Current maxes:
Squat (Olympic) 205x1
Bench press not sure; 135x13 most recent so 1RM maybe 185 or so?
Press 100x5
DL 215x9
Snatch 130x1
Power snatch 115x1
Clean 175x1
Power clean 165x1
Jerk 175x1
C&J 165x1
Overhead squat 155x1
Age 28 years (I PR this every day!)
Height 6'4" / 191cm
Weight 205 lbs / 91 kg
Bodyfat % probably 20something. Skinny-fat.
So! The problem is I am very weak! Any experienced barbell trainee knows that a male my age without any significant physical disabilities should be able to squat roughly 1.5x BW, DL roughly 2x BW, etc. and I am far from it. The frustrating thing for me is that I think your typical dude can achieve these numbers with a (relative) minimum of effort. I've put in a lot of effort under the barbell and not seen very good gains. So please MMM community, help me diagnose the problem!
First point, yes, those are some basic strength goals, but the way you are looking at it is wrong. You CAN get to those numbers, you just haven't done it yet. They're not numbers that a healthy male your age just walks in off the street and hits. They still take time to work up to, but they are goals that
people who consistently strength train will
eventually get to. IE, you don't need to resort to steroids or an olympic athlete's training methods to hit them. Also, remember that the bodyweight multiple can screw reality. Reality is, most people walking around this planet can't squat 315lbs. That's pretty good, so don't think you need to squat 370 or whatever 1.5x your bodyweight is right now to be considered strong. Most humans can't do it. Which brings us to what you've done so far:
Athletic background:
Age 0-26 NOTHING.
Age 26 started Crossfit, did maybe 18 months? This included a 1 month Olympic lifting cycle and a 2 month powerlifting cycle.
Took a break from Crossfit and began Starting Strength. 10 weeks.
Over the next few months bodyweight went back down to 190, strength back down in the toilet as I recovered from the ulcer (not able to eat much). Did crossfit during this time.
about 8 months 5/3/1.
The second point is, ~1.5 years of actual strength training is NOT a lot of time. You've actually made fair progress for that amount of time. With another year of smart programming, you should be very close to them.
SS was a bit too aggressive for me I think so I was hoping a more measured pace would give me steady results. This has brought my lifts to their current state where I'm beginning to stall again. Diet right now is again eating a lot but taking it easier on the milk. Bodyweight is back at 205 and hopefully still climbing.
What does "too aggressive" mean? You couldn't squat 205 for a few sets of 5? You couldn't squat 210? What? It's not going to feel 'light' for a long time, so if you are discouraged because the weight still "feels heavy," then change your mentality. You should be adding 5 lbs (unless you have smaller plates) to everything each workout.
What is "beginning to stall?" The last workout felt 'really hard,' so you don't know if you'll be able to hit your reps the next time? That's the nature of the beast with linear programs like SS, you are adapting so fast that your 1rm is changing each workout, as Rippetoe says. Don't fail before you touch the bar.
I think a really good progression will be to go through a couple resets with SS, then try out the Texas Method/Madcow 5x5 type program. Probably the strongest I've ever been in my life was when I was using Madcow 5x5. But I was already at a decent level of strength.
Diet may be the biggest issue. I don't measure my food in any way, so I don't really know how many calories I'm getting or what my macro breakdown is. I basically drink milk + protein powder, eat a lot of protein and fat and veggies and I'm not too strict about "bad" carbs right now in the interest of gaining weight.
Track this. Almost all people who tend towards skinnyness chronically undereat when trying to gain size unless they track it. Much the same way people who trend towards obesity eat way to fucking much when they don't track it.
Whew! Sorry, long post. Any opinions and advice would be much appreciated. Maybe I just need to go on the powerlifter "XL pizza + bottle of olive oil per day" diet?
Maybe, if you like pizza. Find foods you like, and eat a lot of it.
