Do you think going back to SS would help me at this point?

[KAG]

I haven't done SS in quite a while. The last time I did it, I had a horrible ever-rotating work schedule, had to miss about a workout per week on average, had a horrible ever-rotating sleep schedule, meals were erratic, and I had to quit early on. I don't remember what my numbers were at the time, but I moved on to 5/3/1 for it's flexibility.

This year I've missed quite a bit of time due to some injuries and my lifts have suffered. Right now I'm doing Wendler's 100-Rep Challenge to challenge myself while I recover a little better. It only has me squatting and deadlifting once every 2 weeks, which is working well for my back.

I've got 4 weeks left on it and depending on how I feel coming out of the challenge, I was considering going back to Starting Strength for a while.

I now have a normal schedule that fluctuates very little 3 out of 4 weeks per month. I know I can get to the gym Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and the 4th week when I'm on-call, I've still got about a 75% shot at getting a workout in before getting called away.

My current numbers are approximately (in lbs):

Squat -325 -1RM
Bench -235 -1RM
Press - 175 -1RM
Deadlift -400 -1RM(maybe, possibly lower now)
Power cleans - 185 -1RM

But those may be slightly off because I haven't been able to really lift heavy for a while. I squatted 325 recently, and it looked good, but unfortunately felt very much like a max. I also benched 235 recently. But I haven't been pressing or deadlifting regularly or very heavy. And my power cleans are way down due to simply not doing them much.

I was thinking of starting a 5x3 at around:

255-265 -squat
190 -bench
150 -press
350 -deadlift
150 -power clean

And I was thinking of doing it like this:

M:
Squat 5x3
Overhead/bench press 5x3
Power cleans 5x3

W:
Squat 5x3
Overhead/bench press 5x3
Deadlift 5x1

F:
Squat 5x3
Overhead/bench press 5x3
Power clean 5x3

Do you think I'll make any progression at this point? Will I just be wasting my time and energy? I won't be starting at the beginning like most people, but I'm not so strong that I don't think that I can't use linear progression at all.

I really like 5/3/1 but I just want to get my lifts back up fairly quickly. I figured I could add 5lbs to everything each workout for a month or so, then maybe drag out 2.5lbs for a while longer. I figure I could probably get up to about:

315 -5x3 squat
235 -5x3 bench
185 -5x3 press
400 -5x1 deadlift
205 -5x3 power cleans

And at that point I could go back to 5/3/1.

Has anyone gone back to SS after moving on, being injured, or taking some time off, and having more than beginners strength?

[veryhrm]

The theory/advice is that the points where you'll have to change over stay roughly the same, although as you get a lot stronger you can probably use LP to come back from a layoff to points beyond where you originally had to switch away.

So in your case yeah you can do what you suggest and that's a good way to get back into it.

[jwt708]

I say go for it. You may only be able to deadlift once every two weeks after a few weeks of this routine. (Think that's what I'm experiencing.)

[Tom Campitelli]

I wouldn't do sets of five on the power clean. Stick to triples.

[DV]

Unless your situation has changed dramatically, giving you (a lot) more free time for recovery, I would stick with 5/3/1 or something more forgiving than SS in any case. I recently did a short comeback stint on SS, and only managed to annoy some old injuries, and the progress I made I could've done a bit more conservatively and ended up in the same place, since dealing with the semi-injuries had me backing off some workouts etc. etc.

Your lifts aren't low, so at this point I wouldn't be in such a hurry. Just my 0.02.

[KAG]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go back to SS in 3 weeks. I do have a lot more recovery time now and I think I'll be okay.

And wow my press dropped a lot in the last couple of months. I barely ground out 165x1 yesterday. It was a true max and it was ugly. I really thought that I'd be able to get 175 for sure and maybe grind out 180 or 185. I'll probably have to drop to about 140 to get 5x3.

And deadlifting every 2 weeks won't be such a bad thing for me right now.

[DirtyRed]

I believe Rippetoe's suggestion for situations like this were to restart on a Linear Progression at weights below your previous maxes (I can't remember exactly how much reduced, my guess would be reduce it by 20%) and continue until you get back to, or at least close to, your previous maxes. This was because the actual strength of your muscles doesn't fade that much, but the motor pathways that set off your muscles quickly lose their efficiency if you don't train them regularly. However, those same pathways will regain their efficiency very quickly.

So basically, LP until you're close to your previous maxes (at which point you'll probably start to stall), and then just go back to whatever style of program you were on before you took time off.