Weight lifting and exercise

[anonymous]

I just joined a gym with a one year membership. RIght now I'm doing the circuit weights and riding the stationary bike. I want to gain weight, build muscle and increase my pulmonary function. Any advice? I've started drinking the "mass recovery" drink after workouts as well.

John
age 26, cf

 

[Markus]

If you want some advice I can post up my workout routine but I would need more information from you like how many times you going to the gym in a week. You should also incorporate cardio at least once a week. The mass recovery drink is good. If you want to gain weight I have found that lots of complex carbs and high protein is the key. I have been able to get my weight up to 198 using a diet that has gone against my dietician's advice but with my constant weight gain and continuous health it has kind of shut her up ;-) You are going to want to eat every few hours that way you body constantly has enough of what it needs and goes not go to your storage (fat) for it.

Anyways if you have any specific question let me know

take care!

 

[anonymous]

I do leg workouts one day and upperbody the next. Before I exercise with the legs again I wait two days. Same with upper body. I usually do cardio after the workout. Right now though, its not very much.

John

 

[EnergyGal]

Hi Markus and John

I too want to get back into lifting lighter weights (I had a car accident) and I do lots of cardio. I am interested in knowing what you eat as for meals and snacks. Gaining weight is not a problem for me but I would like to add more protein snacks instead of high carb snacks. I try and eat the high carb snacks before a workout. I would love to hear any of your routines and I can decide what is right for me.thanks

 

[Markus]

well like I have said in other post my dietician and I dont get a long since I dont listen to here. Anyways I eat about a gram of protein per lean bodyweight and when I am going to the gym I eat about 1.5X lean body weight. this equates to over 200 grams of protein a day for me (I am 198lbs 8% bodyfat). I eat tons of complex carbs and really not a lot of fat. I still get in about 4500cals to 5500 cals. a day. I eat, or try to eat every two hours and I drink at least a gallon of water a day.

My workouts are laid out like this...

Monday
Chest/Tricep
Tues.
Back/bicep
Wed.
Hamstrings/Shoulders
Thurs.
Legs (quads, gluts, calves)
Friday
Tris/bicep and hour of cardio

I usually do 3 to 4 exercises per muscle group with 4 sets per exercise (one warm up)

weekends I take off

Hope that helps

 

[anonymous]

Markus,

So how soon should I expect to be gaining weight? Its been one week? I guess if I'm not gaining I need more cals.

John

 

[anonymous]

Thank you Mark. Will let you know how I do. I am just recovering from a minor car accident and feel ready to start up again but this time I am going to go slowly on the weights and increase very slowly.
Good Luck to you both
Risa

 

[anonymous]

To the guy who wants to GAIN weight

You have to eat little by little until you get a huge appetite. This can take time for your body to adjust. Eat first thing in the morning have breakfast then Have a mid morning snack or meal then have lunch. I would have three good meals and three good healthy snacks(mini meal) and then snack here in there in between. If you like yogurt drinks they are high in protein and carbs. Granola bars are great. I like a slice of toast with roastbeef with melted cheese for a mini meal snack. I would eat a granola bar three or four times per day. Eat whatever you crave but if there are too many carbs in it, add some protein before you chow down. Like I love those granola bars but sometimes I would have a few slices of cheese first. Be creative but try to get in your protein, carbs and healthy fats. I hardly cook with oil but I do try and have some avocados, nut butters and cheeses for the healthy oils a few times per week. If I mix macaroni, I use olive oil instead of butter.

You will gain. Also try and not worry as this can burn calories and do not obsess on the scale more than a few times a week. Just keep on shoveling down (lol) and you will see before you know it you will be gaining. I tell myself what my immediate goal is and I visualize a number and in a few months I achieve it. I do believe in the power of motivating thoughts.

Take care and let us all know how you do. Remember to get in the extra calories while you are typing and when you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. You will be succeeding all the way. Remember to Breathe slowly when you are eating to chew your food well. If you take too much food on your plate, take your time and finish it. If you cannot finish it take a long break but in about a half hour you might be able to reheat it and chow down again.

Rub the accupressure point below your nose (above your lip) for a few seconds. This should help increase your appetite.

Best Gaining
Risa

 

[anonymous]

You might need to adjust your enzymes if you are eating a lot more. I cannot tell you to increase or decrease but that is up to you and your doctor to figure this out. I find if I am eating more, I take just the adequate amount of enzymes. Too much is not good and too little enzymes can be a problem. Just take care and your body will direct you. Risa

 

[Markus]

The way I gain weight is I eat 6 meals a day (small meals) that consists of protein and complex carbs and good fats. My weight is at 198 and I try and get 1 gram of protein per lean body weight and with complex carbs I try and get in lots of brown rice, potatoes, yams (complex carbs) thorugh out the day. I am to hit 4500 - 5000 cals a day when I want to gain weight.

I use whey protein supplements once a day just to get in some extra protein as well as a weight gainer for one of my meals.

 

[Markus]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>anonymous</b></i>

Markus,



So how soon should I expect to be gaining weight? Its been one week? I guess if I'm not gaining I need more cals.



John</end quote></div>


One week is really too soon to see results. If I can ask what your weight is, how many cals are you getting in, and what is the break down(protein,carbs,fat)? I can take a look and give you my personal recommendation. You could see some weight gain within a week but it really depends on your diet.

Good luck

 

[anonymous]

Markus,

I didn't gain any weight the first week and I know for a fact, my appetite stinks write now and I'm not eating enough. I was probably lucky to get in 3000-3500 cals a day last week. By the way my stats are 5'9 and 127lbs. I think I can do better with the eating, but the mornings are really tough. i can't imagine eating before I do clearance therapy, so usually I don't eat before 8 or 9, sometimes later. The other issue I've had the last few days is that I haven't had a good bowel movement in 3 or 4 days. So whenever I try to eat I get full really quick. I trying to fix this and get back to a better diet. In the meantime, I'm pretty sore.

When I'm at my best this is what I eat:

1. breakfast, oatmeal or 2 eggs, toast and pbutter and or yogurt and carnation instant breakast vhc (560 cal)

2. Ensure plus at 10:30 or 11 a.m.

3. 12:30-1 p.m. Sit down restaurant, usually pasta or a burger or something

4. 3-4 p.m. Ensure plus

5. Meat 6-8 oz, starch, vegetable

6. Carnation vhc (560 cal)

So far this about the best I've been able to do. I was able to stick with this diet for several weeks and gained a lot of weight, but that was before I was lifting. Hopefully by adding the weights I will gain more.

John

 

[Markus]

do you happen to know what your bodyfat% is? Just by looking at your diet that you posted I would say that you are not getting in enough protein that is needed to build muscle. I always get into arguments with my dietician about how much protein I should be getting but I would say that you should shoot for at least 127 grams of protein a day on days you workout. Also, when you have your two meals of ensure do you just have one ensure or more? I would try and eat some protein, carbs, and some fat and drink the ensure with the meal. Also something that I have to say is that you have to be drinking a lot of water any time you take in a lot of protein just an FYI.

If you can answer those questions I can try and write you up a diet that would help you gain from my experience and from what I have learned from bodybuilding.

 

[anonymous]

Markus,

I'm 9 percent body fat. I think if I had stuck with the diet I had posted I probably would have gained weight last week. But I haven't eaten that well for I while because I don't feel very good right now. As far as the ensure goes, I do usually have it by itself.

John

 

[anonymous]

Markus,

I tried to estimate my protein on a good day:

2 eggs - 13 grams
yogurt - 5 grams
Oatmeal 4grams
VHC 23 grams

=45 grams of protein

Snack ensure plus - 13 grams
=58

Lunch - 30 grams
=88

Ensure plsu 13 grams/or mass recovery - 35 grams
=101

Dinner - 20 grams
=121

VHC---23 grams
=144/or with mass recovery 166 grams protein

John

 

[Markus]

well it looks like you are getting enough protein on a good day. I did notice that most of your protein is coming from liquid which has its good things and bad things about it. While it can be easier for people like us to digest often some of that protein is just not absorbed b/c it goes through the system to quickly unlike a chicken breast. But for the mean time I would try and take a record of your daily eating habits to try and make sure that you are getting that 144+ grams of protein in a day. Once you get that locked in try and take out your VHC and eating a chicken breast or a can of tuna. Real food is much better if you want to gain weight but the protein is just to maintain and grow muscle you still have to add the complex carbs in there to raise your body fat.

People like yourself and I have a hard time since we have really low bodyfat. Are bodies are constantly in a catabolic state meaning that our muscle often eats itself to repair. What you want to be in is a anabolic state but in order to do that you want to raise your bodyfat.

Keep a journal for at least a week monitoring the carbs, protein, and cals. I dont count the fats since most people with CF have trouble digesting it.

Diet has always been my downfall its hard to keep up with making sure to get everything you need but as one trainer told me diet is 80% of gainning muscle.

How are your workouts going?
If you are trying to gain muscle you want to focus on doing big movements like squats, bench press etc. low reps high weigh.

 

[yellowfrog]

do you have creatin in your country? i had a pal who did martial
arts and he took the stuff to 'bulk up' all the time......

 

[yellowfrog]

do you have creatin in your country? i had a pal who did martial
arts and he took the stuff to 'bulk up' all the time......

 

[yellowfrog]

do you have creatin in your country? i had a pal who did martial
arts and he took the stuff to 'bulk up' all the time......

 

[Markus]

creatine is a good supplement but what a lot of the weight that you gain off of it is water weight. Creatine sucks water into the cell while creating more ATP for the muscles to use. So if you use it make sure that you drink enough water and while the directions say that you need 10 grams of it most people only need 5 and you do not need to do the loading phase.

Cheers