[GratefulCitizen]

Gradually let training slip in 2017.
Was spending a ridiculous amount of time on commute and work.

Quit my unused gym membership and bought a nice barbell and some bumper plates in the spring of 2019.
Didn’t do much other than occasional cleans, presses, and barbell rows.

Bought a platform from my former gym when it closed in the fall of 2019.
Made it safer to drop the barbell.

Bought a power rack, bench, and more weights shortly before the pandemic in 2020.
Suffered from a case of fuckarounditus and didn’t really get much done in the gym until late spring.

During late spring and early summer, tried to do something resembling Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength program.
Wasn’t getting enough sleep and stalled, but did manage a 200lb standing strict barbell press in early August.

Transferred back to the little UPS trucks at the end of summer.
Was getting plenty of sleep, but had to get back into shape to do manual labor after sitting on my ass driving tractor trailers for 3 years.

Finally got serious and started training again 10 weeks ago.
Bought the ebook “Practical Programming” and started a novice linear progression.

Did one non-programmed workout to see where I was at, then started at week 2 of of the example program in the book called “Well-Executed Novice Linear Progression”.
I didn’t want to try to make judgements without a coach, so I decided to just follow this for as long as I could.

Basically, the program is 3 workouts per week where you squat every workout, alternate press/bench press each workout, and alternate deadlift/power clean each workout.
Weight is added every workout until you can’t anymore.

Squats/presses/bench presses are done for 3 sets of 5 reps, deadlifts for 1 set of 5 reps, and power cleans for 5 sets of 3 reps.
There are some other minor details, but that’s the basics.

Lifts at the beginning:
-Squat: 3 sets of 5 at 165lbs
-Bench press: 3 sets of 5 at 165lbs
-Press: 3 sets of 5 at 105lbs
-Deadlift: 1 set of 5 at 235lbs
-Power clean: 5 sets of 3 at 115lbs (started a couple weeks later)

Lifts after 10 weeks:
-Squat: 3 sets of 5 at 310lbs
-Bench press: 3 sets of 5 at 240lbs
-Press: 3 sets of 5 at 160lbs
-Power clean: 5 sets of 3 at 185lbs
-Deadlift: 1 set of 5 at 375lbs

Tweaked my back pretty badly in the first few weeks because I wasn’t keeping it properly in extension.
This made work and everyday life quite miserable, but I was still able to do the workouts.

Each time I go to lift, I’m convinced there’s no way I’ll be able to complete the workout, particularly the squats and deadlifts.
The designer of the program says to ignore how you feel and just do the workout until you actually fail.

So far, I haven’t skipped a workout nor failed on a single rep.
This program is absolutely miserable to do, but it works.

I’ll keep doing it until the weights quit increasing.