Doing The Program as written in your mid-forties

[Andy Maddison]

I'd be happy to share my experiences if you have questions.

Thanks.

How long did the initial workout last when you determined your starting weights?

What increments did you use early on? Any of the bigger ones or straight to the smaller ones?

How did you know it was time to reduce an increment? Did you manage to reduce before failing the prescribed reps?

What length are your rest periods? Presumably older guys need longer?

Oh, and 16 weeks of LP sounds great!

[Jmatt]

Deleted duplicate post

[Jmatt]

Initial workouts were quite short because they were EASY; 30 to 45 minutes. I started with weights that were not too hard for me to avoid excess soreness.

For me, I started taking smaller progressions when the work sets started feeling like… work.
Since I started light, I was able to make 15 pound jumps in the dedlift for the first two weeks. In week 3 I added power cleans to the rotation and dropped to 10 pound jumps in the deadlift. For the squat it was 10 pound jumps until week 6 where I dropped to 5 and, am still at five now in my tenth week. Press started and is still at 5 pound jumps, (I will drop to 2.5 very soon here). Bench was 10 for the first 4 times then went to 5 and still doing well. I also have the luxury of looking at my log from 2014 to help me make decisions and avoid mistakes. Back then, I got into trouble with being too greedy and had to re-set the press.

In the first couple of weeks I only needed 1 to 3 minutes between work sets but right now I need 8 to 10+ between squat sets; less than that for presses. Take as much rest as you can get away with time wise. In my earlier post I said: “no stalls yet”, but I think I have reached my limit in the power clean, partially due to poor technique.

You'll be better off starting conservative (at this age), have fun and enjoy the easiness of the first 3 or so weeks. It will help you gradually get comfortable with the hard work to come and help you stick with it.

[Andy Maddison]

Initial workouts were quite short because they were EASY; 30 to 45 minutes. I started with weights that were not too hard for me to avoid excess soreness.

For me, I started taking smaller progressions when the work sets started feeling like… work.
Since I started light, I was able to make 15 pound jumps in the dedlift for the first two weeks. In week 3 I added power cleans to the rotation and dropped to 10 pound jumps in the deadlift. For the squat it was 10 pound jumps until week 6 where I dropped to 5 and, am still at five now in my tenth week. Press started and is still at 5 pound jumps, (I will drop to 2.5 very soon here). Bench was 10 for the first 4 times then went to 5 and still doing well. I also have the luxury of looking at my log from 2014 to help me make decisions and avoid mistakes. Back then, I got into trouble with being too greedy and had to re-set the press.

In the first couple of weeks I only needed 1 to 3 minutes between work sets but right now I need 8 to 10+ between squat sets; less than that for presses. Take as much rest as you can get away with time wise. In my earlier post I said: “no stalls yet”, but I think I have reached my limit in the power clean, partially due to poor technique.

You'll be better off starting conservative (at this age), have fun and enjoy the easiness of the first 3 or so weeks. It will help you gradually get comfortable with the hard work to come and help you stick with it.

Thank you very much for that.

[bbuszard]

How long did it take you? How did you know you had reached the end of LP early?

You're done when you stall out. The weights stop going up and you must shift to intermediate programming to progress. Press will usually stall first, then bench, then squat and deadlift soon after. It took me a few months to get there. It really isn't worth over-thinking; just start low and progress conservatively. You should also track your protein intake to be absolutely certain it's high enough. If you don't keep track, it probably won't be.

[Fiddler]

I did it as written at age 69, with the exception of power cleans. I had already tried a couple of other programs, so I wasn't starting completely fresh. I don't have my log anymore from that time, but my guess would be that I was increasing 5 pounds on squats and deads, and two and a half on benches and overhead press.

If I had it to do over again I'd read more and pay better attention to advice given on this forum.

[SteveL]

I started at 57 (I'm 59 now) and I did the program as written. I did not do the cleans as it seemed the risk/reward didn't balance especially since I was working out on my own rather than in a gym where I could have a pro work on my form. Once I retire I may very well join a gym but so far everything is working well. I was able to string out SS for like 8 months but that's also because I had to restart twice due to injuring myself in going up to fast with the weights.

[Charlie Davies]

Started at 45, lifelong skinny & weak.

My first try at SS sucked, I gave myself severe tendon problems in my hips due to bad form and my LP failed at a 150lb squat.

This was followed by months of futile program hopping before getting some coaching and fixing my squat.

Don't be like me. Get some coaching if lifting hurts you, and it gets worse from session to session.

[57bergstrm]

Im 65, started at 61 with sslp on my own. No coaching at all. In my basement. Read the book and studied the videos and articles on SS webbsite. Did hurt myself, nothing serius, just back and muscletweaks. Did sslp for 18month, far to long. Then learned to alternate light/heavy days, intermediet training. Now Im trying a more complex advanced programming during the last 10 month. Mostly because Im having problem with recovery and getting stronger. The best is getting a SScoach, I met one twice during the last year, it helps really well. Fixed my form on several lifts. So just go for it, its the the best training I had, nothing comes close, the effect is remarkably.

[SteveL]

Your experience may be different since you're younger than I am at 59, but once I went to twice a week from three times a week I got stronger faster. I just needed more recovery.