I did my Starting Strength run late 2017 but never posted a testimonial. I was looking through my old video clips from that time that I used to take to check my form and show to people close to me, and got very nostalgic.

I'm also now realizing just how enjoyable that time was and how much impact it has had on the rest of my lifting journey. I'm glad I got injured in early 2017 doing excessive volume PPL training and was forced to take a serious look into more simplistic, lower volume training, and eventually found SS.

I fell in love with simple, compound lift based training, and 90% of my time lifting since Starting Strength has consisted of some sort of free weight squat, deadlift, vertical and horizontal push, and vertical and horizontal pull movement. Usually just the basic squat, deadlift, press, bench, chin up and barbell row.

I also did a 2 month SSLP again in mid 2021 after a several month hiatus from training and to my surprise, actually topped my previous PRs on the squat by 20kg and deadlift by 10kg. I have also helped several friends and some family get stronger using Starting Strength or a setup very similar to it (no power cleans though, tried them multiple times, abandoned them multiple times).

I had a year of lifting experience when I started the program in 2017, but 4½ months of Starting Strength completely topped that. I was a nerd with no physical prowess starting out, and constantly surprised myself with what I could achieve. It wasn't just about the numbers moving up or gaining muscle, though both of those did happen, it was also about all these things that permanently stay with you:

- Learning to breathe and brace properly
- Becoming much better at performing the lifts efficiently
- Learning to focus and grind under fatigue and a heavy bar
- Take performance seriously enough to start using a belt, weightlifting shoes and chalk
- Develop self-efficacy and trust in the process and hard work

As for the numbers, here are mine:

Bodyweight: 74kg (start) -> 89kg (end) -> 79kg (4 months post SS)
Squat: 85kg (3x5) -> 135kg (3x5)
Bench: 85kg (3x5) -> 110kg (1x3)
Deadlift: 95kg (3x5) -> 145kg (1x5)
Overhead press: 50kg (3x5) -> 62.5kg (2x5)
Chins: 75+12.5kg (3x5) -> 89+22.5kg (1x3)
Barbell row: 60kg (3x5) -> 85kg (1x3)

Using the clips I had, I also made a video version of my journey if anyone is interested. Regardless, thank you.