diff --git a/src/timestepping/backward_euler.cc b/src/timestepping/backward_euler.cc
index 5a74cf8a3590d53f1257565bf8d89a809f6ce53f..57f24bd3998397eea314d48d775748d094d96a79 100644
--- a/src/timestepping/backward_euler.cc
+++ b/src/timestepping/backward_euler.cc
@@ -70,8 +70,7 @@ void BackwardEuler<Vector, Matrix, Function, dim>::setup(
     Arithmetic::subtractProduct(rhs, A, u_o);
   }
 
-  // v_o makes a good initial iterate; we could use anything, though
-  iterate = 0.0;
+  iterate = v_o;
 
   for (size_t i = 0; i < dirichletNodes.size(); ++i)
     for (size_t j = 0; j < dim; ++j)
diff --git a/src/timestepping/newmark.cc b/src/timestepping/newmark.cc
index b40b3a5160004210f0ba5b027d9f4e204d7c8681..518a69ce1ab53c090dffd78537ca0c2df223c11a 100644
--- a/src/timestepping/newmark.cc
+++ b/src/timestepping/newmark.cc
@@ -80,8 +80,7 @@ void Newmark<Vector, Matrix, Function, dim>::setup(Vector const &ell,
     Arithmetic::subtractProduct(rhs, A, u_o);
   }
 
-  // v_o makes a good initial iterate; we could use anything, though
-  iterate = 0.0;
+  iterate = v_o;
 
   for (size_t i = 0; i < dirichletNodes.size(); ++i)
     for (size_t j = 0; j < dim; ++j)