Return From 10 Month Hiatus - 25yo Male

[cookiemonster]

"Athletes with even an intermediate training history have developed a neuromuscular system that is far more efficient than that of an untrained individual; this athlete can still recruit a high percentage of his available motor units, although they are not prepared to be used very hard. An athletic neuromuscular system enables the muscles to generate more force than they are currently conditioned to produce. In practical terms, this means that these trainees are going to be very sore, unless marked restraint is used for the first few workouts." - PPST

Hi Mark,

I have read SS, PPST, SE, and MOMG; and have found that I am in concurrence with the majority of concepts presented in your books and forum posts. I think my biggest departure from your recommended training tenants is adopting a hybrid squat form vice low bar. Check out the below videos for an idea of my squat form and previous strength levels; these are not quite my lifetime PR's, but they are close, and provide context for where I am trying to expeditiously return to. BW was 178 in those vids, bench was 320 and DL 515(both 1RM).

atg - YouTube
Got Wheels? - YouTube

Current stats/situation
I took a ten month break from lifting weights in response to a promotion to a new and challenging position aboard the ship I work on(civilian). I probably could have built a program that would have fit in to my work schedule, but I made the deliberate decision to put the weights on the backburner in order to give 100% towards this new job. Work went well, but obviously my lifts and level of fitness regressed quite a bit, it was by far the longest break I have ever taken since I started lifting weights. Sooo, now that you are caught up, here is how I stand:

Age: 25
BW: 178
Hgt: 5'9

Latest lifts
Squat: 145x5x3
Bench: 135x5x3
Press: 95x5x3
Deadlift: 200x5x1

Obviously these lifts are nowhere close to max effort, this Friday will be my third workout following the above hiatus. I am running the novice progression and find myself truly humbled by the soreness I have felt from squats with 135 and a set of DL's with 185(Monday's weights). Like I said, my perceived exertion on these lifts is not high at all, I could definitely add much more to the bar, but why should I? Avarice is my enemy in this stage of my lifting career, let me walk you through my intentions for the next three months(please sanity check).

- I plan to progress as long as feasible using the novice program.
- I plan to take 15 lbs. jumps on the deadlift, 10 lbs. on the squat/bench, and 5 lbs. on the press. I will reduce the increases by 5 lbs. increments on the deadlift, squat, and bench later in the program; once I anticipate that it will be necessary to do so in order to avoid stalling.
- I will drop deadlifting to every other workout starting on week 3.
- I will switched from overhand to mixed grip on the deadlift once I believe that grip will not allow me to lift the required weight for the session.
- For bench, I will switch from paused to touch and go once I believe that the work weight for that session will be difficult to complete using paused reps.
- I will continue the novice program with squatting as the focus. Once bench and press stall, I will bench following squats on Monday with upper body assistance after the bench. I will OHP on Fridays following the squats, after the OHP i will use assistance exercises(LTE, Weighted Dips, CGBP) to drive my Monday bench days.
- At this point, deadlifts will be switched to Wednesdays only(this frequency has worked well for me in the past).
- Once I am down to adding 5lbs. per squat session and I do not believe I will be able to complete the next session for 3 sets of 5 I will switch to a split routine. Texas method will be used for the squat with the 5x5 volume day on Monday and 1x5 intensity day on Friday. Bench will have its own day on Tuesdays, OHP will move to Saturdays; both upper body days will have push and pull components with the push movements emphasizing driving progress on the other upper body day's primary lift(OHP or bench).

My overall goal for the above plan is to efficiently regain my previous level of strength, and then hopefully push through that ceiling. I think that by starting close to square one I will gain enough momentum and reserve weight on the bar as I progress that I will be able to exceed my previous PR's. The only "brake" I have in the above program is that I will be eating ~2500-2900 calories per day during this progress. Each day I will do 1gm protein/1lbs bodyweight using whey, tuna, and beans as my primary protein surfaces. Legumes and rice for carb sources. This will have me in a caloric deficit for the novice progression, so i will be relying on the concept that most of the "metabolic machinery" required for my previous strength levels is still present, it just needs to be woken up again ; )

Comments/declarations/proposals/concerns?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Since this would be a request for a coaching consultation and not a board post, I'll recommend that you contact an SSC through www.startingstrengthonlinecoaching.com.

[David Kirkham]

I'll second that recommendation and say Coach Matt and Scott are awesome. They have been a tremendous help to me with timely, constructive feedback and programming. My form was fixed and my lifts go up.