I have no idea about these things with your training. It is a puzzle. But when you tell me a healthy 24-year-old United States Marine can't squat 85 x 5 x 3 without getting crippled, well, I fear for my country's military.
Member
Gaining Weight on GOMAD, not recovering from squats.
Coach,
Let me indulge you with a little background, 24 years old, 6 ft, got back from Afghanistan and began the Starting Strength program with a diet of 5000-6000 calories a day with GOMAD. I started last Wednesday, the 6th, at a bodyweight of 165 with a 85 pound squat. The weight was easy, I stopped at 85 because I know my body from previous trys gets very sore after squats.
So after doing my first workout at 85 for 3x5, as expected the next few days were extremely painful, walking up stairs, trying to sit down, you name it, I couldn't squat on Friday, I tried but extremely painful, and even on Monday I almost was able to but has alot of pain in my adductors, when I did (at least I know I was pushing knees out). This Wednesday I did 95 for 3x5, but it felt much harder than it should have, considering 85 was so easy, and then today I started the warmups but by 65 knew I was too sore....All this but I HAVE GAINED 12 POUNDS SINCE LAST WEDNESDAY!! So its not food recovery, my sleep situation is not ideal I get up at 5 for work (military) and try to sleep by 9 pm, I have no unit PT that's interferring, so what do you think the issue with recovery is? Should I just cut to squatting on Monday and Friday? And if so should I modfiy my diet, or is 6000 cals w/ GOMAD still recommended in that situation?
Thanks so much.
Tom
TMPHBITEU
I have no idea about these things with your training. It is a puzzle. But when you tell me a healthy 24-year-old United States Marine can't squat 85 x 5 x 3 without getting crippled, well, I fear for my country's military.
Member
He might mean kilos......Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
Member
Fair enough and I can't understand it either, especially because I have done a cycle starting at 95 and pushing up to around 185-195 and that was WITHOUT GOMAD OR A BIG DIET. I can't recall exactly, but I think the only thing different was I didn't do it three times a week.....the only thing I can think of is its just a system wide recovery thing and my body needs more time to recover, ie if I did M/F squats instead of M/W/F I would be moving up weight easy.
Member
I have been un-fucking-believably sore after a very long layoff and just trained through it. There is no other way around it.
Member
How are the Deadlifts, Presses and Bench Presses progressing?
Gavin
✓ Member
He didn't say he was a Marine. Is he?
Member
For fuck's sake, don't start pounding 6k cals a day before you're actually able to lift unless you enjoy a big, flabby belly. Even if it's a puzzle, I bet you'll be fine after a short period of time. For some reason it sounds like DOMS is especially bad for you. Either that, or you're a giant pussy.
vxmorpheusxv
Post up a video. There has to be something wrong here, if you're allegedly under optimal recovery conditions.
Member
I don't mean to be a dick, Tom, but something is wrong here - like SERIOUSLY wrong. You're too young to be having recovery issues with the amount of food you're consuming.
Film your squats, post a complete 24 hour diet, and any pertinent medical history that would explain why you're having trouble recovery and why you can only squat 85 lbs.
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