Gaining Weight?

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by #1 Stutta, Mar 24, 2004.

  1. #1 Stutta

    #1 Stutta The New Boot

    I'm 15, 6'0" tall, and weigh about 155lbs. I want to gain about 30-40lbs of muscle and a little fat is okay. I want to gain that much to weigh 180-190lbs, so I can play Varsity football next year. To be a good defensive end on Varsity at my school, I should weigh about 190lbs.

    I'm lifting heavy weights to increase my strength faster and put on muscle. I'm taking Cell-Tech and Nitro-Tech to further increase my strength gains. I am now about as strong as the Varisty players, and I have the skill, too. The only problem is I don't weigh enough to play at that level.

    I'm not gaining weight real fast. Since Christmas, I've only put on about 10lbs. But almost doubled my strength since Christmas. Well, my question is: Is it possible for me to gain 30-40lbs by the end of August? Or will my body just make my muscles harder and stronger but not bigger?
     
  2. Ad McG

    Ad McG Troll-killer Supporter

    Gaining 30-40lbs of almost pure muscle would be quite a mission in 4 months, in fact I would say near on impossible at a reasonable guess. I would also guess that only a small part of that muscle would actually be functional, so you would basically be bodybuilding with less concentration on strength. Not good IMO. Maybe if half of that was fat, and half was muscle then it could be a little more of a feasible target but IMO, putting on fat for the sake of gaining weight is a bit pointless. Some of the best rugby players in the world weight a lot less than others, yet they still stand out in their fields because they are really strong. You don't need to be massive to compete with the bigger boys. I personally think you're maybe a little to young to be looking at such serious weight training. The problems with weight training at your age are passed over in another thread somewhere on this forum so I won't discuss them here.
    However, I will say that you seem to be on the right track for your goals, and if you work maybe a little harder, train a little more scientifically and eat even more, you could put on a good 20-30lbs, about 2/3 of it muscle by August. These are just my very rough estimates though. Whatever you do though, don't turn to anabolic steroids.

    As usual, BeWaterMyFriend will probably give the best answer here. Maybe you are best off going to another forum, possibly www.t-mag.com could be a good one to go to, and a good training resource.
     
  3. KickChick

    KickChick Valued Member

    Check out this site http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/ I've referred to my own son.... you'll find some of the writers there also play football and they can best answer your questions or you might even find your answers right there on the site in some of the articles.
     
  4. #1 Stutta

    #1 Stutta The New Boot

    Thanks, KC. I'm looking at that site right now.
     
  5. Colucci

    Colucci My buddies call me Chris.

    ::Carefully stepping off the pedestal Adam built for me::

    Let's toss around some numbers. If we set a goal of Sept. 1, that's about 23 weeks away (approximately). If we shoot for gaining 1-2 pounds of muscle per week (the general rule for max muscle and minimum fat), we could hit our target with the right program. That is, theoretically. It would require a solid training program, dedicated nutrition program, and well-rounded supplementation program. No less than 4 workouts per week, with an incorporation of weight-training, cardio, and skill practice (football only, since martial arts will have to take the back burner for the duration), as well as a sleeping and recovery routine to maximize gains. Actually, a training program this intense should probably be monitored by a pro, so save up 200 - 300 bucks to hire a few sessions with a personal trainer, to get you on the best path.

    Then we work in the nutrition aspect. 6 or 7 meals per day, well-balanced with high complex carbs, low sugars, moderate fiber, moderate fats, including healthy unsaturated fats, and high protein. This will be after we calculate your basal metabolic rate and formulate how many calories you'll need to put on decent size. We'll be going through food like an animal, so expect to bump up mom's supermarket tab by another 80 or 90 bucks every few weeks too. We'll also work in supplementation, protein shakes, moderate-to-high calorie meal replacement shakes and bars, which I'd ballpark to run you close to $100 per month.

    Of course, that's just off the top of my head, I could get back to you after giving it some real thought. Seriously though, that's just a glimpse of how difficult, time-comsuming, and high-priority it would need to be to get gains like you're hoping for.

    Bro, at your age, you don't need to be stressing over something this major. I'm betting that the coach is encouraging and/or requiring this gain, right? And I bet if you told your parents, they'd pretty much freak. You said it yourself, you already have the strength and you already have the skill. I'd much rather see you improve those two aspects even further, and shoot for a much more moderate and reasonable goal, let's say another 15 or 20 pounds.

    If your current routine isn't giving you the results you want, then change it up. Everyone can gain weight, if you're not seeing what you want, we need to bump up the calories even further. Of course, this is where it gets tricky. There are some important questions that you need to answer. How many calories are you taking in now? How many grams of carbs, protein, and fat each day? How many meals do you eat every day? What's your training routine, specifically? If you're building more strength than size, we need to fine tune it. What's your cardio training like? What about the supplements? Are you taking a multi-vitamin everyday? Why did you start on Cell-Tech? (It isn't meant to increase size). Do you get more daily protein from Nitro-tech than from whole foods? (I hope not, but many teens do).

    I'm not trying to be a pain in the glutes, but you've got admit, this is a fairly major change you're considering. If you can, get back to us with the answers to some of those questions above, and we can take it from there. But to flat out answer your 2 questions: 1 - I'm going to say no, it's not possible to gain 30-40 pounds by August, and still expect to be in above-average playing condition), and 2 - Yes you certainly can get bigger, and stronger, and more muscular, we just need to tweak your current program some. I hope that helps a bit. (Geez, this seems like a long post...even for me :D )
     
  6. Yukimushu

    Yukimushu MMA addict


    hehe bah, kickchick beat me too it!

    Definatly recommend giving that link a serious look...
     
  7. Guerilla Fists

    Guerilla Fists New Member

    Don't listen to them, in one summer I went from 124 to 155 and it was all muscle. I was lucky to catch a growth spurt where I was already getting a lot of testosterone and size because of the height added to my body. But I caught it like a wave and rode it into super studliness. Lift 6 days a week, eat like a race horse and go for it. After I got out of highschool I was 160 and by Christmas I was 177, then by the next Februray I was 185 (where I am at now). Put your mind to it and you will get darn close.
     
  8. Colucci

    Colucci My buddies call me Chris.

    Gee, thanks, I love being cast aside mindlessly after delivering a monster-sized, yet reasonably informative, post. :D

    Yes, you were lucky to catch a growth spurt. Without it, I'd bet money that you wouldn't have had great results. Unfortunately, those aren't the kind of things we can count on and expect when we're design a training program. My question is, was the 155 pound super-stud as good an athlete as the 124 pound mini-stud? It's awfully tricky to get used to moving quickly carrying 31 extra pounds of beef, which now has to be trained to perform.
     
  9. #1 Stutta

    #1 Stutta The New Boot

    1. No the coach isn't encouraging me to do this. I just asked him what I would need to do to start at end next year. He said I should weigh at least 180lbs. I already told my parents. They're fine with it.

    2. I'll get back to you on the calories once I figure it out.

    3. I know I'm getting around 160 grams of protein. I think about 300 grams of carbs, and around 100 grams of fat. Again, I'll double-check this later tonight.

    4. I'm eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And I eat a lot of snacks in between.

    5. I train Tues, Thurs, and Sat on free weights. On Tues, I do upper body pushing muscles. I start around 70% of whatever my max was the week before. I do 2 sets of 6 with each weight and increase the weight by 5% after 2 sets until I can't lift anymore. I lift the weight as fast as I can and lower it down slowly. I do this for all of my exercises.

    Then I do these in this order: benchpress, shoulder press, dips if I can, tricep curls, straight arm raises to the front, side, and back, pec flys if I can, and situps on a decline bench holding a plate.

    On Thurs, I work the pulling muscles in my upper body in this order: lat pull-downs, seated row, bent-over row, barbell curls, seated hammers or curls, preacher curls, and back extension.

    On Sat, I work my legs in this order: leg press, leg extensions, leg curls, standing calf raises, and my adductors/abductors.

    6. I don't really do too much cardio. I run a mile every Fri, but that's only for P.E.

    7. For supplements, I take Nitro-Tech, and Cell-Tech. I might start taking Acetabonal III, but I don't think I will.

    8. I take a multi-vitamin when I remember to.

    9. I started taking Cell-Tech because I heard that it increased strength pretty fast, and gets rid of your fat. I thought that increased strength would also mean increased size, but that's not really what's happening to me. I'm still taking it, because I like the strength gains and the fat loss.

    10. Yeah, I get most of my protein from Nitro-Tech. When my mom cooks, she makes a lot of carbs for breakfast and dinner. She's not too big on meat.
     
  10. Colucci

    Colucci My buddies call me Chris.

    Okee dokee, let's get rocking:
    1 - Just checking, no problem.
    2 + 3 - That totals just about 2700 calories. So, we can definitely find more room to grow, no pun intended.
    4 + 10 - Good plan. You want to eat something every 3 hours or so. Never go longer than that without taking in calories. I'm sure your mom won't mind if you quickly cook some hard boiled eggs, or tear open a can of tuna, or toss a chicken breast on the stove (carefully, of course). There are dozens of protein sources that you can handle preparing yourself, that are all only slightly more involved than scooping and stirring a shake.
    5 - This'll be the deal-breaker. We need to switch, just for a short while, to a more...(Adam McG, forgive me)..."bodybuilding"-style of training. Let's call it our hypertrophy phase. If we want to put on muscle, the formula is: 2-4 exercises per bodypart, 3-5 sets each, and 8-12 reps per set. There's no real way around it. Try switching to this style for 4-6 weeks, then back to what you're doing now for 2-3 weeks. Then another 4-6 weeks of hypertrophy, then another 2-3 for strength. This is one of the best ways to have an athlete move up a weight class (essentially what you want to do) and maintain (or improve) their strength as well. But the leg workout has to change. Drop the adductor/abductor work, and throw in sumo-style deadlifts. Also, I know you had the other post about squatting problems, but it's worth learning how to squat correctly. How about every other workout, doing squats instead of leg presses. Football players need squats, especially front and overhead-style.
    6 - Cardio will be important nearer to the season, since we're putting on size now, we can deal with P.E., and your martial arts training.
    7, 8, + 9 - It's a sad, but all too common state, where people forget their multi-vitamin, but never miss their post-workout shake. They're equally important. You should set a rule for yourself, if you miss your multi, then no Nitro-tech for the day. It really is that important, and it's the basis of any supplement program. Nitro-tech is fine for a protein supplement. But "supplement" means in addition to, not instead of. You've got to find a way to get more whole-food protein. I'm not too keen the Cell-tech product, you could do just fine with plain creatine, without the 300 extra sugar calories. Acetabolan is not on my recommendation list for you now, for at least the next 3 years. Kids (no offense bro) have no place messing with supplements which alter their hormone levels. If you want to boost your Test, deadlift and squat.

    That's about it, let's see where it takes us!! :D
     
  11. Ad McG

    Ad McG Troll-killer Supporter

    Haha, I forgive you. I would recommend the same sort of thing really if someone REALLY just wanted to pack on the pounds. Personally when I was training more bodybuilding style when I first started out and knew NOTHING, I got decent strength gains anyway but I suppose that was because I was a real beginner. Seems like a sound program though, especially integrating 2-3 weeks of pure strength training inbetween. I was also going to mention sumo squats instead of adductor/abductor stuff. Learning to squat, including different variations is paramount for so many athletes in my view.
     
  12. Guerilla Fists

    Guerilla Fists New Member

    I stole on the scene the next season. But that was due to intense training. Right around the 152 to 160 weight class you get a great combo of fast and strong wrestlers. It's one of the toughest divisions.
    Even outside of that growth spurt the next year you will see I also added 30 some odd pounds, it iook a little longer but I did it.
    I wasn't casting aside your post. I was just saying that if he sets his mind to it he can also smash into a powerful physique, it just takes a lot of discipline and commitment.
    Either way, the teens is a great time to catch a spurt, and him being 15 he is definately bound to hit another broadening spurt soon. I'm just saying keep an eye out and ride it for what it's worth.
    Don't be so sensitive BWMF.
     
  13. Colucci

    Colucci My buddies call me Chris.

    No prob, bro. I'm not being sensitive. I was smiling when I said that :D . It was just like, I said a boatload of stuff, and you came up with "Don't listen to them." It just gave me a chuckle. I'm cool, though.

    Of course the teens is a great time for physical changes, I'm just saying that we can't guarantee he'll hit a spurt in the next few months. And without that growth spurt, he will have to bust his backside in the gym, like I was detailing in my original post. Yes, he can put on a bunch of muscle, but it's highly unlikely for him to put on the 40-or-so pounds he mentioned without a boost like that. But, you never know. We just might be that lucky. :D
     
  14. #1 Stutta

    #1 Stutta The New Boot

    Okay, BWMF. I'll try that. I have one question, though. What are sumo-style deadlifts?
     
  15. Colucci

    Colucci My buddies call me Chris.

  16. DJHalliB

    DJHalliB R3g1st3r3d Uzer

    Hmm, conventional vs sumo deadlifts, is either one better?
     
  17. Colucci

    Colucci My buddies call me Chris.

    It's not a better/worse comparison. They're both great exercises. The sumo-style can emphasize the inner thighs, glutes, and hamstrings a bit more. This is the main reason I prefer them to doing abductor and adductor machines (evil time-wasters!!). Conventional deads are, of course, a phenomenal exercise which provides a boatload of real-life, athletic, functional carryover.

    Also, the sumo-style involves a little less back work, since your torso can remain more upright, so anyone with low back problems may prefer to go sumo instead.

    Whatever style you use, you can't beat it. Become a better athlete is 3 easy steps: Just dip, grip, and rip!! :woo:
     
  18. Yukimushu

    Yukimushu MMA addict

    Anyone care too share their fave high calorie foods?
     
  19. totality

    totality New Member

    chicken basket at dairy queen = 1000 cal.

    actual favorite high calorie food? um...lots of...food?
     

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