Training & Nutrition - Lifting without gaining weight

I have found that I have a fairly mesomorphic body type. I am 6'1" and 175 with a 32" or 33" waist depending on which pants I wear. I have the broad shoulders and big chest that is typical of the mesomorphic body type. Combined with the fact that I am a teenager (16) with raging hormones, this means that I gain muscle really easily.

The problem is that I don't really want to bulk up. In the sports that I compete in, (running, cycling) being big isn't really much of an advantage; in fact it is a disadvantage. However, I would like to tone up, and have a generally stronger upper body. I have decent abs because my track (running) coach makes us do ab work. I have no problem with this. Abs don't "get big" like shoulders and biceps do. Our coach has also been telling us that we should lift, and do a weight that we can do 3x12 reps with to build muscle endurance, without getting too big. Problem is, I still get big. After working out 7-8 times (over two weeks), I notice that I am gaining weight. Usually it is only about five pounds, and I know it is muscle, (waist size stays the same) but weight is weight. I'm 175 already, and don't want to get any bigger.

Does this mean that I should lift ever higher reps with lower weight? I fell pretty ridiculous doing 70 lbs on the bench press already. Anybody have this problem? Anything maybe I'm doing wrong?

You are lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it. Many of the people I know that are regular gym-goers would kill for your body type (myself included), as most people have to work very hard to gain even a small percentage of muscle growth. There are a few things you have to bear in mind when it comes to muscle growth and weight:

1. Muscle is heavier than fat. Therefore the more muscle, the heavier you will be. Gross generalisation I know, there is far more to it than that, but I am trying to simplify things here.

2. More muscle = greater fat burning potential. If you increase your lean muscle mass (what you are after) as opposed to "muscle bulk", you will improve your ability to burn fat and increase your metabolic rate. Still trying to keep it simple here.

3. It will take your body a while to "balance itself out". You may gain a bit quickly, but you will plateau out, and start to achieve the results you are after.

As for weight and reps, my recommendation would be that you aim for 4 sets of 12-15 reps on a weight that makes you start to 'fade' (you will know what I mean when you find the right weight) at around the 10th rep mark. If you are worried about the weights still, just up the reps and drop the weight. Don't worry that you will bulk up excessively on this programme - you will certainly add muscle, but as explained above, this is a good thing.

I am sure that one of the qualified coaches will probably shoot all of this down in flames very shortly, but bear in mind (disclaimer) that I am not a qualified coach, although have been doing weight training for 12 years, and have only just started seriously into the cycling thing.

Hi,
this is easy. If you pump iron,you're gonna bulk up. You can lessen the amount by doing high reps; but at your age...... What I would suggest is setting some goals. Running and cycling don't need much upper body strength.
If you want to concentrate there; then your weight training will mostly be for the lower half of your body. Don't forget the hamstrings! If you decide to do that, go long. Long exercise periods at light to moderate levels of effort. This will burn off fat. For example, add miles to your riding each week; with the idea of doing a century by the end of summer.
OTOH, if you want to include other sports, you will need to watch your diet. And you will add a few pounds. But either way you'll be in great shape. You can also go long to burn fat; while weight training.

I agree with what Colenel had to say above good guide lines for sure. Well at least from my perspective. I also have no formal training but have been lifting for a while and played varsity sports all through high school, so I've picked up a few pointers here and there.

Two things:
1- I got this little bit advice from on of the coaches back in high school when we were lifting. Make sure that you take the weights all the way down (well maybe not like all the way down to the floor or anything like that). The range that you should be using is different for all the different lifts. The best thing to do would be to check with one of your coaches on what is the right form. Why is this important?? Again I have no professional opinion here(but it did come from a coach whose opinion I trust), but what I was told (and it makes sense) is that if you're not taking the muscle through the full range in the lift, then you're not fully developing the muscle. This leads to two things. First it diminishes the strength that you are building with that muscle by a little bit, especially at the extremes of the movement. And secondly it helps to keep the muscle flexible as compared to not lifting through the full motion. Since it looks like you want to lift to help you in track and cycling, these would probally be two good things to have going =]

2- I'm assuming that you've just started lifting recently, and as you said, you've already put on weight. Well, that's what happens from lifting. Even if you don't go for the huge bulk up weight gain program, just the difference from not lifting to lifting on a regular basis is going to develop muscle. But like Colonel said, you'll probally get a big leap here when you're starting and then it will level off a bit. And my thought is that this weight gain won't be a disadvantage in the sports that you're in. Getting overly huge and all muscles could be a problem, but developing muscles is going to do the exact opposite. Yes you'll have more weight to move around, but at the same time you're going to have a LOT more muscle to move it with (and probally less fat which doesn't help you move at all).

Anyways, that's just my 2 cents.

Hope it all goes well for you!

Yes upping the reps slightly to 12-15 will take you out of the bodybuilding range into the toning/endurance range and upping the pace with less rest between sets and exercises will as well . Search the forum for circuit training as last summer some routines of this type of training were posted and they are a good toning cutting routine.Also keep in mind diet factors into this as well as a slight calorie deficit will result in cutting/toning while even a slight surplus will result in weight gain.

Originally posted by late
Hi,
this is easy. If you pump iron,you're gonna bulk up. You can lessen the amount by doing high reps; but at your age...... What I would suggest is setting some goals. Running and cycling don't need much upper body strength.
If you want to concentrate there; then your weight training will mostly be for the lower half of your body. Don't forget the hamstrings! If you decide to do that, go long. Long exercise periods at light to moderate levels of effort. This will burn off fat. For example, add miles to your riding each week; with the idea of doing a century by the end of summer.
OTOH, if you want to include other sports, you will need to watch your diet. And you will add a few pounds. But either way you'll be in great shape. You can also go long to burn fat; while weight training.

The main reason that I'm focusing on my upper body is because my legs are extremely toned from running and biking, and my upper body looks out of balance.

Ok, I get it now,
this is normal. If you can control your eating, you will start losing weight.
Most people gain a few pounds when they start weight lifting. Here's a couple exercises I like. Sit on a pad on the floor in front of a exercise station. Bend the legs a little so you can row. When you row, try and keep the back straight. Bend from the hips, and make sure your abs are tight on the return swing. That's a good warm up exercise for the back. After you can do that at 80-90 pounds start in on the Roman Chair. I really like to hold a weight against my chest when I do that; but add back work gradually. Once a week is plenty, Once every 5 days at the most. Another thing I like is Ascending Pyramid sets.
You can vary this to suit yourself; but the idea is to start easy; and add weights and reps slowly. You can vary this, but do 2 reps at 20% max, 4 at 40%, 6 at 60%, 8 at 80% , 9 at 100%. The idea is to pump the muscle up; not to go to a burn. Some of the traditonal weight lifting exercises are hard on the joints or back. Lunges are an example. It's easy to work any of those muscles without using the knee in such an unnatural manner. And speaking of knees, learn where the Vastus Medialus is. It's a knee muscle, it works on the upper part of a Leg Extension exercise, roughly 70-90% of range of motion. You don't want to go all the way up. Finish with a set or two where you just slowly go up and down from about 3/4 of the way up, to about 9/10 of the full extension. You can feel the muscle working above, and to the inside of the knee. That muscle protects the knee. Keep it strong; it's also a killer exercise for skiers.

hey Phatman, i'm an ectomorph so i can't speak from experience (currently 6'1" and 165lbs and working to gain another 5lbs -- and was 135lbs at age 18)...

but as i understand it the REAL problem for endomorphs is gaining too much fat. i mean, yes, for running and cycling you also don't want to be 200lbs even if you have 4% body fat, but in general it seems like if you restrict your eating so you don't have excess calories, then your body can't build too much.

and i also assume you're doing lots of cardio work like running and cycling to burn lots of calories.

given this, i would also do as RWTD suggested - do reps of 12-15.

if you don't do any weight training you could still gain weight it would just be more likely to be fat instead of muscle.

so work out weights with high reps, continue lots of cardio and watch your calorie intake. if there's no extra calories then your body can't store any extra muscle, but in general you want to have more muscle than fat (endomorphs rarely get into the sub-4% body fat that can have sport negatives)

P.S. maybe it's always wanting what you don't have, but i would kill to be able to gain muscle - it took me 2 years of MAJOR weight training 6 days a week and forcing food down my throat every 2 hours for 2 years so i could gain 15 lbs of muscle! of course i am still easily sub-10% body fat which is the positive side