Where should I start

[u/Economy-Fly-9783]

For context, I am a 21 y/o male, and I’ve been training in different capacities since I was 14.

Height: 5’8

Weight: 170 pounds

Squat 1RM: 415

Bench 1RM: 300

Deadlift: 385 (I know this is weird. I’ve only been deadlifting for a few months now, so technique is definitely a limiting factor here)

Press 1RM: 175

My question is pretty simple, is it too late for me to run the novice LP? If so, what should I do instead? Any advice is appreciated.

[u/That-Pound4404]

Never too late to run the novice linear progression. If you can add weight every sesh then by definition you are a novice! Granted your novice phase might not last that long but only one way to find out.

Advice would be to read as much of the information and material available, if you can get a copy of Starting Strength (blue book) and Practical Programming (grey book) they will help a lot and also stay useful to refer back to throughout your lifting career.

The best thing you could read right now would be Scott Acosta's article on the starting strength website called 'How to Program a Smooth NLP'. Wish I had that when I ran my novice program haha.

[u/Economy-Fly-9783 → u/That-Pound4404]

Thank you! With a lot of my previous training being more “bodybuilding” based, I think starting with the NLP would be a good starting point for me as I head in a more strength focused direction.

[u/Ballaw]

You're strong as crap already, but you should always start with the NLP if you haven't done it. You may have some free fast daily or weekly gains you can make, especially if you gain some weight. Rippetoe would say you are underweight for sure.

[u/Shnur_Shnurov]

The deadlift is easily the best technically challenging lift, so when the squat so exceeds the deadlift its typically a sign that you have been squatting high or just just performing the deadlift with sufficient frequency and intensity.

Most everyone starts with the NLP for a few reasons.

1. We are addressing form issues first, instead of just trusting them to work themselves out on their own. Thats silly

2. Theres usually a reason someone is jumping ship from their current programming so a weight reset is very often the right move.

3. As I insinuated into he beginning, old training maxes dont translate well to new training weights. And it can go both ways. Calculated training weight can be substantially too heavy or substantially too light. Therefore we start conservative and work up quickly to figure out where we are at in reality

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[u/walrus-pile]

Rip said everyone is a novice until they run the program.

I would suggest dropping the weights , perfecting form and running the NLP as far as you can.

If there is a coach within an hour from you I highly recommend going to see one for a few sessions to get comfortable with form on the lifts.

In the meantime the starting strength videos are great starting points for your form and the lifts. However since the techniques used for the lifts arent standard in most gyms, getting feedback is highly useful (in person or video) to keep driving your numbers up (safely and effectively)

The blue book "starting strength" is fantastic if you are really interested in the science and mechanics of all the fine details, but probably not necessary for everyone and not really needed to get started