how to gain weight? - Page 3

While your point is 100% correct, this guy isn't a weight lifter/body builder. The point of the BMI was to demonstrate that he is within a healthy range for a 'normal people' and shouldn't be concerned with weight gain for health (increasing his BMI via body fat might even be worse for his health).

Given that the BMI data was collected on a large number of 'normal' people; then there will be exceptions like power athletes who have elevated BMI's or endurance athlete who have low BMI's. It may even be that different BMI's are required for people from different countries (as BMI and disease risk vary with country to country).

For these athletic people the BMI does not reflect the true disease risk as it would for 'normal' people. In practice BMI, still remains a good way for assessing peoples risk of developing certain illnesses easily.

If this guy had a low or high BMI (which he doesn't) then he should get his body fat tested. Once you have your body fat measured there is no real point in knowing your BMI.

This guy might even want to lower his BMI if he intends to make a world class climber... but that would depend on his body fat levels.

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I can't work miracles (you're an endurance athlete) but if you really made up your mind you want to gain five kilos or so, better you acquire muscle than fat.

The best way to gain weight is to do free squats, eat more carbohydrates (with sufficient protein) and make sure you’re getting sufficient rest from training and work as a whole. The biggest mistake you can make is to enter the gym, do your weight-gaining program and immediately burn all the work off with a huge aerobics session. You'd be working against yourself and burning energy and time.

The first essential is to do your weight-work on a day you’re not going to cycle. Squats are the number one weight-gaining exercise and by doing higher reps (12-15) you’ll gain weight around your entire body. Never bounce on the reps and work up gently till your knees adapt. Consult a coach if possible.

Ideally, you should do hardly any aerobics at all while on a weight-gain program but this would be quite impractical for a cyclist like yourself. This is why the only alternative is to do your weight session on non-aerobic days, twice a week. You will certainly need a couple of days total rest each week if possible so you can eat and take it easy.

Generally, those athletes whose sole purpose is to gain as much muscular mass and strength as possible should do no aerobic work at all. Likewise, athletes whose sole objective is endurance may find anaerobic weight-training unhelpful.

However, many bodybuilders still do extensive aerobic work in order to speed their metabolisms and burn fat, even if they lose a little muscle and strength as a result. In the end, they look more athletic.

Likewise, some people who are into cycling may simply want to gain a little extra weight in the off-season in spite of the fact they might notice a slight drop in cycling performance. But at least muscle is more efficient than fat in the long run so, if you do want to put weight on, muscular weight is the best option.

Personal body chemistry has a lot do with it, I think. Mesomorphs can gain muscular mass easily while burning the midnight oil. Ectomorphs such as myself burn out with too high a workload and need rest days.

If your objective is simply to gain a five kilos in weight my advice should be helpful. Once you put on the desired weight it will be necessary to hold onto the weight you gained, while increasing your aerobic activity to its former level. This is a bit more tricky but it can be done, in my opinion.

I can relate to what you say. I've done huge amounts of aerobics in the past and my metabolism got so fast I could eat doughnuts, pizza, chocolate, pancakes, you name it. Yet I faded to such a low body weight I felt awful. Not only that but my athletic level wasn't much the better for the experience. I even ended up with gout for some unknown reason - which mystified the doctor. I can adjust my weight by a margin of 28 pounds quite easily and feel more comfortable somewhere in the middle.
These days I don't eat junk food but make sure I eat frequent small meals comprised of balanced food. I'm also an ectomorph and overtrain very easily.

Do you think that riding a a road-bike makes the legs thinner or the reverse?

My favourite routine is to hop on my bike and do a long cycle ride with as many hills and climbs as I can encounter. Then I climb all the way to a remote gym and do my squats (as soon as I'm off my bike and checked in)

The experts reckon that you'll not be able to do an optimum weight session after a cycle-ride due to exhaustion but, on the other hand, following up your bike ride with squats is supposed to be the best way to keep your leg size and strength. I

t's thought that to do cycling after squats will cancel out the growth you would get from squats in the first place.

So, I opt to squat after cycling - which is kind of hard on the body.

However, I have noticed my legs are a little thinner when I cycle although my strength in the squat seems to improve to a certain extent (more flexibility e.t.c.) Do other folks notice any difference in leg muscles because of cycling and are there people who have actually developed muscle around the hams and quads via cycling?

The BMI is a load of bull. I am 5'10" weighing in at 195lbs. According to the BMI I am overweight. Funny thing, I am tops 8% body fat. During the summer I teater around 6%. It is nothing against you, I just hate when these different formulas that people come up with to tell you that you need to loose weight. Trust me though, I wish I could be even 180lbs. But I would have to drop some serious muscle to get there.

Ron

If you're close to 200 pounds as a result of the weight-training you may actually be doing at this time, then this extra weight (or muscle) will affeect (or should affect) your endurance and speed on the bike. If, however, your bodyweight is natural then it's natural. In the latter case, I wouldn't worry about it.
I weight almost 200 pounds but my weight is a result of a weight training program. Therefore, if I wanted to peak on the bike, I would be able to drop 14 pounds of muscle (or more) easily simply by taking a break from weights. What you don't use, you lose.
I can get up virtually all of the monster climbs in my area, weighing around 185 lbs but to be honest with you, it kills me. Therefore, if I really wanted to make life a little easier for myself I think I'd have to lose some muscle to have any hope of keeping up with the veteran climbers who weigh far less than I do.

If you're close to 200 pounds as a result of the weight-training you may actually be doing at this time, then this extra weight (or muscle) will affeect (or should affect) your endurance and speed on the bike. If, however, your bodyweight is natural then it's natural. In the latter case, I wouldn't worry about it.
I weight almost 200 pounds but my weight is a result of a weight training program. Therefore, if I wanted to peak on the bike, I would be able to drop 14 pounds of muscle (or more) easily simply by taking a break from weights. What you don't use, you lose.
I can get up virtually all of the monster climbs in my area, weighing around 185 lbs but to be honest with you, it kills me. Therefore, if I really wanted to make life a little easier for myself I think I'd have to lose some muscle to have any hope of keeping up with the veteran climbers who weigh far less than I do.

If you're close to 200 pounds as a result of the weight-training you may actually be doing at this time, then this extra weight (or muscle) will affeect (or should affect) your endurance and speed on the bike. If, however, your bodyweight is natural then it's natural. In the latter case, I wouldn't worry about it.
I weight almost 200 pounds but my weight is a result of a weight training program. Therefore, if I wanted to peak on the bike, I would be able to drop 14 pounds of muscle (or more) easily simply by taking a break from weights. What you don't use, you lose.
I can get up virtually all of the monster climbs in my area, weighing around 185 lbs but to be honest with you, it kills me. Therefore, if I really wanted to make life a little easier for myself I think I'd have to lose some muscle to have any hope of keeping up with the veteran climbers who weigh far less than I do.

I have been out of weight training for 3 years now. I have a large frame though, I wear a 46 jacket because of shoulders. The only thing I do now is some push-ups and sit-ups every-other day to keep tone. I hear you about the monster climbs. I make them, but it hurts. But I also make alot of climbs that others can not make, and they kill me also. The endurance is there, I am just not a good sprinter. That is why I do not even try TT's.

Ron

I guess this leads to a tricky question. Can a big guy climb as well as a smaller guy?

At a rough guess, I imagine that if the bigger guy has the same level of endurance and fitness and proportional strength to bodyweight, he or she should be able to climb just the same. Any thoughts?

I did a particular climb once that pushed me to my limit. Once I got to the top I was too scared to roll down for fear of wearing out my brakes. Clearly the problem I had was that every peddle stroke was an 80% effort and I found it hard to keep the peddles moving. This led to a huge increase in my pulse rate. I'm interested in a road-bike with a triple cog at this point and I'm looking forward to going up again in a smaller gear.