LP after extended layoff

Hello!

I am a 49 year-old male who has been training for many, many years off and on. I started training seriously in 2016 and made great progress until some injuries caught up with me last year. I was also diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s 13 years go which has recently become a real issue. I am also coming off of recent knee surgery, I’m getting brain surgery in November and possibly elbow surgery in a few nonths to clean up some spurs that are causing me significant pain. I have managed to train through all of this until the last several months which has been a nightmare, mentally and physically. I have completed probably 4-5 weeks of training in the last 4 months.

I’m not really sure what constitutes a novice, intermediate or advanced (or if those even exist) my question is would a basic linear progression be something to try once I’m able to start training seriously again? My numbers weren’t terriblly impressive: 501 squat, 515 deadlift and 330 bench last year @ 198. I have never tried a novice linear progression but as my main goal is strength, I’m just curious if it would benefit me to give it a go.

I appreciate everything y’all do!

I would argue that those numbers are quite impressive for your situation!

Which exact program you return to after a layoff isn’t critically important over the long run, so if you’d really like to try that sort of a program it’s fine. We have discussed the shortcomings of such an approach in our other content and have a “beginner prescription” program available on the site that we’d recommend, if you’re interested.

Thank you, sir! I will certainly search for the content you are referring to and go from there. I have several of your other templates so I might get the beginner template as well.

Much appreciated!