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Beginnings


Ok, I'll admit it, I told a little white lie in the first post. I didn't actually start out following starting strength. Some googling led me to StrongLifts first, and so that's how I started out.



Stronglifts, for those who don't know, is a reasonably (but not optimally) effective program for beginner lifters. Whether it's a rip-off of starting strength or not is something best left to the keyboard warriors (it probably is), but it's ok to start with until, like me, you get interested and then get the blue book and really get to terms with things.

My first day at the gym was a Wednesday I believe. I squatted three sets of five at 50kg, benched 25kg for the same sets and reps, and then deadlifted three sets of five at 60kg. This goes against Stronglifts doctrine which tells you to start out with just the bar on all of your lifts - which is just stupid really. I knew that then and I know it now.

Had I read the blue book prior to starting out, I would have gone ahead and done as Mark Rippetoe suggests. I would have titrated up to a set of five on each of the lifts and then stopped increasing the weight when the bar speed slowed down.

In the end, the weights I chose probably were not too far off a good starting point, though obviously I could have gone harder on the bench. The second workout had barbell rows instead of deadlifts. What can I say - I didn't know any better. Overhead presses instead of Benches completed the second session.



It was probably a month or so in when I really started to read up on what was going on. I quickly realised that Mark Rippetoe seemed to know a hell of a lot more about strength training than the Stronglifts dude. His ideas were all well formed and worked through, and appealed to an analytical mind like mine (I work as a research scientist).

So after around 6 weeks, this is what I had settled into:

Day 1:
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench
Chins/GHRs/Power Cleans

Day 2:
3x5 Squat
3x5 Overhead press
1x5 Deadlift


Progress was linear, as you might expect on a linear progression

Progress was linear, as you might expect on a linear progression and as the above chart shows (first 7 weeks approx). Just after this I had my first fail, shoulder presses at 45kg. I just missed the last rep of the third set, but got it the next time out and continued.

I got lucky, the foundation of starting strength, and I believe strength itself, is squatting, and squatting came naturally to me. My body proportions - long back, relatively shorter legs - help with this, but I also get a lot of bounce out of the hole while remaining tight, something that not everyone gets to the same extent.

My bench was a major weakness, and is still a weakness to some extent. Deadlift was more interesting. I never had an issue with it until about 150kg, when suddenly I seemed to lose all ability with the lift and ended up like a startled cat everytime I tried to move the bar. Deadlifts are still a work in progress for me, but there has been progress.

Overall the first four months of my lifting career were a triumph. I got strong - really strong, and put on slabs of muscle all over my body. I've always had a, let's say 'healthy' appetite, and being told I needed to stuff my face with meat and milk was glorious.

Next time I'll take a look at the end of the linear progression phase. 
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