Hey Jordan! Saw you in London on the train last week, but wasn’t able to get hold of you so posting on this forum.
Gender: Male Age: 28 Height: 181 cm / 5’11 Weight: 80 kg / 176 lbs Waist: 36"
Been doing starting strength (or some version of it) for some time and have been able to go from 60 to 80 kg (still skinny I know). I want to gain more weight and be at least 200 lbs. I’m guesstimating by looking at pictures and myself in the mirror that I’m about 20% bodyfat. My goal is to get bigger and stronger. I’m not really that strong as of now, but I would love to have a body somewhat similar to yours in the future.
My ethnicity is Indian as I remember you mentioned ethnicity and waist measurement related to certain diseases. I’m wondering if I should go on a cut or continue to bulk. I would also like to clarify what to do after the gallon of milk thing. Mark mentions in the book that after the initial gain, the milk can be cut to half or even less. What do you recommend? And is it fine to just continue drinking milk in order to get to desired weight, or are there better ways?
And lastly, what are your thoughts on Mike Matthew’s approach to bulking and cutting. His articles are the reason for my confusion. He’s a friend of Rippetoe and has written Bigger, Leaner, Stronger book. He basically recommends staying between ca 17% and 10% bodyfat (Mike Matthews)
Would also like to hear your opinion on this calculator of his: https://legionathletics.com/tdee-calculator/#how-to-use-your-tdee-to-lose-weight
I’m new to this forum so sorry if this is a cliche question on here. Thanks in advance!
Thanks for joining the forum and bummer we didn’t get to meet up!
A few things:
I would not bulk right now given your waist. Rather I would aim to decrease your waist circumference until it is 33" or less prior to regaining weight.
I would stop doing LP, as it’s not really productive to run it after the initial 9-12 weeks.
I would not do GOMAD.
I think it’s reasonable to stay between 10-20% BF provided your BMI < 35 and WC is <37" (male)
I prefer using the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation for calculating calories.
Thank you so much! So much contradictory info out there. I will use the Miffin-St. Jeor equation. One final question, how many calories should I consume when I start bulking again in terms of percentage above maintenance (or below when cutting)?
So, been doing some cutting for a few days using myfitnesspal and counting macros. Weight was decreasing, but felt pretty shit. In his book Mark Rippetoe recommended cutting down to about 4000 calories a day which would make the bodyfat go down to about 15/17% after having done gomad and cleaning up the diet in terms of quality. I’m assuming this has to do with bodycomposition changes as 4000 is still a caloric surplus. Is this a way to go in your opinion? It’s a lot more appealing to be honest as I don’t like the way I’m feeling right now. I’m happy to add a couple of HIIT sessions on the days off if it helps.
That advice is not based in science or reality. I would recommend ignoring it, as eating in a surplus will increase body fat, body weight, and lean body mass (irrespective of quality).
I also would try and divorce the idea that small, short term weight changes mean much with respect to performance and training adaptations. In other words, if you lose a pound or two over a week- it’s not making your squat go down. Similarly, gaining a pound or two over a week is not making your squat go up. Given that LBM increases are relatively slow, it seems unlikely that much can change in a week outside of large losses in LBM secondary to illness or disease. Additionally, performance potential has hundreds- if not thousands- of inputs that are independent of body weight.
Thanks a lot for clarifying. I know what to do now. And thank you so much for taking time to answer questions and putting out so much content. I’ve been watching your vidoes and reading your articles for the last few days and learning soo much!