New member here, this is my first post, needsize and 5x5er's please read.

[CobraUTAH]

Sorry this may get a little long. I've been lurking for about 3 weeks now and finally registered. I've been lifting for years but have been stagnant for far too long not making gains in body weight, apperance or with the weights. I got in a heated discussion on another board (ls1.com) about lifting and then found myself here, and reading up on the needsize 5x5 routine. Well lets just say the routine sparked my interest immediately and I had a personal revelation to make some serious changes in my routine and training lifestyle. When I started I weighed 200 pounds and I'm 6'3. I've had been this weight for a long time and had many years ago got to 212 pounds but that's when lifting was absolutely all I cared about. So anyway I started this program on March 3rd 2003 and so far I'm loving it since that day I've gained 16 pounds and I'm loving the routine, and making steady progress in my lifts. I've been eating like a horse as well so I know that some of the gain has been fat. I'm not 100% sure that these gains have been more from the 5x5 routine or from eating so damn much, but probably a bit of a combination. Regardless I absolutely love the 5x5 routine. I have maxed 265 on bench before not to great but bench was always my weakest lift. I started my bench weight at 190 for 5x5 and yesterday was my 6th chest day and I'm still making steady progress and put up 215 for 5x5. As for Tri's I've been doing weighted dips and after 6 weeks I did 5x5 with a 45 plate around my waste. My question is should I continue to increase the weighted dip weight or pick a different exercise for the Tri's 5x5 like french presses, or close grip bench? My schedule is Monday - chest/tri's & calves, Tuesday rest, Wednesday - back/bi's, Thursday - shoulders, Friday - legs & calves. Also I make my big weight gain from 200 to 212 in like the first three weeks then it leveled off. Last Saturday I bought some more protein and purchased the GNC version of Phosphagen. Since then I've added a bit more and weighed in yesterday at 215.6 pounds. I plan to reach either 220 or 225 before starting to cut. What is some good info about cutting so that I don't loose muscle mass or strength. I heard somewhere 1 pound per week cut or you risk loosing mass is this true. Sorry for the long post thanks for reading.