Trying to eliminate all other factors as to why I’ve stalled at 295 on squat for two weeks before going to an intermediate 5x5 program.

 

BW: 192 HT: 71” BF:16-17%
Moderately Active (Apple Watch says I burn 700-800 ‘Active Cal’ on non lifting days and 1100-1200 on lifting days)
Today’s macros for example:
Carb 322, Protein 174, Fats 143
Total Cal: 3256

 

I’ve gained 7 pounds in 2 months (was eating almost 4,000 cal for a bit but saw fat gain and backed off to 3,200) but strength gains are hard to gauge as I started lighter to make sure my body could take the 5x5 workload.

 

Starting weights: March 26, 2018
Squat 225, Press 105, Deadlift 315, Bench 145, Clean 95 (very conservative due to new to lift), Chin-up 12/10/8

 

Current weights: Today/Last Friday
Squat 295, Press 125, Deadlift 365, Bench 165, Clean 155, Chin-up 3x8 with 5lbs

 

Am I eating enough? Only supplements are Creatine MonoH 5g/day (only on 2nd week since saturating with 25g/day x 5) and fish oil pills as the meal planner says I’ve been neglecting Omega 3. Half-gal whole milk and two 4-6 ounce servings of meat with 2 eggs and 2tbsp peanut butter make up my protein intake.

Trying to eliminate all other factors as to why I’ve stalled at 295 on squat for two weeks before going to an intermediate 5x5 program.

 

BW: 192 HT: 71” BF:16-17%
Moderately Active (Apple Watch says I burn 700-800 ‘Active Cal’ on non lifting days and 1100-1200 on lifting days)
Today’s macros for example:
Carb 322, Protein 174, Fats 143
Total Cal: 3256

 

I’ve gained 7 pounds in 2 months (was eating almost 4,000 cal for a bit but saw fat gain and backed off to 3,200) but strength gains are hard to gauge as I started lighter to make sure my body could take the 5x5 workload.

 

Starting weights: March 26, 2018
Squat 225, Press 105, Deadlift 315, Bench 145, Clean 95 (very conservative due to new to lift), Chin-up 12/10/8

 

Current weights: Today/Last Friday
Squat 295, Press 125, Deadlift 365, Bench 165, Clean 155, Chin-up 3x8 with 5lbs

 

Am I eating enough? Only supplements are Creatine MonoH 5g/day (only on 2nd week since saturating with 25g/day x 5) and fish oil pills as the meal planner says I’ve been neglecting Omega 3. Half-gal whole milk and two 4-6 ounce servings of meat with 2 eggs and 2tbsp peanut butter make up my protein intake.

I think you could increase your protein and lower your carbs. You're eating less than 1g/lb of body weight which seems way too little. I'd increase it to at least 1g/lb.

It's a fairly common misconception that eating your BW or more in protein is required for muscle growth. At most, strength athlete's need 2g per kg of bodyweight, and according to licensed dieticians and nutritionists, you need more during cutting than during bulking to reduce muscle protein breakdown, but even that comes down to making sure your body has calories post workout, which it really doesn't care what kind of calories.

 

Check out this interview with Jorn Trommelen, who is currently researching this very topic. He and many other nutritionists, including Texans football team nutritionist Prof Roberta Anding in her Great Courses lectures, show that top strength athletes really only need 1.4-1.6g of protein per kilogram lean body weight to build muscle. There is nothing wrong with going over this amount, but it just becomes expensive fuel at this point as it's not going towards MPS.

Jeff Nippard Interviews Jorn Trommelen

Nutrition Made Clear by Professor Roberta H. Anding, M.S.

 

The gains I have made so far were with a 4,000 cal diet heavy on carbs to fuel the workouts, but after I gained about 7 lbs in 2 months (about 3-4lbs more than should be expected with lean muscle growth even for a novice even though I started Creatine) and an inch on my waist I backed off to 3200-3400 cal, but have stalled on my leg lifts a bit. So what I've done is bump to 3400-3500 cal and deloaded my squat back to 265 for working sets, and will work my way back up to 295 with 5 lbs increments to get some more volume in and work on accelerating the bar. I've been sitting at 191-2 for about a week now, and if I don't see 193 by the end of next week, I'll add another serving of gatorade to my preworkout (which is just gatorade mixed with extra water and AminoX).

Honestly this whole topic is a bit confusing and frustrating. It's hard to truely know how much we need because there are so many different people referencing many different studies and various research. We have many sources giving us ranges from 1g/lb to 1.5g/lb and some even higher, and if we include the numbers you provide in kg they translate to under 1g/lb. So I really don't know which is right and I don't think anyone does. No one has a definitive answer to this question because, as I said, different sources reference different research to back up their claims, and different people see results with various amounts of protein. It's strange how the scientific community knows so much about so many topics and can unanimously agree on a lot of much more complicated issues...yet the answer to something as basic as how much protein a person needs to see muscle growth still can't be definitively provided and agreed upon by everyone.  

While it is true everyone is unique in their exact nutrition requirements, I still think it is safe to stay in the .8g to 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. Anything over these amounts (except when cutting) is a waste of time and money in my opinion.

 

One sure-fire way to know if you are eating too much protein is the scent of your sweat. If you frequently notice a mild ammonia smell, more than likely you are eating too much protein. Barring kidney disease or other medical issues, this is usually a good barometer of your protein intake and whether it is being used to build muscle or being burned as fuel.

 

John

Trying to eliminate all other factors as to why I’ve stalled at 295 on squat for two weeks before going to an intermediate 5x5 program.

 

BW: 192 HT: 71” BF:16-17%
Moderately Active (Apple Watch says I burn 700-800 ‘Active Cal’ on non lifting days and 1100-1200 on lifting days)
Today’s macros for example:
Carb 322, Protein 174, Fats 143
Total Cal: 3256

 

I’ve gained 7 pounds in 2 months (was eating almost 4,000 cal for a bit but saw fat gain and backed off to 3,200) but strength gains are hard to gauge as I started lighter to make sure my body could take the 5x5 workload.

 

Starting weights: March 26, 2018
Squat 225, Press 105, Deadlift 315, Bench 145, Clean 95 (very conservative due to new to lift), Chin-up 12/10/8

 

Current weights: Today/Last Friday
Squat 295, Press 125, Deadlift 365, Bench 165, Clean 155, Chin-up 3x8 with 5lbs

 

Am I eating enough? Only supplements are Creatine MonoH 5g/day (only on 2nd week since saturating with 25g/day x 5) and fish oil pills as the meal planner says I’ve been neglecting Omega 3. Half-gal whole milk and two 4-6 ounce servings of meat with 2 eggs and 2tbsp peanut butter make up my protein intake.

You're diet seems to be on point, you're actually eating more than I am at 210lbs. When was the last time you changed up your routine? Sometimes when our programming gets static for to long we plateau, or see a slow down in advancement. Then, there's the whole law of deminishing returns to deal with as we progress through our programs. What else are you doing to train your legs? I got a pretty big bump in my squat by really focusing on accessory lifts. Right now I'm going very heavy on both glute bridges and goblet squats, and my squat has been jumping 10-20lbs per week. I also switched to doing 2" deficit deadlifts, which might also be helping too. Props on doing cleans, I've been considering adding those in to my program.

Oh, yeah I used to think it was a bit high, but that's what the meal planner on here recommends for 5'11" 192 moderately active and looking for hard muscle gain.

 

I've been doing the novice Starting Strength routine for a couple months now. I was making those 10lbs per session climbs for the first two months, but just the last few weeks hit that wall. Technically I'm in Phase 2 of the program, and you're right, the returns will start to diminsh as you progress to maybe 5lbs/wk. For now I've just deloaded back to 265 and working my way back up in 5lbs increments to get more volume in. I've also moved into Phase 3 of the training, which alternates deadlifts and power cleans. Example: today's squat was 270, next monday will be 275, etc. until I'm back at 295 in a few weeks and trying again for the 3x5. Also lengthened my rest times from 3 minutes to 4 minutes.

 

So basically it was Workout A: Squat, Military Press, Deadlift - Workout B: Squat, Bench Press, Power Clean, Chin-up.

 

Now it's Workout A: Squat, Military Press, Deadlift or Power Clean (alternate) - Workout B: Squat, Bench Press, Chin-up

 

Reps/Sets look like this: Bare Bar 2 x 5, 60% work weight x 5, 70%, 80%, working weight x 3 x 5
*except deadlift (only 1 work set and warmup starts with 95lbs instead of bare bar) and power cleans (5 x 3 working sets) and chinups (3 x 8 no warmup sets)

 

I know this looks really simple and doesn't cover accessory work yet, but the idea is total body workout 3 times a week with your working sets being your 5RM, and as soon as you hit the new weight for 3x5, you go up in weight. And even though it's 3 lifts total per workout, it still takes at least 1-1/2 hours in the gym due to warmups and rest times.

I'm familiar with Starting Strength ( and apparently I didn't read your bio), it's legit, and I understand what you've got going on. It's definitely a good option if you have time constraints, or if you're just working on building a good base. Seems like you have a lot of other physical activity stuff going on too, so maybe a deload week will do the trick. I just took one last week, and was pretty surprised by my performance this week. Crazy, we seem to have a lot in common: Army (medically retired), avid mountain biker, former PT administrator. We all stall out at some point, I've been at 90s on dumbbell press for like a month, but just keep pushing and changing things up and you'll get past the hump.

Yeah, it’s pretty nuts out there as far as nutrition, and not everyone has $100 to spend on the Vertical Diet or the self hatred to go Keto. You can spend weeks on the net with tons of differing opinions bombarding you.

 

 

But I highly recommend watching that video. It is about an hour but you learn a lot about fueling MPS, maximum protein per meal, and facts about how exactly your body uses protein.

 

 

The Nutrition Course I extremely recommend as she doesn’t sell any diet, except maybe the Mayo diet, but each lecture breaks down how each macro and micro nutrient works, what happens when you have too much or too little, and what’s the best bioavailable way to get it in your system. To be fair, her info on sodium is a little outdated, but everything else is spot on to currently accepted practices.

Yeah, it’s pretty nuts out there as far as nutrition, and not everyone has $100 to spend on the Vertical Diet or the self hatred to go Keto. You can spend weeks on the net with tons of differing opinions bombarding you.

 

 

But I highly recommend watching that video. It is about an hour but you learn a lot about fueling MPS, maximum protein per meal, and facts about how exactly your body uses protein.

 

 

The Nutrition Course I extremely recommend as she doesn’t sell any diet, except maybe the Mayo diet, but each lecture breaks down how each macro and micro nutrient works, what happens when you have too much or too little, and what’s the best bioavailable way to get it in your system. To be fair, her info on sodium is a little outdated, but everything else is spot on to currently accepted practices.

I just watched part 2 where they talk about nutrition. Very interesting as well. However, at the end when he gives a quick summary of things to take away from the interview, one of the things he says is that you don't NEED to be in a caloric surplus to build muscle. This wasn't discussed at any point during the interview and is the complete opposite of everything I hear. In fact being in a surplus seems to be one of the very few things everyone agrees on, but he said it's not necessary without ever explaining why. Everything else that he actually discussed appears to have good explanations behind it, so I'm sure he has a good one for this too...I just wish they actually discussed it.