Skinny man movin on up

[Leoric]

Hey yall,

I've been doing SS for about for almost three weeks, although it doesn't seem that long. I've been keeping a log on my own, but I think this will give me a bit more motivation than just entering in data to an excel sheet, and hopefully get some questions answered. Beginning SS I was six feet tall and I weighed in at about 145 lbs. This is pretty sad for a 22 year old. I started GOMAD about half a week before I actually started working out because I was being a pussy by finding reasons not to go lift. I had lifted a decent amount before, but never in good form, although I thought I had great form because I lifted the way my old wrestling coach taught us. I started very light, and you'll see the numbers jump around a bit strangely because I'm retarded. Here are my starting workout numbers:

Workout 1

Squat: 75x3x5
Bench 85x3x5
Deadlift: 115x3x5

Workout 2

Squat: 90x3x5
Press: 65x3x5
Cleans: 65x3x5
Pullups: 7:4:1

And after three weeks I have moved up to:
Squat: 150x3x5
Bench: 125x3x5
Deadlift: 135x3x5

Press: 90x3x5
Powercleans: 85x3x5
Pullups: 8|7|4

In the first week of doing GOMAD (before I started lifting) I went from 145 lbs to 154. I'm guessing this was due to being hydrated all the time. But I've still put on a few pounds, and I'm now up to 161. I have never topped 150 lbs in my life, so i'm pretty excited to be at 161 so quickly. Before starting this program, I had a 1RM bench of 225, but that was with my humerus parallel to the ground (so about 3 inches off my chest), so I am probably about to pass what I would have been able to lift properly in a week or so.

I have read that powercleans should be about the same as bench, so I'm a little concerned that I'm not cleaning enough weight. I know deadlifts should be more than my squat, and I should be deadlifting more than my squat soon the way I have been adding weight. I would just add the weight, but I don't want to add more than rip suggested adding. If yall have any advice on my weight proportions let me know.

[slowjoe]

You don't give age or height, only weight.

Rip says for the first workout to move up until the weight feels heavy. It's always an option to "reset up" if the deadlift weights are too light currently. Alternatively, go up in 20b steps.

I wouldn't worry about the power cleans as yet. It's much less familiar to you than the bench press, and the numbers show that. If you can add 15lb (5lbx3 times) every two weeks, it'll get up there fairly quickly.

[Leoric]

I did list em. they were just text numbers not numbers numbers But I'm 6ft tall, 160 lbs (now) and 22 years old. I'm currently adding 20 lbs to deadlift, and 10 to squat every workout, so it should catch up soon. That's good to know about the cleans, I was starting to get worried when I tried to add an extra ten lbs last workout and the first rep on the first set was killer so I bumped it back down to what I had planned.

Nutrition is what is going to be very tough. I barely eat, and GOMAD leaves me hungry, but whenever I try to eat more than a handful I feel pretty sick.

[slowjoe]

Just to clarify, GOMAD is in addition to raised food consumption.

Usual advice is to eat, then have a milk chaser.

[Rezart Erindi]

I'm with Slowjoe here, eating is the most important thing, and GOMAD follows as much as nutrition is concerned. Now I don't know if you have THE BOOK OF RIP, which is the most important book you'll ever need for your training, but deadlifts are done in one set of 5, and p.cleans in 5 sets of 3. Also on the BOOK, it says that p.cleans and bench should have a similar progress rate, not a similar level of weight. P.cleans are a technical exercise, that you have never done before, the bench is the preferred exercise of EVERY person that goes to the gym, so obviously your bench is ahead of the p.clean. So keep on progressing, that should be your goal! Good luck!

[Leoric]

Yeah, i screwed up the sets/reps thing while I was typing. I've only been doing Wx1x5 for deadlifts, but for powercleans I have actually been doing Wx3x5. I thought he recommended doing this for a bit while learning the powerclean. I'll switch to Wx5x3 for my next workout. I tried to eat breakfast then milk. Only got down two eggs and a piece of toast with peanut butter before I began to feel sick. Then about an hour later I ate a McChicken and some fries then I had a few glasses of milk. B/C I was able to drink a decent amount of milk after eating, I guess I just have to build my tolerance to solid food back up again or something, because I definitely had room. Still going to be a work in progress. After working out today I had a grilled stuffed burrito and got all of that down, which seems like a decent meal. But I hit the gym today and put up

squat: 160 x 3 x 5
Bench: 135 x 3 x 5
Deadlift 155 x 1 x 5

The squats were hard as hell. I'm guessing because I hadn't eaten much up until that point. It seems like if my eating habits don't get better, then I'm going to stall soon. I'm still at 161 lbs despite two days of resting and eating, so I know just need to eat more.

Any recommendations on quality of food (like spaghetti versus a wopper and fries). Or do I just eat to consume huge amounts of protein and calories?

[Leoric]

Ok, so my gym was closed on Sunday for some reason, so i had to take the day off. Got to the gym today, and weighed in at 164.

Squat: 165x3x5
Press: 95x3x5
Power clean: 95x5x3

Squats were hard. I only increased it by five this time, because it was pretty tough last time as well. Presses were tough, butI got through them without any problems. Power cleans were super easy this time for some reason. Maybe it was switching to the five sets of 3 reps. It was a good workout though.

[Rezart Erindi]

Yeah, i screwed up the sets/reps thing while I was typing. I've only been doing Wx1x5 for deadlifts, but for powercleans I have actually been doing Wx3x5. I thought he recommended doing this for a bit while learning the powerclean. I'll switch to Wx5x3 for my next workout. I tried to eat breakfast then milk. Only got down two eggs and a piece of toast with peanut butter before I began to feel sick. Then about an hour later I ate a McChicken and some fries then I had a few glasses of milk. B/C I was able to drink a decent amount of milk after eating, I guess I just have to build my tolerance to solid food back up again or something, because I definitely had room. Still going to be a work in progress. After working out today I had a grilled stuffed burrito and got all of that down, which seems like a decent meal. But I hit the gym today and put up

squat: 160 x 3 x 5
Bench: 135 x 3 x 5
Deadlift 155 x 1 x 5

The squats were hard as hell. I'm guessing because I hadn't eaten much up until that point. It seems like if my eating habits don't get better, then I'm going to stall soon. I'm still at 161 lbs despite two days of resting and eating, so I know just need to eat more.

Any recommendations on quality of food (like spaghetti versus a wopper and fries). Or do I just eat to consume huge amounts of protein and calories?

Leoric, Rip suggest 5 sets of 3 for the p.clean, b/c being a technical lift, you begin losing form as you do more reps, so it is better this way, always.
Regarding the quality of food, I would prefer the wopper and fries. The main idea is eating 5-6 times a day, GOMAD, and getting enough protein. Anyway don't worry, you'll get adapted to eating a lot very soon. Like barbell training it is a process .

[Leoric]

Still progressing pretty good. Added ten to squat and bench, and twenty to my deadlift.

Squat: 170 x 3 x 5
Bench: 145 x 3 x 5
Deadlift: 175 x 1 x 5

Deads finally is above my squat, which is pretty exciting. It was hard though. I think it's time to drop benches down to five lbs each workout and deads down to 15 before I kill myself. Weighed in at 167 today. Ballin

It's weird. I've gained 22 lbs in a month. My shirts are getting too small, and my pants don't fit. The three suits I just got in (got them tailored about a month and a half earlier) don't fit anymore. But I don't look that much bigger. I thought 200 lbs at 6 ft would be huge. I think I'm going to have to get up to 220-250 eventually.

[slowjoe]

Congrats on the squat and dead beating your BW. Always a nice milestone.