What should I weigh minimum?

[David Goldenberg]

Male
6'1"
I am up from 175 to 195 with 4 weeks of GOMAD.

Deadlift - 295lbs 1x5
Squat - 230lbs 3x5
Bench Press - 190lbs 3x5
Power Clean - 160lbs 5x3
Press - 125lbs 3x5

I am thinking about stopping the GOMAD when I hit 210lbs, but wanted some opinions.

[gman]

It depends on how big and strong you want to get. Rip would say you should be a minimum of 200-220lbs.

[Sami]

At 6'1", 240lbs+ to be acceptable around here. Minimum.

[August West]

Male
6'1"
I am up from 175 to 195 with 4 weeks of GOMAD.

Numbers don't tell the whole story, but I'm the same height and am finding it comfortable at 235. Started linear progression at 205 and, like you, put on the first 20 lbs in about a month with GOMAD. I no longer force-feed myself or push the whole gallon of milk every day, but going back to that is the first thing I'll do if lifts stall anytime soon. You know your own body better than anyone else, but my own approach is to go hard at the linear gains and get as big as necessary to make them continue. I wouldn't worry about setting a limit point ahead of time. If you're used to walking around at 175, the weight gain is unlikely to get out of control - in my experience, every pound gained has required hard work and eating to discomfort, so the minute I stopped doing that (the serious eating, that is, not the hard work) the weight just naturally hit a plateau. Whatever you do, good luck getting the most of it.

[banthafodder]

I'm a hair under 5'9" and weigh 208. I figure I want to get to about 230, minimum, before I finish my linear progression. At some point, I'll want to lean out, since I don't want to be this puffy for longer than I need to, but I figure that giving it a straight shot to some heavy weight, then trimming down, will be much better long term than gaining 20 lbs, losing 10, etc. over and over.

So, personally, I'd guess that stopping at 210 would be selling yourself short.

[IWillLiveFreeOrDie]

I'm 5'9 and I want to see what a hard 225 pounds looks like. I'm 190 now so I still have a ways to go.

[David Goldenberg]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

I must say that I am VERY impressed with what the milk can do. Skin-fold tests tell me that I have gained at most 1% BF (at 14%, but really dont care as long as I am under 20%). Just goes to show that if you work hard and eat a lot, that food will do well.

For those of you who did this (GOMAD), how did your waist numbers change?

Good thing all of my nice dress pants have elastic waistbands! haha

[August West]

For those of you who did this (GOMAD), how did your waist numbers change?

I used to wear a 36 on most pants when I was at 205. Now that I've gained 30 lbs I'm a lot more comfortable in a 38 waist. Got a suit that I'll need to get let out in the waist and shoulders. Also finding that XXL is a much roomier t-shirt fit, all of a sudden the XLs don't hang as loosely as they used to.

[Gary Gibson]

6'1"?

About 220 to look like you lift weights instead of jog. 260+ if you want to be competitively strong.

I'm training in an actual powerlifting gym for the first time in my life. I stand a hair under 5'10" and have put on ~20 lbs in the last month to get up to ~185. I'm just now starting to look normal, but I still don't look especially strong.

There's one nationally ranked lifter who's a couple inches shorter than I and who outweighs me by about 10-20 lbs. He looks very strong, but not humongous. Another very strong guy there who rarely competes is a shade taller than I and looks strong at 220 lbs. He tells me he's gotten up to 260 before. Again, at around 5'11" he looks very, very solid at around 220, but not especially huge.

For years I resisted the notion that I should weigh anything around 200 lbs. Thought that 5'10" and 150 was perfectly good and "wiry strong." Now I have a minimum target of 200 lbs.

[Alyion]

I'm 6'2 and 215~ and am looking to hit 220 and maintain for the time being because i'm honestly sick of all the eating, but I couldnt imagine myslef weighing less than 200, and I wear a starting-to-get-tight 34 jean