I heard the quoted text in one of your videos and I agreed with the general principle behind the sentiment, so I was surprised to find out BM advocates a 6000 calorie/day diet for novices. Now I understand the novice effect, and that beginners should take advantage of their ability to progress and recover quickly. But I am also wondering, does it actually matter in the long-run if a novice consumes 3500 calories/day instead, but takes a few months longer to finish their linear progression? Your blog post gives me the impression that this isn’t a good idea - “For the record, if you’re “doing the Starting Strength Novice Program” or similar for greater than three months, you’ve either modified it to the point where you’re no longer actually doing the novice program or you’re doing it wrong.” Why is it the case that progressing more slowly is a bad idea?
For the record I am not a novice myself, but I do train novices, and many of them are not too enthusiastic about heavy bulking.
Sorry if I’ve made a mistake here. I saw the gallon of milk recommendation on the blog – it doesn’t quite say 6000 calories (this figure comes from SS) but the milk plus three normal meals is surely about 5000. Either way, assuming a novice is unwilling to add more than a few hundred calories to their daily intake, is it still worth attempting a very gradual linear progression on a minimal novice program, or would you recommend something else entirely? I’m trying to understand what exactly the downside is to dragging out the program (other than wasting a few months).
If you are referring to the “To Be A Beast” article, that recommendation (and article) is outdated and in need of revision. We do not recommend anywhere near that size of a calorie surplus, regardless of level of training advancement.
We have discussed our thoughts on beginner training at length on the podcast/YouTube (see programming podcasts, beginner podcast, Q&As, etc.) and on this forum.
Hey Doc - Sort of along the same vein; I saw your deadlift PR video the other day at 720. Nice. I have noticed that your BW has not changed significantly throughout a lot of the Deadlift PR video’s that you have posted over the years going way back to 600 lbs. It would seem that you are certainly not eating in a caloric excess with the goal of gaining 2 kg’s/month?
If someone had a couple years of training experience behind them, not competing in a weight classed sport and assuming appropriate programming would it be good advice to eat at (or slightly above) a maintenance calorie load? To bracket a response - Say 2-3 lbs weight gain over a 10 week template? or less?
The allowance for GOMAD in the article puts the calorie intake around 4000-4500kCal, which is fleshed out a bit more in detail. That said, the “measured novice” portion recommends a much lower intake. In either case, the article could use a thorough revision for sure.
To your question, I don’t think that LP=necessary weight gain for success and I wouldn’t recommend large calorie surpluses, in general.
The downside to “dragging out the program” is that it offers no benefits with some potential drawbacks such as ending up weaker in the long term, less conditioned, less muscle mass, worse technique, decreased adherence, and lower levels of self-efficacy when it comes to managing programming…all because the program has significant limitations.
I’m asking as I’ve always run my programming with the goal of BW increase of ~2kg/month and when my waist circumference increases too much I cut, usually running a hypertrophy or endurance focused block(s).
So I’ll get a little more specific and say that I’m an experienced trainee with a healthy BMI and no desire to increase my bodyweight. I’m running Powerbuliding II. Would you expect strength and hypertrophy increases if I ran the program at “Maintenance” calories?
Just trying to flesh out a plan (and looking for advice) for weight gain/loss throughout the year and training block to block. Non-competitive, general strength trainee with 3 yrs consistent training.