Starting Strength - How far did it take your lifts?

cdahl383

Just starting doing Starting Strength a couple weeks ago. Really liking the routine so far. I started off pretty low with my lifts, but already progressing nicely. Had a few questions for those who have done this program before:

1.) How far did your lifts progress while on this program?
2.) How many months were you able to continue linear progression before you had to switch to an intermediate program?
3.) Did you do power cleans or substitute those for barbell rows or something else?

Thanks for your input!

quiksylver296

Ooh, it's been awhile. To the best of my remembrance:

1. Deadlifts - 135 to 315 lbs
Bench - bare bar to 120 lbs
OHP - bare bar to 80 lbs
Rows - bare bar to 115 lbs
Squat - bare bar to 260 lbs

2. I did SLs for 14 months before I switched, using fractional plates to increase weight when I couldn't go up in 5 lb increments any more.

3. No. I did the program as prescribed.

shor0814

I did it for about 9 months including some resets for crap form.

Stick with the power cleans and add them in when prescribed. There is a method and reason for them and it is detailed in the book. They aren't as hard to learn as people make them out to be. Read, watch his video, practice. Record the lifts and review them to learn your problem areas.

cdahl383

Cool, I'm about ready to start the power cleans now and alternate those with the deadlift. I think I've got the form down for the squats, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift, will have to practice the power clean. Maybe I'll just start with the bar and work from there.

cdahl383

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Ooh, it's been awhile. To the best of my remembrance:

1. Deadlifts - 135 to 315 lbs
Bench - bare bar to 120 lbs
OHP - bare bar to 80 lbs
Rows - bare bar to 115 lbs
Squat - bare bar to 260 lbs

2. I did SLs for 14 months before I switched, using fractional plates to increase weight when I couldn't go up in 5 lb increments any more.

3. No. I did the program as prescribed.

Wow that is some awesome progress starting from the bare bar!

I bought some 1.25lb plates so I can start microloading once the 5lb jumps become too much.

cwolfman13

I don't remember the numbers, but I made pretty good progress with it...I stopped working the program after about 6 months or so for a couple of reasons...1) I had other fitness aspirations and all of the squatting was leaving my legs pretty dead for other things; and 2) I found it kind of boring.

It gave me a solid base to move onto other things though. I have a trainer now and lift a couple days per week...usually a mix of Oly work and whatever else he decides to throw in there.

quiksylver296

Just realized I read the title wrong. I did Stronglifts, not Starting Strength. Apologies.

cdahl383

It's been just over one month now that I've been doing Starting Strength. My beginning lifts were pretty sad for a guy, but they've gone up quite a bit in just one month. My weight has maintained around the same at 210lbs, but I went down one pant size and all my old Large shirts now fit again (had to jump up to XL for a while previously). Eating around 3000-3250 calories per day and sleeping around 7 hours a night on average. I found that with more protein in my diet I'm less sore after my workouts the next day.

Squat: 65lbs > 140lbs
Deadlift: 135lbs > 225lbs
Bench Press: 150lbs > 175lbs
Overhead Press: 70lbs > 95lbs
Power Clean: 45lbs > 65lbs (just started doing these)

My lower body was really out of shape. Even after a month my squats are still pretty sad, but within another month or two they'll be up where they should be for a guy my age/size. My goal is to hit a 275lb squat, 350lb deadlift, 225lb bench press, 135lb overhead press, and 135lb power clean. Thinking within 3-4 months from now I can hit those targets if I keep up the progress. Still pretty early on in the program though, it's only going to get harder.

Anyway, just from the one month I've been doing it, I can say I'm already seeing/feeling results. The scale says otherwise, but my clothes definitely fit better. Smaller waist, shirts looser in the stomach and tighter in the chest/shoulders, etc. Highly recommend it!

abarriere

That's awesome! I am on week 2 of Thinner, Leaner, Stronger, which sounds pretty similar as far as the workouts go. I started low, but have already been able to move up on weight on a couple of things! Can't wait to be where you are, at a month in!

cdahl383

That's cool, sounds like a good program as well! What's neat is how the last workout is kind of tough, and you think boy I don't know if I can add much more weight to that! But then the next workout comes and you add the weight and you do it! I always figure, I'm only adding 5lbs more, and I can pick up 5lbs with my pinky finger, so I should be able to squat that much more or deadlift that much more. Of course I'm working with lower weights right now too, but even so, it's pretty cool how linear progression works!

cdahl383

^ That's cool man, 425lb deadlift is awesome! Are you doing a specific program or just doing your own thing?

I started my deadlift at 135lbs just so the bar was at the right height, but my legs were pretty weak when I first started. I just now got to 140lbs on my squats. Pretty sad, but over the next couple of months it should improve a lot. I'm doing low bar back squats right now. It seems to be pretty easy on everything. If you go below parallel just a bit it's easy on you knees and your back.

Do you use chalk or straps for your deadlifts or just raw? Do you do a lot of warm-up sets prior? I do 4-5 sets of warmups before the workset on my squats, 2-3 warmups on my bench and overhead presses, and 2-3 warmups on my deadlift. Seems to help vs just trying to do the workset right off the bat.

sgt1372

I started my current weight loss journey about 12 months ago. Began Starting Strength (SS) at the same time and topped out in about 4 months (which is typical) when I stopped doing SS as designed and began doing other things in my own way.

My goal for the past 8 months has NOT been to increase strength at the fastest possible rate. Rather, my goal has just to either slowly increase or maintain my prior strength gains.

My approach has been to increase the level of effort (and the implied level of strength) by either increasing the weights and/or the reps so that the calculated 1RM for my lifts continue to increase (regardless of how slowly) overtime.

The calculated 1RM is NOT necessarily (but sometimes is) the actual weight I that am able to lift in 1 rep. I use the calculated 1RM primarily because it provides a consistent basis of comparison, given different rep and weight patterns, by which to measure and track my strength level for each lift over time.

For the record, I am 66 years old and weigh 158#. My highest calculated 1RMs are:

DL 389
SQT 270
BP 211
OHP 127

Depending on the lift, these numbers are about 10-20% higher than they were when I topped out w/SS 8 months ago. Based on the Strength Level Calculator, these numbers place me in the Advanced category for the SQT, BP & OHP and in the Elite category for the DL for men of my age and weight, which is entirely satisfactory to me.

So, I am not strongly motivated to increase my 1RM for these lifts much further, especially because of the increased risk of injury, if I try to push these weights much higher at my age, which is something that I definitely want to avoid. Been there, done that before.

FYI, I stopped doing Power Cleans (PCs) at 115 before I topped out on the other lifts in the 1st 4 months, because I could not lift more weight w/o breaking form which also increased the risk of injury. Did not think it was important to continue to do PCs because I am not an athlete in training and did not need the "explosiveness" factor that PCs are supposed to develop. I did not replace PCs w/Rows because they are not the same kind of lifts and because Rip has said that Rows were not acceptable as a primary lift; only as a supplemental or assistance lift, which I didn't feel I needed.

I currently just do the 4 main compound lifts, once each week, in pyramiding sets of 3x10, 4x6 or 5x5. I am also doing 5x10 pullups, 5x20 decline pushups and 5x15 dips (PPDs) with a weighted 15# vest plus some rowing.

The 1RMs and the added weight for the PPDs are still slowing increasing. The Strength Level Calculator places me in the Elite category for pullups and dips but only in the Intermediate category for pushups.

Something seems wrong w/the pushup rating which is based on self reports from other uses of Strength Level site. I do strict full armed plank pushups. Too many people do short armed and incomplete pushups, which I think accounts for excess reporting of the number of pushups others have done.

In order to get a comparable Elite rating for pushups, I'd have to do 50 reps in a row w/15# on my back, which is a ridiculous number, if you're actually doing FULL straight armed at the top plank pushups.

Anyway, all that is important is that I continue to make progress and, if that is very slowly, that's fine w/me.

Okiludy

I did SS for a month before moving to a SS variation from a SS certified coach. It is a powerlifting newbie program that work more specifically on competition lifts.

Bench

• 3x5 45lbs 6/5/2017
• 3x5 135lbs 7/5/2017 last day on SS
• 3x4 155lbs 7/26/2017

Squat

• 3x5 45lbs 6/5/2017
• 3x5 150lbs 7/5/2017 last day on SS
• 2x5 250lbs 7/26/2017

Deadlift

• 1x5 65lbs 6/5/2017
• 1x5 265lbs 7/5/2017 last day on SS
• 1x3 325lbs 7/26/2017

I have an calculated 1rm of Bench 169lbs, Squat 281lbs, Deadlift 344lbs. This pushes me past my first goal of a calculated 1rm for a competition of 750lbs and getting close to 800lbs. If I was not seriously wanting to try a competition next year I would have likely stayed with SS. I likely could have and would have nearly the same results. The 2 programs are very similar it's just you do the competition lifts 3x per week and do assistance lifts 1-2x per week. The program can be found at http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/ and is all free. Izzy does a bunch of youtube content also but he can take some time to put out new stuff. His reviews of programs are pretty in depth and can go for over a half an hour.

sgt1372

@okiludy: Thanks for the link!

I'm not a powerlifter and have no ambition to become one, competitive or otherwise, but apparently I eat like one because the nutritional articles in the link pretty much confirm that what I have been doing, by eating a high protein and mainly paleo diet, was the right thing to do to achieve the results that I wanted, which was to lose weight (cut) and build strength.

Highly recommend that others who have similar objectives read it.

abarriere

cdahl383 wrote: »

That's cool, sounds like a good program as well! What's neat is how the last workout is kind of tough, and you think boy I don't know if I can add much more weight to that! But then the next workout comes and you add the weight and you do it! I always figure, I'm only adding 5lbs more, and I can pick up 5lbs with my pinky finger, so I should be able to squat that much more or deadlift that much more. Of course I'm working with lower weights right now too, but even so, it's pretty cool how linear progression works!

Yes! I just finished week 2 on my program and already have added. Although, the first week i was trying to stay very conservative to just make sure i am using correct form. Still doing that for a while on squats and deadlifts, don't want to hurt myself!

I am thinking i am pretty weak too, but you have to start somewhere, Here's my week 1, vs week 2, 3 sets of 8-10 reps each:

Barbell Bench Press 55 week 1, 70 week 2
Deadlift - 95 week 1, 100 week 2
Squat - 85 week 1, 100 week 2
Row - 45 week 1, 65 week 2
Leg Press - 110 week 1, 140 week 2
Romanian Deadlift - 70 week 1, 95 week 2
Dumbell Hip Thrust - 40 week 1, 50 week 2

Not sure if I actually got much stronger or if I just was less scared to try for more. 1st week, i was terrified if i tried to lift something too heavy and some random gym goer would have to save me, lol.

Can't wait to see what it will look like a few months from now!

cdahl383

Wow, great stories everyone, thanks for the input/feedback! Very impressive gains by some of you folks!

I honestly think most of this stuff is mental. If you follow the program (i.e. eat enough healthy food, eat enough protein, get enough sleep, don't add in a bunch of useless exercises, and just focus on the main compound lifts), the main factor is really your mind. If you fear lifting a certain amount of weight, or doing a certain movement, it will show when you go to do it. If you are confident in yourself and your abilities and you look at the weight as though...this is what I'm doing today or this is what I have to lift today as opposed to...I think I can do this...I hope I can make it, etc then you will do well.

I'm still working with pretty low weights for a guy my age/size/weight, but I've made great progress, and now I've built enough confidence in myself that I feel confident each workout that I will be able to perform all the sets and reps for the weight in that particular workout.

The power cleans are tough. I'm still not sure I understand what I'm doing. I watch the Youtube videos over and over, then try to emulate those movements as best I can. I also read the section in the SS book. It's one that I think having a coach would really do wonders for. I'm going to see about stopping by a local powerlifting gym next week to have someone check my form on some of the lifts, particularly the power clean. I'll probably stop that one at 135lbs or so as I don't want to injure myself and I'm not an athlete. Just looking to gain some strength.

I'm really impressed by the results from this program so far given it's simplicity. I farted around in the gym over the years off and on and never saw results as fast as I'm seeing now by just doing a few compound lifts 3 times a week. I wish I would have known about this 10 years ago when I was much younger, but better late than never. It makes sense though, force an adaptation from the body by adding just enough weight to make it adapt, but not too much to overwhelm it. Then allow time for recovery, then hit it hard again. It's challenging both mentally and physically which I like too.

Anyway, I know I'm far from being done with SS and have only made one month's worth of progress, but it's something I would definitely recommend to anyone looking to get in better shape. I literally dropped one pant size already even though my weight has remained unchanged all month. Like the one poster above said, eating 3000-3500 calories of primarily real actual good food and following this program seems to result in some fat loss while also building strength. Best of both worlds!

curlsintherack

I used stronglifts 5x5 which is primarily a ripoff of starting strength. I would have done starting strength had I found it first but sl5x5 worked. SL starts out every lift with an empty bar.

starting sl5x5 end Current max(5/3/1)
bench 45 175 200
OHP 45 135 155
barbell row 45 145 175(accessory lift on deadlift day now)
squat 45 275 300
deadlift 135 345 345(injury durning dl has kept me from pushing it)
powerclean 135 (just playing around)

I moved away from stronglifts after an injury doing deadlifts with poor form(my own fault rather than any fault of the program) and I'm just now back to the point where I feel as if I'm making progress on my lifts. All my numbers are hit in training rather than calculated 1 rep max lifts.

cdahl383

^ Those are some solid numbers on all your lifts. That's great progress from starting with an empty bar.

I plan to stick with SS for at least 3-4 months and see how far it will take me and then assess from there.