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Weights and Diet

Hello All,



I dont include any weights in my weekly workout and Im starting to feel I should, do any of you?



Also, I eat quite alot, at least 2500-3000 cal a day but keep losing weight and my girlfriend thinks im getting abit skinny.... does anybody know any high cal food that I can add to my diet that is good for you too. Im not a big choc eater, prefer good quality food with health benefits.



Thanks

Comments

  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    Look for a previous thread called ' weight training or not': http://forum.220magazine.com/fb.asp?m=10725&key=squat .

    Maybe you'll find something there.

    On the food thing: doesn't everybody just love peanut butter (if you dont include that already).
  • sfullersfuller Posts: 628
    Thanks, that thread really helps actually. I want to include weights into my schedule but donw want to sacrifice any of the work on the actual disciplines. How much does everyone put into each discipline.



    I normally swim twice a week for an hour, bike twice for an hour (normally about 35k each) and run 3 times ( normally 2x 5-7k and 1x 10-15k), these are my main aims but in every session I will run or bike for 10-15 mins just for warm up/down.



    So to add weights in I dont know what Id do??
  • toadtoad Posts: 104
    Also, I eat quite alot, at least 2500-3000 cal a day but keep losing weight



    Loss of weight usually suggests you are not meeting your energy demands, liquid carbohydrate meals or sipping 6% carbohydrate isotonic solution while you train maybe helpful in restoring energy balance without the hassle of having to consume more bulky foods.

    Also make sure you are taking some form of carbohydrate straight after you have trained especially if training has been longer than 90 minutes this will help speed up restoration of muscle glycogen stores which endurance athletes depend on.

    If you are wanting to improve muscle mass adding some Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) eg leucine/ isoleucine and valine with carbohydrate to your meal after you have done weights can also be helpful. BCAAs can be found in cereal, milk, soy and meat. Provided you have a good diet which consists of about 15% protein and your diet is meeting your energy demands there is no need for other forms of protein supplementation.

    Remember as an endurance athlete you dont want to bulk up too much as this will increase the perfusion distance for blood into muscle. Most the triathletes I know do some type of resistive weights programme but dont go overboard.

    The australian institue of sport has good tips on nutrition for endurance athletes on their website.

    If your weight loss continues it might be a good idea to get a few tests from your doctor to rule out any other possible causes.

    Hope this helpful

  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    Toad makes a good point weight loss happens if energy in is less than energy out. If all those fat arsed women realised this then the sports kit world would be a poorer place! As for weight training - well a weights session means Energy Out so afterwards you have to eat even more (Energy In) to gain weight. In my opinion any sport that involves racing - the lighter the better (you cannot be too skinny) - as you have less baggage to carry around the course. In past lives I've won races when I have been "unhealtyily light" so I'm a believer of there's no such thing as too skinny...... Iknow Iknow I know ..... but given that the population is obese and that the vast majority of club athletes are not underweight I stand by my belief of be as light/skinny as possible! Discuss
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    treefrog wrote:
    the lighter the better (you cannot be too skinny) - as you have less baggage to carry around the course. In past lives I've won races when I have been "unhealtyily light" so I'm a believer of there's no such thing as too skinny...... Iknow Iknow I know ..... but given that the population is obese and that the vast majority of club athletes are not underweight I stand by my belief of be as light/skinny as possible! Discuss



    One must be careful to not confuse skinny with low body fat.I would suggest doing a few tests from the basic BMI,and pinch tests to more comples ones to assertain your body makeup.the body requires a certain amount of fat to protect the essential body organs from damage either through impact or cold,if you look at the results of races that have taken place in unseasonably cold weather and note the high dropout through illness in both thre pro ranks or amateurs,also skinny does not neccessary mean light either,muscle being more compact than fat.

    I blame the Government from banning competitve sport in schools and not allowing people to fail now ,they just have 'deferred success'.

    At least the cyclists are showing the rest of the world that there is one sport that the UK can win at.
  • sfullersfuller Posts: 628
    So do you people do weights in your routine?
  • Hallelujua to that Jon.E - history shows that success comes from past failures, by not allowing our youth to fail at stuff as youngsters, which is all part of growing up, they just aren't able to cope when things go wrong later in life... taking sports out of schools is a disaster and then our wonderful government wonder why we are now the most obese nation in Europe!!! Anyway - back to the topic in question!!



    Some good points raised - it is all about balance - cals in versus cals out - but you need to know where that balance lies!! sfuller for the amount of training that you're doing i don't think that 2500 - 3000 cals a day is lot at all, but then again i don't know you're age, weight, height etc... but the fact that your still losing weights suggests a negative energy balance... as a basic guide stick "basal metabolic rate (BMR) calculator" into google and there are plenty of sites that will work your BMR out for you - but don't forget to add in your exercise index (how many times you train) and for what you're doing in a week i'm sure you'll be surprised. You only need a 500 cal defecit each day and you'll consistantly lose a pound a week (3500 cals in 1 pound of fat)!!



    As for weight training, personally yes, 2 times per week... but only compound exercises (multiple joint) and "core" (which i class as any muscles that affect lower back and pelvis).. no need to fanny about with exercises such as bicep curls, tricep extensions, leg curls, leg extensions etc... hit the big muscle groups with squats, lunges, deadlifts, hang cleans, pull ups etc and some work on the stabilty ball. But do not neglect the core, if the core is like a ball of jelly then any power/strength gain made cannot be transfered either form lower to upper body or vice versa!!



    Treefrog, totally agree about the obese state of this nation... very embarrasing whilst away on hols and taking a look at the beached white tattooed whales everywhere, usually with their husbands as well!!! However, words of warnings need to be given about becoming too skinny.. as jon.E quite rightly pointed out, we need a certain amount of fat for health purposes and as a human your body, through the process of evolution, is actually geared to storing fat and once it drops below a certain level then your body will get it's energy from somewhere else.. ie your natural carb and protein stores AKA your muscles, which inevitably lowers your metabolism, which ain't a good thing especially for endurance athletes, and also has a nasty effect on your immune system!!!



    The correct balance is KEY



    Sorry to waffle guys - i'll get off my high horse now!!



  • toadtoad Posts: 104
    Personally if I have time I will do a weights session, however it is the least of my priorities, run, bike, swimming and brick sessions will always come first. However my purpose in doing triathlon is to use it as a means of keeping fit, improving on my performance and distances, and it allows me to maintain energy balance, my problem before I started triathlon was too much energy in and high cholesterol.

    I think competitvely some forms of resisted training can be helpful, however you must realise you are only increasing the power capacity of muscle, and the ability to do more work over a smaller time . An increase in weight whether it be muscle tissue or fat tissue is going to increase the amount of work you have to do so will negate the effect of increased power of muscle. Ideally you want to do a resistive programme that increases muscle power but does not increase weight too much, I am sure there are some trainers out there that would be able to comment on how this is acheived.

    This is a good thread and i am enjoying reading the opinion of others.



  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    Do not get down from that high horse,the more people that oppose the stupid ideology of 'it is only fair if no one loses',the better the chance of the UK's mainstream sport getting out of the doldrums it has got it self into ,unless it wants to be a total laughing stock in 2012.

    I digress,back to weight training,take your pick low reps high weight,or high weight low reps,both have benefits,some recommend only using the basic exercises such as bench,lat pull down,squat,or others that are more muscle discrimitive,common misconception is that playing with weights will automatically turn you into a muscle bound freak.

    Weight training will strengthen and tone.

    Weight training + increase in calories particularly protein will strengthen,tone and increase in muscle mass and size.

    As painis pleasure said it is down to balance and what YOU want.
  • sfullersfuller Posts: 628
    Well from what Ive read here and elsewhere, and also my own knowledge of weights/health etc I think I might add a weights session or two into my workouts but for sure do not want to sacrifice any of the three disciplines.



    As for the topic that seems to have arisen inside this topic, its interesting and please more people should comment!



    Thanks for all the replies
  • SamutriSamutri Posts: 143
    One of the most interesting threads yet - combines my favourite topics of moaning about the youth of today and food!

    I have 3 kids (8,6 +4 years old) I went to one of their 'sports' days a few years back (when I was still living with the former mrs samutri and the three wee samutri's) and was stunned to find there were no competitive events at all. I had a word with the head teacher immediately who really wasn't keen but evently relented and introduced a flat race at the end of the day. The kids didn't have a clue what to do and they all ran to their respective parents!! What the hell...!!

    There was a dads race (not a dads half marathon as I suggested..) my greatest victory to date!!



    On the subject of calorific intake - 2500 - 3000KCal seems very low - I'm a scientist by training and love the science involved in our sport. When the training is really heavy, I can get through 5,000KCal a day. Probably harder work than the training!



    If anyone's particulary interested (and bored) I could start a thread on " what ridiculously large meals have you had today" !!
  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    Hi,

    I find I can fit 3 weights sessions into my week quite nicely. I do 2 sessions a day, so that gives me 12 a week, but this is all based on periodisation. I.e. I am currently doing alot of technique work, including 5 sessions of swimming a week, as my races dont start till july so I want to build up technique and stamina before getting into a period of increasing speed closer to the races.



    In terms of what I do for weights on monday I do legs and full body stuff, such as squats, deadlifts, clean and jerk, kettleball stuff. This is designed to increase overall body strength and I find its very effective.

    On wednesdays I do a chest and tri routine that is aimed at increasing muscle endurance, so I do pyramids of press-ups/dips or bench press. i.e. 8 pressups/8 dips, 7 pressups/7 dips etc. until down to 1 each, then 1 min rest, then back up again, starting with 1 of each.

    I find these exercise help me increase overall body tone, reduce fat, increase my strength to weight ratio.

    And on fridays I do a similar routine but based on back, bis and shoulders. - so pull ups and chin ups etc.



    I combine this with a very carefully constructed eating plan, so as to NOT put on excess bulk. The gains in strength are not as large as if i was bulking up, but im also only 70 kg and can bench over a 100, so my strength to weight ratio is pretty high.



    It doesnt sound like you will have a problem with putting on muscle bulk, if u already have a problem putting on weight.

    BUT BE WARNED! Weights sessions cause your metabolism to shoot up, and if you do not eat the required food, i.e. protein, and lots of it, ure body will breakdown more muscle than it puts on, therefore you will get weaker. Ive seen it happen, and its not good!



    hope that helps a bit
  • I am always hesitant to add weight into my routine. I have no clue why either. but they are definately necessary to hlp you acheive the body you want. You can can use them to bulk up or keep your muscles lean. Either way adding more of it will help you burn more calories. You should check out my blog. I have all types of tips on the there that you'd probably find useful.







    http://snagwiremedia.com/24fitclub/fitness/

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