1x8 with 10 extra pounds

Grip Work

Some assorted closes of the trainer and #1, plus a big and pretty easy close of the #2 in my right hand. I did the #2 close during my bench press sets so my grip wasn't fatigued from deadlifting. I am really happy about the #2 close. It felt GREAT.

[pyaarawala]

Haha I would probably NEVER run into anyone doing SS out here. Even today the guy who worked in the bench w/ me told me that it's not a good idea to do Squats/Bench/Deadlift in one day. And he told me to instead do flat bench/incline bench/decline bench/cable curls lol. He said I'll destroy my CNS, haha.

Anyway that's some really large amount of weight you're adding to the bar in between workouts. Be a bit careful with that not to go overboard and possibly hurt your linear progress. Good work anyway!

[dk240t]

Yeah, I can count the number of people I've seen squatting to full depth at my gym on one hand, for an entire year, as long as I don't include myself or my wife (the 2 or 3 times I got her to barbell squat to full depth). I probably went 6 months there before I saw anyone doing full depth squatting with a barbell (not in the Smith machine, not with dumbbells or kettlebells).

I've been pretty lucky...I've basically gotten no unsolicited advice at the gym, other than the guy who thought I should exhale during deadlifts.

[tmd17]

Haha I would probably NEVER run into anyone doing SS out here. Even today the guy who worked in the bench w/ me told me that it's not a good idea to do Squats/Bench/Deadlift in one day. And he told me to instead do flat bench/incline bench/decline bench/cable curls lol. He said I'll destroy my CNS, haha.

Anyway that's some really large amount of weight you're adding to the bar in between workouts. Be a bit careful with that not to go overboard and possibly hurt your linear progress. Good work anyway!

Yeah but if that guy saw how much little volume the deadlift/squat sets were, he would understand. ^Good advice though on the linear progress though. I've seen people jump up too quickly and stall in their lifts eventually.

[nyrippetoe]

Haha I would probably NEVER run into anyone doing SS out here. Even today the guy who worked in the bench w/ me told me that it's not a good idea to do Squats/Bench/Deadlift in one day. And he told me to instead do flat bench/incline bench/decline bench/cable curls lol. He said I'll destroy my CNS, haha.

Anyway that's some really large amount of weight you're adding to the bar in between workouts. Be a bit careful with that not to go overboard and possibly hurt your linear progress. Good work anyway!

Yeah, I know that I need to be careful regarding progression. I think that I will stall soonest with my presses, followed by my squats, but I also know that six years ago I was putting up some big numbers and that my body is fully capable of doing that again. I might tone things down nonetheless.

One funny and optimistic worry that I had: If I get back to deadlifting with five plates on each side of the bar I think that I'm going to be using a pretty high percentage of the 45s in the gym. (It's totally not a strength training vibe at my Y.)

[Spartanbaziotis]

Yeah, I know that I need to be careful regarding progression. I think that I will stall soonest with my presses, followed by my squats, but I also know that six years ago I was putting up some big numbers and that my body is fully capable of doing that again. I might tone things down nonetheless.

One funny and optimistic worry that I had: If I get back to deadlifting with five plates on each side of the bar I think that I'm going to be using a pretty high percentage of the 45s in the gym. (It's totally not a strength training vibe at my Y.)

I think with your experience you can make the call to jump up more in weight than an actual beginner would. Your body definitely remembers what it used to be able to do. That muscle memory and whatnot :+D

[nyrippetoe]

I think with your experience you can make the call to jump up more in weight than an actual beginner would. Your body definitely remembers what it used to be able to do. That muscle memory and whatnot :+D

You can also flip that around and say that I'm overeager and caught up on trying to get my old lifts back and could therefore be trying to do too much too soon :-)