It's such a great program!

It's a great program for fastracking into "intermediate" lifting.

The great thing about strength training is that wherever you achieve, it's only a few months away whenever you want it back, at least it has been for me at only 42 yo and with several similar weightlifting hiatuses.

I've been consistently on a hypocaloric diet since March (started the year with about 70 lbs of fat I need to lose) and lifting since April, and I'm getting close to my prior strength in most lifts. I can't go as hard as fast as I used to, but considering my gym is at home, I have a little more flexibility for the times I can be in the gym. I can split up workouts over morning/evening and end up doing similar to work over a day as I did in my 20's and 30's.

The diet is hard, but I really go hard on raw strawberries or steamed broccoli when I want to eat until I need to puke to feel better with my food intake...

I prolly have 5-6 months to go, but I'm down about 35 lbs (all fat as far as I can tell) since my highest weight.

Taking any supplements? What kind of nutrition? Cardio on the off days? I have as much fat to lose as you did to start. Focusing on plenty of protein, complex carbs, creatine + hmb.

No cardio for me other than playing basketball around the house with kiddo or playing golf.

4 days week of weights, push/pull split. Mon/Tues and Thurs/Fri ideally. Deads one pull session, squats and legs on the other. Chest heavy on one push session, shoulder heavy on the other.

Only supplement I'm on is creatine monohydrate (5g after workouts). Well, fish oil and chondroitin too. Not sure if chondroitin really helps, but started weightlifting a week after I tore my meniscus. Meniscus hasn't bothered me at all strength training tho.

Been eating around 2500 calories a day with 200g or so of protein (meat, dairy, eggs, salmon, whey powder mostly), and about 1/3 each of what's left as carbs and fat. I eat very few grains, and most of my carbs are whole fruits and veggies and the sugar in 2% milk. . Most of my fruit as strawberries, blackberries or raspberries, but I do eat some bananas and watermelon as well.

Sweet potatoes (plain steamed), broccoli/cauliflower/carrots (steamed), and salad greens make up most of my vegetable intake.

When I do eat grains it's one of 2 meals. I'll sometimes eat 1 serving of honey nut cheerios or fiber one with 2 containers of 100 cal greek yogurt before bed. Otherwise I eat french toast made with whole grain bread (4 slices in one meal) where I use about half a container of egg whites to make them (along with either a pat of butter or some bacon grease). Topped with like 1.5 servings of juice sweetened jelly and I'm golden there.

I used to eat like 6-8 meals a day when I was fit, but I can stomach 3-4 meals now.

I'm 5'10", but when I get to about 210 or so, I'm at a healthy body fat % with visible abs (never been anything but natty).

I worked Stronglifts (similar to starting strength) then Madcow. I would be careful with overdoing cardio as it could inhibit your strength gains. I did a 30 minute walk every off day just to keep in the routine. It's tempting to try to drop the weight quickly, but I think you'll be happier with the strength training results with 10 extra pounds than losing 10 extra pounds but hitting plateaus on strength training.

I started at 35 y/o and I lost about 30 pounds and have maintained that pretty easily without feeling like I'm eating like a bird.

For my diet I mostly focus on getting 1g of protein per pound of my goal body weight. I find that usually fills me up to the point that I don't want much more. I tried low/no carb to start and that worked till the weights starting getting heavy and I felt like I was stalling. I added rice and potatoes once or twice a day and it helped a lot.

ETA: I take creatine, magnesium, zinc, D3 and ashwagandha daily. Not sure if they do anything or not.

Thanks for the helpful replies! On cardio, I've been doing 45 minutes of zone 2 (power zones, not heart rate) on the bike max to burn some extra calories and work on cardiovascular endurance without frying my legs. I need to increase my protein and bring down the carbs to move my weight the right direction. Shouldn't be hard despite strength work because I'm super fat. 5'5" and pushing 230. Shooting for 150s.

BQRyno said:

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Shouldn't be hard despite strength work because I'm super fat.

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It's amazing how much change you'll see in the first 3-6 months in a mirror regardless of what the scale says when you do strength training. I've done Insanity in the past and dropped a ton of weight but could never keep it off with that style of workout.

Since I've dedicated myself to weight training it's been so much easier. And most weeks I'm spending 3 hours on it, if that. Plus walks which I try to do with my family anyways for quality time.

Yeah I am a big advocate for the StrongLifts app. As user-friendly and fool proof as it gets.

I was down to stronglifts and starting strength. Didn't seem like either choice was a bad one. I expect I can stay on starting strength for a LONG while as a total novice.

For sure! I only chose Stronglifts because I'm not a huge fan of power cleans.

I think you'll be surprised with the progress you make. The things that caught up to me once I started getting into 2 plates + on the big lifts that I had to focus on were my sleep and my diet. I really noticed the difference on the low carb diet as mentioned before and anytime I got 7 hours or less of sleep my workouts were trash.

I started keeping loose track of both daily to see the correlation to my progress on lifting. Sleep is usually the bigger direct influencer on the workout that day, whereas my diet I'll notice in longer trends, like my energy level seeming down over the course of days/weeks.

Also, to add: don't be afraid to deload. I would get caught up adding 5 pounds a week and compromise on form.

Once I would check my pride and deload , then work my way back up, I would usually blow past my previous plateau. My squat depth has also improved dramatically because I'd really focus on getting deeper into my squat when I was doing the lighter weights on the deload.

These programs account for deloads and advise you when to do them, so my advice is to listen because it works.

Does StrongLifts include power cleans in their core workouts? That must be new.

Does Starting Strength have a useful app?

No - SL is squat, bench, row, OH press, and deadlift. SS has power cleans.

Ah. Apparently I don't read good.

I haven't looked at the SL app to compare, but SS does have a useful app. I enjoy not having to do any thinking, just look at what weight I need and how many reps to do from warmup all the way through. It's not the slickest, but it's functionally useful.

The StrongLifts app is outstanding! Simple but customizable.

Going to start back on Madcow today after about a month and a half of hypertrophy and rest. Doing the recommended 4 week on ramp.

I stalled out last go around at 310 on squats, 250 on bench, and 340 on DL. My goal for this block is to get to 315 squat, 275 bench, and 365 DL.

Any workout program suggestions for building "functional strength"? I'm finding myself struggling to hold my 3 year old for more than a few minutes at a time and want to get stronger to keep up with her.

Something that has an app to easily follow would also be helpful. I get analysis paralysis and end up doing nothing.

Download StrongLifts 5x5 app. You will absolutely gain functional strength!

What Bam said x 1000.

Follow that for about 6 months and you'll be amazed at your progress. Best part is when just starting out it will take maybe 40 minutes a workout since you won't need as much rest.

In less than 3 hours a week you can make huge significant changes.

High Functioning Moron said:

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I get analysis paralysis and end up doing nothing.

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Just saw this part. I have the same issues and would always overprogram and overcomplicate things and then get frustrated with my lack of progress.

I'm 36 and am by far the strongest I've ever been in my life following Stronglifts (and now intermediate programs similar to Stronglifts).

Don't overthink it and don't be fooled by the programs simplicity - it works.

ETA: I have a three year old too. Since starting Stronglifts I can lift our almost nine year old over my head and throw her in the pool. You get major "cool dad" points the further you can launch your kids

Yep. And don't get tempted to progress faster than the app prescribes. It will get challenging soon enough and the conservative pace will set you up for success.

Thanks! Downloaded the app and did the first workout last night. Hoping I can stay motivated and stick with it.

Be sure to check in if you have any questions.

If you're anything like me, I was starting from basically a decade of sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, so I can confidently say I started from about the worst physical condition I had ever been in in my life.

For me, seeing the weights go up is addicting. Once that started happening, I didn't want to let my diet or lifestyle choices interfere with my progress.

I'm what you call a "Perpetual Novice" - term created by Andy Baker...I love to work out, but always manage to fall off of my steady habit for whatever reason only to pick it back up months later and have to start from scratch. I have a spreadsheet with probably 5 years of workout tracking that none have more than about 3-4 months of data.

So, my almost 14 year old is ready to get started and I'm back in the gym this week with him as my new lifting partner (never had one of these, so I'm hoping this will help us both stick to this better)

I'm a big follower of Starting Strength and we are doing a NLP. My boy is pretty much starting from a bare bar and I'm just going to follow along with him since it's easier than changing plates for each of us. I've jacked up my shoulders in the last year and can already feel improvement after just 2 sessions.

I think that's a good plan for efficiency and keeping you both motivated.

I'm a bit of a perpetual novice, too, but it works for me. I tend to change things up altogether when I plateau after 10-12 weeks or so on a program. I'll switch from a 5x5 to a higher rep scheme for hypertrophy or even to doing more WOD type workouts with sandbags and kettlebells and body weight stuff. And then back to strength training. Keeps me from ever really maxing out my potential, but it also keeps me engaged.

For the last 25 years I have always been on some kind of resistance training program.

Question for deadlifts..

I feel like I've gotten way into my own head on my form and wanted to know what some of you do.

When pulling your heaviest sets, do you generally let the bar come to a full stop or do a touch and go? Does having the wood platform help the bar come to a stop quicker?

I feel like my form is tighter when I touch and go but that I am also exerting more energy due to the constant tension, if that makes sense.

This AM I was doing an AMRAM on deadlifts and on #10 lost my grip. I chalk and do over under grip, but no straps as I don't like that you don't contact the bar. Can figure 8 straps be used for the over under grip?

As many rounds as… manageable?

CC09LawAg said:

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Question for deadlifts..

I feel like I've gotten way into my own head on my form and wanted to know what some of you do.

When pulling your heaviest sets, do you generally let the bar come to a full stop or do a touch and go? Does having the wood platform help the bar come to a stop quicker?

I feel like my form is tighter when I touch and go but that I am also exerting more energy due to the constant tension, if that makes sense.

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I always come to a complete stop. I feel like otherwise you are using a bit of momentum and almost bouncing the weight off the floor. I did this initially when I was young. But as a powerlifter at the time, I leaned to come to a complete stop and reset. When I was young, it was more due to powerlifting. Now that I'm older, it's more about maintaining strict form due to disc issues I've had in my lower back. And taking the time to pause for a second and reset is better for me in that regard.

CC09LawAg said:

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Question for deadlifts..

I feel like I've gotten way into my own head on my form and wanted to know what some of you do.

When pulling your heaviest sets, do you generally let the bar come to a full stop or do a touch and go? Does having the wood platform help the bar come to a stop quicker?

I feel like my form is tighter when I touch and go but that I am also exerting more energy due to the constant tension, if that makes sense.

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I started doing one rep at a time. I literally step away from the bar and start my routine over every rep.

Before I think the bar would creep further away from me on each rep and it got my lower back involved in a not cool way. Doing it one at a time made all that go away.

Thank you both. I think I'm going to try slowing down and letting the bar come to a complete rest between reps.

My son & I are looking to start the Stronglifts 5x5 program. I lifted in HS & some in college, but other than some dumbell work haven't done much since.... and it's been a while!

Who do y'all recommend to follow on Youtube for good insights into proper form/technique for lifting?
There is a ton of info out there & I'd like to not have sift through it all.

TIA!!

https://www.elitefts.com/education/

They also have a good YouTube channel.

The Art of Manliness series with Rippetoe is really good as is the Barbell Logic "How to" series.