Is Starting Strength for me?

[Bob9362]

Let me give you some background info first...

I first started lifting when I was 15 for football. They gave us sheets with a daily routine of monday-thursday, and ofcourse I followed these since I didn't know better. It consisted of compound lifs along with other lifts for isolation. (ex. benchpress, skull crushers, Db kickbacks, close grip, incline, dips, etc. doing a 3x8 for pretty much all lifts. This would be one of the days.)

That lasted about 6 months, and then the season began.
At the beginning my lifts were:
Bench: 65lbs
Squat: 135 lbs
DL: 185 lbs
BB shoulder press: 55 lbs
All for 8 reps, 3 sets
Bassically pretty ****ty.

At the end they were:
Bench: 165 Max
Squat: 325 Max parallel
DL: 315 Max

This was 4 years ago.


Ever since the weight training ended, I've never had any consistency after that.
I would periodically get back into lifting for about a month and then stop.
My bench press for 3x8 lingers around 125-135 and has never went up since.



What i'm basically trying to get at is, would I benefit at all from a starting strength program?
Or should I just continue with what I have been doing with the Isolation+compound lifts?


P.S: apologies if I'm using the wrong terminology haha.

[illiniStrive]

If you're eating at a surplus I think you would benefit from SS provided you start with conservative lifts. Otherwise, you could look into intermediate programs such as Madcows 5x5 or Stronglifts 5x5.

[blueelectrc]

I think you could definitely benefit from SS. It isn't just for rank novices, it's also for more experienced people like yourself who need to reintroduce themselves to strength progression training. Whether you are a "novice" or "intermediate" depends on hw quickly you recover, but the best way to determine that, imho, would be to dive into SS and see how you respond to it.

The only real issue is what to expect from SS. It is a strength training program, first and foremost, and prioritizes progressive strength acquisition over mass gain (the latter is a corollary to the former). It will provide you with a solid I foundation to either (1) continue with progressive strength training, or (2) transition into a more "bodybuilder" type program. Either way, you would certainly benefit from giving it a try.

[Bob9362]

I think you could definitely benefit from SS. It isn't just for rank novices, it's also for more experienced people like yourself who need to reintroduce themselves to strength progression training. Whether you are a "novice" or "intermediate" depends on hw quickly you recover, but the best way to determine that, imho, would be to dive into SS and see how you respond to it.

The only real issue is what to expect from SS. It is a strength training program, first and foremost, and prioritizes progressive strength acquisition over mass gain (the latter is a corollary to the former). It will provide you with a solid I foundation to either (1) continue with progressive strength training, or (2) transition into a more "bodybuilder" type program. Either way, you would certainly benefit from giving it a try.

I decided to go ahead and give it a try. However I altered to include some more lifts, but still sticking with a 3x5 routine, lifting heavy. In some lifts I decided to increase weight after every set, hoping that I will benefit from it haha.

Also I'm on a longtime cut right now.
4 years ago I was 230lbs, and now I'm currently sitting at 179lbs as of today, 5'10. None of my lifts have really went down in significance, but that may be because they're not very big to begin with ha.

I do feel that I have a fair amount of muscle mass, even though my lifts are ****. Could it be from the 3x8-3x12 routine i've always stuck to?
Current lifts:
BB bench press: 135 3x5
DB bench press: 55 3x5
DB curl: 30 3x5
DB shoulder press: 45 3x5
Skullcrushers: 60 3x5