The LP and Eating for Mass/Hypertrophy

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Good morning,

tl;dr: Is mimicking (closely following) **A Full Day of Eating to Gain Muscle w/ Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum (**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2lxBRCaHKk&t=33s) appropriate for someone starting the LP who wants to gain muscle mass?

I bought the LP a few months ago after watching most/all of your Youtube content. My waist measurement in Feb was 41-42in. (5’9 @ 237lbs) and based on some of the recommendations you guys made I decided to cut weight so I didn’t stifle my LP gains (not sure if that really would have happened; nocebos ftw).

I’m down to 35-36in @194lbs. The goal is to hit 187lbs (excel math says I’ll be >=20% body fat) which I will hit in another two weeks. I mastered an 800 calorie a day diet with a lot of cardio but the more I think about starting the LP and how to change my diet the more anxious it makes me. I’m deployed so my food choices are limited; I am running off of scrambled eggs and protein shakes right now (2 scoops of Whey-Rx with chocolate milk).

How many surplus calories should I aim for and can my cardio affect my gains in the LP? Do I need to out-eat my cardio to get hypertrophy and if so is 1 calorie over the same as 500 calories over for hypertrophy?

I girl bought me a medium-size BBM shirt a few weeks ago and it really shows my weight loss and how small my arms are. I look like a Vienna sausage with toothpicks for arms. My biceps are 12.5in or says the Mayotape, but my calves are 16in.; probably from a decade of carrying my fatass around. I need to get this right!

Thank you very much!

-Thai

2

Thai,

Thanks for the post. A few items here:

  1. What do you mean you bought the LP after watching our content? We don’t sell an LP, so I assume you’re referring to Starting Strength Novice Linear Progression. Though this is a fine place to start, it isn’t our recommendation for new trainees. This is: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog…-prescription/ It includes arm work too.

  2. I would not recommend a surplus until your waist is <34". In any case, small surpluses seem to work better than large ones.

  3. I would continue the cardiovascular exercise.

  4. I wouldn’t worry about maximizing your gains on any one particular program, as you have your whole life to train.

-Jordan

3

Thank you much for the response

  1. I really thought the Beginner Template (which I bought) was also known as the LP (which I did not buy).

  2. Would you recommend dropping down to <34 before starting the Beginner Template?

  3. Can a lot of cardio interfere with your lifting gains; the Youtubes gives conflicting reports.

  4. Thanks man!

-Thai

4

Thai,

  1. Roger that. Carry on :slight_smile:
  2. Nah. I would do it at the same time.
  3. If it’s excessive, sure. That said, you’ll be okay!

-Jordan