Gaining weight

[octaviousbp]

Are you planning on competing ever? Because you may look back on this post one day in awe.

What's your height, and how much do you weigh now?

[HackingYodel]

If you have access to a training partner, plenty of weights and sturdy equipment I highly suggest you give the book "Static Contraction Training" a try. The program in the book is deceptively quick and simple, and works on the high intensity principle.

Several years ago I was able to use this method over a 4.5 week period, with a friend, and gained from 1.5 to 2 pounds of solid weight each week. I weighed myself first thing every morning and, most importantly, used skin calipers to calculate body fat percentages. My biggest muscle gain was during a week I actually lost weight, and would have been marked as a failure had I not measured my body fat %.

My best week was just over a two pound gain in solid mass and I was happy with my worst gain of "only" 1.5 pounds. Keep in mind that I was following a vegan diet, excepting some whey powder, and was doing cardio for about 2-3 hours every day at this point. I hypothosize that a diet higher in good fats and better protein coupled with much less cardio would produce even better results (the book claims a believable 25 pounds in 10 weeks).

I think I have a copy of the book hereabouts, so if you want to give the program a go and/or have questions I'll try to dig it out and offer insights on it.

[octaviousbp]

My best week was just over a two pound gain in solid mass and I was happy with my worst gain of "only" 1.5 pounds. Keep in mind that I was following a vegan diet, excepting some whey powder, and was doing cardio for about 2-3 hours every day at this point.

Wow, putting on 2 pounds in a week with a vegan diet and 14-21 hours of cardio is impressive. Where did you get the calories?

[HackingYodel]

Wow, putting on 2 pounds in a week with a vegan diet and 14-21 hours of cardio is impressive. Where did you get the calories?

Most of my calories came from potatoes, beans, whole grains and copious amounts of fruit. I worked in a lot of olives, avacados and flaxseed oil for my fat calories.

I also had one of those cheesy "juice king" juice machines so other than water I only drank fresh fruit/vegi juice and would eat nearly a full watermelon a day (it was pretty hot and humid so we are talking hundreds of calories in juice per day).

The vast amounts of cardio was because I began with nearly 18% body fat and started cycling to work and friends or jogging afternoons. The gain of 2 pounds was my first week, while losing weight, and lessened after due to over training (hindsight 20/20, yada yada...)

I'm going to try the program again this spring and will be interested to see how I do now that I'm older, lazier and nothing like a vegan. :)

[PirateJon]

The gain of 2 pounds was my first week, while losing weight,

wait... what?

[Nid]

Wait til your 30. Easy.

[Doctor Z]

Are you planning on competing ever? Because you may look back on this post one day in awe.

What's your height, and how much do you weigh now?

I'm 6'0'', I would rather not say my weight (I have terrible self-confidence issues about it, yeah, I know, I fucking suck).

And yes, I would absolutely love to compete as an amateur fighter, but you see the problem is: I'm not really strong, and I don't have any innate talent, I wonder if I can ever become good enough to actually compete.

[money]

Hit up El Macho, he's an encyclopedia for this stuff.

I've been working on gaining as well. I am 5'8" , started out at 115, up to 130 now. Breaking up meals really helped a lot, I get hungry a lot more than I used to and consequently I eat more.

I just can't drink those weight gainer drinks, but I do take supplements (vitamins, fish oil, glutamine, aminos).

I stopped weights for a while after I plateaued, I need to start back to see if I can put on another 10 or 15 lbs.

[knuckle dragger]

I am 6'3 270. I used to be 190. I put on most of my weight when I quit doing cardio, bought a wal mart weight set and put most of the weight on the straight bar and would lift everyday. I had my bar on the patio, I would just step outside and get some alone time with the weight. I know there are a thousand different opinions on how often you should lift etc. But I found that all I had to do was lift everyday. Even if it was only one exercise. The mass just piled on. Oh yes, and my super secret training food.... Cheeseburgers. Lots of Cheeseburgers. Preferably double cheeseburgers. No lettuce or any of that crap. Meat Cheese and a heavy straight bar.

Upright Rows
Military Press
Bent over rows
Bar curls
Squats
Lunges
Deadlift

Supplement that with some pushups and situps and you are good to go.

[HackingYodel]

wait... what?

I know it sounds counterintuitive, I'll try to explain. I don't have the exact numbers, because this was around five years ago, so I'll have to use similar measurements.

I start week one with a body weight of 205 pounds. My body fat % reads 18%, so:

205 * .18 = 36.9 lbs. (fat) and 168.1 lbs. (lean body mass)

At the start of week two I weigh myself at ~202. I lost 3 pounds?!? Program must be crap..., but:

202 * .157 = 31.7 lbs. (fat) and 170.3 lbs. (lean) = a solid gain of over 2 lbs. YES! I burnt fat (2.3% here), gained muscle and improved my body composition overall.

Again, these were not my exact numbers. I used approximations to show how you can, paradoxically, lose weight and gain muscle mass at the same time. This is why I stress measuring your body fat % when undertaking any fitness program. A person's weight, and its change, only shows half the picture. You have to know what kind of weight you are gaining or losing to truly gage your progress.