votum

Hey,

I used to weigh 129lbs. The day I joined the army. I now weigh 200 today. I have five major surgeries three weeks ago and lost 20 pounds and have been slowly getting them back. I've had a goal of getting to 250 for several years now and life or McDonalds always gets in the way. So my question is this, how do I ride and avoid losing weight!? Any special techniques? I could gain a lb a day but my girlfriend doesn't like steroids so I'm naturally gaining, which is much slower. If all gos well I'll be 250 this time next year, but I'll be biking every day 2-10 miles and bouts of fifty plus. I wouldn't mind some weight transfer from lower to upper body but I don't want to lose at all

bbbean 

Why do you want to weigh 250?

findude

Are you a body builder? 250 is about twice what you weighed before. Were you unhealthy at 129?

Willbird

As I understand it the body more or less discards muscle it does not need, it knows it needs muscle when you use those muscles, I studied the body builder deal for awile to use what I could to cut weight, they typically avoid lots of cardio...

vzwire

Not sure if serious...

FLEXjs

265 lb bodybuilder/powerlifter here and I am pretty sure he is serious.

OP; you just need to take in enough calories to fuel both your bodybuilding efforts and your cycling efforts. If you are training hard and eating at a surplus you'd really have to do quite a bit of cycling to offset that; 2-10 miles a day on the bike is not much.

What is your training like and what is your TDEE and daily macro intake?

Pamestique 

Aren't most bodybuilders/power lifters well aware of what it takes to gain andor maintain weight? I have never met one that wasn't almost a registered dietician when it came to adequate nutrition...

votum

I'm well aware of what I need to do to gain weight, however I'm about to spend about 1500-3000 on my first nice bike so I'll be riding more. Biking seems fairly easy but its something I'm not experienced in so I figured I'd ask. I suppose I should have led with that lol. I figured the newbie tag would convey it.

Yes, body builder. Not very tall though so no competing, just a hobby. I was mainly asking to get experienced viewpoints, as you guys know more. Things like, hey ride with your saddle at a 15% angle its better for your quads. Or, don't ride more than x because you'd need to eat x etc. Macros are basically 50% pro, 30% fat, 20% carb and I'm working on a 5xwk HST routine now. I'm recovering from surgery and liquid diet for weeks so I probably get about 27-3000 cals per day. I don't count because I don't compete and I've been training a long time so I know what I need. I've been gaining about a pound every two to three days so I'm eating barely over maintenance. My best ever was 1lb per day on lots of gear, but it wasnt clean weight.

Also, macros are weird but I'm a hard gainer and respond best to protein overload.

Also, I was healthy at 129, ran a 50 second 400, but after multiple marriages and divorces, got heavy and day, decided to start working out, made it up to 230, got married and lost weight, got divorced and stayed at a fit 200. Now I'm trying to knock it up to 259 and maybe 15% bf (abs very lightly showing) and didn't want to start biking thinking the caloric cost would be nil, and realizing I'm doing it wrong.

My masters is in non proliferation and terrorism studies, I'm one if the rare bodybuilder types who isn't a sports fitness or nutritionist major lol.

FLEXjs

I'm having trouble reconciling the two statements above.

In any event, my above comments still apply; if you're adding cycling into your training routine, just ensure you add enough extra calories to fuel that activity over and above your original surplus.

Null66

Some people who are going for mass (good mass) have to eat amazing calories of "clean" food which is not as easy as it seems. Very easy to be in calorie surplus of industrial food, hard when it's veggies, lean, lean meats and such.

Timing of intake is also critical to keep mass lean, lots of small meals. A standard protocol is 6 meals a day.

TO OP:

IF you want, mass!

SQUATS AND MILK!
and pullovers...

FLEXjs

Actually this is not true.

Meal timing is largely irrelevant and a matter of personal preference.

Meeting total daily required macros is key. When they are consumed matters not.

WonderMonkey

For muscle mass and biking you are going to have to do power movements such as intervals, sprints, hill climbs, etc. Work on your spin so you hit the hamstrings, quads, calves, glutes, etc.

Null66

Sorry, incorrect. Gross oversimplification, even at normal calorie levels.
But at extremes such as BB'ers require..

Large meals = insulin surge = fat storage...

I've done, my link hunt for the day.
But if you're mind is open, google's your friend...
If not googles your enemy, as you'll play into confirmation bias.

Remember some of the high end BB'ers are consuming on the order of 6-7k calories a day.

WonderMonkey

I disagree. The body can only process so much of certain things at once and attempts to pass what it cannot use (at that time). A steady time released dose better enables the body to deal with it.

As related to exercise there is an order in which your body seeks energy and replenishment. One example would be if you were to partake in a strenuous exercise there is a window of time when your body can best make use of the proper nutrition. This is generally 30 minutes and what is needed is easily digestible items and certain proteins. Anything later than that window or of the incorrect type you reduce the effectiveness. Extrapolate that and it shows that timing and substance are important.

FLEXjs

No. it's not. I also highly doubt OP is consuming 6-7k per day

This is what we call "Broscience". It is commonly believed, but substantially incorrect.

Alan Aragon on nutirent timing and protein absorption:

JISSN | Full text | Nutrient timing revisited: is there a post-exercise anabolic window?

JISSN | Full text | The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis

Is there a limit to how much protein the body can use in a single meal? | Wannabebig

WonderMonkey

It's all about who you listen to. I have my science and medical people that I listen to and you have yours. Each chooses who to believe.

I know how I feel and how my body responds to changes that I make in the timing and substance of what I do.

We could attach a term to something that only a few believe and general peer reviewed science does not. It can be called "That One Guy Over There Science".

I will say that "That One Guy Over There Science" used to be Einstein and other people who were viewed as nuts but then later revolutionary so we know what that gets us.

However... I'm always up for learning more. I'm an engineer by trade. I generally pay attention to peer reviewed science. Things that go against that are not automatically wrong nor does something being peer reviewed make it right, but if you find people you respect (as you have with Alan Aragon) you tend to put weight to their words and peer reviewed findings.

I don't learn from others in the gym, which is akin to the broscience. I "listen" to people and when I hear something that sounds intriguing I look into it. I'll read the articles you linked and see what it says. I'm sure I'll find value even if I don't fully agree.

We could end up trading articles back and forth all day supporting what we feel is true. It's like politics, religion, hitting styles (I coaching hitting), etc. but in the end it has to resonate with you and be backed up by the results you feel.

FLEXjs

I'm perfectly fine if we agree to disagree.

I can also speak from my own experience as someone who has been lifting most of my adult life (age 20-35, and age 42-47 [current]) and I've never eaten 6 meals in a day in my life. Most of the time basic 3 meals per day, and a lot of the time only 2.

Also; coaching hitting??? You mean boxing?

ThermionicScott 

Never stopped Lee Priest. GFH!

WonderMonkey

Right on. Or Franco Columbu, etc.

Yendor72

I don't understand this either, shorter guys look stockier easier, Lee Priest for example, he's only 5'4". If I still had the muscle mass I did when I was lifting you darn right I'd be competing. At 5'6" and 220lbs I'd look like a monster, but alas, I am a fata$$.

I joined the Navy at 114lbs and got out at around 145lbs. Lifted after I got out and shot up to 180lbs. 200 had been my goal, but a life outside the gym was more important. My biggest fault was continuing to eat like a steroided horse, those 3-4 hours in the gym really required a lot of calories.

WonderMonkey

I chuckled twice at what you typed. I appreciate the humor.

votum

It took me an entire year of eating 10k plus calories a day and lifting two hours ateast to go from 130 to 180. I ate nothing but boiled chicken breast, eggs, cottage cheese, and brown rice. All free in Iraq though lol. About three years and I made it to 200. I'm gaining a pound every few days right now because I just had surgery and lost twenty. Its just coming back to where I was before surgery. I also had two lbs of hair cut off last night so I'm 198 lol.

Null66

Not who you believe, nor even conflicting. Different goals. I presumed a clean bulk... Sorry.

I've seen studies like this, All about muscle and strength growth, not about body comp management. A lot of people have done wonders with dirty bulks.

Piling on the pounds, sure...

speaking of piling on the pounds.
I did SQUATS and MILK! (and pullovers) HA!... Went from 240 to 285, and body comp improved from pathetic to relatively acceptable for an old fart. Lifts went up rather significantly, again for a battered old bird... Not anything like for a young one, or an augmented person.

So certainly not biases against mass or max strength

I was insulin resistant. So very hard to me to gain w/o as much fat as muscle; very, very hard to lose w/o cutting as much or more muscle than fat.


Avoiding fat deposition?
You have to avoid insulin spikes while NOT glycogen depleted.

Avoid catabolism over night?
Nothing better then slowly digested protein.

WonderMonkey

I do feel that six meals a day isn't much (if any) different nutritionally but is of value to people trying to manage their weight due to the psychology of it all. However ONE meal a day is the extreme of "it doesn't matter" so I always go to that. A well known "one meal a day" (I know you aren't advocating it) is Herschel Walker. He is legendary on what he does to stay fit and how he eats. He is an exception to almost every "rule" though.

As far as hitting, I'm speaking of fastpitch softball. Used to be baseball but I do fastpitch now.

Since you mentioned boxing, I have started to add some fun boxing routines into my week. It's fun and makes things interesting. I got to do a bunch of boxing with my latino buddies in the military and enjoyed it.

votum

That was in the early days of bodybuilding, that doesn't exactly fly in competitions anymore. And I don't make enough money to stop working for years to pursue a real title. Local comps don't even count to me to be honest. Lee priest is an idol of mine though.