post lockdown restart

I'm 57, 89K, still on the NLP. Due to lockdown in England I haven't been able to lift any meaningful weight since late December - just bodyweight and light dumbell stuff to keep me moving.

Gym opens again on April 12 and I'm wary of getting over-excited and injuring myself. What % of my last weights should I be aiming at for work sets, do you think?

My weights were:
deadlift 130K (1x5)
squat 100K (3x5)
bench 85K (3x5)
press 50K (3x5)

Bench and press were stalling, but DL and squat were still progressing nicely before being so cruelly interrupted.

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Originally Posted by Daveyboy

I'm 57, 89K, still on the NLP. Due to lockdown in England I haven't been able to lift any meaningful weight since late December . . . Gym opens again on April 12 and I'm wary of getting over-excited and injuring myself. What % of my last weights should I be aiming at for work sets, do you think?

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Coach Rippetoe earlier addressed the topic of how to re-start training, if you have been unable to go to the gym because of the pandemic (start at 42:30):

Rip’s Rant and Getting Back in the Gym After House Arrest | Starting Strength Radio #57

Avoiding soreness is the priority--note that for the first workout, Coach Rippetoe initially says that someone who was squatting 365 before the layoff should come back and do 225x5x3, but then he says do only one work set, not three. He then gives some additional examples.

Your situation is pretty similar to mine last year (age, time off, weights). Squats are the key, because if you do too much, you will be really sore. I would consider squatting 60kg for 1x5 for the work set for the first time back in the gym. You could even go lower to 45kg for 1x5. After the first workout, you probably will not have much soreness and will be able to do 3x5 for the squat work sets and increase 5kg for each workout for two weeks or more. Then you can go back to regular NLP and set PRs before too long.

Good luck!

Thank you, JK. That is very helpful. I'll definitely be more cautious now than I would have been if I hadn't asked! Thanks too for the link to Rip's Rant, which I didn't know about.

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Originally Posted by Daveyboy

What % of my last weights should I be aiming at for work sets, do you think?

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Don't worry about that. Worry about restraining yourself The first week you're in you're going to be very sore even starting with lower weights and reps than your can handle. You'll be able to add the weight back quickly vs the time it took to build up in the first place. This means that the fraction you start with isn't important since you're going to be adding anyway.

Here's a short deal from Andy Baker: Coming Back from a Layoff. "Remember that much longer layoffs will require one to three very light and low volume workouts before jumping back into regular programming"

For "light" and "low volume" take what you think you can do, then cut it back. Going by the bar slowing down and stopping there - just like you did for the very first workout - is plenty. Doing one set of 5 at the top is not a bad idea, especially at 57. Again, you'll be making this up in the next workout anyway. For example, squat 20kg x 5 x 2, 30kg x 5, 40kg x 5, 50kg x 5. Next time, add weight and a set and so on. You can think of this as warming up into the program.

Thanks, Stef. This is good stuff. I will concentrate on restraining myself in the first week.