Hi
This is my first post, hopefully this is the right section to ask most of this stuff. I'll give you a quick background on me-
I'm 20 years old, 6', 165 lbs, probably around 15% BF. I've been lifting for about a year, just amateur stuff and from what I've gathered after finding this site I'm not doing much of the right stuff. Lately I've been researching all aspects of the Rippetoe program, I started it today. I'm cutting right now, as I'm training for the military and need to be light and lean. I would like to lose about 15 lbs, as it's that much less I have to deal with while running/doing pullups/etc. I will start a bulk after training. Anyway, that's me...onto the questions. First, I've heard that using a pad on the bar for squats is bad. Is this so? The place where the bar went today (upper back) hurts like crazy. Also, is it ok for the heels to come up during a squat? Second, am I correct in guessing that I probably won't see much/any improvement in strength while cutting? Also, I do 3 max sets (around 50 and climbing) of pushups 6 mornings a week, bench press 3 days a week, and do pullups 6 days per week. I try to keep at least 4 hours between each exercise, but is this overtraining anything? Finally, a question about veggie burgers- for a cutting diet these seem like a good idea, don't taste too horrible and they have 15 grams of protein or so. Is that "junk protein" (is there such a thing?), or are they a good thing to be eating? Thanks for baring with me, this is the end of the long post. Looking forward to being a part of the site

Sorry, I lied...just remembered one more: is Rippetoe's a good thing to be doing for cutting, or is there something better? I know it's good for getting a good base for hypertrophy, but right now I just need to get rid of some fat. Thanks