I'm 49, 6 foot 1, and currently 250 lbs.

I've "lifted" in some form of another since I was 18 or 19. I've also done martial arts in some form continually, and now focus on BJJ. I was stronger than average in that time (not saying much) and looking back, I never worked out with enough poundage to cause serious growth, and didn't eat enough to support growth if I did. I knew next to nothing about proper form, especially when it came to the squat and deadlift....so I didn't really do those.

Living life, I hurt my lower back (like everyone else). It was painful enough to where it interfered with my workouts and caused me to focus on mostly upper body work and some whole body, but again no real squats or deadlifts.

Somewhere along the line, in a Starting Strength article, I read about heavy bar work to fix your back. At about that same time (five or six years ago) I learned about Jim Wendler's 5/3/1. I like the approach because 1) it had a seemingly logical progression and 2) was fairly easy as you only worked one main lift a day. I made decent progress and my weight went from 215 to 250. More importantly, my back pain went away. It went from about 90% at his best to 100%.

About the same time I became aware of Starting Strength, just after I was committed to 5/3/1. I read the blue book, watched all the videos, and caught every podcast. I began to recommend Starting Strength to anyone who asked me about working out (to great success for them), but I never did an NLP as I thought I was too advanced or "didn't need it". By July of 2021, my best squat effort doing 5/3/1 was 380 for one (too high) set of 5. I also did rack pulls instead of deadlifts because pulling the weight from the floor would regularly tweak my back. My best press was 220 for 1 or 2. My weight was 265 which was a result of not being as strict about what I ate.

In August of 2021, while on a road trip I stopped by the Wichita Athletic Club and booked a coaching session with Rusty (who I was familiar with from the podcast). Rusty was generous in working with my schedule and spent enough time to make sure we went over all the lifts (minus the bench due to a shoulder issue). His pointers for squat and deadlift were key for me and made all the difference. He also convinced me to run an NLP when I got back home.

Once back home, I committed to running NLP for 12 weeks just to see where it would take me. As I knew I'd be doing 3 sets of 5 (more volume than I was used to), I arbitrarily set my starting weights back to something I knew I could do without issue. Doing the math, I knew I'd be adding 180 lbs. to my squat and deadlift, bringing me to squat goal of 405 and a deadlift of 455. I brought my squat back to 225, my deadlift to 275, and press to 135. I did not program bench press as I have some undiagnosed shoulder issue that feels like an inflamed pec tendon. I planned on adding 5 lbs to the bar for squat and deadlift and 2.5 lbs for the press for 12 weeks.

I recently finished my 12 week program. I was able to add 5 lbs to the bar every workout for my squat. At about week 9 or 10 I felt the constant deadlifting was taking a toll, so alternated chins (3x5) with deadlifts every other workout. I could do more chins, but left it at 3x5 as it was to be a lighter pull day for more recovery. I was able to strictly press overhead (meaning no layback) up until 185 lbs. Once I hit 195, I started going up only 1 lbs per workout.

I'd like to note that squatting 405 for 1 rep was a long time goal. I felt if I could do one set of 5, I'd "own" it. Running the NLP, I was able to do 3 sets of 5 of 405, surpassing my own goal and what I thought I could do. My deadlift was 440 lbs for one set of 5. I was able to press 200 for 3 sets of 5, though a few of the 15 had some push in them.

I work a job that runs 12 hour shifts, usually for 4 days a week. I don't get enough sleep, and while I don't eat junk I don't eat enough calories.

Running the NLP my weight went back to 250 with better body composition, and am lifting more than I ever expected.

I'd like to thank Rip and Starting Strength for creating a program that works as advertised and Rusty for taking his time for me, being cool in general, and giving coaching tips that were needed and appreciated.