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Thread: Optimizing eating for SS progression

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
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    Default Optimizing eating for SS progression

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    Hi RIP,
    I'm 39 and I train for baseball which I do at the recreational level once a week. Being relatively small at 5'8" and typically around 155-160 lbs, I've always had decent power as a hitter. This off-season I wanted to add some weight and strength back to hit the ball a little farther. I've never been much of an eater but it's been about 5 months now eating between 2800-3500 calories a day depending on my physical activity and I'm now at 184 lbs. I count calories but I don't worry too much about balancing macro ratios (usually ends up being around 33% pro, fat, carbs). I drink a lot of whole milk and use whey to supplement calories. In that time, I completed a Stack.com baseball specific 16 week program, now I'm on SS:bbt and plan on staying with it as long as I can. I'm 2 weeks in and am doing fine thus far with a 5lb per session increase. The last 6 workouts have wiped me out and I'm getting about 8-9 hours of sleep.

    Squat 210
    Deadlift 260
    Press 95
    Bench 160

    My question pertains to my age group and the fact that I don't want to get too heavy over where I am now though I understand needing to eat enough to grow and make each session progression. What would you recommend I do as far as my calorie intake goes from this point to make sure I don't have any stalls but also stay at a relatively good weight so that I don't have to purchase a completely new wardrobe?

  2. #2
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    These are not particularly impressive numbers for a 184-pound 5'8" 39-year-old guy. I guess the stack.com program didn't help a lot, eh? Your 3500 number is probably a minimum necessary to continue making progress, and you're far from finished. But I suspect some problems. I don't think you've read the books, and I think you're making the mistakes addressed in this article:

    The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

  3. #3
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    Just for comparison:
    5'7"
    165#
    Just shy of 36 years old
    Bench: 355
    Squat: 505
    Deadlift: 495
    Press: 215

    Never did a baseball specific training program. I have spent the last couole years focusing on getting as strong as I could, but I can still hit the shit out of a ball, I can throw in the low to mid-70s a little more than a year after tommy john surgery, and I have plenty of speed and acceleration to be competitive at my age. My performance in recreational sports has improved proportionally to my increased strength.

  4. #4
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    Feb 2017
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    Thanks for the response. Understood. Haha, I definitely was not trying to impress you with my numbers but I thought you might ask where I was at. I definitely understand the points outlined in the article and have read the SS book. I just wanted to you ask specifically because you are typically speaking in terms for an 18-35 demographic.

    The Stack workout was a lot of conditioning volume.

    Get Stronger in the Off-Season With This 16-Week Baseball Training Program | STACK


    I'm sure you've dealt with baseball players before and must be familiar with some of the common opinion in baseball about the way they 'should' train- not a lot of overhead movements, dumbbell bench (if pressing at all), a lot of single leg exercises, I only did front squats the entire 16 weeks. It was just an accessible program I chose to get me started again. I'd only gotten familiar with SS once I was half way thru my program and going at it 100%. Before this, I hadn't step foot in a gym for ten years, so my numbers are definitely modest but I am starting to see results and I'm making the incremental progress.

    Thanks again

  5. #5
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    This is a fascinating program. The author of this ridiculous mess, John Cissek, was actually instrumental in the development of the basis of the program you know as Starting Strength. He wrote an article for the SCJ back in 1999-2000, IIRC, about -- I swear this is true -- How To Periodize Your Abdominal Training. At the time I was trying to fall in line with the conventional S&C wisdom, reading the journals and going to conferences, and this bizarre article is the piece that started me thinking about just how weird it was to misconstrue the principles of periodization to this extent. As a direct result, the thinking that became PPST originated. So all you people who have become stronger by ignoring pointless complexity in favor of simple arithmetic, Selye's GAS principle, and the principle of diminishing returns have John Cissek to thank for it.

  6. #6
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    Thanks for posting this. It's good to have the reminder of quite how daft mainstream "programming" is. So much silly, ineffective, bullshit.

    But he has produced four videos so he's clearly an expert.

  7. #7
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    [QUOTE=Will Morris;1491932]Just for comparison:
    5'7"
    165#
    Just shy of 36 years old
    Bench: 355
    Squat: 505
    Deadlift: 495
    Press: 215

    All I gotta say is WOW, these are impressive Will. Congrats!! Being the same size as you gives me motivation to keep pushing through. Much thanks.

  8. #8
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    And round and round we go. Very interesting about that guy being a leading contributor to the development of SS.

    It is funny that I am currently training a very talented, young pitcher. He is going into his senior year and is the ace for the top baseball program in our area. He started last fall with me in the gym at about 6 foot 3 and around 170lbs-ish pounds. He was throwing in the low to mid-80's consistently. In the last few months he has gained over 20 pounds of mass including quite a bit of abs...amazingly enough without any periodization. In fact, all I did with him is teach him how to squat, press, bench, deadlift, and power clean. We added weight every time he could make it in and we added in weighted chin ups because they are the only other movement that is necessary at his stage of development.

    And guess what...

    Boom, he is throwing over 90 mph and being looked at heavily by several Division 1 schools in our area. He is a great kid, but because of his crazy schedule and we only 'sort of' did the program. Yet, the results are still pretty obvious.

    Rip, I for one say thanks for not falling into the conventional wisdom trap and there are a lot of people who have come through my gym that would tell you the same.

  9. #9
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    Bedford Texas
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    This is a fascinating program. The author of this ridiculous mess, John Cissek, was actually instrumental in the development of the basis of the program you know as Starting Strength. He wrote an article for the SCJ back in 1999-2000, IIRC, about -- I swear this is true -- How To Periodize Your Abdominal Training. At the time I was trying to fall in line with the conventional S&C wisdom, reading the journals and going to conferences, and this bizarre article is the piece that started me thinking about just how weird it was to misconstrue the principles of periodization to this extent. As a direct result, the thinking that became PPST originated. So all you people who have become stronger by ignoring pointless complexity in favor of simple arithmetic, Selye's GAS principle, and the principle of diminishing returns have John Cissek to thank for it.
    I remember that article. I think at the time when I had my CSCS something about this was on one of thoe quizes you had to turn in every so often (with your check for $10?) for CEU's.. I had my CSCS from 1995-2002 before I let it expire and it was because of crap like this.

    My baseball players here squat/bench/clean/DL one day then squat/press/clean/DL the other day but I only see them 2xwk and they rarely show up during the summer. My BEST power hitters and kids that can really throw (this coming from head BB coach) are the "football kids" that come from my offseason program where we do everything mentioned above but lift 3-4xwk for an hour year round. Bigger stronger kids go to baseball after football is over and do things____(insert activity here) better than the smaller,slower, weaker kids that lift for half the amount of time and play select all summer. hmmm?

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by Bluehands View Post
    I'm sure you've dealt with baseball players before and must be familiar with some of the common opinion in baseball about the way they 'should' train- not a lot of overhead movements, dumbbell bench (if pressing at all), a lot of single leg exercises
    You didn't ask, but my experience with baseball players is they are soft prissy primadonnas that fear hard work and worry about silly things like "functional training" and "muscle imbalances." They like to do trapbar deads that entail lifting a questionably light weight and then dropping it; laying on boards across the safety bars of racks and doing rows as fast they can while banging the 11 pound curl bar against the plank; throwing with a band attached to a static object, or throwing with a 5 pound medicine ball with a band on their legs. Rarely do they squat and if they do, it is front squats with a light weight that is typically 3-4 inches high. Don't be like them. Stop the silliness. Get strong.

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