How much weight should a healthy but slightly older novice expect to gain on NLP?

[Geoff Bischoff]

If this is addressed specifically elsewhere, I'm not finding it. There's much said in SS articles about eating (question 3 of the First Three Questions!), and nearly always the example is given of the young, underweight male. I'm male, not young, not really underweight, and I'm not sure what's realistic to expect, and what should be alarming (too little gain, too much) for my situation.

So far, here's the stats:
40-y-o male
Training: Weights for 10 years, mostly dumb bro-stuff, but I built a moderate base of strength anyway. Now: Doing SS NLP, just coming into week four: Starting weights: Squat 285, Bench 245, Deadlift 345, Press 157, current Working weights are Squat 295 (deloaded from 315 by a SSC for form fix), bench 255, press 140 (deloaded from 162 by a SSC for form fix), 365 deadlift (with recent 407 1RM PR).
Height: 71"
Weight: 193.0 at start of NLP, 199.2 yesterday. Difference between weigh-ins approx 24 days.
BF%: Unknown. My eyeball estimate is 12-18% (wide range, I know.)

I am noticing a very slight loss in definition (my "razorabs" are softer now) but I do feel stronger with more food intake, and I feel and look thicker in the chest and shoulders/quads and adductors, so I take that as evidence that I'm gaining muscle AND fat, as expected, though I have no data on how much of each. I also have nearly zero data on my macros, except that I eat whatever eggs I can, and am doing roughly HAGOMAD (Like GOMAD, but Half A Gallon).

I am okay with weight gain. The Army requires me to fulfill certain bodyfat requirements, but I could pick up another 20 lbs for sure, probably 30, and maybe even 40, and still be in compliance with regulation (provided that a decent percentage of the pickup is lean mass). My chief priority (beyond not getting booted from the Army for fatness) is maximizing strength gains by putting more weight on the bar.

My question as simple as I can get it: What's approximately "normal" for a 40-year-old athlete with decent genetics and a good hormonal profile, who is eating like he wants to grow and working the NLP like it's a second job? Even a ballpark will help, like, "X is too little; Y is too much," or whatever you've got.

Blessings and thanks;

G

[Robert Santana]

If this is addressed specifically elsewhere, I'm not finding it. There's much said in SS articles about eating (question 3 of the First Three Questions!), and nearly always the example is given of the young, underweight male. I'm male, not young, not really underweight, and I'm not sure what's realistic to expect, and what should be alarming (too little gain, too much) for my situation.

So far, here's the stats:
40-y-o male
Training: Weights for 10 years, mostly dumb bro-stuff, but I built a moderate base of strength anyway. Now: Doing SS NLP, just coming into week four: Starting weights: Squat 285, Bench 245, Deadlift 345, Press 157, current Working weights are Squat 295 (deloaded from 315 by a SSC for form fix), bench 255, press 140 (deloaded from 162 by a SSC for form fix), 365 deadlift (with recent 407 1RM PR).
Height: 71"
Weight: 193.0 at start of NLP, 199.2 yesterday. Difference between weigh-ins approx 24 days.
BF%: Unknown. My eyeball estimate is 12-18% (wide range, I know.)

I am noticing a very slight loss in definition (my "razorabs" are softer now) but I do feel stronger with more food intake, and I feel and look thicker in the chest and shoulders/quads and adductors, so I take that as evidence that I'm gaining muscle AND fat, as expected, though I have no data on how much of each. I also have nearly zero data on my macros, except that I eat whatever eggs I can, and am doing roughly HAGOMAD (Like GOMAD, but Half A Gallon).

I am okay with weight gain. The Army requires me to fulfill certain bodyfat requirements, but I could pick up another 20 lbs for sure, probably 30, and maybe even 40, and still be in compliance with regulation (provided that a decent percentage of the pickup is lean mass). My chief priority (beyond not getting booted from the Army for fatness) is maximizing strength gains by putting more weight on the bar.

My question as simple as I can get it: What's approximately "normal" for a 40-year-old athlete with decent genetics and a good hormonal profile, who is eating like he wants to grow and working the NLP like it's a second job? Even a ballpark will help, like, "X is too little; Y is too much," or whatever you've got.

Blessings and thanks;

G

Thanks for posting! Those are fine numbers and I'm glad this has went well for you. Not an easy thing to balance that's for sure. The main question is: what were the loads on most recent workout? How tall are you?

[Geoff Bischoff]

Height is 71" (5'11") though sometimes when I stretch my neck really tall for the tape the Army will mark down 72"... heh.

Workout loads, last three days:
Press 140. I got 162lbs successfully using strict press, but the SSC deloaded me, taught me the better technique with hip-thrust, and told me "now jump 5lbs per workout until you fail, then resume 2.5lb loading. 140lbs went up super easy.
Bench 255. Using 1 to 2 lb jumps
Squat 305. I was at 315 when the SSC deloaded me to 275, fixed form, and told me "jump 10 lbs per workout until you reach 315 again, then resume 5lb loading." So my next workout will be 315, then 320 etc.
DL 370. Still doing 1 set of 5 and jumping 5 lbs, every other workout.

So far I haven't failed yet -- but the bench and DL are starting to "feel" heavy. Squat and press less so, because of recent form-fix deloads.

Side note, I finally caught on last night that you're in Phoenix -- I'm in Chandler. I had no idea there was a SSC in Arizona. That's great news.

[Robert Santana]

Height is 71" (5'11") though sometimes when I stretch my neck really tall for the tape the Army will mark down 72"... heh.

Workout loads, last three days:
Press 140. I got 162lbs successfully using strict press, but the SSC deloaded me, taught me the better technique with hip-thrust, and told me "now jump 5lbs per workout until you fail, then resume 2.5lb loading. 140lbs went up super easy.
Bench 255. Using 1 to 2 lb jumps
Squat 305. I was at 315 when the SSC deloaded me to 275, fixed form, and told me "jump 10 lbs per workout until you reach 315 again, then resume 5lb loading." So my next workout will be 315, then 320 etc.
DL 370. Still doing 1 set of 5 and jumping 5 lbs, every other workout.

So far I haven't failed yet -- but the bench and DL are starting to "feel" heavy. Squat and press less so, because of recent form-fix deloads.

Side note, I finally caught on last night that you're in Phoenix -- I'm in Chandler. I had no idea there was a SSC in Arizona. That's great news.

I'd just keep doing what you're doing then. You aren't weak by any means so roll with it. There are actually two of us now . Nikki Balmes just passed recently! She is closer to you than I am. I'm out in downtown Phoenix these days but I won't turn away the company!

[Geoff Bischoff]

Holy smokes -- Nikki at American Raw, just down the street!?

[Robert Santana]

Holy smokes -- Nikki at American Raw, just down the street!?

that is her :-)