bulking and exercise substitutes

Hi Linda,
 
I've been reading a lot of stuff from you lately and you're really impressive!
 
I have a few questions for you. I just started bulking (since Dec.1 ) with Rippetoes program. I'm going to be heading home for the holidays soon and I won't be able to access a gym, I'll only have free weights. I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for substitute exercises for deadlifts and squats. I'd really like to keep increasing my weight but I only have dumbells. (Currently my working sets are 95lb squats and 100lb for deadlifts).
 
Secondly, I've been reading your journals from your bulking phase and I couldn't believe how many calories you intake. I've been trying to get my intake up but I have a bit of a mental block when it comes to eating so much. I've been averaging about 2300/day and I only gained about 1/2lb last week. (I'm 120lbs, 5'6). Also I've been doing minimal cardio, which is killing me because I really do love it but I realize that if I up my cardio I need to eat even more. So I guess I'm wondering how you came to figure out what caloric intake works for you. Was it a matter of trial and error over your years of experience?
 
thank you!

wow, I missed this post and truely appologize!
I would break down your squat and dead to singles with dbs, that should make it heavy again and as for the cals, I did go by trial error and experience.
According to calcs, it would not have been so high, when looking at age, weight, height etc etc...........but sometimes we don't fit the molds just so......I found 4000 was perfect for me but only with enough time ahead pre contest, I may not be able to do that this time around this year due to timing of shows.
I found it easy to eat this much by following separation diet for that phase.  I find it hard to follow this type of diet the rest of my seasons but it works well to get those cals up.
Linda

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ORIGINAL: j2bryson

Hi Linda,

I've been reading a lot of stuff from you lately and you're really impressive!

I have a few questions for you. I just started bulking (since Dec.1 ) with Rippetoes program. I'm going to be heading home for the holidays soon and I won't be able to access a gym, I'll only have free weights. I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for substitute exercises for deadlifts and squats. I'd really like to keep increasing my weight but I only have dumbells. (Currently my working sets are 95lb squats and 100lb for deadlifts).

Secondly, I've been reading your journals from your bulking phase and I couldn't believe how many calories you intake. I've been trying to get my intake up but I have a bit of a mental block when it comes to eating so much. I've been averaging about 2300/day and I only gained about 1/2lb last week. (I'm 120lbs, 5'6). Also I've been doing minimal cardio, which is killing me because I really do love it but I realize that if I up my cardio I need to eat even more. So I guess I'm wondering how you came to figure out what caloric intake works for you. Was it a matter of trial and error over your years of experience?

thank you!

This doesn't work all the muscles involved when doing a deadlift, but this exercise can help with your lower back until you're able to do deadlifts again.

Back raises/extensions.  It's like a sittup, but  reversed...

and if you can use weights, that's even better.

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