Old fart surprises himself

[woofmang]

I'll be 66 in a few weeks, and, until a few months ago, I hadn't touched a barbell (or really done any kind of regular exercise) in 30 years. Plus, I'd been a desk jockey and a couch potato that whole time, so I was weak and soft and getting weaker and softer. I didn't look forward to what I'd look and feel like in 10 years (if I even made it that long).

I heard about Starting Strength around 5 years ago. I bought the blue book and was planning to build a home gym in my garage, but then we bought a smaller house with a garage that's barely big enough to fit our 2 cars, and that plan went out the window. So when I heard that a Starting Strength gym was going to be opening in Cincinnati, I signed up for the early interest list, and joined as a founding member when it opened back around Thanksgiving of last year.

BTW: Big shout out to Luke Schroeder (the owner of Starting Strength Cincinnati), our SSC coaches (Marie Worsham and Adam Martin) and our great apprentice coaches (Tony, Ethan, Chris, Nicki, and Kamisha - sorry if I forgot anyone or spelled anyone's name wrong); without their help and encouragement, I probably would have given up by now.

My first week, the best I could do on the squat was holding a 10 lb plate and squatting over a box, my press was an unimpressive 13 lbs, I benched a measly 22 lbs, and deadlifted a whole 36 lbs. Ten weeks in, I'm doing full unassisted squats @ 72.5, pressing 62.5, benching 85, and deadlifting 180.

What's most impressive to me is that in just 10 weeks, I'm pulling nearly as much weight in the deadlift as I could when I was regularly lifting 30 years ago (to the best of my recollection, my personal best deadlift in those days was around 185). If I keep going like this, in a very short time I'll be stronger than I've ever been in my life.

The program works. All you have to do is show up 3 times a week, pay attention to the coaches, and work your ass off, and you can make more progress - in a shorter period of time - than you ever thought possible.

Thanks, Rip.

[Luke Schroeder]

We're just getting started, Kevin! You're an amazing part of our community and we're excited to see how strong of a year 2022 will be for you.

[Jr_Geezer]

I think that should be a copyrighted phrase: “Starting Strength: In a very short time, you’ll be stronger than you have ever been in your life.”

(There’s no signature line showing, is there? I’m doing this on my phone via the SS website. )

[woofmang]

We're just getting started, Kevin! You're an amazing part of our community and we're excited to see how strong of a year 2022 will be for you.

Thanks, Luke! If Adam has his way (and I believe he will), I'll be pretty much doubling all those numbers by the end of the year.

[SSEd]

Great work. It's inspiring to read your story.