About a year and a half (spending at least a few hours each week reading this and other sites!). I've gone through two Starting Strengths, losing weight and gaining strength in the process, and a 7-week bulk earlier in the year (putting on 10 lbs of "mostly" muscle). I've generally slacked off between these 3 programs, though after the bulk I made sure to maintain the weight. I wasn't planning on a bulk, and just started doing those 5 big lifts every session, going anywhere from 1-3 times a week, with the goal of maintaining weight and eeking out some small strength gains. I definitely feel like I'm past the rookie gains (gain strength, lose weight) stage. Prior to this year and a half, I mostly messed around not knowing what I was doing (bicep curls and leg presses- rock n roll!).