Initiating a Starting Strength Routine

[franklie]

Good afternoon Coach Rip,

I have read Starting Strength and have attended your Basic Barbell Certification. The weekend seminar was well worth the money. I've been the using the information to improve form so as to minimize the possibility of injury.

I am interested in doing a Starting Strength program to see how strong I can get but am unsure at what weights to start the program.

I thought perhaps you might be able to help me figure that out.

Some general statistics about me:

46yo male, 5'10" 175lb in general good health.

current (as of week of Thanksgiving) 1rep maxes:

Squat 285lb
Press 150lb
Deadlift 350lb
Bench 215lb
Clean 155lb
Barbell Row (pendlay style) 195lb

The first five lifts are done per your book and the barbell seminar that I attended.

Would starting at 70% of my maxes be a good place to start?

My long term (1-2years) goal is to squat 315lb for 5reps, press bodyweight, deadlift at least 405lb and clean 200lb.

Thank you in advance for your reply.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Thanks for the plug. We need the help. But if you attended my BB cert you already have the data. We did 3 x 5 x your workset weights for the 5 lifts (with the possible exception of the bench, which sometimes gets cut short) that weekend, and those weights are the starting points for the program you want to do.