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Hello OP,

to squat 115 kg should be a matter of weeks for you if your squat is currently at 90 kg x 6. It certainly should not take you longer than 5 weeks. The 2 x bw squat should also be much more of a mid-term goal than long-term. If as an athlete it takes you years to get there, as mutumbo seems to indicate, something went very wrong along the way.

It is btw. impossible to predict how much it takes for you to be able to jump 35. Some never get there. All one can really do is train correctly.

I want to emphasize that time is precious. A goal like this has a decay meter. For most people a large percentage of the progress in vertical happens in a relatively compact time frame. The reason for this is to a degree a psychological one, but age can a play a role as well. Momentum is a largely underestimated factor in training in general. This is why cycling between strength and power phases, between gaining weight and losing weight, between program X and program Y is a huge waste of time and should, if possible, be minimized. A sub-goal like squat 2x should also be dealt with ASAP, not adjourned over and over in favor of some other stuff. Once you are decently strong in the squat and deadlift and can powerclean an adequate amount, you can fine tune stuff with snatch variations and plyometrics. But really, before you are strong, you do not need to worry. For as long as it works, which differs with individuals, increasing your squat generates the most reliable and easy to get progress in VJ there is.

I recommend you to read this book btw., if you are serious about your training. It will do you a ton of good and put some of the stuff you read on forums into perspective: http://aasgaardco.com/store/store.php?crn=199&rn=413&action=show_detail

So I was able to do 5 x 235 x 3, without much problem, besides a little bit of knee discomfort.

I'm wondering how long am I allowed to pause in between sets/reps?  I rested about 3 minutes in between the sets, and i think I may have paused anywere from 1-5 seconds in between the reps.

You should rest however long it takes to make all the reps and sets - within limits obviously. You should not get cold in between sets. But other than that, anything goes. Over 10 minutes at the very end of a novice progression is not untypical to be required and usually you will not get cold in that time.

Steven, I agree that a lot of people on the internet do not eat enough to gain the strength and muscle mass they could attain with a higher calorie diet.  That is going to hold true across averages, the problem is how much MORE calories, and not knowing when enough is enough. 

 The quote about natural bodybuilders is not really the case though, especially if you look at what they really do, and why they do it.  The reason they dont gain a massive amount of fat in the offseason, to further push size is not due to them not wanting to get larger, its that they cannot make those same drastic cuts that the chemically enhanced guys do, without losing a lot of muscle along the way. 

 The guys marty refers to in the interview are highly likely chemically enhanced.  Ed coan, kirk, etc. , are all very vocal on their "supplements", and making a drastic cut with the assistance of drugs is much more doable without losing all the muscle tissue you gained during the hardcore bulk. 

  This topic has been beaten to death on tnation with the competitive natural bodybuilders.  Guys that are "big" telling them they should eat more calories, then they tell said "guy" to cut down to competition weight without drugs and see how big he really is, or stays.  Its the same reason the general rule of not "bulking" until 12% or so, I think that is lyles general rule of thumb, and it fits with what has worked for naturals over time.

My argument is that natural bodybuilders do not maximize muscle mass for exactly the reasons you stated: keeping the muscle and getting bodybuilding lean is going to be difficult without drugs if you have to cut a lot in a limited amount of time. But that does not change the fact that bodybuilders cannot be used as a plausible argument for the maximum amount of muscle mass humans can add per a specific time frame. Because they have a lot of reasons not to do that.

I didn't say only gain 2 pounds a month in the beginning stages. I said you can gain 2 pounds of muscle. Muscle =/= LBM and Fat

And I think Natural Bodybuilders are a good example because Rippetoe acts like it is so easy to get the fat off after you bulk up. That's just not true. It's really hard to cut that much weight (especially when you gain 25-40 pounds of fat in your bulk like Rippetoe is suggesting)and not lose a lot of muscle.

I understand that muscle =/= LBM. I thought finding studies researching LBM increase vs. muscle might be more convenient. But as you wish. I am interested to see whatever you can find.

About Rip acting as if it was easy to lose fat after a bulk, I am sure he has had sufficient experience with trainees doing it. I am also rather sure he never trained natural bodybuilders considering his apparent despise for that sport. So we should not suggest that his advice is concerned with that subculture of athletes. But we should also not pretend as if he didn't have hundreds of guys getting strong and reasonably lean after that as well.

I don't see why you think eating 5000 calories as opposed to 4000 calories will put on more muscle. It doesn't work that way. I am searching for the "studies" but anyone with any knowledge of protein synthesis and muscle hypertrophy should understand this. Your body doesn't "store" calories as muscle, it stores them as fat.

I do not necessarily think that to be the case. I think this is a matter of inter-individual differences and I suggest that if you eat too little, than you will gain more muscle when you eat more. Whether 3000 kcal is too little or 4000 will be depending on the individual and there will obviously be a point where no more muscle is added.

Other than that I want to emphasize again that I am primarily talking about strength, as was the main topic for the majority of the interview. The phenomenology is that very often a higher calorie intake fixes peoples strength plateaus - with drugs or not. That is interesting, isn't it? Eating is apparently closely related to training success in the weight room. There are a number of mechanisms why that could be the case, one of them is that eating more than you think you need creates the best anabolic environment for maximizing muscle growth. Of course the amount your body does not need will not be deposited as muscle, but rather as body-fat. But when the goal is to maximize muscular growth it is better to err on the side of "too much" than "too little".
Now, there might be different mechanisms responsible as well. And I suppose that you think another important mechanism is at work here. Either that or you disagree with the observation that 5000 kcal over 4000 kcal for say a 200 lbs guy is going to get him stronger faster. If so, I would like to hear what you think the mechanism is.

That's all reasonable. I agree with your points and claims on efficiency. So if the choice over the same time interval is -

More Strength + More Fat + Less Muscle  for 3x5 vs
More Muscle + Less Fat + Less Strength for 10x5

My opinion is I'd pick 10x5 here. And I get the feeling a lot of guys here would make the same choice if they realised this tradeoff. You can easily get stronger by using that newly minted muscle after PiP.  Do it the Rippetoe way and rock 32% bodyfat and have bigger lifts but it will take you a long time to get rid of the bodyfat and you don't have as much muscle to show at the end of it, that's even supposing you finish the marathon cut it would take to go from 32% to 12% without losing your hard fought gains.

You are bubbling again. You have neither knowledge nor experience to even argue such a point and you are making shit up as if it was real data. Stop being a nuisance and start listening for a while.

I think you guys are still missing the point. I have elaborated on this idea on this board several times now. If, as a novice, you are gaining your 15 lbs per week in the squat and 7.5 lbs per week in the deadlift, powerclean, bench-press and press, you are fine, regardless what you eat. If you stay on your baseline bodyweight, or gain 2 lbs per month, and make ridiculous gains, that is really great for you if you are not also interested in gaining size.
But here is the problem: There are a ton of people that struggle badly to put on strength. And eating more helps them. Now, how MUCH more you need to eat to make consistent progress varies greatly across individuals but can really easily found out via an iterative approach. If you get stuck or can't recover as you should, just eat little bit more. That is not what Rippetoe generally advocates because he knows from experience that people on the internet are usually too dumb to make this happen. So he recommends to just do GOMAD in the case of underweight, young males because this takes care of a large percentage of the necessary calorie, fat and protein intake. So this is the fail-proof approach and guys that follow it and train accordingly make really impressive increases in strength. In fact, they maximize their strength increase, which is really the point of Rippetoe's SS program for novice trainees.
The truth is that guys afraid of losing their abs often are not able to do either of those things. And that is not some kind of dogma made up by Rippetoe, this is just an observation that can and will be made if you are looking.

To address a few specific points:

THERE IS A HAPPY MEDIUM BETWEEN NOT EATING ENOUGH AND BLOWING UP LIKE A FUCKING TRUCK TIRE.

I agree. But the happy medium will not be able to maximize strength gains. I am not suggesting that everyone has to milk out a novice progression to the last pound via eating a ton. But it is helpful to put ones own progress in relation to those that do and see if the typical difference might be worth eating more after all. It is an individual decision and the end of a novice progression is determined by the outcome of such decisions.

I don't think you realize how much muscle tissue 2 pounds is. Along with that 2 pounds you're holding .8 pounds more glycogen and 1-3 pounds more water. This is without any fat. That's a ridiculous amount of weight gain when you think about it. Over your time lifting you're not going to put more than 30-40 pounds of MUSCLE on unless you're on steroids. Powerlifters and Bodybuilders are all on steroids and this seems to influence people to think you can gain ridiculous amounts. Look at any natural bodybuilder (ones that are actually natural, not ones that compete in natural bodybuilding), and you'll see they aren't really THAT big.

And I agree beginners eat too little, but they don't need to get fat to get strong like you said. They don't even need to lose their abs which Rippetoe seems to think is ridiculous.

Natural bodybuilders do not maximize muscle mass increase due to the demands of their competition. Nor do weight-class athletes in other sports. That makes these populations a poor example to demonstrate your point.

If you want to make a point about a maximum possible LBM increase of X lbs per month, then post the scientific evidence and we can discuss whether that conclusion can be validated by the studies methodology, statistical analysis and actual results.

I'll speculate that if you're eating 7000 calories a day to gain mad weight, first thing is don't do that.  But if you will do it regardless like the guy in the picture, you should do a bodybuilders high volume hypetrophy workout with a zillion sets to gain max muscle, a few sets of 5 will not get it done as well. Or maybe you should do the 5s first, and then the extra pump work? Dunno. At least this approach will burn more calorie spending 2-3 hrs in a gym per session and the rest of the time stuffing your face. All I know is the rip faithful walking into the gym 3x a week and not doing anything all week but a few sets of 5 while eating 7000cal will get really fat.

You are actually not aware how hard a couple sets of 5 get at the end of a novice progression. You speak from a standpoint of lacking experience and you are not equipped to have this discussion with us in other regards as well. Do yourself a favor and educate yourself before you bubble this bullshit.

TheSituation is completely right to post that picture. It can serve a purpose for testing yourself. If you cannot become friends with the idea to have as much bodyfat as the guy in the picture at the end of your novice progression, and therefore for a limited amount of time, you are not psychologically prepared to do what is necessary to gain the most strength in a 4-9 month frame that you will ever, in your whole life, experience.
Of course there is individual variation and some people will not get this fat. I personally squatted over 400 for sets of 5 with less body-fat. But a normal guy, who has never been training in his life before and is not starting out as an athlete and who does everything right will probably, for some time, look more like the person on the picture. An athletic person will end up a little leaner than that, but will still carry some bodyfat.
If you are afraid of that, you are the type of person talked about in the beginning of the interview. In that case I wish you good luck with becoming strong. It might be very hard for you.

excellent.  is it okay to increase 1 rep max in the same way?  so say i do 3 x 225 x 5, and then try doing 1 x 280 and next session do 3 x 230 x 5, 1 x 285

It is okay, but I would not advise you to do that. You will quickly realize that you do not have the resources to mess around on this type of program. And messing around it is, because the three work-sets already tell you if you got stronger or not and they are sufficient amount of work to drive further adaptation until the next work-out. Save the singles for when you are done with that linear progression, which will hopefully be far away from now.

Edit: I just checked your log. You are free to do whatever you want, but you are messing up what was good advice in this thread. Deadlifts for 3 sets of 5? Failing to do the required amount of squatting in the second work-out? And the third as well? Maybe you do not have the attention span to follow a program for more than one training session...