On/Off Cycles of SS

[JTA762]

Mark,

I am getting started with Starting Strength in preparation for a term of service with the Montana Conservation Corp (MCC) through Americorps, and want to continue the SS program while in the MCC.

My previous experience with a similar job in Alaska (SE Alaska Guidance Program) had my crew and I deployed in remote backcountry settings for an 8-on/6-off cycle. Food was limited due to weight/space constraints and lack of refrigeration.

Typical meals consisted of oatmeal, grain (couscous or quinoa) and on occasion, canned chicken. In short, low calorie, high carbohydrate and low protein. I’d guess we were burning 3000 calories with 10 hour days of trail work and consuming at best 3000-3500 calories a day.

On off days, I will live in-town and be able to follow the high-calorie GOMAD program.

How would you suggest that I work around this issue of, essentially, 1 week "cutting" and 1 week of SS?

Thanks,
-J

[Mark Rippetoe]

You can't work around it. You just have to manage the best you can while in town, and eat extra. Maybe you can sneak some food into the bush. Butter and jerky?

[wes]

You have no choice as to what food you bring?

My coworker had this same position last year except he was in Minnesota. He told me they were allowed to submit a wishlist to the team manager and if their requests were reasonable they would get what they asked for. He was eating a couple cups of peanut butter a day in addition to the dried fruit and grains they feed you guys. His team was clearing trails using axes and saws and portaging canoes for several miles since no powertools are allowed in the Minnesota boundary waters so maybe they got special treatment.

Either way, good luck, thats going to be a cool experience.

[FJRC7]

Around ten years ago, when I was 19-20, I worked a coupe of years for the Forest Service in Montana on a trail maintenance crew. I did essentially the same work you will be doing, on the same 8 on/6 off schedule. Even though I had all the freedom in the world to pick my own foods all summer, I ended up losing around15-20 pounds by the time trail work ended in the fall. The work is so grueling and the caloric demands so high that it will likely be near impossible to gain weight. I mostly ate the richest foods I could find: nuts, peanut butter, packs of tuna, cheese, yogurt ( it was always cold enough at night even in the dead of summer that I never worried about the dairy or meat spoiling)

[FJRC7]

By the way, where will you be working? I was in the Bitterroot. It was very satisfying work, and a couple of the best summers of my life. You'll love it.

[JTA762]

Mark,

Should a high calorie/GOMAD meal be consumed even when not lifting weights? It just occurred to me that I could bring along powdered (instant) milk. It's nonfat, but I could supplement with coconut oil or something.

Wes,

That's very similar to my experience in Alaska. We were in the "wilderness area" of Admiralty Island, so no power tools. Crosscut saws to fell trees and hand tools to build the puncheon bridges. It's likely to be the same in MT since they have people deployed in Yellowstone.

In Alaska, you shopped for your own food. I don't know how it'll be with Montana. I hope we don't have to go off a list that the managers have to approve, that would suck.

[JTA762]

FJRC7,

According to the website (mtcorps.org),

You will spend time in the remote Wapiti Wilderness of Shoshone (at times on horseback)

and,

Other project areas include Bighorn National Forest, Pryor Mountains and Wild Horse Range, Bighorn Canyon and the Caroline Lockhart historical ranch, Big Spring Creek, Devil’s Tower and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

My team leader in AK worked in the MT Corps and she was in Yellowstone on horseback. In any case, I'll be deploying from Billings. Looking forward to it... and to checking out the Roughstock Distillery in Bozeman

[FJRC7]

It looks like most of those areas are in Wyoming, and some in southern Montana. On one of your 6 day "weekends," you should try to check out western Montana, especially the areas around Flathead Lake and Glacier National Park. Well worth seeing if you haven't already.

[JTA762]

Yessir, I fully intend to do so.

I have spent a lot of time dreaming about moving to Kalispell. I plan to take the Rimrock Express out to Kalispell and go from there.

[Joe Kirsch]

I worked 2 years in Washington Conservation Corps, doing trail work in Olympic National Park and Rainier National Park - we had the same back-country schedule in Olympic, with 8 on, 6 off.

During a spike, I'd typically lose between 3-5 pounds, regardless of what I ate (which I promptly gained back via triple bacon cheeseburgers). You're not going to gain mass with this job; even if you eat at a caloric surplus, the lifestyle/nature of the work and the physical demands produce a hormone profile that is, from my experience, pretty damn catabolic.

That said, you're doing right for yourself by preparing with barbell training; I wish I had the trunk musculature I have now when I first started swinging a polaski/running a saw for 10 hours a day.