Half GOMAD for older guy?

[wwg]

Hi Jordan, I hope this is the right place to ask.

Read the books (SS and PP), your article "To be a beast", "A clarification", and searched the forum, but the info is most of the time tailored to either underweight or overweight younger guys.

After being injured for a long time (herniated disks) I'm finally in my Novice progression for 2 months now. Everything is going fine, I started very conservative (empty bars) and stayed at low weights the first month, and since 4 weeks now I'm loading the presses with 1kg/2.2lb and the squat and deadlift with 2kg/4.4lb, I train 3 times a week, current lifts are
Squat: 74kg/163lb
Press: 34kg/75lb
Bench: 49kg/108lb
Deadlift: 74kg/163lb
The weights start to feel heavier but there is room to improve.
I'm also doing chins with a neutral grip (supine gives me elbow tendinitis, for pronated I'm too weak), but cannot do many reps, I do 3 sets to failure, what e.g. today meant 3/2/1. My form on the lifts is checked by national caliber powerlifters (I'm training in a really cool gym here) and considered good.

I'm male, 48 years, 1.85m/6'1" high, and a natural skinny and weak guy, for many years I weighed only ~65kg/143lb, though I gained some bodyweight over the course of the last 15 years with occasional fucking around in gyms and doing endurance stuff, and added a little belly the last year with all those injuries and basically sitting on my ass.

When starting out on the program I was 88kg/194lb bodyweight. When I started to add weight I upped my caloric intake from ~3000kcal/d to ~4000kcal/d, a half gallon of milk per day included, most of it meat (mainly beef), sausages, bacon, eggs, milk, potatoes, cheese, butter, bananas, avocados and an occasional chocolate bar. After 4 weeks in the program I started to gain weight, ~1kg/2.2lb per week, partially fat and partially muscle. I self estimate my bodyfat around 20% and today the scale showed 92.5kg/204lb.

Now to my question, is the weight gain (1kg/2.2lb per week) within a reasonable range for a guy in my situation? Not that I care about my abs, they were not visible anyway when I started out, but I want to avoid unnecessary accumulation of bodyfat. But on the other hand I don't want to jeopardize the gains I'm making for the first time in my life. Should I go on like this or reduce the caloric intake a bit or would it wise to track everything? What would be a desired weight gain in my situation?

Thanks for your advice.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

WWG,

Welcome and excellent question. This is one of those situations where I have to speak in generalities, so I hope you forgive me for that. In general, a novice trainee who is not grossly underweight does NOT NEED TO DO GOMAD- though admittedly, people tend to not rate themselves as "grossly underweight" when they actually are, but that's an aside. At 6'1 and 204lbs, you are underweight though not emaciated. With this in mind- you do not need to gain a bunch of weight in a hurry especially when taking your age into consideration since the hormonal milieu is not as advantageous as it once was. General rule of thumb should be to gain about a pound to 1.5lbs a week. 2lbs a week is a bit aggressive, though I'm okay with it in the initial stages of novice progression at any age provided someone is not overweight. Realistically, you'd likely be your strongest in the 280-290lb range if strength was the only thing you cared about. I don't think this is necessarily the case and there's no problem there, but just want you to start thinking closer to ~240 vs. 220. Again, this all depends on priorities, genetics, supplements, etc. so it's all hypothetical at the moment.

Also, since it's pretty easy to lose body fat (esp. once you're strong enough to do some really hard conditioning) compared to building muscle/strength- I wouldn't worry even if you gain a bit more fat than you want to. You DO NEED to squat 140kg for 3x5 and bench 100 x 3 x 5, however- so make that happen

[wwg]

Thanks for the clarification, so I will simply enjoy the eating and stop worrying.

And I'll think about the ~240. Actually I do want to get as strong as possible in my situation. And about the "pretty easy to lose body fat (esp. once you're strong enough to do some really hard conditioning)" I'll come back later.