Starting Strength and seminar experience (Denmark)

[Derf123]

My experience at/after a Starting Strength seminar. (Dec. 2013 Høvelte, Denmark)

I started lifting in 2012 at 33, had previously been a runner for 10 years. At the time my 6.6 frame weighed in at 86 kg.

Having had my first kid in 2010 and a second soon to be on the way - it was getting harder and harder to do cardio hours on end. I was getting tired from constant pain in the knees, and had pretty much accepted that physically I had peaked.

So I started looking for something else.

I found starting strength through a friend and started on my own. At 34 my stats had gone to this following SS and then TM:

Bw 105 kg
Squat 180kg
Bench 130kg
Deadlift 230kg 240 hitched...
Press 95kg
Power clean and Jerk 100 kg. (Power curl and Jerk/push press...)

I would imagine, I was at that time twice as strong as my 20 year old self - and I loved it.

After I hit those lifts, I did have a sense of running into a brick wall. My press and bench remained close to the same for a year. I wouldn't say I was at my wits end, but easy gains seemed long gone.

I considered a seminar, but the idea of telling my wife, that I'd leave her at home with a 3 year old and a baby born 6 months prior to go lift some things didn't really fly. Also the plane and hotel expense seemed a little off putting.

Though not one to believe in divine intervention, I was in late 2013, very surprised to see a starting strength seminar roundtrip of Europe scheduled, with one of the venues being 10 km from my house... If you know the size of Denmark, you'd understand that for the SS crew to even select that place, is akin to wining the lottery

As you can probably guess, it was an easy decision to sign up. Took me all of 5 seconds.

I didn't really know what to expect going there. I thought everybody would squat at least 500 pounds, bench 400 - that kind of thing.

Turned out, I couldn't be more wrong. Most guys who showed up seemed to be in the quite early stages of LP. The atmosphere was really friendly, and everybody seemed to be there to learn. A German fellow had started lifting barbells a month or two prior - and just decided to drive from Munich to Høvelte to join in - quite the dedication.

The seminar was a two day affair, squat on saturday, deadlift and power cleans the second day. Hosted by Tom Campitelli and Jordan Feigenbaum - SS Royalty as I called them. (Mental note, don't say SS at a Danish military facility, with a Jewish instructor)

Both days started with an introduction where we stated our names and lifting background, which seemed a nice way of doing things and get some camaraderie going.

I learned at the time, I was the guy with the heaviest lifts there - which was in turn a nice surprise, but also made me wonder, if I would get anything out of going. As it turned out, I really did.

The single biggest thing for me, was the correction done to my squat. I could instantly feel I was much more stable, and to a much larger degree able to push with my legs, instead of being all back, as I used to. I had very nice inputs on the other lifts, but the squat was a gamechanger.

After the second day, I had offered to drive Tom and Jordan to Copenhagen, so they wouldn't have to bother with public transportation. Because of this, I trained with them after the sunday seminar.

At that time to train with Jordan was a pretty humbling experience. In case you never met him, and happen to be a Tolkien fan, let me put it this way.

"Dude has hobbit appearance but cave troll strength..."

We had a nice dinner afterwards, where I ate the biggest steak the fastest. (gotta win somehow).

A few days later I asked Jordan to do my diet and programming.

To finish up, half a year later my lifts trained at the seminar have gone to this:

Deadlift 260 kg
Squat 221 kg ( I have done 500 lbs, but cut it a bit high)

For comparison, I spent 12 months going from 160-180 kg on the squat. After the seminar I spent 6 months adding 45 kg!

I really feel the added pundages on my squat has driven all the other lifts as well. I'm now at a bw of 114kg, with estimated 1rms of 148kg in the bench and 102kg in the press.

They now call me Smithy at the gym, due to the iron I lift - I hold the current registered records in both the squat and the deadlift, with no end in sight.

In short, I had a great time, Tom and Jordan are/were saintly in their patience/tolerance - and I cannot recommend the experience enough. I'll do a different testimonial re my experience working with Jordan at a later point in time.

To Rippetoe I'd like to say, (and I know you're getting this all the time), Starting Strength has transformed my life, I am pain free and my physical ability has increased to levels I wouldn't have imagined 2 years ago. So what you did in Wichita Falls greatly affected a guy living across the globe.

Thank you all,

Frederik

[Mark Rippetoe]

You can't buy advertising like this. Thanks.

[Derf123]

I forgot the best part.

I had my almost 63 year old dad start out with me - he couldn't squat the bar below parallel when we started, and had high blood pressure. I started him on a two day starting strength-like routine.

Workout A

Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Workout B

Squat 3x5
Press 3x5

He did a little stationary bike work afterwards.

Very soon after, he went to the doctor who registered a very significant drop in blood pressure - to the point that it was the lowest my dad had seen in 15-20 years. He soon got to squatting 3x5 60 kg and now deadlifts 5x125kg with ease. He looks absolutely fantastic compared to his pre SS self. And is stronger than quite a few guys in the gym 33% of his age.

I chronicled some of his training here:

http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=36071

Thanks again.

[Tom Campitelli]

This is so damn cool. Very nice work, Frederik.

[Kyle Schuant]

Excellent, Frederik. I think I'm not out of place in saying that this is what Tom and the rest hope for from their seminars - that the people they teach will teach others.

[Derf123]

Thanks both - for purely selfish reasons I will confess that my main success was getting my wife to squat. For all the obvious reasons I won't elaborate on.

I hit a 502 lbs squat yesterday - so 2xBW is finally under my belt. Long may it continue.

[Derf123]

I had a chance to enter my first meet this past weekend. Even with a botched squat ( rookie mistakes ) I was able to win the meet on total by 20 kg.

I feel awesome - thanks again.

My last pull of 580 lbs - heaviest lift at the meet.

http://youtu.be/RTQl-Eeb07c

[wk105]

Nice pull. You made it look easy. It's also cool to see a really tall guy squatting 500.

[Tom DiStasio]

This is pretty awesome! Good work Frederik.

[Derf123]

Thanks both, I think it's pretty cool to squat 500 lbs as well... ; )

Now if only I didn't know Startingstrength.com and youtube, I might believe I was strong.