This article was copy and pasted from my Private Forum for members of my online coaching group. Reposting it here for all to see…..Andy
I’ve been asked this question no less than 10 million times over the last 10 years or so, and so I think it’s about time to go ahead and just create an “official” semi-universal answer for this question.
The first thing most people want to know is “Should I run the Starting Strength Novice Linear Progression again?”
Several years ago, almost everybody in this club was pretty well informed about the basic tenets of the SS program with a good portion of people having run it prior to joining the club. As we have grown over time, we have an increasing number of people who are not coming to us through the Starting Strength funnel. Doesn’t really matter as it doesn’t change my opinion – just an observation.
A few things important for people to understand First, you are only a true novice once. If you have done anything that looks like a linear progression under the barbell even once, and on top of that layered on several more years of intermediate or advanced training you are no longer a novice. Even after a several months long hiatus. Depending on how strong you got and how long you trained even several years out of the gym does not make you a novice again.
The primary adaptations that occur as a true rank novice are neurological. Your brain and nervous system are learning how to do these movements for the first time only once. By “learning” we are talking about both inter and intra – muscular coordination – not necessarily referring to your cognitive understanding of how to do the lifts. Often what we call “neurological efficiency.” While you might get weaker, smaller, less mobile, and quite a bit “rusty” on the movements – your brain and nervous system did not forget entirely. The hardwiring is still there. It just needs to be switched back on. Once you start the process of “switching things back on” your abilities are going to come back ‘on-line” MUCH FASTER than they did previously.
This has a few implications. One – you will likely be able to make faster progress than you did the first time around. If it took you 2 years to go from a 150 lb squat to a 300 lb squat 5 years ago, it might take you 3 months to do it this time around if you structure things properly. Second – your ability to progress might outpace your ability to recover at first.
So what does this mean in the practical sense?
It means that a 3 day per week full body workout built on DAILY LINEAR PROGESSSION is probably a bad option. i.e. Squatting Monday / Weds / Friday and adding 5-10 lbs per workout at each session.
Why?
By forcing yourself into a 3 day per week linear loading format you are going to have to SLOW DOWN the rate at which you can add load simply to accommodate the frequency. Furthermore – even with the smaller than necessary load increases – recovery within a 48 hour window might not be possible for a formerly more advanced athlete.
So in short – progression might be slower and recovery might be worse under this structure.
The better option is only a slight deviation from the original SS Novice Program but it works MUCH BETTER.
Monday – Bench 3 x 5 / Press 3 x 5 / Dips, push ups, or triceps, etc
Tuesday – Squat 3 x 5 / Deadlift 1 x 5 / Chins or Rows
Thursday – Bench 3 x 5 / Press 3 x 5 / Dips, push ups, triceps, etc
Friday – Squat 3 x 5 / Deadlift 1 x 5 / Chins or Rows
Now we have 2-3 full days of recovery between like sessions. This will allow for better performance on your main lifts as well as give you the flexibility to make bigger jumps from workout to workout. Some guys might be able to easily go 20-40 lbs per workout with this frequency which would be next to impossible on 48 hour recovery. You get more Benching and Pressing volume in this format. And you have great flexibility to add in some accessory work which will help you bring back your size and conditioning at a much faster rate than just doing the basics only again.
From this point it’s pretty easy to transition into a more intermediate or advanced program once the LP kinda runs it’s course.
Next question…What constitutes a long layoff?
Do you need to return to what I just typed out every time you miss a week in the gym? No.
To be honest I don’t have a cut & dry time frame that defines what a “long layoff” is that will apply to everyone.
For sure I can confidently say that if you are out of the gym 4-6 weeks or more then this is a good option.
The less time you are out of the gym the shorter this protocol will last. Regardless of the length of your absence restart your progression conservatively. “Conservative” is gonna differ by the person. For some that might be 225. For others it might be 135. For others it might be the 45 lb barbell. Doesn’t really matter to be honest. But if you are out of the gym for 6 weeks then you might run the above protocol for 6-weeks and then get back to what you were doing. If you were out of the gym for 2 years, you might run the above protocol for 3-6 months.
You run it until it’s “natural end.” i.e. both progression and recovery both become very difficult. You don’t have to kill yourself on it before you get back to your preferred style of programming. And there is no magical percentage you must achieve of your previous numbers before you step off. When body and mind tell you that it’s time to step off then do so.
Lastly…“stepping off” from this program could look different for anyone. If you’re a conjugate guy or a bodybuilding guy you might step off of this and change to something that looks very different (i.e. the conjugate program or a 4-day bodypart split etc). Or you might decide to just make small adjustments to this format that simply turn it into a Texas Method or Heavy – Light type of routine. On paper it might not look that much different.
For instance maybe you do something like this:
Monday: Heavy Bench 3×3 / Volume Press 5×5 / Accessory
Tuesday: Heavy Squat – top set of 3-5 / Volume Squat 3 x 5 / chins
Thursday: Heavy Press 3×3 / Volume Bench 5×5 / Accessory
Friday: Light Squat 3×5 / Heavy Deads top set of 1-3 / Back off Deads 2×5 / Rows
This is JUST AN EXAMPLE so please don’t ask me questions about the above sample routine. That isn’t the point of this post. The point is to simply show you how you might make small or large adjustments after the intial 4-day linear “comeback” progression runs its course.
