Clarification on your advice “Nobody can get big and strong on 2500 calories”

[francesco.decaro]

It would help if you can articulate what is the minimum weight at which a 6’1” person can reasonably expect to be able to be able to just lift 2x/1.5x or, more generally, the height/weight relationship and justify why.

Never said 150 was a constraint and actually said otherwise more than once.

I don’t have an eating disorder, not according to my doctors or nutritionist.

No one in your position has ever gained 50lbs of bodyweight while getting stronger, and then complained about it.
You can always lose the weight if you are not happy with it.
But for your own sake, just try it, it won't take too long anyway.

[moonshot]

It would help if you can articulate what is the minimum weight at which a 6’1” person can reasonably expect to be able to be able to just lift 2x/1.5x or, more generally, the height/weight relationship and justify why..

I'm 6'1", and so is my 20 year old son who I have been coaching using the Starting Strength NLP. I'm 220 lbs, and my son finally took my guidance that 165 lbs. was not going to cut it, and he just hit 200 lbs. yesterday after 3 months of serious eating.

My son is still doing the NLP with no injuries, and his deadlift is 370 lbs., his squat is 330 lbs., and neither are showing any sign of slowing down. He, like you, didn't want to get "too big", and initially thought 200 lbs. was crazy. And yet here is is, looking GREAT, 35 lbs. heavier, and I think he's starting to realize 200 lbs. is just a milestone in his weight gain.

Here's another way of looking at it. At 150 lbs. and 6'1" you are skinny, without much muscle mass to speak of. To get significantly stronger, you have to add muscle mass. Picture your current body, and then layering on 40 lbs. of muscle mass, with maybe 10 lbs. of other weight. You NEED that muscle mass to get as strong as you want to be. So either decide you're going to add it, or don't, but don't expect to be able to gain massive strength without a corresponding gain in muscle mass.

If you decide to do it, I'd suggest setting 200 lbs. as a goal, and then reassess how you think you look and where you are with your strength.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I don’t have an eating disorder, not according to my doctors or nutritionist.

The fact that you have a "nutritionist" means that you have an eating disorder. As I said, guys, leave it alone.

[J.D. Shipley]

Sorry Rip, I can't help myself. Please approve this post.

It would help if you can articulate what is the minimum weight at which a 6’1” person can reasonably expect to be able to be able to just lift 2x/1.5x or, more generally, the height/weight relationship and justify why.

aweight, the reason it is unlikely that' you'll hit your strength goals at your bodyweight is because at 6'1" and 150lb YOU DO NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT MUSCLE ON YOUR FRAME TO EXERT THE FORCE REQUIRED. What is the bodyweight at 6'1" at which those goals are attainable? Not possible to say because this is highly individual. But what is possible to say is what has been repeated below - you have to add more bodyweight to get to the actual numbers your looking for BECAUSE YOU DO NOT currently HAVE SUFFICIENT MUSCLE ON YOUR FRAME TO EXERT THE FORCE REQUIRED for these numbers. You may think you're close but in fact you're actually light years away. Without sufficient calories you are unable to recover from the stress imposed by weight you're lifting. The solution is more calories to facilitate recovery and the by product of this is going to be weight gain.

Injuries at too low a bodyweight - yes your bodyweight is TOO LOW - are quite often a sign that you're not recovering.

I believe this article has already been linked to in this thread. If so, here it is any way.

The First 3 Questions

[David A. Rowe]

It blows my mind that I'm at an anemic 217 on 6' right now due to life impeding my recovery efforts moreso than previously, but this guy is worried about 150.

As a side note, this kid can absolutely join the Army as an infantryman, take a gigantic cash bonus, and they'll happily throw a full combat load on him. Me? Won't touch me with a 10' pole even if I pass the rope and choke.


OP: besides the other great advice given here, consider that there are no weight classes in life.

Or don't. You'll hardly stand out in a society full of weak men.

[aweight]

@Shipley, thanks for interpreting the question reasonably and acknowledging what is hard to say instead of throwing out random numbers or altogether dismissive responses like many others.

In the meantime, I’m now squatting 5 reps of 210 lbs with my weight a bit under 154, so I’m guessing or at least hoping to hit 1.5x on squats before 160 lbs going by my current progress trend of seemingly being able to add nearly 8lbs of squat weight per pound of body weight (expecting of course that leverage ratio to gradually weaken with increasing weight).

The fact that you have a "nutritionist" means that you have an eating disorder. As I said, guys, leave it alone.

Your condescending responses are unhelpful, but if you really mean what you said, you don’t understand eating disorders. On strength training though, your claimed area of expertise, I assumed you’d be able to articulate a sound technical justification for any height-weight-goal relationship you profess, oh well.

[GioFerrante]

If eating 2500 calories/day is already a huge ordeal for you, you probably have one of a few problems:

1. You're gut health is fucked - see the vertical diet info on how to put down more food in a healthy/more easily digestible way. If your stomach feels like crap when you try to eat enough to get stronger, check out Stan Efferding's Vertical Diet. There's a few starting strength podcasts with him and most of his material is free on youtube.
2. You're not used to it - your stomach would need to adapt to get larger to accommodate the volume of food. Each week try adding a few hundred calories/day until you get closer to 4000
3. It's a mental block - you need to just trust what the coaches here are telling you and give the higher calories a shot for a few months and see what happens. You won't be disappointed

[David A. Rowe]

Young guys will be young guys, I guess.

[Chiaki Nitya]

The only people who care about bodyweight:strength ratios are those who aren't willing to put in the hard work necessary to build muscle and absolute strength, yet still want validation for staying small and weak.

[francesco.decaro]

@Shipley, thanks for interpreting the question reasonably and acknowledging what is hard to say instead of throwing out random numbers or altogether dismissive responses like many others.

In the meantime, I’m now squatting 5 reps of 210 lbs with my weight a bit under 154, so I’m guessing or at least hoping to hit 1.5x on squats before 160 lbs going by my current progress trend of seemingly being able to add nearly 8lbs of squat weight per pound of body weight (expecting of course that leverage ratio to gradually weaken with increasing weight).



Your condescending responses are unhelpful, but if you really mean what you said, you don’t understand eating disorders. On strength training though, your claimed area of expertise, I assumed you’d be able to articulate a sound technical justification for any height-weight-goal relationship you profess, oh well.

You have not yet explained one single rational motivation for tracking progress the way you do. There is no use whatsoever in the calculations that you make.
The logical conclusion is that this is your personal fixation with numbers as a result of an obsession with not getting fat or the idea that having a 2x bw squat when you are 150lbs is the same as when you are 205lbs, which is only true when it comes to arithmetic and not real life.
Yours is a non-problem. People have tried to be helpful but the only favour you can do yourself is just gain some weight and stoo worrying about it and see the results for yourself