diff --git a/apps/grpo/main.py b/apps/grpo/main.py
index 1dbef0b76..d5208c4f8 100644
--- a/apps/grpo/main.py
+++ b/apps/grpo/main.py
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ async def main(cfg: DictConfig):
         DatasetActor.options(**cfg.actors.dataset).as_actor(**cfg.dataset),
         Policy.options(**cfg.services.policy).as_service(**cfg.policy),
         RLTrainer.options(**cfg.actors.trainer).as_actor(
-            **cfg.trainer, loss=simple_grpo_loss
+            **cfg.trainer, loss=simple_grpo_loss, step=cfg.trainer.checkpoint.load_step
         ),
         ReplayBuffer.options(**cfg.actors.replay_buffer).as_actor(
             **cfg.replay_buffer, collate=collate
@@ -353,6 +353,14 @@ async def main(cfg: DictConfig):
     )
     print("Torchstore successfully initialized with local rank strategy")
 
+    start_version = max(cfg.trainer.checkpoint.load_step, 0)
+    if start_version > 0:
+        # Ensure the trainer’s loaded checkpoint is pushed to torchstore at `start_version`
+        await trainer.push_weights.call(start_version)
+
+        # Warm the policy to that exact version so new rollouts carry generator_version == start_version
+        await policy.update_weights.fanout(start_version)
+
     # ---- Core RL loops ---- #
     async def continuous_rollouts():
         rollout_count = 0
@@ -420,7 +428,7 @@ async def continuous_rollouts():
             t.stop()
 
     async def continuous_training():
-        training_step = 0
+        training_step = start_version
         restart_tracer = True  # Flag to control when to restart tracer
 
         while max_steps == -1 or training_step < max_steps:
diff --git a/apps/grpo/qwen3_1_7b.yaml b/apps/grpo/qwen3_1_7b.yaml
index 14e4871cf..748225510 100644
--- a/apps/grpo/qwen3_1_7b.yaml
+++ b/apps/grpo/qwen3_1_7b.yaml
@@ -74,8 +74,10 @@ trainer:
     disable_loss_parallel: true
   checkpoint:
     enable: true
-    initial_load_path: hf://${model}
-    initial_load_in_hf: true
+    folder: ./checkpoint  # Directory to save or resume checkpoints (default: ./checkpoints)
+    load_step: -1         # Step to load from; cannot be hf ckpt; -1 means load from initial_load_path. (default: -1)
+    initial_load_path: hf://${model} # Optional: path or HF identifier to load model weights initially, will be ignored if `folder` exists
+    initial_load_in_hf: true      # If true, interpret initial_load_path as a HuggingFace model repo
     last_save_in_hf: true
     interval: 500
     async_mode: "disabled"
diff --git a/src/forge/actors/trainer.py b/src/forge/actors/trainer.py
index dd85b3c82..d730b5f3e 100644
--- a/src/forge/actors/trainer.py
+++ b/src/forge/actors/trainer.py
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ class RLTrainer(ForgeActor):
         TORCHSTORE_USE_RDMA.get_value() == 0
     )  # torchstore currently only accepts 0 or 1
     dcp_path: str = "forge_dcp_tmp"
+    step: int = 1
 
     def __post_init__(self):
         """Initializes config types and env variables.
@@ -159,8 +160,9 @@ def __post_init__(self):
                 raise TypeError(
                     f"{f.name} should be a {f.type} type or a dict like object"
                 )
-
-        self.step = 1  # fragile contract.
+        self.step = max(
+            self.step, 1
+        )  # start from 1 if not loading from a saved checkpoint
         self.num_training_steps = self.training.steps
         self.gradient_accumulation_steps = 1
         self.rank = current_rank().rank
@@ -186,12 +188,7 @@ def __post_init__(self):
     async def setup(self):
         # TODO: update ForgeEngine to not use ForgeJobConfig
         engine_config = {f.name: getattr(self, f.name) for f in fields(self)}
-        for key in {
-            "loss",
-            "state_dict_key",
-            "use_dcp",
-            "dcp_path",
-        }:
+        for key in {"loss", "state_dict_key", "use_dcp", "dcp_path", "step"}:
             engine_config.pop(key)  # Not part of job config
         self.engine = ForgeEngine(ForgeJobConfig(**engine_config))
         self.engine.checkpointer.load(step=self.step)