Advice on First Program

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Looking for some advice from everyone. Looking at starting a program through Barbell Medicine and wondering which one would be best.

37 years old. In June of 2018, I weighed in at 345 pounds. Waist was 50+ inches and I’m 6 feet tall. Started to focus on making my own meals and focusing on protein intake. That turned into a high protein, low carb and low fat diet (250-300p, <30c, 50f). Started doing cardio and then started lifting around July.

I weigh 190 today. Waist is 34 inches. I’ve tried the starting strength program but seem to get stuck at around 225 for squat, 155 for bench, and 275 for deadlift. I wouldn’t mind adding weight, but I do feel uncomfortable with the bumping carbs up to 500+ and calories to 4000 or more and that’s what was prescribed at as. I also rest between days and sleep well, but would be more than happy to train more (even the dreaded cardio lol).

So long story into hopefully a short explanation of my goals. If the answer is stick with what what I’m doing I’m ok with that too
-get stronger (past my sticking points)
-adjust my eating to maintain or gain weight but not to an extreme

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2

Hi William,
Welcome and big congrats on all your progress so far. That’s pretty awesome and notable.

I think you should alter your training and not think that the only way to make progress at this point is to eat more and gain weight. At a 34 inch waist, you might want to gain some weight, but that would be slowly and over time, keeping an eye on your waist as you go.

So if you’ve been training pretty consistently lately, I’d suggest moving to the Bridge. If you’ve been away from training for a bit and this run at the SSLP that you reference here was a bit in the past, then I’d check out the Beginner’s Template.

3

Thank you so much for the reply Leah.

I lift 3 days a week. I let a hip injury slow my training down about 8 months ago. I’ve focused a lot on my diet but it’s time to focus on making progress in strength.

I track everything I eat so I’m going to keep my protein around 300, fat around 50 or 60, and bump my carbs up to 100 to 200 depending on lift days or rest days.

I also downloaded The Bridge on Tuesday and just dove right into it. I love the rpe concept and am excited to see how I progress.