Proper way to gain weight

[Grant Kim]

Alright guys, quick question. I'm trying to put some mass on but I'm wondering if its better to just eat whatever and whenever I can or go by the zone and do it in blocks? By that I mean increasing my protein, fat, and carb intake.

[Randy Hill]

I don't know what your stats are, but it took coach Rippetoe himself telling me on the Strength Mill forums for me to finally realize that I just need to eat.

http://************.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5529 WFS

[Thomas Green]

Squats and GOMAD

or if you're really ambitious, a gallon of muscle milk a day(mixed with whole milk of course)

edit: Don't actually try this, but I honestly saw it suggested once on another forum!

[Randy Hill]

I considered mixing whey protein 1 scoop per 8 oz of water in a gallon of water a day.. But something tells me that's a terrible idea. GOWPAD! hahahaha.

[David Meverden]

Myself and many people around here will speak to the effectiveness of drinking the aforementioned Gallon of Milk a Day (GOMAD). Whole milk.

I gained 30 lbs in 7 weeks doing Rips Novice Starting Strength Program and eating 5000 calories a day. I did the GOMAD with most of my other calories leaning towards Paleo (grains were not a staple, though I was certainly not afraid of gorging myself out at a restaurant on whatever sounded delicious). This worked well. I put on 10-15 lbs of muscle and 10-15 lbs of fat in 7 weeks, but never got fat (it went on real evenly), though I'd guess this was more a testament to Rips awesome program than my diet.

[Colin McLafferty]

You know, I've been wondering about this too. If I could gain strength without mass, that'd be fine by me. But Mr. Rippetoe claims that this can't be done simply because a novice lifter's "motor" isn't big enough.

Regarding Grant's question, most people looking to gain mass keep rough Zone principles but just up the portions a whole lot. The key point of advice I see circulated here is to stop counting blocks. If you feel the need, keeping a journal wouldn't hurt but it may be best to track your progress with tape every week or so and then go on a diet logging fest if you're not getting the type / amount of weight gain you seek.

[Jeremy Raffer]

i would shoot for a balanced diet with 40%protein40%carbs and 20% fats. Then while keeping this ratio eat an extra 500 cals a day over whatever your maintenance is. A great tool for nutrition tracking is www.livestrong.com. Its like yin to crossfits yang. Zone blocks are big in the crossfit community but other things are big elsewhere so make sure you get a balanced perspective.

[Brian Bedell]

robb wolf's article "42 ways to skin the zone" if I recall correctly talks about a suggested approach for gaining mass using the zone block system. IF that is the approach you want.

[Thomas Bailly]

Lift heavy,lift lots.
Eat more than enough to support your lifting and recovery.
If you eat "cleaner" you will gain mass more slowly and possibly gain less fat.
For max mass gains: GOMAD, junk, 2 x blocks ,whatever, askabodybuilder,etc,etc
Mass=some muscle, some fat,no way around it.

[David Meverden]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Raffer

i would shoot for a balanced diet with 40%protein40%carbs and 20% fats. Then while keeping this ratio eat an extra 500 cals a day over whatever your maintenance is. A great tool for nutrition tracking is www.livestrong.com. Its like yin to crossfits yang. Zone blocks are big in the crossfit community but other things are big elsewhere so make sure you get a balanced perspective.

Any reason you're advocating a low fat diet? If the goal is to eat more calories fat's are going to be a great (and delicious) way to do it, and after my SS experience (where I was consuming 50% calories from fat, 30% carbs, 20% protien) I believe that the fats will be better for a growing mammal than extra breads and things will be. After all, I have to believe there is a reason we support a baby's rapid growth with a food that gets more than half of it's calories from fat.

And as for LiveStrong I don't think they will be a good resource for this. They listed a couple dozen different diets and--surprise surprise --no "how to gain 20 lbs" diet. If you want to stray from Crossfit's wisdom I'd check out T-nation. Real bodybuilders certainly do know how to bulk, you gotta give em that.

And as for LiveStrong being Yin to Crossfit's Yang, I guess I can see that. Whereas crossfit tries to eliminate ineffectiveness and winnow down fitness knowledge through constantly measuring human performance LiveStrong seems to expand outward, collecting every exercise, diet, technique, and thought on the subject (regardless of effectiveness, the die-hard/brainwashed crossfitter in me would like to add ).