Advice for hard gainers
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emmab0902
Posts: 2,338 Member
I am a 45 yo female competitive swimmer who has never been successful in building muscle. Unfortunately gaining fat is much easier!
Do you have any general tips on what sort of reps and sets work best when muscles are hard to come by?
I eat a good amount of protein and generally pretty healthy food.
Do you have any general tips on what sort of reps and sets work best when muscles are hard to come by?
I eat a good amount of protein and generally pretty healthy food.
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Replies
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So does the lifting need to support endurance or sprint type swimming?
Because reps up to even 30 have shown ability to increase muscle - if done correctly with overload and progression and volume, ect.
Does your swim training schedule allow for a couple days of lifting that don't have you worn out already from day before, or impeding repair day after?
If I have a long hard swim session (1 mile for me long), the next day usually won't feel sore or tired - but it obviously was by the inability to lift what I could have otherwise.
If you can't overload by weight rather than fatigue, your body has little reason to increase size of muscle.
But if I did the laps after a lifting session, they might be slower, but the workout was good.1 -
I am a 45 yo female competitive swimmer who has never been successful in building muscle. Unfortunately gaining fat is much easier!
Do you have any general tips on what sort of reps and sets work best when muscles are hard to come by?
I eat a good amount of protein and generally pretty healthy food.
How many calories are you eating? With such a high level of activity, your calories are going to have to be rather high. The below thread also has some good information for those struggling to get enough calories in.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p11 -
Hi
My calories are good and I have a tendency to gain fat just not muscle lol.
I swim 3 days a week with each session around 2500m made up of drills all strokes and sometimes sprint or lactate sets. They're not usually majorly taxing. It's very rare that I would feel worn out. I do allow for extra rest days if feel I need one, or if I've slept poorly etc.
Currently I swim Saturday Monday and Wednesday and go to the gym Tuesday Thursday or Friday, and Sunday.
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Hi
My calories are good and I have a tendency to gain fat just not muscle lol.
I swim 3 days a week with each session around 2500m made up of drills all strokes and sometimes sprint or lactate sets. They're not usually majorly taxing. It's very rare that I would feel worn out. I do allow for extra rest days if feel I need one, or if I've slept poorly etc.
Currently I swim Saturday Monday and Wednesday and go to the gym Tuesday Thursday or Friday, and Sunday.
Well if you arent gaining, you calories would not be good as you need to eat more than expended.
When you go to the gym, are you following a structured program, like strong curves?
Also, as a women you will gain more fat than muscle; roughly 75% of growth will be fat, although it can vary based on genetic potential, lifting experience and a few other fats. On top of that, there will be an uptick in glycogen storage, increased waste and some sodium/wster weight fluctuations in the beginning.0 -
Hi
My calories are good and I have a tendency to gain fat just not muscle lol.
I swim 3 days a week with each session around 2500m made up of drills all strokes and sometimes sprint or lactate sets. They're not usually majorly taxing. It's very rare that I would feel worn out. I do allow for extra rest days if feel I need one, or if I've slept poorly etc.
Currently I swim Saturday Monday and Wednesday and go to the gym Tuesday Thursday or Friday, and Sunday.
Usually people have no idea how taxing a workout actually is until they try the additional workout without it.
Do you already have your lifting weights to a point where a certain number of reps/sets is almost to failure?
Like, if you skip Thu and do the lifting on Fri - are you able to do the workout easier compared to doing it on Thu?
Otherwise, pick a range of say 10 - 15 reps, keep working the reps up with good form until 15 is done, then add 10 lbs onto the bar and drop back to 10 reps. Repeat.
And ditto's above to type of program.
Starting with curls and tricep kickbacks with light dumbbells isn't asking the body to do much that requires more.0 -
One more thing to add, if you cant increase calories the other option is reduce exercise. If your goal is to gain then it may benefit you to cut down or stop swimming temporarily and focus on a 3 day full body routine or if you have been lifting for a while a split will do.
Ultimately though, if your goal is to gain weight either intake has to increase, EE has to decrease or a combo of both.0 -
I'm curious on the following variables please:
1) You say that you tend to gain fat and have a hard time gaining muscle. What rate of weight gain are you experiencing when you do this?
2) What does your resistance training program look like?
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What's a "good amount of protein"?
Do you have an off season?0 -
100g protein per day.
As I have only recently returned to the gym after injury my routine consists of a combination of leg extensions leg curls Lat pulldowns straight arm pushdowns tricep pushdowns chest press Seated row deadlifts and core work. I am working in the 12-15 rep range mainly but sometimes will do drop sets. Because swimming is more endurance than sprint I anticipate varying my programme between the different rep ranges in a cycle.
Swimming doesn't have an off season although the bigger competitions are in our summer (it's winter here now)
Stopping swimming even temporarily isn't an option as it's not funny how much swim fitness is lost quickly, and other cardio doesn't translate to the pool.
Hope I've answered most of the great questions.0 -
100g protein per day.
As I have only recently returned to the gym after injury my routine consists of a combination of leg extensions leg curls Lat pulldowns straight arm pushdowns tricep pushdowns chest press Seated row deadlifts and core work. I am working in the 12-15 rep range mainly but sometimes will do drop sets. Because swimming is more endurance than sprint I anticipate varying my programme between the different rep ranges in a cycle.
Swimming doesn't have an off season although the bigger competitions are in our summer (it's winter here now)
Stopping swimming even temporarily isn't an option as it's not funny how much swim fitness is lost quickly, and other cardio doesn't translate to the pool.
Hope I've answered most of the great questions.
And how many calories are you eating? 100g may or may not be fine based on your stats.
Its fine if you don't want to lower swimming (even when I will bulk, I won't drop my HIIT because I want to be in good cardio health), but then you have to make up for the calories burned through increased caloric consumption.0 -
My weight has been pretty stable for the last couple of years. To be honest I gave up counting calories precisely a while ago but roughly know what I eat having tracked them for years prior. I would estimate 1600 per day. I am on medication that significantly lowers my metabolic rate so this is the level that works for me and has been worked out with a sports nutritionist.0
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My weight has been pretty stable for the last couple of years. To be honest I gave up counting calories precisely a while ago but roughly know what I eat having tracked them for years prior. I would estimate 1600 per day. I am on medication that significantly lowers my metabolic rate so this is the level that works for me and has been worked out with a sports nutritionist.
Well if you are maintaining now, then all you would need to do is add another 250 calories on top of what you currently eat. Pretty much a protein shake with mill extra. Add on top a good progressive overload lifting program and you would be set to slow bulk. If you are already low in body fat, then you are fairly primed for makijg good gains.2
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