Freshman Fifteen Goal

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

All through high school I was a competitive swimmer. When the season ended my senior year I wanted to do something new so I starting lifting. One of my friendâ??s dad showed me what was what. He helped me with technique and proper etiquette but not so much with a real program.

So for the last 4 months Ive had a bad case of training ADD, but being a newb I was able to make some gains but I know I can progress faster. I started researching and stumbled upon T-Nation and have been reading through the articles and forums. Anyways sorry for the long introduction. Im on vacation for 3 weeks and can only do calisthenics while I am gone and am starting this program on August 20th.

This first year of college I want to gain weight but I want my freshman 15 to be LMB (I know Ill gain fat also). Here is my plans/program will you guys please critique?

I am doing Rippetoes SS. I weight 175 and am 6 feet tall and am guessing am at 9-10% BF. Needless to say I need to gain some weight.

My previous maxes are as follows (I have never gone for 1RM)
Squat 5x245
Bench 4x225
Dead lift 4x275
OHP 5x135
Power Clean 5x135
Max pull-ups 20
Weighted pull-ups 5x25

Workout Plan: Monday, Wednesday, Friday following Rippetoes rep scheme

Workout A
Squat
Bench
Deadlift
Famers walk*

Workout B
Squat
OHP
Power Clean
Max chin-ups with thick bar or towels alternated with
Weighted chin-ups

*Im debated Farmers walk 2x25 yards because my grip strength is terrible.

Im starting the weights at
Squat: 195 I know at this weight I can easily make the squats deep
Bench: 185
Dead lift: 225
OHP: 115
Power Clean: 135
Weighted Chins: 20
Im hoping if I start at these low numbers I will be able to progress at 5 pounds for all lifts (dead lift at 10 pounds) for quite a while.

I know training is only half of what you need to do so here is the rest of my plans.

I have a job every weekday morning from 6-10 and plan at going to bed at 930 on weekdays so Ill get about 7 and a half hours of sleep a night. Ill be training at 3 when the school gym isnt supposed to be too crowded so hopefully one of the 2 power racks will be open.

Im planning on eating around 4000 calories a day( I am good at tracking calories from swimming so Ill know if Im getting 4000 or not) and have at least 300 grams of protein. The only supplements I will be able to afford are creatine, a multi vitamin, and Im hoping to have money for some BCAAs but Im not sure. I doing all my cooking for myself so I know can make sure I eat healthy.

Sorry for the long post but what do you guys think? Am I missing anything or doing anything wrong? Any Ideas for foods I can prepare on a college budget? Thanks.

2

Looks like a pretty good plan, you’ve obviously put some thought into it. That said, are your goals more strength or physique-based? Obviously strength and size go together, but are your goals more based towards getting your bench/squat/deadlift/press up, while also gaining size, or are your goals more based towards looking as good as possible, while also getting stronger? I ask because if your goals are to have the best physique gains, your program is not hitting a few key parts of your body very well (no rows, no direct bicep work, tricep work, or lateral delt work, would be the biggest things your program is missing from a “lifting to look good” standpoint).

I’m not trying to say don’t do the program, lots of people have done Starting Strength and gotten a lot stronger. If you stick to that plan I’m sure you will get stronger, and gain muscle, I just think you’d look better/more muscular at the end if you used a more balanced program.

Also as far as supplements, if that’s all you can afford I’d get fish oil before the multivitamin. And, 4000 calories MIGHT be good for you, but I don’t really like having an arbitrary large number like that, take into consideration how that’s working for you. If you’re gaining 2 pounds/week and lots of it is fat, scale it back, and if you’re not gaining, bump it up.

3

Those are some pretty good numbers for a beginner

4

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:
Looks like a pretty good plan, you’ve obviously put some thought into it. That said, are your goals more strength or physique-based? .[/quote]

Thanks, and right now my main goals are to bench 315 and have both my squat and Dead lift over twice my body weight. After I reach those Ill go for physique but right now I just want to build a good strength base. Oh, and thanks for the fish oil advice, I read up on it and I am going to for sure get some.

[quote]chobbs wrote:
Those are some pretty good numbers for a beginner[/quote]

Thanks! Im working on it.

5

[quote]chobbs wrote:
Those are some pretty good numbers for a beginner[/quote]

X2

Good stuff man program looks good. Eat eat eat

6

Just a thought–do the MWF set up and then have a “free day” where you work your biceps/triceps/laterals/forearms. whatever you want.

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[quote]Jalula wrote:
Im planning on eating around 4000 calories a day( I am good at tracking calories from swimming so Ill know if Im getting 4000 or not) and have at least 300 grams of protein.[/quote]
Is the 4,000 arbitrary, or do you know that’s what it takes for you to gain a few pounds every week (which you can, since you’re starting off underweight)? Just saying, if you’re ballparking it to start, be prepared to bump it up until you see the scale move consistently.

In terms of priority, BCAAs are pretty low for your situation. I’d rather see you get a specific workout shake like Surge Recovery. BCAAs by themselves would be more appropriate if you were dieting, but since you’re going to be eating a bunch of food anyway, an individual amino supplement like that just won’t much bang.

A workout shake, on the other hand, makes sure your body is getting the right nutrition at the most important time of the day. A serving during your workout will make a huge difference.

This comes up almost every year, so there’ve been a ton of threads in the past. Search box (top right of the screen) should bring them up.

8

I know during swim season with 2 a day practices I would stay the same weight with 3500 calories, so I was thinking 4000 would be enough to gain weight. But if I’m not gaining I’ll for sure bump it

Thanks, Ive tried to read up on supplements but I really didn’t know which ones were needed the most, your guys input really really helps. I’ll look into Surge and stuff.

Thanks, I should have looked before, everything I needed was there.

Sorry if the formatting is bad I’m on an iPod touch and can’t figure out the quote stuff on it.

9

[quote]Jalula wrote:
I know during swim season with 2 a day practices I would stay the same weight with 3500 calories, so I was thinking 4000 would be enough to gain weight. But if I’m not gaining I’ll for sure bump it [/quote]
Gotcha.

Not to confuse anything further, but it strikes me as a little weird that you’re a tall, skinny guy and when you were training twice a day it “only” took 3,500 calories to hold your weight. I’d’ve thought you’d need more. But that’s why this is just talk, and you have to go by what you see/saw.

Anyhow, whatever the numbers are, like you said play things by ear and adjust as needed based on the weekly progress you see. Also, make sure that as you gain bodyweight you’re also gaining strength in the gym pretty consistently. If one goes up and the other doesn’t, something’s off.