Questions, I have so many questions

[Samd1983]

Hi,

It'd probably be easier to explain where I'm coming from, so...until about 2011 I was about five stone overweight. 2012 I signed up to a gym and dieted quite brutally, chuck in hours of cardio a day and by October I was underweight and skinny fat and looking like death. With some help I switched to focusing on weights and putting on some muscle and got to more healthy weight and look.

Anyway, since then I've programmed hopped far too much, tried all sort of things and gotten bored and not made any impressive increases in strength. I've basically gone from 40kg squats for 5 reps to 60kg on a good day, 55kg on a less than good day. Sorry, more to say here. Along with that weight loss I mentioned earlier I've also picked up a nifty little self-image type disorder that makes me rather negatively obsessive with my weight and how I look.

I guess what I wanted to ask is having already made some gains (back in 2013 after a brief hypertrophy phase), am I still at that point where Starting Strength is for me? Will how much I need to eat likely result in a physique which leaves me feeling terrible about myself? Also, is it absolutely essential to have to track calories? I did use MFP once but obsessiveness became a problem for me and I had to stop.

I don't currently do any other activity other than walking my dog. I have my own gym at home which consists of a 7ft barbell, an adjustable rack, various weights ranging from 0.25 kg to 20kg and a pull up bar. I'm 33 years old, male, 166 lbs, 5 ft 5. Currently in program limbo. My weight when I started lifting in 2012 was about 15:8 lbs.

[Tom Campitelli]

This is kind of a tough one. Here's my advice – figure out what your goal is. If that goal is to squat 140 kg for 3x5, then you now have some structure for yourself. Think long term. Realize that getting to that goal may result in you putting on some bodyweight and not having abs. That is okay. In the near term, there is no reason you cannot squat 100 kg for 3x5 without putting on much weight. Try that. Squat three times a week starting at 50 kg. Add 2.5 kg a go. Make up your mind to do it.

[Samd1983]

This is kind of a tough one. Here's my advice – figure out what your goal is. If that goal is to squat 140 kg for 3x5, then you now have some structure for yourself. Think long term. Realize that getting to that goal may result in you putting on some bodyweight and not having abs. That is okay. In the near term, there is no reason you cannot squat 100 kg for 3x5 without putting on much weight. Try that. Squat three times a week starting at 50 kg. Add 2.5 kg a go. Make up your mind to do it.

Thanks for the response, much appreciated. When I list my goals then being strong, physically fit enough so that I can continue to run about for long periods of time without gassing out and a level of leanness that means I'm okay with looking in the mirror come up. But I realise focusing on one goal at a time and thinking in years is more productive than trying to do everything at once and achieving nothing. I guess I'm just agonising over whether I want to get stronger or lean out more first. But Christmas is coming up and my birthday two months later, food will be eaten, so I suppose it'll be more efficient to go with it and try and get stronger then to fight against it and try and lose weight.

Thanks again.

[BenM]

I guess what I wanted to ask is having already made some gains (back in 2013 after a brief hypertrophy phase), am I still at that point where Starting Strength is for me? Will how much I need to eat likely result in a physique which leaves me feeling terrible about myself? Also, is it absolutely essential to have to track calories? I did use MFP once but obsessiveness became a problem for me and I had to stop.

I am not an SS coach but I hope you/they don't mind weighing in - as I see in your story many parallels with mine, the only substantial difference being I'd never lifted before.

I lost a similar amount of weight to you (a bit more in fact) this year with diet and cardio. When I'd almost reached my goal I started strength training - initially because I wanted to add some muscle and make sure I maintained the weight loss even once I started eating more, but my goals have shifted a bit since then. So I guess I feel qualified to answer.

So, is Starting Strength for you? Depends what your goals are, but almost certainly yes. If you want to get stronger, it will do that. If you want to get bigger it can do that too, if you eat enough - but if you don't want that nobody will hold a gun to your head and make you eat.

So on question two - it is optimal for strength/muscle gains to eat at a reasonable caloric surplus and gain weight, but if you limit your food intake to maintenance or just above it's quite possible to get stronger for a fair while without getting any bigger. It will be harder and slower but it is doable. Even though you have lifted before, it's long enough ago and your current lifts are such that I'm confident you have plenty of easy gains left in you.

As far as tracking calories, it's not essential but it would definitely help. Most novices who actually do the program probably don't - they just eat at a fairly large surplus and they gain a good amount of weight. If you want to get as much as you can out of the SS training routine without getting much bigger and hitting those body image issues, then your margin for error is a lot smaller. If you want to keep seeing gains you really need to eat at LEAST at maintenance and preferably a small surplus. Without tracking calories (and preferably macros), unless you eat literally the same things all the time it might be hard to figure that number out, especially since it will probably change as your lifts improve. But in theory you can just look at the scales every few days and adjust as needed, the problem is if you undershoot your intake (which you probably will) then it gets tough - and weight training at a caloric deficit is no fun. Also, without a record of what you've eaten you have to rely on memory which can sometimes be selective.

Anyway, long post but hope it helps. If you want validation of what I'm saying my log is on these forums and it should back me up.

[Samd1983]

I am not an SS coach but I hope you/they don't mind weighing in - as I see in your story many parallels with mine, the only substantial difference being I'd never lifted before.

I lost a similar amount of weight to you (a bit more in fact) this year with diet and cardio. When I'd almost reached my goal I started strength training - initially because I wanted to add some muscle and make sure I maintained the weight loss even once I started eating more, but my goals have shifted a bit since then. So I guess I feel qualified to answer.

So, is Starting Strength for you? Depends what your goals are, but almost certainly yes. If you want to get stronger, it will do that. If you want to get bigger it can do that too, if you eat enough - but if you don't want that nobody will hold a gun to your head and make you eat.

So on question two - it is optimal for strength/muscle gains to eat at a reasonable caloric surplus and gain weight, but if you limit your food intake to maintenance or just above it's quite possible to get stronger for a fair while without getting any bigger. It will be harder and slower but it is doable. Even though you have lifted before, it's long enough ago and your current lifts are such that I'm confident you have plenty of easy gains left in you.

As far as tracking calories, it's not essential but it would definitely help. Most novices who actually do the program probably don't - they just eat at a fairly large surplus and they gain a good amount of weight. If you want to get as much as you can out of the SS training routine without getting much bigger and hitting those body image issues, then your margin for error is a lot smaller. If you want to keep seeing gains you really need to eat at LEAST at maintenance and preferably a small surplus. Without tracking calories (and preferably macros), unless you eat literally the same things all the time it might be hard to figure that number out, especially since it will probably change as your lifts improve. But in theory you can just look at the scales every few days and adjust as needed, the problem is if you undershoot your intake (which you probably will) then it gets tough - and weight training at a caloric deficit is no fun. Also, without a record of what you've eaten you have to rely on memory which can sometimes be selective.

Anyway, long post but hope it helps. If you want validation of what I'm saying my log is on these forums and it should back me up.

Thanks, I'm appreciative of anyone taking the time to read and reply to my queries, so thank you. Whilst I don't track I generally have a pretty good idea in my head of what I'm consuming and I do at least keep a note of protein intake. I found that so easy to underestimate and end up with less than 100 grams per day if I didn't really think about it. I just keep carbs and fat respectable and hope for the best.

You said that I've lifted long enough ago for SS to still work for me, but I've never taken a break from it. I'm still lifting, it's just that I currently am not sticking to a program and just doing compound lifts to keep myself going. So is this still going to work for me? I get a bit confused as to whether this is for people who either haven't lifted before at all or who have not lifted for a while or if it's also for people who have been lifting for a few years but are yet to make serious progress.

[I_iz_a_fatass]

Sand1983, you are me, just a lot earlier in life. After dropping 5st3 myself, I was is fairly the same position - kinda/sorta strong, mostly skinny fat and dreading to put on weight for fear of it running away again as it had for my previous two decades. I'd been tracking food on My Fitness Pal and stalled hard on lifts.

The advice I got and followed was to add calories, so. I added 200 to my then TDEE. The nascent abs I had went away, but I also added a quick 50lbs plus to my total and got a LOT stronger.

Having additional strength has no downside I've found yet.

The long story short, worry less about how you look and get more concerned with both how strong you can get and how much muscle you can add.

[Ben Patterson]

I have dealt with body image stuff as well. What helped me may or may not help you, but here it is. Tom nailed it already actually, determine your goals and make up your mind to achieve them.

What helped me was shifting my focus to weight on the bar. Instead of thinking about how I would look, I thought about how much I would lift and did my best to get there. This meant I had to eat, a lot. It didn't happen overnight, it was a process to go through.

I'd also suggest changing you're media consumption. Read, listen, and watch people who are strong talk about getting there. Some good places to start are Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training, Strong Enough, "To be a Beast" article by Jordan Feiganbaum, videos on the Starting strength YouTube channel, articles on the SS website. Consume as much information as you can, this is what helped me change my mindset. I hope it can help you too.

[Tom Campitelli]

So is this still going to work for me? I get a bit confused as to whether this is for people who either haven't lifted before at all or who have not lifted for a while or if it's also for people who have been lifting for a few years but are yet to make serious progress.

Squats work for everyone that can do them. You have not even scratched the surface of a linear progression. I have a tiny woman who started squatting 85 pounds for three sets of five around five weeks ago. She just squatted 140 pounds (63.5 kg) for three sets of five on Friday. She had been "lifting weights" for years prior to this. She gets nervous before squats because she doesn't know if she can do them, but she gets under the bar anyway. As I said, the path here is very clear. You get under the bar and you do the work. It feels heavy. You come back a few days later and add some weight to the bar. It feels heavy again. Repeat. Again and again. You make yourself strong through your own will. You do not give up. You grind and you stand back up and in the process learn some useful things about who you are. Stop wondering if this will work. Conduct the experiment on yourself.

[Samd1983]

Sand1983, you are me, just a lot earlier in life. After dropping 5st3 myself, I was is fairly the same position - kinda/sorta strong, mostly skinny fat and dreading to put on weight for fear of it running away again as it had for my previous two decades. I'd been tracking food on My Fitness Pal and stalled hard on lifts.

The advice I got and followed was to add calories, so. I added 200 to my then TDEE. The nascent abs I had went away, but I also added a quick 50lbs plus to my total and got a LOT stronger.

Having additional strength has no downside I've found yet.

The long story short, worry less about how you look and get more concerned with both how strong you can get and how much muscle you can add.

Apologies in advance for the intrusive question, how did the weight gain you accumulated look? Did you look bigger but less skinny fat?

I have dealt with body image stuff as well. What helped me may or may not help you, but here it is. Tom nailed it already actually, determine your goals and make up your mind to achieve them.

What helped me was shifting my focus to weight on the bar. Instead of thinking about how I would look, I thought about how much I would lift and did my best to get there. This meant I had to eat, a lot. It didn't happen overnight, it was a process to go through.

I'd also suggest changing you're media consumption. Read, listen, and watch people who are strong talk about getting there. Some good places to start are Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training, Strong Enough, "To be a Beast" article by Jordan Feiganbaum, videos on the Starting strength YouTube channel, articles on the SS website. Consume as much information as you can, this is what helped me change my mindset. I hope it can help you too.

Thanks, that looks a very useful article (currently reading it a second time).

Squats work for everyone that can do them. You have not even scratched the surface of a linear progression. I have a tiny woman who started squatting 85 pounds for three sets of five around five weeks ago. She just squatted 140 pounds (63.5 kg) for three sets of five on Friday. She had been "lifting weights" for years prior to this. She gets nervous before squats because she doesn't know if she can do them, but she gets under the bar anyway. As I said, the path here is very clear. You get under the bar and you do the work. It feels heavy. You come back a few days later and add some weight to the bar. It feels heavy again. Repeat. Again and again. You make yourself strong through your own will. You do not give up. You grind and you stand back up and in the process learn some useful things about who you are. Stop wondering if this will work. Conduct the experiment on yourself.

Sounds just like me, that weighted barbell I'm about to move up and down looks like the thing that will end my life until I unrack it. I actually was able to squat 70-80 kg for five reps not so long ago but then I went straight back down. Guess there's only one way to get back there. I'm actually just about to start with session one, initially had my mind set on doing a load of high rep depletion exercises in the run up to Christmas in the hope of minimising fat gain. But I guess longer term this will workout better.

One more question, has anyone done this and then gone on a cut after and found it easier?

Thanks, everyone.

[Rail]

Initially my goal was aesthetics too. I went to Starting Strength because I eventually realized, to look good you have to gain strength (I was VERY weak). After a couple of months and some decent progress on the program, I started to realize the benefits of strength and my goals changed. The biggest factor was how much better I felt. Aesthetically the results were great too, but experiencing the feeling of being legitimately stronger has completely changed my mentality.

Like Rip says, being strong makes everything is easier. The power of this statement cannot be fully understood without experiencing it first-hand. This may be just what you need to develop a healthier view of yourself.

Take a few months and follow the program exactly as it is written. If you do this you WILL get stronger. Even if you don’t experience the change in perspective that I did, strength training is the foundation for pretty much everything. The stronger you are, the better the results from other forms of training. So in the end you will doing yourself a favor regardless of what programming you ultimately decide on.

I am not an expert by any means, just a novice sharing my own personal experience hoping you’ll experience the same transformation I did.