Definitely pull-ups/chins imo, they're a staple of every program I've seen. If your shoulder is up to it, I'd consider doing some volume variant in addition to the weighted ones. I.e. GTGing at home (or ladders if that's more suitable) or doing BW ones after the main workout is done.

Thanks Soulman. I appreciate the feedback. I think that will work for me.

I chose four main lifts some time ago, as can be seen ITT: DL, squat, pull ups, and bent over rows. It makes a lot of sense to continue these into the first 5/3/1 rotation.

I do weighted pullups sometimes - they're a very good exercise. Busto is the 2+2 king of weighted pullups. Check his log out if you havent yet.

Something a little different that your pec might tolerate - half kneeling one arm cable press. Go very light, keep your core tight & squeeze the glute of the kneeling leg. Its something Mike Robertson had me doing when he first started writing programs for me.

Thanks Cha. I took a look at Busto's log...great stuff on weighted pull-ups.

I'll also see about the half kneeling one arm cable press. It sounds good. It seems I'll just be stuck with different variants of low weight work on anything that directly hits the left pec, but that's okay. I'll take it easy on that training and will replace the anterior deltoid and triceps training that came from that with OH presses, front raises, and stuff like that.

I was 210.4 lb on 4/27 and I'm 210.4 lb today. Over those 14 days I averaged 2,204.6 kcal, 63.9 g fat, 217.1 g carbs, and 192.6 g protein.

I guess my metabolism is coming back, albeit rather gradually.

you sure you didn't just miscount by 70%?

I've been meticulous about counting, measuring, and logging. It's accurate within a few percent.

I sure am looking forward to everything ramping back up.

like I said, increase slowly or you'll be disappointed with weight gain.

how long will it take until he can eat 1500 more calories every day and stay the same weight?

And what steps should TE take to get there? I'm very interested myself. I'd like to eat an extra 1k cals a day.

Depends on a lot of factors (how long you've been eating the way you have, how often you have yoyo dieted, stress, physical activity, type of diet). I can't give a general "this is how you train your metabolism" guide. There are no two clients that I take the same exact approach with.

One aspect of eating I think the majority of this forum doesn't totally think clearly about is the notion that you cannot burn fat while gaining muscle, which leads into the point that most people don't eat enough, so they end up either overeating and gaining strength along with plenty of fat, or they eat way too little and lose a little fat but a lot of muscle. My question would be: why would you ever consciously do that to yourself? Doesn't seem like much fun.

Sorry for the rambling, I'm in between clients and on my phone. If you have more specific questions I'll be home tonight around 9pmEST.

the calculations you posted earlier give 3950 calories a day for TE (i assumed 20% bodyfat and "high carb" diet). can you just give a hypothetical example of how someone could **** himself so royally that he now maintains weight at 2200?

also, other than "increase calories slowly or you'll gain weight" you've said nothing about approaching the problem. so what exactly varies between different approaches for different clients?

and one last question. clearly the reality is that TE is eating 2200 calories and maintaining. you say that if he increases calories too quickly, he'll gain weight. how much weight can he gain without even eating what you claim should be maintenance for him? because 3500 calories is well below what your calculation gives (which you have flatly said "is right") but represents a significant surplus in his current state. could he make it to 250lb without eating more than 3500 calories a day as long as he doesn't consult a magician and fix his metabolism? i imagine he could make it to 300lb or so. i think people who want to gain weight should really know how to do this. g4s might want to know too.

I apologize ahead of time, I must need an FAQ on how to multi-quote because it's clearly not working how I thought it should.

"can you just give a hypothetical example of how someone could **** himself so royally that he now maintains weight at 2200?"

I'm not sure what you mean. I wouldn't call that being ****ed royally. Just in need of a lot of effort to correct things.

"other than "increase calories slowly or you'll gain weight" you've said nothing about approaching the problem. so what exactly varies between different approaches for different clients?"

Actually I did explain a bit about gradually increasing daily calories, though admittedly I didn't go into much detail and you're the first person to ask me to expand on that. What I mean by different approaches is that what may work for one person will not work for someone else, so my plans are based on what the client already eats, not trying to make big changes that are unsustainable. Small modifications go a long way.

For instance, I met with someone tonight who was looking to have more energy while exercising, and I came to find out her lunch was a footlong BMT from Subway with provolone cheese, oil, mayo, and she didn't eat again until 8:30pm. She's 123lb. She was literally eating twice as much daily fat that she needed in one meal, so I found out what else from Subway she liked to eat (her office co-workers always go there for lunch), and made a change along with a few other issues she had like timing and macronutrient breakdown. This is just a specific example and obviously other clients have other issues, so I had to make a specific change for this client based on what she was already doing. For increasing calories from such a low deficit, other factors still apply. The more yoyo-ing you do with weight and diet, the harder it is for your metabolism to get on track. Having a high fat as opposed to high carb diet will also cause your metabolism to slow down, and the amount and type of physical activity greatly effects it as well. The point is that it would take me a full session client information and a going through a 7 day food log before making any kind of decision about how quickly to increase calories. I hope that makes sense. If it doesn't, tell me and I'll try to clarify.

"how much weight can he gain without even eating what you claim should be maintenance for him?"

if your weight increases then your caloric need will in turn increase, so I'm not sure there is an answer to your question. If he starts eating 3700 calories/day tomorrow, clearly he'll gain quite a bit of weight while his metabolism is lagging way behind.

"could he make it to 250lb without eating more than 3500 calories a day as long as he doesn't consult a magician and fix his metabolism?"

I'll bite on your sarcasm and just say it's a lofty long term goal that should be re-evaluated several times in order to meet it successfully.

Thanks for this and the other great info you posted above. Much appreciated!

I've been weighing in daily and tracking the data on a spreadsheet. I also calculate my seven-day average weight. I graph everything as well.

If I observe any upward movement, I cut back on calories a bit until it comes back down. I often plan my entire day's eating first thing in the morning and log it on FitDay. Then, following it is pretty easy.

While I am at 2200 kcal/day right now, I've also cut back a lot on cardio. So my metabolism, while obviously slow, has improved by more than is apparent by the caloric intake number itself.

I don't feel cold or low on energy at all. In fact, I feel rather energized. Hopefully that means it will come back soon enough.