Is it Necessary to Gain Weight to Lift Heavier?

Is 110 even a weight class? I thought the lowest was like 125-135 or so, at least in college.

I worked with a guy who wrestled at a D2 school and weighed like 165. He was tiny. He was shredded, and fairly strong, and a good wrestler, but he looked tiny and was not impressive at all in clothes. One of my new classmates is 155-160 and also, shredded and kinda strong, but tiny.

All the guys I personally know who’s physiques I admire weigh around 180-190. If I think the 160 guys who are decent look small compared to 185, then I imagine 110 is literally minuscule. My 12 year old brother is 110. I expect him to hit at least 150 or something by the time he’s 16 or so.

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Yes my current weight is 110, I wrestled at 125 133 and 141 when possible sometimes the weights weren’t available so I would compete for practice by bumping up. When I wrestled in college I was closer to about 122. But since I got a dairy allergy about 3 years ago it’s hard for me to keep the weight on.

But my point was, yes indeed 110 is very very low weight, that’s the point in why I’m trying to gain weight. But I’m not malnutritioned I previously mentioned I’ve seen doctors and they said I’m healthy at my current weight because i didnt think it was possible to even be 110 at 23 and not have any ribs showing. But :man_shrugging:

Also soul fighter, practices didnt revolve around weight lifting. A lot of conditioning, calisthenics, running. So naturally In wrestling season since I already had a pre existing difficulty to gain weight. Weight would shed off and on and off. 5 pounds a practice is the usual weight that can come off.

Wtf?

Does your allergy to dairy stop you from eating other foods like meat and potatoes ?? What does an allergy to dairy have to do with being very low weight.
I think the answer to your question has been eloquently put many times above, to get to a 200+ bench you need to gain weight. The suggestion is somewhere around the 150lb minimum but the more weight you can gain the easier it will be to bench 200.
Regardless of you bench goal the general advice seems to be that you a too light and would be better to gain some body weight and hopefully some muscle.

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It’s not often I read someone on this forum who is smaller than I am and wants to stay that way. :slight_smile:

Even for a fighter (and I train with notoriously skinny jiu-jitsu light featherweights and flyweights all the time), 110 seems slight. Have you considered what you’d look like/ how you’d perform with another fifteen pounds (50/50 muscle/fat) in the right places?

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That’s not really weird. I wrestled at 155, and expected to lose 6lbs. per practice. It’s water, and it’s back on by the next day, but you know what it is so you know how close you have to be by the next weigh in.

I used to live at least 10lbs heavier than that, and could still barely get a chance to start. The norm back then was to have to cut a lot of weight into the match, rather than wrestling up a class. Maybe the culture has changed; it probably needed to.

Yes, this shouldn’t really be difficult. Double bodyweight bench is good, but not rare, and more common at lower bodyweights. That doesn’t mean its a good Idea.

I don’t eat any dairy, it certaily doesn’t impact my ability to maintain or gain weight. How limited are your food choices? Seriously how can removing one small food group possibly limit your total daily calories?

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Pretty sure the rule is still to wrestle in whatever class Shute is in…

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I am an avid climber. I started at 140 (I’m 6’0") and ended up weighing 150 after climbing for a bit, and stalled out around 5.11a/b. Then I took a break from climbing (moved across the country and had no money) and started lifting, which brought my weight up to around 158. When I started climbing again after 4 months off, I was climbing at exactly the same level. These days I’m nearly 170 and climbing 5.13b. Gaining weight helped me climb better, and it’s made me climb and otherwise move faster.

I don’t know this would be your experience as well, but it was certainly my experience. I work in the industry as a gym manager and coach, and I very often encounter people who aren’t very strong. Those who I can talk into lifting improve their climbing 100% of the time (obviously, I’m not telling super jacked guys they need to lift to improve their climbing). Don’t be scared of gaining weight. It happens slowly and won’t slow you down at all.

As for firefighting, I can’t imagine why you’d want to be so small. Carrying an unconscious fatass out of his or her home would be a lot easier if you weighed more. Definitely not calling you weak, just saying you’d be a lot stronger than you already are.

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The sweet spot is 175-225. If you weigh in that range you can be brutally strong. I’m 5’7 and weigh 183 and for a recreational lifter my lifts are pretty good. I started at like 162 or something like that. Took me 5 years basically to get to my weight now.

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Well that’s depressing

I kinda don’t get why you’re concerned about the number that’s on the bar. If you’re using lifting as a tool to be better at your sport (at this point I’m assuming you want to stay at 110 for sports reasons?), then is the number on the bar really that important if you reach your goals for your sport anyway regardless of what the number on the bar is?

If you’re lifting for the sake of reaching a number on the bar, then read what Flipcollar said

Yes! I’ve considered the 15 pounds indefinitely.

Thanks, def will consider the advice. My best friend works at a climbing gym, so we often go to his gym. And also bouldering in some set spots in state parks.

I’m not afraid to gain weight, I was just curious if it was “necessary” for my needs. I’m making sure kinda like this. Bodyweight < Climbing. Higher Bench < Body Weight. Wrestling and MMA > Body Weight. I want to make sure that gaining weight will benefit all the activities I do without hurting others. For instance since I’m light, I can very easily do sets of 20 to 25 pull ups in my workout. And the dairy thing, I’m not lactose intolerant. I have EOE which requires things to not have any dairy at all and I cant use lactose free products. So yes potatoes def if I eat a ton of em a day you will gain weight. I’m just figuring out how much to gain, because I’m struggling meal prepping and keeping diversity at 3000 calories or so. My metabolism is stupid fast, I’m trying to stay consistent with meals but you know life happens.

Listen to shralpinist

What Flipcollar said

Only one way to really find out. Find out for yourself if you’ll be comfortable with a certain weight. You can take small jumps and see from there. We don’t know how or what you’ll consider “it will hurt others” so that’s something you gotta answer for yourself.

But wouldn’t 20 pullups at 175lbs be more of an accomplishment than 20 to 25 at 110? You get more out of the pullups too since you’re pulling more weight. Kinda feels like saying you’re proud of your abs but they show only because you’re thin.

I kinda asked the same question when I was new here. Title of the thread is “Gaining weight as a prerequisite to gaining strength.” Look it up. It’s got lots of great answers.

FWIW, I took the advice of the people who replied to me there. I’m a little heavier now than when I started, but I definitely have added inches to my vertical jump.

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Well the good news is that we still haven’t figured out instant muscle technology, so the process takes time.

If you find yourself ballooning up to 130 lbs and wondering “What kind of monster have I become?”, you can always stop lifting and eat less.

As an aside, it sure seems like a little muscle on your frame goes a long way towards grappling longevity, if that’s a game you want to keep playing.

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I didn’t know it was possible to be this small at 5’7…
Seriously, get stronger and put on some weight. Would it be that bad to compete at 135 if you are competing in things like MMA and/or jiu-jitsu.
Eat Meat, lots of it. Anything caloricaly dense (nuts, fatty meats, potato group, peanut butter, bread, pasta) will help.

Also plenty of protein shakes/weight gainers out there that are dairy free.