how to gain weight? - Page 2

What about putting on muscle in the legs, riding for leg muscle development and eating for it too? And a lean heart? Weights are boring. I want to train for fencing too. I hear ten second stretches make the muscles develop.

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Enjoy the sights of the tour.

giltoronto : What kind of weight do you want to gain ? Lean Muscle mass ? Fat ? Something other then these two ?

I am 5' 11" 151 lbs , fit..... trim.... lean and mean. I told myself in October 2003 that by April 2004 I'd be 157 lbs , with the addition of 7 lbs . of lean muscle mass (mainly in my legs + gloots + some other areas where there are masses of muscle). The Fall + Winter is a good time to gain weight..... , but think quality(muscle mass) first. Remember, the more weight you put on.... its going to be harder to hammer up those hills/mountains... Now if you put on 3 lbs. of quality lean muscle mass..... then that muscle will work for you... to help push up those hills.

What is your aim for wanting to gain weight...... and how much weight do you want to gain ??

For me, its all about the strenghth to weight ratio ( kinda like Carbon Fiber.. vs. Aluminum .....) The stronger you are, at a lower weight .... = more efficentcy = less energy expediture needed to undertake a task... on the bicycle.

Think about it. What do you want to accomplish. Dont trust Creatine.... that stuff is sketchy.. at best. Like many members have already added here..... eat alot.. and eat often. I'll add to that, by saying 1st. Eat Quality (white chicken breast, beans, quality red meat cuts, pasta , salmon ). You get the idea. Eat often........ and eat Early... so you body can process the food into energy. If you really want to put on some weight, eas a quart of ice-cream right before going to bed every other night.

Ok i'll get the credibility thing out of the way

I'm a Certified Personal Trainer, a Chemist and a long time weight trainer and cyclist. I used to weigh 71kg and topped out after 2 yrs of weight lifting at 99kg I'm 5'10"

to gain muscular weight if you are naturally lean

1. you will need to eat HEAPS, lots of carbs a fair amount of protein and some fat (don't bulk up on fast food)

2. you will need to eat frequently and make sure you eat protein just before bed and when you wake up

3. To build muscle the important thing is to achieve momentary muscular failure, this means lots of sets of 8-12 reps with weights that will cause you to fail at the last rep. Do a couple of exercises per body part and rest 48 hrs between workouts

4. MY DISCLAIMER this will probably make you bulkier and a bit stronger but it IS NOT cycling specific fitness and will probably make you a worse cyclist.

If you need extra advice then just ask

Don

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Don Stevenson

Strength and Conditioning Coach

Octogen Fitness

www.octogen.com.au

fitness@octogen.com.au

Weight gainers will not put on the kind of weight you are looking for. They are loaded with carbs and relatively little protein.

If you want to put on weight, calories are what's going to have to go up.

To bring up your weight, you are going to have to do weights. Simple as that. Stick to compound exercises. These are multi joint movements such as squats, bench presses and rows. These are just a few examples. To repair and rebuild these muscles, you are going to have to bump up your protein intake. Stick to just plain protein shakes, and not weight gainers. I think that diet is the best way to go though. I've put on about 35 lbs of muscle in two years just by changing my diet. Haven't even opened my tub of protein that I bought.

Also, don't neglect the intake of dietary fats. These are good fats. They help with the repair, and building of cells and their walls. They also help with many other things too, such as your immune system. These also bring up your anabolic hormone levels which will help you put on that beef you want.

And don't forget your carbs. Fuel for your workouts and fuel for your repairs. Simple as that.

Vitamins and minerals will also be crucial to yor new diet. You will probably nee dto increas your intake here as well.

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Taras

You've just contradicted yourself!!!

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Don Stevenson

Strength and Conditioning Coach

Octogen Fitness

www.octogen.com.au

fitness@octogen.com.au

Everyone has an opinion on this subject and seems like everyones opinion is different. No doubt there is simple measure in stating that more calories will give you weight increase and if you do this and that then this will happen, but i think that in general the method of putting on weight will be different for each person and according to their situation. I guess everyone who is trying to put on weight is trying to find out what has worked and what hasn't for people in the same situation.

For instance i was told by a nutritional salesperson - credentials unknown - that i should be concentrating on carbos more then anything else - protein included. Yet the messages above would seem to stress the importance of protein powder over carbos- but one example.

Though i have no nutritional credentials i think now, that the best thing to do is experiment. See what works for you in the situation you are in.

Actually, the body requires a certain amount of saturated fat. Refining kills the good stuff in Flax oil. Extra virgin olive oil is as good as it gets for salads.

That's a bunch of hooey. Just OD for a year on chips, pork rinds,donuts,pizza and beer like all the couch potatoes and check results.

I have Duckwah. What I meant was that the carbs in weight gainers will put on the wrong kind of weight. These are almost always simple sugars that will cause you to put on body fat if you are not carefull.

Stick to unprocessed carbs. Whole grains, veggies, and fruits.
Sorry about that, these were the carbs that I was talking about using to refuel and rebuild your muscles.

My bad.

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Taras

I'm sorry to say that you are wrong on a couple of points here.

1. The body can do perfectly well without saturated fats of any type however a little bit of saturated fat will not adversly affect your health. Olive oil, flax oil and all other oils contain some saturates anyway.

2. The body cannot do without essential fatty acids, most importantly the fatty acids Omega 3 and 6 which are found in oils such as sunflower and canola.

3. Refining food oils does not affect the fatty acid profile of the oil so therefore if the aim is to eat flax or olive oil for their mono or polyunsaturated fat content then refined oils such as margarines are fine. Refining does remove colours and flavours which may include low levels of bioflavanoids (good stuff).

How do I know this? Well as well as being a personal trainer I'm also an industrial chemist working in an edible fat processing plant.

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Don Stevenson

Strength and Conditioning Coach

Octogen Fitness

www.octogen.com.au

fitness@octogen.com.au

You might want to read the book,Know Your Fats by By Mary Enig,PhD. she debunks alot of the common myths tossed about by many dietitians, medical clinicians, and 'personal trainers'.

I think a 'know you carbs' would make a great read too.

Then if someone could just write... 'Eating sensibly: the healthy balanced diet'. Somehow I don't think that would sell as well as Atkins!!!!!!! But would make me smile!

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www.cyclingforums.com

Try The New Glucose Revolution by J. Brand-Miller,PhD, et al. BTW,Balanced and Sensible is good too, if you don't have the bucks for books.

The quickest way of course would be to use anabolic steroids, but this may impair the use of your baby making tool, and cause road rage, acne, and premature balding.

Folks with fast metabolism have it hard, I would recommend making a milkshake right before bed consisting of ice cream, banannas, and peanut butter. This will definitely boost your caloric intake. If your metabolism is so high that you burn everything up that you consume during the day, at least these calories will be in your system while you sleep and your body repairs itself.

Some are afraid of Creatine, I have used it when it first appeared back in 1991 while playing college football....I gained tremendous strength and weight from it, sure it wasnt all muscle, it was water weight as well....but more strength equaled being able to lift more weights, which in turn helped build more mass.

The downside of Creatine is that you must keep yourself very hydrated. Other than that, it is a safe nutrient that is found abundant in red meats. So for you veggies looking for strength, try Creatine, it's safer than aspartame laced Diet Soda.

Also, like Arnold Schwarzenegger said back in 1975, "If you don't have to run, walk, If you don't have to walk, sit down, if you don't have to sit down, then lay down. You need to burn less than you consume to gain weight. The bodies metabolism does change around every 7 years for men, so maybe your time is coming soon and you will start to put on some weight.

I do not bodybuild anymore, just started road biking this fall and I have started doing a workout that will strengthen the legs, back and abs, If your looking for a excercise to put the most mass or muscle weight on you have to squat. Just start off light, and gradually work your way up like a pyramid over the span of a few months.

Your lower body and upper body benefit from squatting and you will start to feel amazingly more powerful from consisten squatting (2x/week)

Eat every 3 hours, drink lots of water, a guy like you is not going to get fat.......so dont sweat it.

Kaehler Daddy

If you have ever done any weight training that has resulted in muscle mass/density increase, then BMI is inaccurate and misleading.

If I take BMI seriously, then I am overweight (BMI 26.1), but with body fat percentage of 10.5% (I was a serious non-competitive body builder for a few years when I took an extended break from cycling)

It is important to have BOTH BMI and body fat readings, since the body fat reading helps to qualify the BMI ratio value.

To get my mass down to 70kg from current 77kg I would need to practically starve myself to lose enough muscle mass on my upper body - which would also imply loss of muscle tissue throughout my body, not a healthy option!

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