I have been barbell training for about 13 months using SS as my model.
Currently using the texas method on intermediate.
31 yrs old
starting weight 140
current weight 210
sq 5X5 345
press 5X5 160
DL 430X5
Bench 5X5 240
First 5 months were real touch and go because I had bad swelling in both knees (asked rip about it on this forum) Thats gone along with all my other ailments.
Anyway, I never really did much in the way of power cleans and never attempted a clean, which means I did not do the program for at least 6 months because it caused knee problems.
So, I recently became interested in trying the C&J because my knees felt great and the second training day I tried them, I put up 100 kilos. I would not say my form is awesome although the coach said it was unusually good.
The point is, that building all that base strength really helped even though I had done little technique work.
And yes I did GOMAD during the novice phase and did not get fat(in fact I stayed fairly trim).
Last edited by Mark Rippetoe; 06-28-2010 at 05:18 PM.
And as a result you have quite a bit better a handle on training for Olympic weightlifting than many coaches do.