I want to gain weight, but stay in shape?

[Anonymous]

I used to do a lot of cardio, so I did not gain any weight. But I felt great, but I was unhappy with my weight. I have been working out too. So I have stopped for 2 weeks and I have noticed a difference, but I am going to keep working out. I feel just a tad lazier, less energy. I played light football the other day and I pulled my hammy, and I usually never used to get injured, and I was out of breath faster.

However, I do want to gain weight more than that, because I figure I can always do cardio again after I gain weight. But the question is, I still don't like feeling out of shape, yet I still work out and I wanna gain weight. We are planning a big football game over thanksgiving. What should I do?

[ArtistBboy]

Let me understand what you're getting at: You stopped cardio and continued to gain weight; meaning that you were packing on fat cells more than muscle cells; right? Or are you talking about being too skinny and wanting to gain weight, but that it's not possible for you?

There's several articles on both, check out google and type: "How to gain weight for.."

And add one of several sayings: "Fat people" "Chunky people" "Large boned people" "Athletes" "Skinny people" "People who can't gain weight" etc

Based off my understanding above; it sounds like your getting food - but it's not nutritional. I say this because your overly exhausted after working out/playing sports/or plain out "in general".. Combined with the fact that you are easily injured.

- On this note, there's also articles you can read about nutrition.. It seems straightforward enough to the typical person. If you don't understand how to balance your diet, take a course at your local college or go to the library.

Other than that - I'd like to recommend stretching.. your so focused on cardio (usually intended for people to lose weight) and working out (for people to get stronger/more bulky) that you are skipping one of the key components to resist injury --> Stretching

- If you want to become very flexible, take yoga. If you want to be moderately flexible, just do "at home" routines to increase your flexibility (the benefit is that both of these can be done at home)

As for working out: Just remember to keep shocking your muscles, and to take supplements in addition to your regular diet. You'd have to see someone about "what supplements to take" unless your willing to do the research yourself - but here's the ones I take to get your a starting block as to where to look (keep in mind I'm the kid who barely can gain weight, if at all): I take vitamin D12, Fish Oil (Not sure what it does, I saw a naturopath), Calcium Lactate (Again, the naturopath), Myocalm (Natural muscle relaxer), Chrondocare (Natural joint nourishment).. etc

With all that said, it sounds like you know the rest.. Another thing that will help that most people underestimate is the use of a MP3 player.. That's the key factor in whether or not I can work out; with music there's nothing I can't do.. But without music it makes my workout dreadfully slow, boring, and just a waste of energy.

Hope it helps,

~ ArtistBBoy

[RealDeal]

Load up on the protein while working out. Eggs, steak (eye of round doesn't have a lot of fat), peanut butter, protein bars/shakes, etc. Oh and chocolate milk after your work out.

[Smilez123]

Ok well first off, one of the best things to do is work on a diet that would give you enough protein and other nutritional things that are good for building muscles. Easy way is to invest in those giant tubs of protein shakes and drink as they instruct. And a tip on the supplements, please be careful of what you are mixing together. Just be careful of the substances you choose to use as well as the amount of other things you are also ingesting. (Maybe ask someone with exp. ie. someone who works at a Gym, a trainer, or friend/classmate who knows this stuff, and maybe a little research would help.)

As for the actual working-out part, do some weight training. Set yourself a new max (maximum) goal maybe every 2 weeks or so. So every other week, you should be shooting for a heavier bench-press, leg-press, squat, dead-lift, etc. set. (2 things about this though: 1. what parts of you would you like to increase muscle mass on? 2. how much are you willing to commit to this? If you are naturally lean, you'd have to invest a lot of time and effort.) I would say a minimum of 1 rep would be enough, you don't want to hurt yourself on maxes.

You can do all of this stuff AND your beloved cardio! An important note about the heavy work outs though is to NOT do the same exercises EVERY TIME. Switch it up, focus on a different body part when you go in, that way you let your other muscles relax a bit. Trust me, I did weight room, trained with the athletes (both genders) from all the sports in my HS for my whole HS career.

There is something you should know though. Sometimes, when people are not biologically built to gain weight, it really doesn't work out at all. So, keep that in mind and don't get too disappointed. I know some guys who have done so much research, working out, eating, just about everything to put on weight and they are still very lean. It sucks, but sometimes, that happens.

Good luck to you and please don't try anything you may regret! I hope you try to achieve your goal the healthy way!

[Anonymous]

Protein shakes maybe...