SS Progress and Diet Questions

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Mark,

I posted here a few months ago. I was the guy who got a numb leg from letting his girl go for a ride. Took your advice and got an MRI - herniated L4/L5. I bought a belt, kept squatting and it healed up in under a month. Here are my numbers after about six serious weeks of training SS.

Age 18, 6'2", 210lbs, 20%bf.
Squat ? 285 x 5 x 3
Deadlift ? 310 x 5
Bench ? 145 x 5 x 3
Press ? 95 x 5 x 3
PC ? 120 x 3 x 5
Pull-ups ? 7, 4, 3
Chins ? 8, 5, 3

My current goals are to reach intermediate numbers (as described in the PP charts) in all of my lifts, and to carry less body fat.

Here's why I'm posting: I'm beginning to stall on the squat and I've already stalled on both the presses. I believe this is a dietary problem because I get plenty of sleep and my form is good. I've always eaten pretty low carb to keep the body fat down; I'm naturally chubby. Obviously my 3000 cal/day low carb diet isn't working anymore. Given my stats, would you recommend GOMAD for me? If so, how much should I be able to gain off it?

In Strong Enough?, p.34, you are deadlifting a Shit Ton of weight, yet you look pretty damn lean. What did your diet look like at that point in your career? Can I get that strong while staying that lean? Or is this where genetics come into play?

Thank you for your time, again,

- Sean

[Mark Rippetoe]

I have never been what a bodybuilder would call "lean". In that picture I was probably about 12%. Your low-carb diet is costing you training progress, so I'd add some carbs, maybe do a 1/2 GOMAD, and let your training handle your bodyfat situation. When you get to an actual plateau you can go on a slicing diet for a few weeks, but until then I'd just use the opportunity to get strong that you have now.