The forgoten factor in weight gain

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

You know some of the knowledge of the old physical culture guys has been lost . The modern view on weight gain is eat a lot ,take a lot of drugs,roids,hgh etc.
In the drug taking etc they forgot something the old timers knew about drug free weight gain.

Here is a story.
I had a friend worked with concreat, did Judo, lot of physical stuff, weighed 135kg(300lb) though he watched what he eat. He decided to go to Japan to train serious at Judo. After he is there a few weeks his coach tells him to eat more ,so he hoes down . A few more weeks and his coach starts taking him to Mcdonalds and geting him to hoe down on big Mc etc . After a few months he returns home weigheing 125kg.
Now the thing is this is a guy who naturally keeps weight on, so what happened . The answer is simple, serious training which burnt a lot of calories. But hey he eat more, in fact he was eating as much as he could and hey he is a guy who can gain weight (later weighed 200kg plus )but that is another story.

So I could give more similar stories but the point is simple ,when some simple minded fool tells you all you need to do to gain weight is eat more ;slap him upside the head. He might not be able to help being simple minded but why should you listen to the half wit.

I have seen many threads on weight gain they all say eat more, which may or may not help. If it does not they say you just need to eat more and so on to infinity. See what I mean by simple minded? Now some might mention a change in training and some might mention sleep. Now I could argue about how to train, but lets not get into that too much. What is the one very basic factor they all forget to even mention?

LIMIT CALORIES GOING OUT.

Now you would think anyone would understand that there is a limit to how many calories you absorb, but no, some guys are just stubborn dumb. No use argue, just slap them upside the head.
Keep a calm mind while you do it though ,a nervy disposition burns calories.

So I will not burden you with a list of activities that burn fuel,just think on it you know them. So eat more ,train hard and basic, sleep enough,recover enough and limit activities which burn calories.

[BigNTasty Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BigNTasty]

certainly true. Limiting cardio to 20 minutes at a time and maybe 2-3 days a week is a good technique for putting on weight. this can be difficult depending on your goals however.

I am a basketball player, and in my pursuit to get better at basketball, playing only 3 days a week for 20 minutes just isnt going to cut it. At the same time, i really want to put on an additional 30 pounds of muscle throughout my body. (im 6'8" 210 lbs now) So in this pursuit, i would like to mention a few other things

If you have 2 goals that seem to be in conflict with one another, do not pursue them both at once. If you are trying to gain weight, do not try to also increase your endurance and burn fat, the methods of attaining your goals are opposites and will limit your gains in both.

Secondly, the time your calories are consumed is just as important as how many are consumed through out the day. I must consume around 4000 calories a day to put on some weight. but if i try to do 2000 in the morning and 2000 and night, im going to be excreting most of the nutrients out. Instead, try to focus on eating a lot in the morning, alot right after a work out, and a lot at night when your body is going to be doing the majority of the muscle building (during sleep). also snacks in between those meals will help keep your body in a state of constantly having the nutrients to support muscle gains.

thridly, balance the meals you are eating. 50 straight grams of protein will not be absorbed entirely by the body in one sitting, but pairing it with 50 grams of carbs and 10 grams of health fats will greatly increase the amount of protein you absorb. having variety and balance in your meals will go a long way toward absorbing all of it. even though you are eating more, your system is better suited to absorb a variety of nutrients, rather than a single focused protein.

lastly, do not work out for prolonged lengths of time without feeding your body. 45 minutes of strenuous activity is about the upper limit of how you want to train before you start to recover. longer than that and your body will release hormones that actually cause muscle building to stagnate. keep your workouts high intensity, short, and be sure to feed the machine immediatly after the workout. waiting at all after you've torn down your body is not ideal for people trying to put on weight. eat often, eat balanced, and focus on the singular goal of gaining weight instead of a myriad of health goals when trying to pack on the muscle. when you reach a weight you are happy with, you can then broaden your workout to include endurance training and longer workouts.

And a little fun fact, if you are trying to increase endurance. I have found that short bursts of high intensity training is more effective that prolonged training at lower intensity. for example, in basketball we would run 17's which are 17 sprints across the width of the court in 1 minute. its a very stressful and exhaustive excercise. however, it is much better for training endurance than running a few laps around the track, even if you are pushing yourself.

Best of luck in your goals. I will also let you know how my training works out in the coming months.

[BigO AdministratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close BigO]

Great info from both of you.

[Looking4more Retired Moderator Member of the Month Feb 2013PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close Looking4more]

Gaining weight can be a difficult task for alot of people especially when they don't know much about nutrition. One must always balance their intake just like BNT said. Next thing is what kind of weight gain are they looking for? If someone just wants to put on weight just to look heavier, well cheeseburgers and ice cream along with limited activity will do just that. If one wants to add muscle weight then the balanced diet and proper workouts can do that if like Pegasus said, the amount of calories going out are adjusted. The diet is the key in it all. Since the body requires calories to burn for energy to workout, the trick is to make sure there are enough carbs for the body to use and not start to cannabalize the muscle for energy. One thing that a trainer by the name of John Parillo has his athletes use is MCT oil (medium chain triglyceride). It is burned quickly by the body so it isn't stored as fat but will give you the calories needed to burn. He has some of his bodybuilders consuming 10,000 calories a day! Just google his name. He also has a free newsletter you can subscribe to.
Another thing he really stresses is the importance of stretching. Not just before a workout to help prevent injury, but also to help the muscle to grow larger. He talks about the tough outer layers surrounding the muscle that needs to be stretched in order to grow. Kinda like the tunica huh? Maybe he can teach us a thing or two about PE.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Thanks for the posts guys.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Of course the reverse is also true increaseing calories going out can be valuable for weight loss.

[aBone2pick Senior Member Member of the Month July 2014 Find all posts View Profile Close aBone2pick]

Some people, like myself, just don't gain weight. I've put myself on a 4,000 calorie a day diet where I had a more or less sedentary lifestyle. Still nothing. I had some epic dumps though during that period. Some people's bodies just don't store stuff the same way as others.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Some people, like myself, just don't gain weight. I've put myself on a 4,000 calorie a day diet where I had a more or less sedentary lifestyle. Still nothing. I had some epic dumps though during that period. Some people's bodies just don't store stuff the same way as others.

Yes .
What was you weight training routine?

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Of course the reverse is also true increaseing calories going out can be valuable for weight loss.

Have been doing this successfully lately.