What Should I Be Doing With My Bodyweight?

Hi Doc,

I’m making my way through NLP, try to pack on those lean gainz. Here are my current stats:

Age: 23
Height: 6ft3
Weight: 210lbs (fasted)
Waist: 34 inches

I’ve been eating 4k calories/day for around two weeks now. I don’t know what that number is doing for my weight, today is the first day I’ve weighed myself in months. Will weigh myself again in a few days and assess from there.

  1. what rate of gain should I be looking for on the scales? Strength is pretty good in the gym right now.

  2. am I in a good position to start taking my bodyweight up based on my stats?

Thanks,

Andre

Hey Andre,

I would recommend getting off LP and starting our beginner prescription or template for reasons fleshed out in this forum a number of times and our podcast on that template.

I think if you want to gain weight that it would be fine, but you don’t have to. I would recommend tracking your bodyweight via a weekly average with multiple AM weights taking weekly.

-Jordan

Hi Jordan,

I was just looking at your beginner template and why you don’t recommend NLP. I think you’re right, I feel like I’m just spinning my wheels at the moment.

Here are my current lifts:
Deadlift: 132.5kg 1x5
Squat: 95kg 3x5
Bench 77.5kg 3x5
OHP 62.5kg 3x5

Would you still recommend the beginner program? If not, which do you recommend?

Thanks a lot,

Andre

To add to my previous post, are you saying I can still make good strength gains without taking my bodyweight up? Do you have the link to a podcast/article where I can learn more about this? I’ve always been under the belief that being in a surplus is the only way to make progress.

The numbers don’t really tell me your training advancement or what you need for programming, but I think our beginner template is likely to be a good fit for you.

Yes, you can gain strength without gaining body weight. Lean body mass isn’t as tightly correlated with strength as you’ve been led to believe. We talk about this at the end of the podcast with the Data Driven Strength guys.

Very interesting.

Can I be confident in saying that there are absolutely no benefits for a trainee to be eating in a caloric surplus when their primary goal is strength adaptation?

I think that in general, it’s a bad idea to speak in absolutes.

Thanks Doc! Today I started the beginner template and stopped worrying about how much I ate: instead focused on listening to my body, eating food that is good for me and getting a good amount of protein.