starting strength gym
Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: Westy's Write Up

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
    Posts
    4

    Default Westy's Write Up

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
    • starting strength seminar jume 2024
    • starting strength seminar august 2024
    Hi Guys

    Age 38
    Height 5' 9"
    Weight 80kg

    I'm from the UK so all my weights will be in KG.
    I hope that's ok? If not I can convert them to pounds but I figured KG would be ok.

    After many years of serial program hopping, changing goals, and trying to achieve everything at once. I'm finally going to do what I should have a long time ago and use the NLP until it's end point.
    I'm going to start much lower than my historic numbers as
    1) I've been through the usual kids and shift work life, so they wouldn't be right anyway.
    2) I want to give the program my best and I figure that starting a bit light won't be a problem. If anything it should help right?

    Wanted to put a log on here for some accountability and feedback where needed.

    I'll put my first session in tomorrow.

    Thank you

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2020
    Posts
    1,151

    Default

    Hi James, welcome to the log!

    Some advice based on my experience:

    The rule of thumb for the first session is to do even increments on the bar until you find a weight heavy enough that one more increment would be too much.
    Of course this is hard to figure out by yourself, and I guess you are new to the SS way of performing the lifts, so technique is the priority for now. Your past PRs could be a reference but SS is different from all the other programs so just pretend you're brand new at this.
    Generally speaking, your deadlift should start heavier than your squat, don't make big jumps on press and bench press even if they feel light, it'll catch up really fast. Same goes for the deadlift, a few big jumps at first are ok, but don't push it too much as it is a big stressor. You should alternate it with the power clean as a light pull after 2/3 weeks.
    You should expect DOMS, but they go away after the first couple weeks of training usually.
    Your bodyweight is not bad for starters, but increasing it will only bring benefits.
    Take creatine.
    I think I'm done ahaha
    I wish you a voluntarily hard strength journey!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2020
    Posts
    1,151

    Default

    Oh, one more thing, there's a couple SSCs in England. You should really take advantage of that. Doing a private session and learning the proper technique from day 1 is a huge advantage and saving of time.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
    Posts
    4

    Default

    Hi Francesco

    Thank you very much for the reply to my post, I really appreciate it.

    I also really appreciate the advice you have put there too. It's definitely a new way of training for me and I'm just trying to absorb it all as much as possible.
    I've got both books (blue and grey) and am reading the blue one a lot to learn as much as I can.

    Finally thank you for the recommendation that there are SSC coaches in the UK.
    I wasn't aware of that so I will definitely have to seek one out.

    I work in London so hopefully there will be one near there, as there definitely won't be one in the village I live in!

    Thanks again for your kind response I appreciate it

    James

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
    Posts
    1,909

    Default

    Welcome, James!

    Yep, KG is fine, even for most of us knuckle-draggers on this side of pond.

    Like Francesco said, start at the right point for you. Perhaps those weights are higher than a pure novice, but they're still the right point to start for you. For guidance, look at pg 27 of the Blue Book on how to find the weight. Sure, that's for the Squat, but it's the same process for each of the lifts. And you'll likely find that there is a positive difference between your squat and deadlift, something you wouldn't necessarily find if you just started light with arbitrary numbers. Trust us, that's the way to go with your programming.

    You mentioned that you have both the Blue and Grey books. That means that you are missing a very important one - Barbell Prescription. Too many folks get hung up on the "Life after 40" subtitle and miss out on the tons of great information in there, including expanding on the concepts of programming introduced in the Grey book. You may not be 40 yet, but you will be soon. And, perhaps, certain lifestyle elements may put you in the same boat as someone over 40. Honestly, everyone should have all three books to really start to understand what's going on with the programming, but most won't. Don't be that guy [eta: you too, Francesco, you young pup, especially since you have stated that your goal is to become an SSC].

    Enjoy your first session tomorrow. Like I mentioned, follow the procedures on pg 27 of the Blue Book and you'll have a very good baseline from which to start.

    Most importantly, stay as consistent as possible over the next few months.
    Last edited by Bill Anders; 08-06-2022 at 11:44 AM. Reason: eta the eta

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •