The first thing we need to be clear on is, are you actually in a position where gaining weight is going to be of benefit?
Let’s run through some examples…
Example 1
If you’re around 10% body fat or below and want to add muscle tissue, the answer is yes.
Example 2
If you’re higher than 10% body fat, even if you feel under muscled, the answer is no.
It’s wise to firstly start with a short dieting phase (e.g. 6-8 weeks) provided you’re eating a sufficient amount of food to do so.
For the sake of this article let’s assume you’re in a position to gain weight.
So firstly, what rate of gain are we looking for?
Rate of gain
We’re looking for a gain of 0.5-1 lb of body weight per week (variation dependant on body weight).
This may seem slow to some reading this but let’s assume you add 1 lb of body weight for 14 weeks, soon enough you’ve added 14 lbs (one stone) of body weight.
You do this twice over the course of a year with mini diets in between and within this body weight gain you’ll have a nice amount of new muscle.
Now we know rate of gain let’s run through imperative considerations as we march up the scale to make sure the body weight we’re gaining is good weight and not bad!
Considerations as we gain
As we climb the scale this body weight must coincide with accurate and progressive weight training.
At the end of the day, the reason why we’re adding body weight is to fuel the process of building new muscle.
For this to occur the stimulus we’re providing our body via weight training must be progressed.
Stimulus progression can occur via the following ways:
Improving the ability to contract a muscle e.g. improving your mind to muscle connection – this occurs via practice
Putting the muscle under greater tension e.g. initiating with the working muscle and controlling the negative portion of the rep
Placing the muscle under greater load e.g. getting stronger
Once the above is in place, we’re nicely set for the food we’re consuming to be going to good use, aka forming new muscle.
And to reiterate, the above is imperative. It’ll help you to limit fat gain as you drive body weight up over the phase.
A few more obvious considerations also include ensuring sleep is of good standard, stress is being well managed and we’re keeping on top of hydration.
Now we know the rate of gain and what we need to focus on as we gain let’s discuss how we should gain specific to nutrition.
How to gain
Fundamentally, we need to ensure we’re in a calorie surplus. This is what will drive the scale up.
How we ensure our men are in a surplus is by testing their metabolism via our resting metabolic test. This saves us having to use equations/calorie calculators to work out their caloric needs. It also allows us to be accurate from the get-go when we begin working together.
This test comes as standard in our Explore or Executive packages.
As well as the above we need a consistent stimulation of muscle protein synthesis throughout our day to promote anabolism.
Consuming 3-5 feedings per day is wise here and each should include a sufficient amount of protein e.g. 30-50g.
Protein should be mostly animal protein, if nutritional preferences match this. Protein shakes can be used for convenience and to leverage off their high digestibility.
This is our favourite protein powder. You can save 10% by applying code MILLEREVERTON at checkout.
Try to avoid protein powders that have artificial sweeteners and flavourings.
Our favourite protein powder
The rest of the calories are to come from carbohydrates and fat.
Here is an example of how you could break down your meals:
M1 – protein & fats
M2 – protein & fats
M3 – protein & carbohydrates & fats
Training
M4 – protein & carbohydrates
Here we’ve prioritised carbohydrate consumption around the workout – this just helps with the utilisation of them.
However, carbohydrate consumption should be based upon the season you’re in. For example, if it’s summer you can consume more carbohydrate as there’s more UV light present. In the winter there is less UV light so carbohydrate consumption should be limited. You can learn more about this on this podcast episode of ours:
Now we’ve discussed nutrition we should also cover supplementation.
Supplementation, like nutrition, also needs to be specific to you.
Our supplement suggestions are guided by the individuals blood test results we gain.
The blood test we run as standard for our men includes vitamin analysis e.g. vitamin B9, B12 and D.
To be frank, we’re not fans of lots of lots of supplementation as we like to leverage off whole food for the most part.
However, additional mineral support e.g. magnesium can be useful. As can performance aids e.g. creatine monohydrate for those non meat eaters.
Hopefully the above helps! Don’t be afraid to drive scale weight up. As long as you factor in the above considerations as you’ll be making sure the body weight you do add is the type you want! Happy gaining!
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