Starting Again

Starting Again

StrongLifts is a program that I used in the past and liked it at the time. I felt good, I looked good, and I was dunking a basketball easily. I stopped using it when I strained my right hip squatting 275 pounds for 5x5. I switched to a lot other programs over the years because I would stall or get bored.

The main reasons I’ve switched back to StrongLifts are:

• I am too heavy. My knees hurt a lot and I hope less body weight with strong legs will make the difference.
• I have hypertension. 
• And, the biggest reason: I wanted to start a program with my son. He was using the program a couple of years ago but only running 3 sets of 5 reps. He increased from 150 to about 165 pounds, could squat 245 for 3 sets of 5, deadlift 265 for 5 reps, press 105 for 3 sets of 5, and bench press 145 for 3 sets of 5. It was fun watching him get stronger and spending that time with him.

My best lifts over the past year were:

• Squat: 410 pounds
• Bench Press: 290 pounds
• Deadlift: 390 pounds

My current stats:

• Height: 6'0"
• Weight: I started dieting on September 22nd and dropped from 235 pounds to 219 pounds. 

So, this is where I started back on October 24 for workout A:

• Squat 185 pounds 5x5
• Bench Press 165 pounds 5x5
• Barbell Row 135 pounds 5x5

Workout B two days later was:

• Squat 190 pounds 5x5
• Press 85 pounds 5x5
• Deadlift 205 pounds for 5 reps

This is all pretty light compared to what I’ve been doing, but I based the numbers on where I wanted to be in 2 months. I’m expecting to need to change to 3x5 work sets along the way. If I can make the progress, these will be my future numbers:

2 months

• Squat 305 pounds 5x5 or 3x5
• Deadlift 325 pounds x5
• Bench Press 225 pounds 5x5 or 3x5
• Press 145 pounds 5x5 or 3x5
• Barbell Row 195 pounds 5x5 or 3x5

Let’s see how this goes.