I've gone back in the TWW archives a few years, reading any thread about weight gain, lifting and protein, but most of those threads are geared towards goals that are a bit different than mine. I'm hoping all of our resident personal trainers and fitness gurus will have some good advice.

I'm a grade A, class 5, Scrawny Motherfucker: right now I'm 6'7", 158 lbs. My "natural weight" when I'm not training for anything is about 165, but I've dropped some of that in the last four months while gearing back up for triathlon and marathon seasons. I DON'T want to put on weight just for cosmetic purposes, because there's no point in lugging around any pound for 26 miles that I don't have to. However, I DO want to add some functional, lean muscle mass that will help me get through the swim in a triathlon without wiping me out; I have no upper body whatsoever, and the pull phase of my swim stroke is pretty weak as a result.

What sort of calorie requirement and workout routine should I be looking at to get me where I want to go? The calculators I've seen online all seem to recommend between 3000 and 3500 for me, but that's agnostic of my goals and with very vague options for me to tell them I'm "pretty active." I suspect those totals are low for me to gain weight, but I also need guidance on how to make sure I'm only gaining weight functionally. I wish there was a calculator for triathletes that would let you input weekly mileage for biking, running and swimming, then tally up based on that.


Right now, I bike to and from work every day (~3 miles each way). I run 2-3 times a week, usually 4-6 miles during the week and a longer run, 7-12 miles, on the weekend. I also go on a longer bike ride once a week, usually about 30 miles. I swim every other weekend, although that needs to increase if I'm going to get anywhere with it; right now it's just so discouraging because it makes me face up to how weak my upper body really is. I'm looking to add some strength training twice a week; this program for triathletes is along the lines of what I want to do, with more emphasis on upper body since that's what really needs work.

I snack a lot throughout the day and already feel like I'm eating all the time. I try to eat pretty healthy stuff, so getting all of my calories is tough. My "supplement" is usually an avocado and banana smoothie with Greek yogurt and milk, to get a bit more protein and healthy fats. Should I consider adding some whey protein powder into the mix, especially post-weight training? Other diet suggestions?

5/23/2010 6:27:47 PM

The first thing you need to find out is how much you're eating now.


Make an account of http://www.fitday.com and track for 1 week. At the end of a week, you'll have a better idea of how much you've been intaking and how many calories are coming from protein/carbs/fats. Make sure to log your weight at the beginning and end of that week. This will help you decide if you need more or less calories, based on whether or not you gain, lose, or remain the same.

As far as lifting goes, it depends on how many days a week you want to lift. With all my endurance athletes I have them focus purely on compounds (squats, deadlifts, press, pull-ups, dips) and usually add some sort of 10-15min conditioning at the end (crossfit type stuff). It seems to do the job.

5/23/2010 6:38:10 PM

I am basically an industrial athlete, with my "industry" focused heavily on endurance. My weight used to fluctuate pretty bad, in the last 4 years I've weighed from 162 to 141, dependent on what I've been doing. Best recommendation is reading John Berardi's stuff about massive eating, they have a pretty good handle on the nutrition side of things like calorie benchmarks and helpful recipes.

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/lp/lp_what_I_wish.htm

I think you'll find, like me, that the added muscle mass will help greatly in injury prevention and power output, so it's worth the pain in the ass of measuring calories and forced eating.

5/23/2010 7:02:40 PM

Thanks for the advice! Here's my end-of-week report.

This week, I've averaged about 2750 calories a day and I've lost a pound (probably just fluctuation, weighed at different time of day). Carb/fat/protein balance is roughly 50/30/20%, and I've been eating about 130g of protein a day (compared to 158 lbs body weight). I'm not a big meat-eater by nature, so that includes a protein shake or bar after workouts, which this week have mostly been runs.

I feel like this has been a pretty average week for me overall; I was a little more careful about my diet than usual, but that was mostly for the ease of calculating on Fitday (i.e., not having to guess how much butter and salt some restaurant put in my dinner). I suspect that my calorie intake was about average, though it was probably a little more protein than usual and a little less carbs.

Is it beneficial to have a dose of protein after long cardio workouts, or is it mostly just for when you've done some resistance training?

I'm joining a gym next week, so I'll be starting the weight training twice a week and doing my best not to sacrifice any other training. I assume I'll be burning more net calories as a result, and I already feel like I'm eating constantly, so would you recommend investing in some protein powder or something to go in my smoothies, a weight gainer of some kind, or anything like that? I don't know a lot about supplements, but even though gaining weight is my goal, the idea of a "weight gainer" product makes me cringe; I just picture Cartman shouting "BEEEEFCAAAKE" in my head. What ensures that I'd be gaining healthy, functional weight?

5/28/2010 6:29:48 PM

I feel your pain brother, I have to force breakfast every day, I am just not hungry in the morning.

Here's what I recommend for your weight training days: Whey protein with 12 oz milk with breakfast, Muscle Milk Collegiate after your workout (your time limit should be no more than 1 hour post-workout) and something before you go to bed, I usually have a peanut butter sandwich, that should add about 1000 calories to your day, plus ehhh 70g protein.

For endurance days I just drink a few extra pints of milk throughout the day, it's easier and less of a hassle than shakes.

5/29/2010 3:25:21 PM

you need to up your protein, especially when you start weight training. You should have an idea of what kinds of food your body responds well to.

I would recommend adding 150-200 calories and see what your weight does the week after that...def. don't jump right into the 3000-3500 calorie range.

5/30/2010 5:44:18 PM

I can only offer advice as a (former ) long-distance swimmer. I did several 2-3 mile open water swims and one 5 mile in high school and college. Before joining the Navy I had to be able to do push ups for the PRT. In spite of my swimming prowess, I found that I could not do ONE single push up!

Strength training probably would've helped my swimming, I'm not saying otherwise. I just want to console you that swimming doesn't necessarily require upper body strength. I think you just need to swim more! every other weekend??? Also I would get some advice on your form and learn how to do flipturns if you don't know already. I've met a triathlete who wouldn't push off the walls in training because you can't do that in the race. what a dummy. No swimmer training for an open water race would do such a thing! think of how much your heart rate drops while turning around if you don't push off.

PS ... you can always spot triathletes at open water swim events. They're the ones wearing those dorky flat goggles and a wetsuit when the water is 75 degrees.

5/31/2010 9:05:28 AM

Thanks for the nutrition and workout advice. I've got plenty of time to make slow adjustments; I'm not doing any races this year until August, so I want to take the time to do things right and really improve myself for my own sake.

I know I've got to step up the swimming frequency to really improve, but I made some good progress in my form yesterday; my wife was a competitive swimmer up until college, so she's a good coach. I'm out on the Pacific coast so all the races tend to be open ocean, which will take some adjustment (me and salt water don't get along), but I mostly stick to a nice public pool that's within walking distance. The idea of a 5-mile swim is bonkers to me; I dunno how or why you would do such a thing, but it's inspiring.

5/31/2010 7:23:39 PM

You definitely should swim more than every other weekend. And if you're dedicating two days to lifting, then I'd stick with the compound exercises like PackMan92 said.

And as far as diet is concerned, well, I see you studied physics and math, well so did I, and it's essentially conservation of energy: calories in Vs. calories out.

On a side note, biking is something that I need to do more. As of now, I only ride the bike once a week. So hell yeah to riding your bike to and from work. I wish I did that.

5/31/2010 8:05:02 PM