I wanted to write and shared with you the experiences of my training partner, my wife and two new lifters. We all lift out of two basement gyms. Nothing fancy, bars, squat rack, and lots of plates. Everyone was lifting with the goal of a powerlifting meet (last Aug.6-7) Due conflicting schedules/work hours it was decided to follow Wendler's 5/3/1 (one lift per day) BUT technique based on Starting Strength. Training started mid-March. Since I was done competing I just coached. Except for my youngest lifter (more on him later) everyone worn lifting shoes. Everyone hit personal records at the meet. My old training partner pulled a 3rd attempt 500 deadlift (hook grip and in lifting shoes). My wife pulled 265 pr. One of my first time lifters pulled 475 beltless like it was 135 (had 500 in him, but being his first meet, I wanted him to go 3 for 3) Being a Crossfitter he has notice cleans and snatches feeling "lighter". Imagine that? My other novice and "star pupil" made the dramatic improvement. Started weighing @148 ended at the meet weighing 169. Bumped up his calories to 6,000 along with GOMAD (almost 7,000 with post training Ben & Jerry's). Being in martial arts since he was 7 he was very disciplined. Did start high bar squatting, but read the squat section in the Book. Immediately went to low bar. Beginning squat was 225x3, at the meet 300. Bench 175 touch and go, meet paused 225. Deadlift 315, meet 440. In training the press, he went from 115 to 150. Oh those were done beltless. He has notice in martial arts training he is punching and kicking harder. Just started squatting and pulling in lifting shoes and wearing a belt so we are expecting bigger numbers. Everyone now wears lifting shoes after noticing how stable they are squatting and how fast the pull is. Thanks Rip!