Diet for strength training

Char-Dawg, the thing that makes T-Mag the incredible resource it is, is the the different/opposing opinions of those who post. If everyone approached things the same way and said the same things, I’d probably want to go somewhere else. Feel free to disagree with me anytime. (grin)

A lot of women are afraid that lifting heavy will cause them to get big. I make the point that all they have to do is control scale weight (TWB) and that getting strong doesn’t require that they get big. In fact, I know of a little girl (105 lbs.) that can deadlift 349 pounds. She’s not big, just strong as an ox. In her case it’s got to be more of a CNS-muscular adaptation, rather than a hypertrophy adaptation.

If volume is high, I would imagine caloric intake would have to increase to maintain weight, but that would still maintenance, right?

At a certain point, I would imaagine that if the goal is to lift ever increasing weight that TBW would have to increase.

What really makes it interesting (a complicating factor) is what a person wants to do with their body composition while trying to increase strength.

I agree with Terry about ‘maintenance’ calories being enough, by maintenance I mean RMR, lifestyle, thermic effect of food etc. and also the energy expended in the workout.

The body composition thing is interesting. Since strength training generally requires lower reps and rest intervals of 2-3mins, you’ll depend more on ATP/CP than glycogen for energy. I’m thinking I should be able to get stronger while keeping carbs moderate-low, and hopefully lose some bf.

It is definately possible to do this, other people have reported it, especially people that have used SwoleCat’s diets.