Need to gain weight... big time.

Hiya. I'm in Australia, so measurements will be in metric, I'm afraid.

I'm a 16 year old male, 1.70 metres tall, and I weigh 49-50 kg at the moment. I get up to maybe 52 kg in summer, because I train much more. I try to go riding for about an hour on weekdays, after school and maybe one longer ride on weekends on road, on top of twice weekly training sessions on the track and racing on Saturdays. I am a middle to low end B-grade junior.

Cardio stuff- resting h/r= 46-47 bpm
max h/r= 212 bpm

I eat fairly well, I believe, with a huge dinner, moderate breakfast, moderate lunch. I drink probably a couple of litres of water throughout the day, and can't see why I'm not gaining weight or muscle mass.

Ideally, I'd like to be around 54-55 kg year round. Any advice?

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"I loved the feeling of riding downhill-
admiring the scenery then running
over it at high speed"

Do you control your temper? Tell honestly.

What has that got to do with anything?

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www.cyclingforums.com

Endurance cycling is unlikely to help you gain weight given that it increases the amount of energy you use and is unlikely to help you gain muscle.

To gain weight you need to...
(1) eat more food and this will result in increased body fat.
(2) do weight training to increase muscle size (hypertrophy).

If you think that your weight is a problem you should go and see a doctor for a medical and some advice about what to do next.

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I was about the same build as you at 16-17, and ate everything in sight. I didn't start to gain more muscle until I was in my early 20's. I think from 19 to 23 I went from 50 kg to 70 kg. Now that I've hit 40 I'm gaining again, but that's a whole diferent story. Maybe you'll gain as you get a few years older.
Or alternately you could just be built small, what are your parents like.

I believe I'm in the same boat you are. I'm about the same height as you and I eat alot more than my friends do but I still only weigh 101 lbs. I think it has to do with genetics and a very high metabolism. Hmmmmm not much you can do about that. My doctor told me to start drinking whole milk. errrrrr

This is weird, some of you are trying to gain weight, when I wish I had a little less weight to drag up the hills. It's not that I'm fat, I just have a big upper body from climbing and I think that slows me down. Just in case you wanted to know, I am 5 feet 8 inches tall, 155 pounds (sorry, I don't have the metric measurements).

Is there anybody else here with the same situation (climbers?) that have had trouble dragging extra weight up the hills, or helped use it to your advantage somehow? (Sorry for hijacking the thread, just curious.)

Graison

Have you ever tried climbing a steep long hill weighing 90kgs??? See what happens when trying to bulk up to be a trackie... Now its so damn hard to shed weight it aint funny!!!
If you weigh that much,go hit the hills so you can smash everyone on them!!!

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Hillbrick Zona Track
Felt CA1(Road Hack)

Great!

Hey Etxy heres something to think about!!!! Do you think Cadel Evans is worried about being skinny??? There is no point over eating either as it wont be stored as bigger muscles.Maybe start a gym program if you want to add size.

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Hillbrick Zona Track
Felt CA1(Road Hack)

You can try :
1)add 100-200 kkal for breakfast, lunch, dinner
2)eat every 3 hours
3)recovery drink(carb/protein rato 4:1) within 30min after training/race
4)do weight training(take protein supplement to aid hypertrophy)
4)take 1-2 recovery ride in week

Short answer is don't worry about your weight; you'll gain muscle mass and weight as you get older. However, from your schedule, my concern would be that you're overtraining, which is not only keeping your weight down, but may also be limiting muscle growth and slowing you down on the track.

Without knowing more, I'd guess you're riding pretty hard on your after school rides and weekend rides, in addition to your two training sessions and weekly race...that's a lot of work. Suggest you reduce the hour road rides to one or two a week, and make sure you're only riding at a recovery pace on the road....66% of max HR or less; easy gears only, never push.

Your body will build some muscle and speed if you let it.

Dan

Etxy - don't worry about your weight so much. Right now I'm 16 also and I weigh 61kg (135lb) and I am 1.88m (6'2"). Everybody thinks im am really skinny. I really dont worry about it. I know that in some ways being skinny hinders me, but in the end, it is for the best. Right now don't worry about your weight. I would start doing some weight lifting in the off-season to tone and add some muscle but don't go crazy in the gym. Keep a regular diet and as some others said, take some rest days. That is when your body builds muscle, riding tares it apart.

Thankyou very much for all the great advice! I have put some of that into action, and have toned down the training a little. I am doing a couple of recovery rides a week, and over a set route to my track, I have noticed an average speed gain of 3-4 km/h. Once again, thanks a lot- I'll let you all know how I go when I race next Saturday.

Another question I have is whether there's any way to become a competitive climber- I know I have the right body build for climbing, but I still struggle to get up hills. Is there a knack to it, or should I just ride hills more?

__________________
"I loved the feeling of riding downhill-
admiring the scenery then running
over it at high speed"