LP Nutrition and Beyond

Good Evening Jordan,

18 months ago I ran SL 5x5. No training history/sports prior to this since the age of 16. I’m 29 years old and stand 194cm tall. I started with the empty bar and my finishing numbers for 5 sets of 5 were:

Squat: 130kg
Deadlift: 127.5kg
Press: 50kg
Bench: 67.5kg

On the nutrition front, I started at 95kg and cut down to 81kg over the course of the 18 weeks I ran the 5x5 programme using the following macros:

P: 250g
C: 170g
F: 90g
Total: 2500 kcal

Maintenance: ~3500

These were all tracked using my fitness pal and hit gram-for-gram each day. Higher fat only down to personal dietary preference. Food quality as recommended in TBAB.

Generally I felt good, diet compliance was easy for me, weight loss was consistent, without stalls and training wasn’t beating me up too bad. I stopped due to starting to miss reps on the squat, coupled with frustration on the other lifts; frustration especially with regards to technique. Feeling that this was limiting me I attempted to auto-diagnose and repair, though to no avail (and there are no coaches worth their salt round my ends). I haven’t lifted in the 18 months since.

As an aside, with the help of the text you recommended (SS 3rd ed.) and the resources you and your team have published, I’ve acquainted myself with correct technique on the lifts. In hindsight I was suffering from technique paralysis-by-analysis, so cheers for the cure!

Anyway, the time is nigh and I’m ready to start lifting for life.
I was holding out for the BBM novice programme… but there’s no time like the present and what are you going to do…
I’m going to run the NLP with the ultimate goal of getting big, strong and down the line competing in PL. After the NLP I will reassess and jump on one of your group programmes or get some 1-1.

I currently weigh 105kg
Waist ~37.5"

QUESTIONS/LOGIC CHECK:

  1. I’ve considered a recomp while running the NLP but I’m struggling to see any performance or health benefits of this over cutting back down to the body weight and composition I previously obtained using the nutritional protocol listed above. My reasoning is twofold, a) I’ll be above a weight and BF% where I know I can still make progress on the NLP and b) I’ll be recovering previously gained strength. Do you concur? All of which is I suppose to say: 81kg BW with ‘x’ lifts > 91kg BW with ‘x’ lifts?

  2. Whilst I realise ~80kg is underweight for my height, my reasoning is that this would leave plenty of room for weight gain post-NLP when it comes to running programmes necessary to meet my long term goals (i.e. intermittent hypertrophy led programmes). Would you be inclined to agree?

  3. Hypothetical question time. If I completed the above nutritional protocol with my weight dropping from 105kg to 80kg and my lifts stalling where they did originally (130kg squat etc), would your advice be to me “jump programmes now, try xyz…” or “run it out because you’re now quite underweight and so let your weight rise sensibly to support this”?

Lastly, thank you sincerely for taking the time to respond to these and put out such great content. Having spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours wading through the incessant mire of quasi-scientific-panhandling-internet-bullshitfuckery, finding Barbell Medicine has been a beacon of light in an interminably dark night. I am confident that in yourself, Baraki and the BBM team I’ve found reliable, evidence-based practitioners, who as the breadth and depth of training science evolves, can keep me abreast of what I need to know for years to come.

Yours gratefully, in strength and nuance,

Gavin

Gavin,

Thanks for the message and I hope you’re well.

To briefly answer your questions:

  1. at 6’4, 231lbs I think you’re fine to maintain your weight, given your waist. I certainly don’t think you need to gain weight to get strong, but unless your height is a typo…80kg seems like the wrong move body weight wise. NLP is gonna be 8-10 weeks if you start at a weight that actually drives any training adaptation so I wouldn’t worry about maximizing anything here. I would just maintain weight or shoot for 100kg.

  2. No.

  3. I would not advise losing weight and I would suggest moving programs as soon as it stops working.