I am looking for some advise on gaining about 10-15 pounds. I am currently at 265 and train with olympic and power lifts. I compete in strongman and have been struggling gaining weight forever! I try eating like a madman many times a day but there is little to no change. I am curretly taking creatine and protein. Any help would be apprreciated!
Define eating like a madman.
Unless you can tell us exactly what you eat on a daily basis, we’ll be of no help to you.
First off: do you maintain a food log? Do you know the exact amount of total calories you consume a day? Have you ever read “Massive Eating” by John Berardi? If not, here is part one: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION
Usually it all begins in the diet. When someone says, “I eat and I eat and I eat, but can never gain any mass…”, more than likely that’s not the case. Due to your energy expenditure, you’re probably not eating enough.
Where to start is by logging it all down. Make sure you are indeed getting enough protein. But not just from protein powders, eat plenty of food. Red meat in particular.
Of course all this advice is based on just the info you provided.
well before you get flamed… first look up chris shugart’s “missing ingredient”… then from there go to john berardi’s “massive eating”… but you could have done some searching first
here is the deal, i know that i should be eating more, but i am on a strength coach schedule and i can’t eat ever two hours or so. i’m not afraid to put on a little fat either, i don’t lift for show i lift for strength.
i know that i have to increase my calories, so i guess my question is what are some high caloric foods that are not going to cost an arm and a leg?
If you know what the answer is, why are you asking the question?
The fact that you can’t “eat every two hours” sounds more like an excuse than a legit reason. You can certainly pack enough calories into meals spaced 3-4 hours apart. You just have to plan and adapt to your current siutation.
Guess what? Lots of us have jobs that don’t allow us to eat optimally. We make due with what we have and DON’T make excuses.
dude, you don’t have to be a dick, i was just trying to get some outside advise, that’s all.
Not at all being a dick.
Just pointing out that you want an easy solution without having to do any work of your own.
Sometimes the truth hurts.
Nuts are the most nutrient/calorie dense food on the planet, and they’re easy to handle. Try adding a cup or two on top of what you’re eating now, you’ll gain weight, I promise. 
I flame thee.
This reminds me of the excuses/solutions article on t-mag not so long ago. Answer me this, why is it not possible for you to consume calories every 2-3 hours?, are you in a streight jacket? If the answer is no then take a leaf out of my 10-hour working day book,a baby foremann grill fits in your bag and cooks stuff in no time. secondly pre-blend a load of peanut butter and whack it in a thermos, 1000s of calories at your disposal, if you cannot do this your simply making excuses.
Is it just me, or is there anyone else out there who finds it odd that someone who weighs 265 thinks that he has to “struggle” to gain weight?
Question… DO you like Sushi!!?
The first thing is to look at your caloric intake.
FOOD FOOD FOOD, your not eating enough. Again I agree with Patricia!
Go back and read anything Berardi has written, many a T-Man/ Vixen have dubbed him the smartest man they know.
I’ve dubbed thee an anomaly!(Again Bias)
You could always eat large amounts of TORO “Tuna Belly” Sashimi or Sushi style as it has a high level of EPA, and DHA in it’s freshest source. Plus the protein, and because it is raw it’s enzymes are still active and will be broken down faster.
OR…
Are U consuming any LIQUD not CAP’S but LIQUID EFA’S! DO the caps if you like too but your body will respond better to tablespoons?
Biotest’s EFA, Poliquins Smart Blends, Flax, Udo’s, Salmon, or a cod Liver oil (Nordic Naturals makes liquid fish oils with an orange flavor in a blue glass bottle).
Packaging in a dark glass bottle is the safest way to go as EFA’s are LIGHT/AIR/HEAT sensitive, and thus caps tend to go rancid loosening their benefit. What ever your most open to trying. Just keep it in the fridge with the lid on tight.
Since fat mass gains is not a problem I would start with 3-4 Tbl a day and see how you do. You can do this @ work!
Some people can’t break down allot of fat at first they need to take it slow … they feel sick.
If that is not a problem up it to 5-7 Tbl/ day. Put it in the food your going to eat!!!:0)~
It’s a great base for a person with a fast metabolism and high caloric output to pull energy from for the day.
Thus allowing your body to expend your protein consumption into generating greater amounts of lean muscle mass.
As far as food combining goes this is where I would suggest you stick to Berardi’s suggestions.
Eat & Drink up~
char-dawg I was thinking the same thing. How tall are you? 265 is already heavy unless you are 6’5.
I assume you want to gain weight to enhance your absolute strength and thus aid you in strongman competitions. So, you need to figure out a way to maintain (or perhaps even increase), your relative strength while increasing your lean mass. Assuming that is your objective, you’ll want to address BOTH your dietary AND training protocols.
As to your dietary protocol:
-
Make sure you eat at least 300 grams of protein per day (based upon approx. 1.5 grams per pound of you goal body weight.)
-
Ensure an increase in your average weekly caloric intake (relative to your average training volume and intensity) by supplementing daily with good dietary fats (a few tablespoons of flax or borage) mixed in each protein shake or palatably mixed in with other meals should do.
-
Make sure you take in high GI carbs (in addition to protein) both after AND DURING your workouts. If you don’t already nourish yourself during your workouts, you will be amazed at the rate of your weight gain (as well your performance during each workout)once you start doing so.
-
Take supplemental amino acids (especially BCAA’s right before a workout.)
As to training protocol, you’re the strongman, but you might want to think about reducing the number of compound olympic or powerlifting movements to one per workout and replace the other movements in your workout with sport specific accessory exercises. (In offering this suggestion, I’m assuming you don’t already do that because you described your training to consist of olympic and power lifts.) This change in protocol (again assuming it would be a change for you) may decrease the total catabolic effect of each training session, allow you to gain weight and even improve relative sport-specific strength, all at once. Remember, compound olympic and powerlifting movements are obvious indicators of strength but many of these movements are not necessarily great developers of strength when compared to sport-specific accessory movements.
i’ll give you a simple answer from a simple man. if youre a hardgainer like myself, then heres what i do that has been working for me for a good while now, its fairly simple.
1.)eat 6 meals a day at the bare minimum, eating should be your main priority, you have to sear the words “eat” on your brain. i’d rather miss a workout than miss a meal. working out is the glorious stuff, its the glitz and glam, eating is more important than anything else. if you have the option of staying home and eating 2 good meals before going to bed or going out w/ friends and eating cheeze doodles while drinking pepsi then you MUST make the decision to stay home and eat your face off.
2.) along w/ eating being your constant goal, you should also focus on getting a BARE MINIMUM of 50 grams of protein for each of those 6 meals. and 50 grams is the bare minimum. if you just finished eating a big ass meal of 35 grams, drink 2-3 cups of milk to get you up to 50.
3.) keep the junk food down to almost zero.
4.) if youre not 100% dedicated to gaining weight then you wont. i havent done anything w/ friends for the past couple months because doing so means missing important, healthy meals. so if youre serious about it, you need to make huge sacrifices, including your social life.
shit, i’m retarded. i just read the title and assumed you were a hardgainer somewhere around 155-175. nevermind my simple advice.
Okay, here’s what I’m confused on. You say that you are eating like a madman “MANY TIMES A DAY” yet you say that you don’t have time to eat every two hours or so. Hmmm…
I also think I read that you were a strength coach if I understood correctly. This is reminiscent of the personal trainer/fitness director who posted a couple of weeks ago wanting to know how to drop a little bodyfat. No offense, but you pretty much brought the flames on yourself.
If you really want/need some legitimate help, we’re here for ya. But I still haven’t seen you post your daily calorie level or meal frequency. If you don’t know either of these, then shame on you.
On a similar note, I had a classic one about three days ago at the GNC I work at. A guy came in and was complaining that he ate “like a madman” and couldn’t seem to put on a pound.
In our discussion, I found something very amusing. First, he actually did keep track of his daily calorie intake, which we all know is an extreme rarity with the newbies.
The kicker: he was eating 1300 calories a day.