grant_edwards

I am new to the forum and am looking for some nutrition advice (I posted this in the Mark Rippetoe Q&A forum and he accused me of being a troll, which I promise I am not). I am a 27 year old 6 foot tall male and I currently weigh 135. You can probably guess by this description alone that I am severely underweight AND you guessed it, quite weak for my size. To put it in context my 5 rep max on my back squat is 135. I can deadlift 245 for 5 reps and I can bench 145 for 5 reps and I have been training consistently for 7 years though I admit some of that time was spent doing dumb Crossfit exercise but I always had a strength component. I currently eat about 3200 calories per day (I have been tracking diligently for years), and when I increase my calories I notice that I just move more to compensate for the additional energy. I eat about 400 grams of carbs per day, 300 grams of protein, and maybe 30 (ish) calories of fat. I'm not sure where to go with my calories. I want to get stronger, despite having hardgainer genetics, and I am open to any and all suggestions.

grant_edwards

Thank you for the feedback and not accusing me of being a troll. I will give this a shot. I cannot lie that aesthetics has been a major focus of mine and that has held me back from achieving strength goals. I listened to the three episodes you did on Starting Strength Radio and really enjoyed the content. Thank you again for your reply!

Malc Hales

I am a 59 year old male, who lives in Brighton, England. I was a national 100m sprinter from the age of 11-38, I also played defensive back in the European leagues during the 80s. I represented England in international games during this period. It definitely helped that I lived and trained in Houston for 5 years early to mid 80s for my football and sprinting skills. I also coached both sprints and D backs for a 10 year period in the 90s.

I have been training the Starting Strength way since mid way through January, when I found your channel. I have found it to be exactly what my old sprint and American football coach used to train me on back in the day.

I weigh in at a "healthyish" 80 kilos and I 5’9” tall. Although I do have all the aches and pains of a 59 year old ex sprinter/football player, I can still carry out the squat, deadlift, bench press, chins and shoulder press to an acceptable standard. I do 3 sessions over a 7 day week, although last week only 2 due to fatigue.

It's my weight that gives me a few headaches. I try to eat a well balanced diet, around 2700-3000 cals a day with about 110 grams of protein. I drink a protein shake 1st thing (4am) before work, but the rest is real food. I was wondering if you would recommend that I drink a weight bulk drink last thing at night, to help my body recover and hopefully gain a few kilos? Or will that be a waste of my hard earned ££s? Any other thoughts would be thankfully received. My weight has risen 1.5 kilos in the 2 months I have been training your way.

My 3x5 reps: Squat has gone from a 80k to 110k, deadlift 80k to 120k, bench 65k to 90k, shoulder press 20k to 35k, a max chins of 10 now.

Would really appreciate your thoughts.

tompaynter

You've heard from Rip, you don't need to hear from me. But I am a busybody and Rip can be a bit brief, so my trainee's perspective is, both your progress in the lifts and your weight gain seem a bit slow for an SS novice who probably has good genes for athleticism and a good deal of muscle memory for strength. I have never been 59 years old, but I bet if you follow Rip's prescription you'll have faster gains. Also you don't mention supplementing with creatine; if you aren't doing it, that would help as well.

FatButWeak

I agree with Rip (age 50 here). Also, I'm skeptical about your sleep if you're rising at 4AM. Are you falling asleep at 8PM? If not, you need more sleep. 8 hours a night is not a joke or recommendation but a mandate.