Thread: what would you recommend?

Originally Posted by BerryBlis

Hello,

I'm currently about to start up my tennis season and would like to add 10 pounds of lean muscle. Right now I'm 5'6", 113 lbs, and about 12% bf (20 year old female). I figured out my basal metabolic rate to be 1350 calories and then I burn about 800 calories per day with my training and weight training and other conditioning stuff. I'm a student so the rest of my day is spend sitting and studying or watching tv and that kind of stuff (so sedentary). How many calories would you recommend I eat in order to gain some lean muscle (with minimal fat?)

Thanks for your advice!!

Hey,

How did you find out your BMR? Was it done professionally or was it on a web site calculator?

Exact calorie needs are a very individual thing and it will depend on your activity level, lean mass, genetics and your bodies natural hormone levels etc etc. Although there are rough 'formula' you can use to calculate a calorie requirement it all comes down to trial and error. I usually use the formula to give me a 'ball park' figure and then calculate from there.

The one I like the best is based on lean mass -

1. Calculate your lean mass in Kg = (113 pounds/2.2) X [(100-12)/100] = 45.2 kg

2. Multiply this by 24 to get your BMR = 1085

3. Multiply in your activity factor - for most 'active' individuals this is usually around 1.5 to 1.6 = 1630 - 1735. If you are burning 800 cals through activities alone you might find that your activity factor is somewhat higher than this (say 1.7, which would mean this figure would increase to 1845)

4. Add in your TEF (energy required to digest/utilise your food) = 0.1 x BMR = 110

Total maintainence is therefore ~ 1740 to 1850 cals (or, using 1.7 as an activity factor, then it is 1950) so to add mass I would start at a bare minimum of ~ 2000 cals.

That said - these formula can be way off base, so try 2000 cals for 1 - 2 weeks and see what progress you make. If it is not enough food (which it may well not be), add on 100 cals/week until you start to see the gains you want.

Of course, the 'no fuss' way of doing it is to simply calculate how much you are eating now (assuming you are maintaining) and then to simply increase calories from there.

Originally Posted by BerryBlis

Hello,

I'm currently about to start up my tennis season and would like to add 10 pounds of lean muscle. Right now I'm 5'6", 113 lbs, and about 12% bf (20 year old female). I figured out my basal metabolic rate to be 1350 calories and then I burn about 800 calories per day with my training and weight training and other conditioning stuff. I'm a student so the rest of my day is spend sitting and studying or watching tv and that kind of stuff (so sedentary). How many calories would you recommend I eat in order to gain some lean muscle (with minimal fat?)

Thanks for your advice!!

I start out at 10% over of my maintenance cals. I keep uping my cals by 10% until weight gain occurs.

Hello,

Thanks for the reply!! Right now I eat on average about 2200 per day and I'm not really gaining much. So should i just increase 100 at a time? and how long should I wait before I increase again?

Thanks!

Give the increase adjustment a few days before increasing again. I think 100-200 cals is good but watch yourself closely.

For tennis purposes aren't you in a sense worried that adding ten pounds of weight regardless of if it's lean or not might actually slow you down?

I could be wrong, but I suggest lifting weights, eating properly, while continuing your tennis training which would therefore add the weight/strength while maintaining your agility and speed.

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

For tennis purposes aren't you in a sense worried that adding ten pounds of weight regardless of if it's lean or not might actually slow you down?

I could be wrong, but I suggest lifting weights, eating properly, while continuing your tennis training which would therefore add the weight/strength while maintaining your agility and speed.

I don't know - at 113 pounds and 5'6 she is pretty lean. To generate speed you need to have the muscle strength to push yourself over the ground quickly and will therefore need a decent muscle base to begin with. Add to that the fact that you need good strength to whack the ball at decent speeds (something that also requires muscle mass) and being THAT lean may well be hindering her game...

I feel adding some lean mass will easily help her game (just think of the Williams sisters!) and may very well make her faster and stronger.

I would not add 10 lbs, as mentioned before, it will make you slightly sluggish on the court and could also F with your range of motion in the shoulder area.

You should eat at maintenance and train for explosiveness. Tennis is not about being strong, it is about being explosive. You will most likely have to up your cals if you do this for 2 reasons. First, the amount of cals you burn training like is very high. Also, you should perform anaerobic intervals with a 1:2 work to rest ratio. That means for every 10 seconds you sprint, you should jog 20. This ratio is specific to tennis and should help you not only with getting in shape, but also to aid in producing energy fast enough for the explosiveness you will be training for.

Hello,

I was a little concerned with putting on the weight and it throwing me off in the beginning but I am very thin (as pointed out already) and feel somewhat weak lately when I've been playing. I know that the weight will throw me off somewhat but I think in the long run it would make me a little better player to have more strength behind me. It will definetely take some adjusting but I've acounted for this in my scheduling. I am already doing some sprint training with cardio work and some of my strength sessions are dedicated to speed and power. I have been getting stronger in the gym(lifting more weight) but my weight has actually gone down a couple of pounds in the last week or so. I'm also just not really liking the way I look right now too, just to thin and I think some more muscle would definetely help me look better. How much does the quality of calories matter for actually putting on the weight? My diet is fairly good, but I do eat a granola bar or two a day for energy. My carbs are also a little higher % just because of the fact that I'm burning so much energy and on low CHO high protein I just feel sluggish and tired. Do you think changing my diet (but keeping cals the same) would help me add mass or is it just a matter of adding calories in general? (obviously adding lean protein and oatmeal or something, not just ice cream and cookies....) Don't get me wrong, I eat very well with lots of veggies, tuna, egg whites, oatmeal and chicken spread out 6 times a day but I do also eat some foods it seems people on here totally ban from their diet (granola bars, whole wheat bread, yogurt, apples and oranges).


Thanks for your guy's help.
BerryBlis

Originally Posted by Emma-Leigh

I don't know - at 113 pounds and 5'6 she is pretty lean.

ditto...

110-120 lbs is a good weight for a height of around 5'2. at her height & weight she can definetly afford to gain some LBM...

I am very thin (as pointed out already) and feel somewhat weak lately when I've been playing. I know that the weight will throw me off somewhat but I think in the long run it would make me a little better player to have more strength behind me.

If you feel too weak and thin then you should definately add some quality mass!

How much does the quality of calories matter for actually putting on the weight?

Well, quality is very important. If you think of it in terms of fuel into a car it is the same principle - The better the fuel quality you use, the more efficiently it will run.

You get remarkably different hormonal/growth responses if you were to eat 300 cals from a manufactured food than if you were to eat 300 cals worth of a home-made meal of some quality low GI/high fibre carbs, some lean protein and a little healthy fats.

The other benifit of eating healthy is that you also get many more micronutrients than with processed foods. Vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, anti-oxidants etc are all vital for health AND muscle growth and these are provided in a much more concentrated form in natural wholesome food sources.

My carbs are also a little higher % just because of the fact that I'm burning so much energy and on low CHO high protein I just feel sluggish and tired. Do you think changing my diet (but keeping cals the same) would help me add mass or is it just a matter of adding calories in general?

I would think that it is a matter of adding calories. This is especially true if your diet is already pretty good and the fact that you are pretty lean. If you had a higher BF% or your diet was well below par then you may have got away with altering your body composition by adjusting food sources....

Also, simply eating more protein is not going to make you 'sprout' muscles, you need the calorie intake to put your body into 'energy excess' so it has excess fuel to go towards building tissues.

To go back to the car analogy again, yes, you do also need WATER (protein) and OIL (fats) the car for it to run efficiently but it is the fuel that is most important if you want to go somewhere.

You obviously need the carbs (fuel) for energy and if you do more moving than the average person you are going to need more carbs than the average person. So for that reason (and for the fact that you FELL sluggish and tired with less carbohydrates) I suggest you should stick with a slightly higher carb content.

Don't get me wrong, protein is very important in providing you with the animo acids for muscle growth - but just eating protein is not the best way to gain mass!! Just make sure you are getting a minimum of 1g/pound body weight (1.2g is probably a good figure) and you will have plenty for your anabolic purposes.

Healthy fats are also essential for overall health, anabolism and nutrient partitioning (helping your body utilise the energy you give if for muscle growth) - so make sure you are getting enough of these as well. I usually use a cut of for fats of 0.3g/pound (so for you that would be a minimum of 35g) with as much of this as possible coming from poly-unsaturated fats (esp omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, walnuts and linseeds/flax).

Don't get me wrong, I eat very well with lots of veggies, tuna, egg whites, oatmeal and chicken spread out 6 times a day but I do also eat some foods it seems people on here totally ban from their diet (granola bars, whole wheat bread, yogurt, apples and oranges).

Ok... First, there is absolutely nothing wrong with eating apples and oranges. Some people take fruits out for fear of 'sugar' but it is really not a problem, esp if you are young, active and trying to grow muscles (It always amuses me when people talk about 'fruit is bad... stay away from sugars' but then they go and add 'dextrose' to their diets ).

Also, if you are doing a lot of cardio fruit is essential in maintaining your blood sugar levels. See, when you are doing long bouts, your muscles tend to use up their own energy sources and also suck up the glucose running around in your blood. So this leaves less for your vital organs. It is your liver that is responsible for releasing more glucose into the blood to supply your brain and organs with glucose...). Fruit is good in that it helps to keep some energy in your liver for this purpose.

Also, I don't think yoghurt (as long as it is fat free & sugar free) is all that bad either.

I do have a problem with granola bars, simply because there is often a lot of highly processed sugary ingredients in them. So I would try to limit these - however, with that said, there are a LOT worse things you can eat... So, are they ideal - no, but you can do a lot worse.

I would probably suggest making your own energy bars with oats, dried fruit, honey, protein powder, nuts etc.... They would be just as easy to snack on and would be a lot healthier for you.

Wheat bread I also have a problem with. In my opinion it is not much better than plain old white bread but for some reason people have latched onto it as a 'good bread'. If you want bread then I would try to get something that is less processed - breads such as sprouted bread and pumpernickel bread (which should have 'grain, water, +/- salt' as the only ingredients) are great choices... Others such as wholegrain sourdough breads, seeded wholegrains and even dense rye breads are better choices than whole wheat as well...