Starting Strength after 2 years of lifting?

[Garret Jacobsen]

Im 17, M, 6ft, 180 lbs and i have been in the gym for about 2 years now. the first 1.5 years were spent doing bodybuilding splits and not making much progress. i ran TM for about 2-3 months about 5 months ago and made progress mostly my squat, little on my bench and deadlift. then i did Jonnie Candito's 6 week program and make little progress on that. since then had a few set backs and hopping around different programs.

I was told to just restart and do starting strength, (which i have never done) but am unsure if i could still make progress on this program. im unsure if i could even progress on the Texas Method, my lifts have been stalled for so long.

If it helps my lifts are:
Squat 335
Bench 205
Deadlift 370

My goals are specific to powerlifting.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Since you are 17, I'd agree. You still have a window of LP left even though you have quite a bit of exposure to the barbell lifts already. You may not get the same run of progress that you might if you were a true newbie, but the one thing you have going for you is your weight. At 6'0 you have plenty of quality weight to add. Start conservative and FOLLOW THE PROGRAM. That means microloading, rest times, recovery....all the little details that people love to ignore.

[crookedfinger]

Since you are 17, I'd agree. You still have a window of LP left even though you have quite a bit of exposure to the barbell lifts already. You may not get the same run of progress that you might if you were a true newbie, but the one thing you have going for you is your weight. At 6'0 you have plenty of quality weight to add. Start conservative and FOLLOW THE PROGRAM. That means microloading, rest times, recovery....all the little details that people love to ignore.

I work with high school powerlifters. Please follow Andy's advice. I don't know where your lifts are at, but I know based on height and weight you have plenty of room to get stronger. Make sure you eat and sleep. Of the high school boys I have worked with this has been the most crucial element. The one's that listened, did what I told them to, and followed the program got significantly stronger than they have ever been. All 5 of the seniors I ran through LP last year were squatting mid-400s and pulling mid-400s by the end of their LP (yes, these are raw numbers for sets of 5--we trained raw) this is over about 2.5 months--with curve balls thrown in due to competitions. Over the summer, one was invited to try out for A&M's Powerlifting team and ended up making the team.

You should expect to weigh at minimum 200 pounds and should anticipate gaining 1-2 pounds a week. If you're not, you're not doing it right.