Quote:
Originally Posted by highthief
The gym is good, but you have to eat to get big. Lots of quality food, not a lot of junk food or all you'll get is fat. You'll need to drink a couple of protein shakes a day in all probability to get the protein and calories you need.
|
All my reply is more or less @ Xerxys: Protein shakes help, but if you're trying to gain weight, one shouldn't rely on them too much. You generally want to increase your caloric intake above what's normal when you're starting to work out and want to gain weight. Working out itself burns calories, as does the recovery period. You need to compensate for this by making up for those lost calories and then some.
Quote:
|
You can bench and squat and do rows all you want, but if you don't take in the calories, you won't increase in size much at all, although you may become stronger.
|
Yeah, but you might even have problems getting stronger. Whenever you do above and beyond the normal things to your body, you're going to need to give it the materials it needs to take care of business.
Quote:
|
As for cardio - wouldn't tell anyone not to do it, because it is part of a healthy lifestyle and I run 4 times a week myself, but you might want to ease off for a little while until you start to make some quality muscle gains.
|
Mind you, weight training can really get your heart going. But you do need to find a balance. If your goal is to be able to run a lot...and far...then focus on that. If you want to gain weight, then focus on that. It's hard to get the best of both worlds. Cardio burns much needed calories for muscle growth and can conflict with weight gain more than you think. Many people don't realize just how important carbohydrates are to muscle growth and recovery. It's not all proteins. It's also glucose and glycogen, of which carbohydrates are the most efficient source. The body also uses protein for conversion to these when necessary.
Try to find out your daily caloric needs based on activity level, and then do your best to meet them.