Get weekly training tips, real-world coaching insights, and strength strategies that actually work — from a Starting Strength Coach who walks the walk.
The Power of Adding Five
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Reader, Squat went from 225 to 325. Deadlift went from 185 to 370. That's 100 pounds on the squat and 185 on the deadlift, measured by 5-rep max. The process was simple. We got his form locked in and standardized through video review first, ran a basic novice linear progression, transitioned through the NLP phases when the time came, then moved into Heavy/Light/Medium with rep and volume cycling. He's now training across various rep ranges, has additional lifts in the mix, and is making progress on 3 to 4 week intervals. He crossed that 100 workout threshold not too long ago. Most guys his age have written off this kind of progress. They've been trainin innefectively for years without much to show for it, or are convinced they are too old to get really strong. They're stuck because nobody has shown them what they're actually doing wrong, broken down their form in front of their eyes, and demanded excellence with their lifts. They've never been given a coherent process to follow and held them to it. We were able to lock this in with this client, and he will be well on his way to a 315 bench, 405 squat, and 500 deadlift in his late 50's if he keeps putting in the work. If you've been training hard without results like this, that's worth a conversation with me to get you right.
Sam Krapf, SSC |
Sam Krapf
Get weekly training tips, real-world coaching insights, and strength strategies that actually work — from a Starting Strength Coach who walks the walk.
Reader,Let's talk about Dan.Dan is 44, a father of three, and has been working with me for about eight months. He came in at 158 pounds with fused vertebrae in his back. Playing with his kids or throwing them around the house could leave him laid up for several days afterward if he wasn't careful We made the modifications he needed, found the Key Performance Lifts he could train effectively, and focused on steady progress over time. He’s now 171 pounds and considerably stronger. On a recent...
Reader, Details matters. Take the 5 Step Deadlift setup. Telling someone to "put the bar against the shins" sounds fine until you watch what they do with it. The bar ends up shoved forward or dragged back, their hips end up too low as they squat to it, and it ends up nowhere near where it belongs directly over the middle of the foot. Compare that to "the bar starts directly over the middle of the foot, about 1 inch from vertical shins." Now the lifter knows the exact spot to set up so the bar...
Reader, Stringing together week after week, month after month, year after year of consistent, effective, well executed training is where the magic happens. You do that long enough and you wake up one day annd weights that used to staple you to the floor are now just warm ups. You've mutated. I want to walk through what that actually looks like for a real client, because the timeline matters here. A guy in his 50s trained with me about 10 months on NLP and into intermediate programming,...