Rhyming Edition – Starting Strength Weekly Report March 2, 2026

VukVojinovic

Hi Rip. I am 38yr male, 6.1ft 210lbs… I started ss few times, doing for a few months then quitting.

Sq 270 for 5, DL 340 for 3, Bench 225 for 5, Press 132 for 5… My smallest plates are 2.5lbs, so after I started again two months ago i qucikly hit plateau. What should be my next step? Sq 3×3?

My sleep and nutrition are fine.

Mark Rippetoe

Your next step is not quitting.

dmc642

I’ve read Starting Strength and am reading Practical Programming, and was wondering if anyone has a recommendation of a resource covering strength training for endurance athletes, more from the strength perspective than the endurance perspective, I think.

I’m a long time endurance athlete, and quite a good cyclist (and runner at one point). I started doing CrossFit about a 2 years ago with my wife, and fell in love with barbell work that I had never really done before, and have really been focusing on barbell work for the last several months, migrating even further away from any endurance work. The traditional recommendation from most generic endurance coaches is obviously focused on that aerobic physiology and training, almost ignoring strength entirely (an eternity of submaximal work to push up aerobic capacity). I’m very familiar with how that training progresses and that periodization.

I’m not sold that strength is not worth paying some attention to, particularly for regional level US cycling, which is primarily criterium racing which doesn’t necessarily require high aerobic power vs. body weight. If you’ve got some added strength I think there are benefits to that discipline of the sport, plus I feel much better as a human when I lift. There is pretty limited blended guidance for strength/endurance in my experience, particularly how to periodize them together, managing weight, managing fatigue, workload of each, etc, particularly in season when there is quite a bit of racing, usually every weekend. Last year I had a decent racing season but really dropped off lifting for a bit, and when I bounced back to strength training I derailed everything for almost 3 weeks from the soreness. So just looking for a more programmatic guidelines or resource suggestions.

Mark Rippetoe

How would strength training for an endurance athlete differ from strength training for anyone else at the novice level?

Marcuswhit

Sounds like I’ve got a similar background to you – swimming was my primary sport for years, now I’m heavily into cycling and regularly race crits etc.

What I’ve learnt trying to accommodate both strength training and regular riding over the past few years:

Don’t stop strength training. I aim for 2 sessions a week, year round, which seems to work well. Deadlift once a week, other lifts every session. It reduces post-session soreness, so actually interferes less with cycling than by going less frequently – where as we all know you can be sore days and days later. I don’t lift the day before a race, but otherwise can do training rides the day after lifting. Interestingly, even though sometimes there is some muscle soreness, it doesn’t seem to impact performance. I attribute this partly to the fact my nervous system is firing for a day or two after lifting – everything feels really responsive.

Lifting 100% benefits my power on the bike. Others can’t figure out how I ride far less than them but am quicker. I can hold a more aggressive and stable position, and power across the curve is generally better. I just feel stronger on the bike (duh!). Also, if I need to get really quick on the bike, it takes less time to do so – my muscles are already strong (relative to cyclists), so it’s just a case of building cardio.

Things like aching lower back etc, which is highly common in aging cyclists, aren’t really an issue for me now.

Bike handling is also generally improved.

I accept I’m not doing the program to the letter, but it is working and making me stronger. I’m 190cm tall, 93kg, with current working set lifts of: 190kg DL, 145kg squat, 110kg bench. Not huge weights for many on here, but certainly enough to make a massive difference to life in general, more than most at any popular gym, and still increasing. I have no doubt in these circles I’d be seen as too skinny ???? but for an endurance athlete I’m definitely seen as the opposite, and I don’t think it’s limiting my strength gains to date.