Third Time's a Charm

[Matt Dawson]

I’m 36 years old, 5’11”, and 215 pounds. At the beginning of May I purchased a copy of Starting Strength and began my current strength training journey. This is my third cycle with strength training. Now for a brief history:

My first cycle with strength training began when I was maybe 14 or 15 years old. I went to a fairly small high school and lettered 4 years on the varsity football team playing mostly left guard and defensive end. I remember doing the Bigger, Faster, Stronger program and performing squats, bench press, power clean, and maybe some trap bar deadlift among other things. I gained strength and size incredibly rapidly on BFS and still bear the stretch marks around my armpits, hips, and groin. Though I don’t remember the numbers lifted I’m sure they weren’t very impressive. Unfortunately, strength wasn’t particularly important at my school and it didn’t take much to be one of the stronger guys around. I was maybe 220-240 throughout high school and never reached my strength potential.

Around 2011 I stumbled on an inferior 5x5 knock-off of Starting Strength and over a few months worked up to sets of 5 at approximately 300 squat, 350 deadlift, 225 bench, 135 press. After that I fell off the strength training wagon, went to post-graduate school, had some kids, and didn’t pick up a barbell for a decade.

At the beginning of this year (2022), I was fat and weak at a lifetime high of 245 pounds when I decided to get back into shape with a target weight of 200 lbs. I spent 10 weeks doing a HIIT-style cardio program with calisthenics, kettlebells, dumbbells, AMRAP, EMOM, Tabata, etc. I successfully lost 25 pounds in the process, but I wasn’t happy with the trajectory I was on with respect to muscle mass and strength.

I then moved on to 8 weeks of 3-day per week dumbbell-only full-body workouts with a pair of 55-pound adjustable dumbbells. I continued losing weight down to about 210, and the dumbbell workouts were a step in the right direction, I thought, but I quickly maxed out even at 15 reps with presses, front squats, stiff-leg deadlifts, and the like. I briefly considered buying a pair of 90-pound powerblocks to continue with the dumbbell routine, but fortunately I realized that barbell training was what I was really missing.

That’s when I ordered a proper barbell and a set of bumper plates and bought a used power rack to equip my garage gym. I picked starting weights of 135 pounds for squat, deadlift, and bench and 95 pounds for press. Over the next 8 weeks I trained my numbers up to 355 deadlift, 320 squat, 200 bench, and 150 press while continuing to lose weight down to 200 pounds before leveling off. Then I went on a 2-week vacation when I didn’t train.

When I returned from vacation, I tried to reset every lift by 10%, thinking that I would be well-rested and ready to continue the progression, but then I suffered a series of setbacks and “tweaks” that derailed my progress. First, I “tweaked” my back on a deadlift. I skipped the next workout and lowered the weights by another 10% or so. Then I tweaked my neck during squats. I felt a pain in my neck during my first workset but I thought I could just work through it. I finished all my squats, overhead presses, and deadlifts, through some mild discomfort, but then within an hour after completing my workout my neck started to seize up to the point that I begged my wife to go buy me a cervical collar from CVS to help stabilize it. Then I spent the whole weekend in the collar and skipped a week or so of workouts until I felt confident enough to get back under the bar. At that point I aimed to reduce my weight even further to continue with the progression. During my fourth warmup set of squats at 145 pounds I felt another “tweak” or shift in my lumbar spine (maybe it was a facet joint) and ended my workout. At that point I spent another weekend resting and took two more workouts off before resetting at 135 squat, 135 deadlift, 185 bench, 135 press to restart my linear progression and work back up.

[Matt Dawson]

May through June 2022 progress

May 02
squat 135
press 95
deadlift 135

May 04
squat 145
bench 135
deadlift 145

May 06
squat 165
press 100
deadlift 185

May 09
squat 185
bench 145
deadlift 205

May 11
squat 205
press 115
deadlift 225

May 13
squat 225
bench 155
deadlift 245

May 16
squat 235
press 120
deadlift 265

May 18
squat 245
bench 165
deadlift 285

May 20
squat 155
press 125
deadlift 305

May23
squat 260
bench 170
deadlift 315

May 25
squat 265
press 130
deadlift 305

May 27
squat 270
bench 175
deadlift 325

May 31
squat 275
press 135
deadlift 335

June 01
squat 280
bench 180
deadlift 340

June 03
squat 280
bench 180
deadlift 340

June 06
squat 290
bench 185
clean 135

June 08
squat 295
press 145
deadlift 345

June 10
squat 300
bench 190
clean 145

June 13
squat 300
press 150
deadlift 350

June 15
squat 305
bench 195
clean 155

June 17
squat 310
press 150
deadlift 355

June 20
squat 315
bench 200
clean 165

June 22
Squat 320
press 150
deadlift 355

[Matt Dawson]

Returning from layoff after series of back tweaks:

August 3:
135 squat
140 press
135 deadlift

August 5:
185 squat
190 bench
185 deadlift

August 8:
205 squat
145 press
225 deadlift

August 10:
225 squat
195 bench
255 deadlift

August 12:
235 squat
150 press
275 deadlift

[Matt Dawson]

My current goal is to hit 175/250/350/400 press/bench/squat/deadlift before moving on to 200/300/400/500.

[Matt Dawson]

August 15:

Squat 245x5x3
Bench 200x5x3
Deadlift 285x5x1

[francesco.decaro]

August 15:

Squat 245x5x3
Bench 200x5x3
Deadlift 285x5x1

I'm sure you can easily get past your previous PR, don't let the numbers trick you. Just add 5 pounds and do your job, most of the time, the bar will come up. If you're still around 200lbs, I'd probably start going back up again slowly.
Remember to keep your squat form in check and push your deadlifts for a few seconds before deciding to put them down.
Take creatine if you're not.
Good luck, hope you celebrate new PRs soon!

[Matt Dawson]

Thanks for the feedback, Francesco. I am confident that I will blow past my previous PRs set in June. While progress was slowing and workouts were getting a little "grindy" I never actually stalled. At the time I was at the end of a nearly six-month cut during which I lost approximately 45 pounds on a keto diet. I am no longer following keto and have since gained some weight up to about 215. I am comfortable gaining more over the next couple of months up to 225-235, though I want to keep body fat from getting too high (>25%).

[Matt Dawson]

Squat 255x5x3
Press 155x5x3
Deadlift 295x5x1

Soon to make the following changes:
5 pound jumps on the squat
2.5 pound jumps on the press
Alternate deadlift with power cleans

[Matt Dawson]

Squat 265x5x3
Bench 205x5x3
Deadlift 305x5x1

[Matt Dawson]

August 22:

Squat 270x5x3
Press 157.5x5x3
Deadlift 315x5x1

Squats are starting to feel reasonably heavy again. I will continue with 5 pound increments 3 times per week until it's time to incorporate a light squat day.

I have entered PR territory on the press and switched to 2.5 pound increments. I feel that I am getting a good bounce out of the bottom and if I can stay in the groove the bar shoots up to lockout at a good pace. Would like more practice than only 3 work sets every other workout.

Finally back to 3 plates on the deadlift. However, I feel like I did not do a great job of getting my back set. Perhaps with the increased bodyweight I need to widen my stance a bit to create room for the belly to drop down. Will start to alternate with power cleans beginning with the next workout.