Would love advice on weight training and food

nzfoxz

Hi all.

I've been reading a lot on here, especially the boards around the 'road map', and feel like I've learnt lots already. Thank you to the members that share their knowledge, it's really awesome.

I'm hoping that with your help I can learn a little more, to be on the right track for my goals.

I'm 29, 5"6 and 132lb....I've been eating between 1200 - 1500 calories a day for around 8 years, after a nutritionist told me to eat at that level. In the last 8 years I've basically stayed the same weight, which I'm happy with - I don't want to lose weight. But I had a baby 2 years ago (huge weight spike, but have got back to pre-baby weight through sensible eating and exercise). But my body is definitely not the same shape - I have saggy tummy and extra skin.

SO, I want to put on some muscle to get better muscle definition and hopefully improve the look of my stomach. I'd just generally love to have more muscle as I'm currently "skinny" but I want to be stronger and look better. My ideal would be to stay about the same size (I don't want to buy bigger clothes, but don't really care what the scale says) but with more muscle, less fat. I do BodyPump classes 3 x a week, which I LOVE. I don't want to 'lift heavy', I like lifting lighter weights at higher reps, it's what I enjoy. Having said that, I lift heavier weights than most girls in the classes and push myself so that I'm shaking and hurting on every track. I also play roller derby, which is 2 hours of skating/squatting/sprinting/etc 3 days a week.

What brought all this to my attention was the realisation that I'm lifting more than my friend who I do classes with, but she has FAR better muscle definition than me, by a long shot. She also eats more than me. I know that part of this will just be that our bodies are different, but it got me thinking.

So, if anyone has any advice about this I would really really welcome it. This week I have upped my calories to be closer to my TDEE. My TDEE at 'light' activity is around 1800-2000. I'm not doing derby right now (off season until Feb), so just 3 x a week BodyPump and running around after my toddler. As of this week I've started eating 1640 calories a day. I'm eating way more protein, having protein shakes etc and keeping my food healthy but making the effort to eat more calories. Do you think this will help me achieve my goals? Anthing I should maybe do differently? I'm a bit scared of this whole 'eating more' on purpose thing, it feels pretty forgein to everything I have thought for years which was to look better, eat less!

kfitz85

I'm not an expert, so take my advice with a grain of salt. You may have to really change the way you look at diet and exercise if you want to build muscle. Lean muscle doesn't come quickly, it's much easier to lose 25 pounds of fat than it is to gain 5 pounds of muscle.

You must take in approximately twice as much carbohydrates to protein. I typically consume 40 grams of protein a meal, so at your size, probably 25 grams of protein per meal would be appropriate. You could cut down on cardio and put more focus on strength training.

Lifting light weights at high reps will not build muscle. You will not gain weigh this way. To put on size, you'll have to do 3-5 sets of a weigh that you struggle to lift 6-8 times.

Firefox7275

If you are working to your limit in BodyPump you should be hitting failure (cannot do another repetition with good technique, shaking and hurting is often way before that) on at least some of the tracks and sore (DOMS) for a couple of days afterwards at least some of the time. Consider only training twice a week so you get enough rest and recovery once you add in another three training sessions a week, hitting the same muscle group three to six times a week is as likely to break the muscle down as build it up. Forget what others in the class lift IME (work in lifestyle healthcare) most women lift way less than they are capable of and wonder why they don't get the results they hope for. Nutrition alone will not make you gain muscle you also need intensity, overload and rest.

Shakes are great convenience foods, but don't let them replace nutrient dense protein like oily fish daily if possible, reduced fat dairy, nuts and seeds for minerals. Healthy fats are particularly important when trying to gain or lose, you also might experiment with antioxidant rich foods like berries, sour cherries, green tea extract which may speed recovery after exercise.

FullOfWin

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/848374-large-collection-of-info-for-beginners-2013-edition

nzfoxz

I'm not an expert, so take my advice with a grain of salt. You may have to really change the way you look at diet and exercise if you want to build muscle. Lean muscle doesn't come quickly, it's much easier to lose 25 pounds of fat than it is to gain 5 pounds of muscle.

You must take in approximately twice as much carbohydrates to protein. I typically consume 40 grams of protein a meal, so at your size, probably 25 grams of protein per meal would be appropriate. You could cut down on cardio and put more focus on strength training.

Lifting light weights at high reps will not build muscle. You will not gain weigh this way. To put on size, you'll have to do 3-5 sets of a weigh that you struggle to lift 6-8 times.

Agreed. I am currently working to 50% carbs, 25% protein and 25% fat after doing calculations based on advice elsewhere on this forum. In terms of not building muscle, maybe 'build muscle' is the wrong term. I want to tone up and have more muscle than I do now - and while I know on paper doing light weights at high reps "doesn't do this" I've done BodyPump before, and it definitely increases my muscle...maybe not as much as doing low reps of heavy weight, but as Firefox commented, I am doing it until I hit failure, which maybe makes a difference?

nzfoxz

If you are working to your limit in BodyPump you should be hitting failure (cannot do another repetition with good technique, shaking and hurting is often way before that) on at least some of the tracks and sore (DOMS) for a couple of days afterwards at least some of the time.

Yup, I'm hitting failure on pretty much every track. I don't go to the gym to take it easy, I go so I can push myself as hard as I can. I try to lift at a weight that means I hit failure about 3/4 through the track and have a break for 5 seconds then push myself to the end. Weird point about DOMS - even when I'm working to failure, or when I have tried doing the heaviest weight I can on low reps, I often don't get DOMS. I will if it's the first time I've done an activity in a while, but it seems that once my body has done it once in recent memory (eg a week or so) then even when I push very very hard I get very little DOMS. Not sure if that is symptomatic of something I'm doing wrong....like possibly not having enough rest between workouts, though currently I'm only working out every 2nd day.

Shakes are great convenience foods, but don't let them replace nutrient dense protein like oily fish daily if possible, reduced fat dairy, nuts and seeds for minerals. Healthy fats are particularly important when trying to gain or lose, you also might experiment with antioxidant rich foods like berries, sour cherries, green tea extract which may speed recovery after exercise.
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Totally agree. I'm adding shakes in order to up protein and calories, and using them inbetween good healthy meals like eggs, nuts, meat, etc. Thanks for the other ideas

And thanks for the link FullOfWin! Will read

kfitz85

I only work out 3 days a week at most, sometimes only 2 and I lost about 40 pounds in six months while toning and putting on a significant amount of muscle. The rest is really so important. I have a day where I do chest, a day where I do arms and shoulders, a day where I do legs, and a day where I focus on my core.

That means I'll sometimes go 10 days without working a specific muscle group. I go very hard until I nearly collapse, and I have DOMS for two or three days for whatever muscle group I focus on. If you're not experiencing the soreness even with the rest, then you need to change up how you strength train.

Switch from a bar, to dumbbells or even to a cable machine. Whatever you're using, try something else and see if that gets you results.