Weight Training
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For us who are trying to gain muscle/weight and have high metabolism, what, when, and how much should we eat and lift?
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| I am a 26 year old female. I am 5'10" and weigh 126 lbs. My entire life I have been very skinny. I am also a personal trainer and am beginning to get into bodybuilding. I can tell you, without a doubt, that my metabolism and genetics are the hardest barrier for weight gaining. You must be consistent for months to notice change.
Most bodybuilders will tell you "protein, protein, protein. . . " Actually, it takes more energy to burn protein than carbs. You may have a harder time if you increase your protein too much. The basics: eat every 3 hours if possible. Increase your complex carbs. Think of your meals as a 2/3 carb 1/3 protein portion. Eat right before you go to bed. Otherwise, you are starving your body for 7 - 8 hours. Do not skip meals.
Take a good multi-vitamin. If you are into supplements, I recommend creatine on 6 week cycles with a 10-14 day break between each cycle. It is not necessary to spend hundreds of dollars on supplements each month. Drink 12 ounces of water with meals. Second, dedicate yourself to a good strength conditioning program. Combination free weights and machines. Concentrate on power exercises (ie: squats, bench presses, etc). Work out 4-6 days a week for 1 hour at a time. Before working out, stretch and do about 10 min of cardio (bike, treadmill, jump rope, etc). Try to minimize your cardio because you will burn calories and increase metabolism like crazy. Maybe, only do 30 minutes of cardio,1 day a week, in addition to your 10 minute warm ups before lifting.
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| Well, I'm 18 years old and about 7 months ago I weighed a mere 158lbs, all the while, standing at 6'4. I was very thin with a very high metabolism. So, I went to a nutrition store and picked up some standard weight gainer and 400 grams of creatine. During my loading week (creatine), I gained 8 pounds of pure muscle. For the next 5 months, I added a total of 26lbs to take me to almost 185lbs.
I stopped for a while due to surgery, and my body only lost 2 of those hard earned pounds. A month ago, I started up again and have added an additional 7lbs. So, my suggestion is to pick up some creatine and weight gainer and always eat right. By that I mean eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and water. Also, you may want to visit a vitamin analysis site on the web and find out what vitamins will help you achieve the best physical condition you can.
Best of luck,
J.D.B.
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| I am not an expert on this, but someone who is said to me after you workout try to get home in an hour or less to eat a piece of meat or eggs. Have as much protein as possible because during your workout you use a lot of protein, but you can also replenish it. So, if you replenish it with more than you have exerted, you will gain more. This has worked for me because I gained eighteen pounds after a two month period.
Andy N.
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| Hi, I'm a a personal trainer and diet expert. If you want to gain in muscle mass, you have to eat good meals 5-7 times/day or every 3 hours, with lots of protein from fish egg and red-meat and carbs from pasta, rice, and potatoes. Or if you have some money, buy a gainer like Super Gainer from Twinlab. And do this:
Meal 1. Good Breakfast like porridge with fruit or something
Meal 2. Drink a gainer meal
Meal 3. Lunch with alot of carbs 2/3 and 1/3 protein
Meal 4. Drink a Gainer meal
Meal 5. Dinner with 1/3 protein and 2/3 carbs
Meal 6. Drink a gainer meal
Meal 7. Eat a dish with 2/3 protein and 1/3 carbs
If you eat like this, drink 3-4 liters of water/day and work out 3-5 times a week you are going to gain in muscle mass. If you want to, you can take a supplement like Creatine Citrate from Peak Nutrition, but the weight gain you are getting from creatine in the beginning is water in the muscle cells, it's not just muscle mass.
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You should not make a habit of eating right before you go to bed. It is a good idea to eat small portions of meals six times a day or to eat once every three hours; however, do not eat right before you go to bed. This practice will definitely cause you digestive problems when you get older, i.e. chronic heartburn, hiatel hernia, etc.
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| The best way to increase metabolism and get lean is to eat small, frequent meals. Cut way down on carbs. Get plenty of protein without overdoing it and don't be afraid to eat good fat, like olives and peanuts. Fruit is good for you but bad for dieting because it is stored very easily as body fat.
To slow your body down, do the opposite. Eat just a few times a day. Stuff your face. Eat lots of carbs--especially pasta, potatoes and bread--with your protein. Excess carbs make you gain weight.
How lean you are depends on carbs. It's really pretty simple. It took me a long time and experimenting to figure it out, but now I can put on weight or get ripped quickly just by manipulating that part of my diet.
If you want to bulk up, lift heavy. Warm up good, then go to failure. If you do this while eating the way I described above, your strength should go through the roof. You'll put on a lot of weight. Some will be fat, but a lot will be muscle. I went from 160 to 195 like this in a few months the first time I tried it. My bench went from 265 to 320. Every lift went up so fast I couldn't believe it. And when I got lean again I had a lot more muscle. Don't hurt yourself trying to throw heavy weight around, but push hard. Don't lift too often. Do no more than 2 or 3 exercises a body part and make them count. Once a week works good for this kind of program.
Always drink a lot of water. One gallon each day is a good rule of thumb no matter what you're trying to accomplish.
If you want to take protein drinks or something, do it between meals, not as a replacement for meals.
I don't claim to be an expert. I just know what worked for me. I weighed 135 going into high school. I now stay around 180-185 in pretty good shape and lift more than I ever thought I would. Give it a try for a couple months. It takes time to slow yourself down and start seeing results. Good luck.
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