You are probably not eating enough. Calories-protein/day?
Age 59, 5’4”, 140 lb.
Squat: 130 lb
Deadlift: 205 lb
Overhead Press: 90 lb
Bench Press: 145 lb
Pull-ups and chin-ups: 5 reps with 38 lb weight
8 years of random strength training using machines and dumbbells, mostly upper body. Lower body work was ham curls, leg extensions, and leg presses on an inclined sled. I have been doing SS for 3 months, and I read the book.
I started with 50 to 60 lb weights and followed the program. Before SS, I could handle the loads listed above. I have stalled on linear progression at my pre-SS strength. My weight has not increased at all. Squats are weak, pull-ups are strong, everything else seems average.
I eat well, quarter to half gallon skim milk per day, eggs, chicken, fish, vegetables, grain cereals, and whey protein shakes. I don’t eat fast food, french fries, or donuts.
I expected linear progression would have increased my strength by at least 10 percent by now, but it didn’t happen. What’s wrong here?
You are probably not eating enough. Calories-protein/day?
I don't count calories or grams of protein. There's too much uncertainty unless you measure and weight everything.
Before I started SS, I knew how much I had to eat to maintain my weight. When I began the program, I started eating much more than I had been used to. It seemed like I put on a few pounds, but that might have been water weight or a little extra fat I eventually lost.
This is a typical day for me:
Breakfast:
Grape Nuts or oat cereal with skim milk
Milk shake with protein powder and a bannana
Snack:
Shredded Wheat, raisins, and almonds
Skim milk
Lunch:
Chicken breasts or fish
Two servings brocolli, carrots or green been
One or two hardboiled eggs
Fruit
Snack:
Shredded Wheat, raisins, and almonds
Fruit
Dinner:
Chicken or fish, sometimes pizza
Vegetables
Rice, sometimes potatoes
Snack:
Cereal with skim milk
Protein shake
Not much red meat, no junk food, no fried food.
I am eating a whole lot more, but I am not progressing. I am not trying to put on 50 pounds, and I am not trying to become mesomorphic. If I put on 5 pounds muscle and lost a few pound of body fat, I would be satisfied. Plus, I would like to increase overall strength. As I said, I have have not gained any more strength than before starting linear progression.
Could you please give some recommendations? More than one sentence will probably be necessary.
Holy cow, ive never seen somebody who eats cereal four times a day !
Over here in the UK, a lot of cereal companies (mainly marketed at women) suggest exactly this type of diet to get thin fast.
Uhhhhh .... lay off the shredded wheat and get some actual animal fat into your diet (like all 3 major meals a day).
You eat like a teenage girl who's trying to get lean for summer.
Step 1) Eat some sort of meat with every meal, even the snacks
Step 2) Replace the skim milk with whole milk, increasing consumption to 1 gallon per diem
Step 3) ????
Step 4) Profit.
-Hat
At least your body-weight in grams of protein. About only half that in grams of carbs. Sugar and carbs being anti-nutrients.
So if you weigh about 140 lbs., then a carton of (12) eggs, 1/2 gallon of milk, & a whey protein shake and some cream will suit you... That is until your weight starts to climb. Man up son!
Reference Adelle Davis' 'Lets Eat Right To Keep Fit,' & Bill Starr's 'The Strongest Shall Survive'