Done SS for 2 Months Now, Advice?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1


Hey all,
I posted here a couple months ago
(http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2142161&pageNo=0) asking for advice on lifting and diet and was turned onto Starting Strength. I’ve been following that program closely and have noticed some gains: My weight has increased from 166 (where it was stuck for a few months) to 182, and I’ve noticed an increase in certain muscles (pecs feel firmer, bicep measures about an inch bigger than previously, etc.)

I’m currently lifting at:
Squat: 180
Benchpress: 130
Deadlift: 215
Press: 85
Row: 110 (not convinced I have the form down, so I’ve reduced the weight some until I am)

(I also have thrown in some weighted crunches, pull-ups, and curls after the main exercises.)

As you can see from the pictures (Right: May - prior to Starting Strength, Left: July - post Starting Strength), however, a lot of my progress is still buried beneath fat (probably more than when I started SS due to the bulking). I was wondering if I should add some cardio on my off-days or if anyone else had any advice to help lower my fat some. I do want to gain size and strength, but at the same time I’m becoming really frustrated with the fact that I pretty much look as chubby as when I started.

For reference, my diet is:

Meal 1: 4 Omega-3 Eggs, 1 cup Kashi Go Lean w/ 1 cup skim milk, 1 orange

Meal 2: Protein Shake (contains 1 scoop ON Whey, flax seed, oatmeal, apple, yogurt, and mixed nuts)

(1 scoop ON Whey post workout only)

Meal 3: chicken breast, Yoplait fruit yogurt, 1 cup skim milk (1 cup of whole grain rice post workout only)

Meal 4: 1 can tuna, salad w/ 1 tsp olive oil, 1 cup skim milk

Meal 5: chicken breast, green pepper

Meal 6: 1 scoop ON Whey, mixed nuts (Would it be better to do casein before bed since it’s slower digesting?)

I know I’m making progress, but I’d love to start looking like I’m making progress. Should I add some cardio? Change some things in my diet? Just suck it up and continue to bulk and worry about my stomach later?

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

2

Drop the milk.

3

…also drop the waistband

4

… probably has added sugar and you will be better off getting plain yogurt and mixing in blueberries or something.

My advice to keep the fat gain in check would be to add no more than 15 minute of interval training/conditioning work after your workouts. Something like 3 500 m c2 rower sprints w/ 2 min rest, 40 burpees for time, bw tabata squats, 10 minutes of intense jump rope, etc.

Also post a more detailed diet. How much chicken are you eatting? Do you weigh it? How much oatmeal goes into your shake? Do you log your diet/know how many calories on average you are bringing in? At what rate is your weight gain coming?

Do you have a training log? How much have your lifts increased? That would be nice to look at as well.

If I were you I would do things in this order:

  1. Get the diet nailed down
  2. Make sure lifts/bodyweight are increasing on a weekly basis
  3. Adjust diet/add cardio to maximize muscle/fat ratio of bodyweight gain.

…I would really focus on adding some muscle/getting your lifts up. Forget about the fat for now, get 1) and 2) taken care of, then you can add in 3).

5

I can’t really see much change in bf between the two pics, has your waist size increased any? Also, yes, a casein/whey blend would be a better pre bed shake.

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[quote]poona wrote:
Drop the milk.[/quote]

Dropping the milk would reduce the amount of calories I’m taking in by about 360 a day. Is that something I want to do if my intention is to put on muscle?

[quote]theuofh wrote:
Yoplait fruit yogurt

… probably has added sugar and you will be better off getting plain yogurt and mixing in blueberries or something.[/quote]

I’ve been meaning to drop the yogurt for a while. Good suggestion for the replacement.

Should I get for non-fat yogurt or just go for the regular stuff to avoid the sugar? (I guess I should also ask that about the milk.)

Ok, thanks.

I get a pack of Perdue chicken and eat one breast per meal. It looks like each one is about 8 oz., but I don’t weigh it. (It says 48 oz. total and each pack has either 5 or 6 in it.)

4tbsp of oatmeal go into the shake. I got the recipe from a book by John Berardi.

I used to log my diet, but haven’t as much recently since I’ve been keeping it fairly consistent. On non-workout days it’s about 2750. On workout days, it’s about 3100.

Honestly, I’m not sure the rate of my weight gain. It never occurred to me to keep track, but I’ll start now.

Yes, I have a training log. My lifts have increased as follows:

Squats: Went from 75 to 180
Benchpress: Went from 85 to 130
Deadlift: Went from 115 to 215
Press: Went from 65 to 85
Row: Went from 85 to 110

(This is from May 19th to July 18th.)

[quote]If I were you I would do things in this order:

  1. Get the diet nailed down
  2. Make sure lifts/bodyweight are increasing on a weekly basis
  3. Adjust diet/add cardio to maximize muscle/fat ratio of bodyweight gain.

…I would really focus on adding some muscle/getting your lifts up. Forget about the fat for now, get 1) and 2) taken care of, then you can add in 3). [/quote]

This part confuses me a little, because it does seem like I have 1 & 2 taken care of for the most part. Is your opinion that I don’t?

7

Yes drop the milk. It’s full of sugar and bloats like crazy.

Get your cals from a better source.

8

I just wanted to verify your diet was consistent and you had an idea of how many calories you were bringing in/the rate of weight gain.

If you went from 166 to 182 in 2 months that is about 2 lbs/week. If you are looking a lot fatter, you should probably adjust your diet/add some cardio. Another thing to do instead of just monitoring body weight, is to take a measurement around your waist or belly button every couple of weeks as ninja boy mentioned.

Your diet isn’t too bad, adequate protein, some veggies, built in carb cycling, and carbs pwo for the most part. It will be hard to know if you are putting on too much fat though, without the bw/measurement feedback as to what adjustments if any are needed to the diet.

Take a waist/bw measurement every couple of weeks. After making sure bw is going up, make sure the waist isn’t going up by large amount.

Your diet could be fine, or it could need work if you are putting on weight too fast. That is why I mean by getting your diet worked out. It is set now, but you have no idea really how much weight is going on.

Other than that, it looks like things are going well. The lifts are going up and the bodyweight is going up, so keep on taking your medicine and forget about the bodyfat for a bit.

For the yogurt/milk, I usually get non-fat simply because all the store has is non-fat or yogurt+sugar. If I could find whole yogurt, I would probably get that. If you want to cut out the carbs, get some cheese instead of yogurt.

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[quote]theuofh wrote:
If you went from 166 to 182 in 2 months that is about 2 lbs/week. If you are looking a lot fatter, you should probably adjust your diet/add some cardio. Another thing to do instead of just monitoring body weight, is to take a measurement around your waist or belly button every couple of weeks as ninja boy mentioned. [/quote]

I wouldn’t necessarily say I’ve put on a lot of fat, but I can tell by the way my clothes fit, that I have put on some. Considering I’d like to ditch the chubby look once and for all, that bothers me a little.

Can I ask why you recommend doing cardio after weightlifting rather than on a separate day?

Would you second poona’s recommendation to ditch the milk?

Take a waist/bw measurement every couple of weeks. After making sure bw is going up, make sure the waist isn’t going up by large amount.

[quote]Other than that, it looks like things are going well. The lifts are going up and the bodyweight is going up, so keep on taking your medicine and forget about the bodyfat for a bit.
[/quote]

Thanks for the help!

[quote]poona wrote:
Yes drop the milk. It’s full of sugar and bloats like crazy.

Get your cals from a better source.[/quote]

Have any suggestions? (It was a struggle getting my calories where they were.)

10

[quote]Cavan wrote:

Can I ask why you recommend doing cardio after weightlifting rather than on a separate day?

[/quote]

If you are trying to get bigger and stronger, slow steady state cardio will probably just eat into your calories. The study that everybody uses say despite burning less calories a hiit interval training group lost more fat than a steady state group. Adding a small amount of sprint intervals, barbell complexes, or body circuits after you workout is relatively easy. Adding a whole day of either steady state cardio or hard intervals will probably mess with your programming and cut into your recovery time.

The idea really comes from performancemenu.com. If you look at their programming, they do a lot of heavy olympic lifts/front/back squats then a couple of days a week they’ll add some shorter conditioning workouts after their max effort lifts.

If you want to add a day of cardio that is fine, but it is probably counterproductive to your goals this time. Again, you might respond well to a modification in programming, but you should just focus on doing starting strength and getting a base developed before you play around with things. Heres a couple examples that I have found of a more mixed programming.

www.performancemenu.com/shorties/index.php?show=shorty&shortyID=39

Just get your calories in. If you have a hard time eating enough without the milk, don’t stop drinking it. But you can add some olive oil to your shakes or a couple tbsps of peanut butter throughout the day to make up for the calories and take it out. Its really a personal choice, but the goal is to eat enough to grow.