How do I gain weight?

A good question and one I here often from High School athletes. Understand this...... weight gain that reduces speed is not a good thing. This is why our training focuses on total body strength gain and not gaining bulky beach muscle. Large muscle mass takes a lot of energy to fuel and can limit you endurance performance throughout competition. The best strength to mass ratio for your body type is what our training is trying to achieve.

How can you promote "smart" muscle gain?

Three answers: Protein, Protein, Protein.

Protein repairs and builds muscle!

Many of you don't realize the effect your diet can have on your training gains. I have heard several very prominent strength coaches emphasize that muscle/strength gain is 40% training and 60% diet. Many of you have very little protein in your diets. The truth is... you should get away from the three large meals you eat a day and eat 6 smaller meals. This allows for you to ingest more protein throughout the day. These meals need to contain healthy lean protein. These sources include:

• Lean Chicken breasts
• Turkey breasts, lean burger and sausage.
• Fish: salmon, halibut, tuna.
• Lean Beef: Eye of round, Sirloin, Lean burger.
• Protein shakes: shoot for around 25g in a shake.
• Eggs: a 2/1 egg white to full egg ratio.
• Casein: Great time release protein found in milk.
• Pork: tenderloin, lean cuts.
• Nuts: Almonds, Walnuts, Peanuts.
• Cottage Cheese.
• Wild Game: Elk, Deer, Antelope, Bison; great organic sources of lean protein!

A good number to shoot for is 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. I weigh 192 pounds. The chances of me actually eating 192 grams of protein in a day are pretty slim. However, if I can get close to that number.... say 150 grams, that is pretty good, and will definitely help repair and build lean muscle. Let me know if you have any questions.

More to come on Post Workout Recovery........ stay tuned.