Weightgainers

[Lion]

Hi,

i want info on weightgainers.
I'm planning on starting to take these since i only weigh 67 and am 183 cm.
I will fitness 5 days a week to, and work a lot on stamina: MTB, running, ...

The reason i want to do this is to get a decent weight for my Judo. I want to start competition again.
I'm hoping to gain minimum 12 kg (of muscle?) to 20 kg.

So what about weightgainers? i'm thinking about the milkshakes.
are they unhealthy? things i should know? bad idea?

cheers!

 

[MelloTrip]

I'm currently taking one of these weightgainers. It's working great on me, for I've gained nearly 8 kilos since october. The gainer is not fully responsible since I eat much more and much better.

Important stuff you need to know :

1- This is no magic powder. You won't gain 10 kilos of muscles without training. You might become fat if you don't practice enough.

2- This is no meal substitute. You need to have a good, strict diet for the product to have effect : a complete breakfast, a complete lunch, a complete dinner. Fruits, vegetables, eggs, turkey meat, pasta, rice are stuff that should be on the top of your food list.

3- You won't gain muscle without weight training, imo. Use google to find some infos, find a fitness club with good teachers, practice at least 2 times a week (3 is much better I think).

4- You have to be very serious about your gainer consumption. I take mine twice a day (10 am, 4 pm) as snacks. Granted, at the beginning I found it lame to prepare a milk shake that often, i have gotten used to it now. So should you.

5- Running too much can be counter-productive. Gaining weight on the one hand, losing some on the other, you see the problem ? Weight gaining is often synonym of fat gaining (you're minimizing this through a good diet though). What is commonly done is a weight gaining phase, then a weight management one in which you still practice (differently though), eat less, and run more to destroy the fat you've accumulated.

6- Get a gainer with a good proportion of proteins, since this is what is needed to build muscle. Around 40% is good.

7- PRACTICE HARD, EAT WELL, SLEEP ENOUGH. Your body will thank you for letting him recover.


Hope that's understandable.

 

[IJesusChrist]

Excercise alot, eat alot of protein and carbs.

Milkshakes = fat.

 

[JustinNed]

A lot of gyms, at least here, sell lots of supplements, I'm not familiar with anything myself. Maybe your local health store will have some suggestions.

 

[mrvn]

Lion

since i only weigh 67

Gaining weight is hard, really hard
for me that is i'm 23 years old and i weigh 57 kilo for about 2 years now.
i'm a skinny man but you don't see my bones in my chest or the bones in my back.
I tried to gain weigh a couple of times but in some way its just not possible for me. (yes i smoke and i don't get enough sleep and idon't own a car :lol: )
But then again í'm happy whit my body i can do annything i want
and if i wake up and take a shower is see my ''friend'' and my feet when i look down :lol:

btw the milkshakes: Don't buy the choco flavour. Doesn't taste nice at all

peace

 

[forgetoz]

Excercise ALOT, eat ALOT of protein and carbs.

Milkshakes = fat.

No miracles, just feel the burnnnn :twisted:

 

[Jahvisions]

I know some guys that train very hard and they always eat a lot of quark, the 'real' stuff. It's full of proteins, and muscles are build out of proteins.

 

[restin]

cottage cheese too.

 

[Brugmansia]

Weightgainers consist of simple sugars. It's all marketing, there are no supplements from where you actually benefit from in the long term. Creatine just sucks water to the muscle cells temporarly, which makes your look bigger but it's not extra gained tissue.

You should stick with 160 grams of proteins a day (quark, fish, eggs, chicken) complex carbs (bread, rice, potato's) and fats from nuts and fish oil. 8 hours sleep each day and sufficient recovering. Do proper squats and deadlifts too and not just upperbody.

If done with perseverance, a radical difference will be noticed in the long-term.

 

[Lion]

Problem is: i eat a lot! i eat 3 good meals a day at home. for work i take: 1 bread, 1 L soup, 1.5 L water, fruit, cookies.
i haven't gained weight in 5 years.

so basically weight gainers are commercial crap?

 

[Brugmansia]

To stumble in with a kicked door. Here's an example:

Meal 1

Banana
4 slices of bread
750 ml semi-skimmed milk

Meal 2

Apple
3 slices of bread + 150 gram chicken

Meal 3

Apple
4 slices of bread + 150 gram tuna

Meal 4

Use your normal evening meal

Meal 5

500 ml juice A shake with 40 gram of whey protein or just 2 banana's with 1 liter milk as alternative

Meal 6 (Before sleep)

A few nuts
400 ml quark

-- Just a good kick off, not an ''advanced'' nutrition plan.

 

[tryptonaut]

I think the problem is you are doing too much stamina training (mtb and running) and not enough weight lifting.
Have you ever seen a really muscular marathon-runner?

Weight gainers are not really necessary, they just help you to ingest even more calories if you can't eat more. At first you need a diet plan - how many calories do you need to gain weight if you do a certain amount of stamina training plus a certain amount of weight lifting. Then you need to figure out if you can ingest these calories without the help of weight gainers, or not.

What can help a lot to make you eat more is to use artificial sweeteners instead of sugar in all possible situations. They raise your insuline levels (because of the sweet taste) without providing calories - that makes you more hungry. Keep in mind though that artificial sweeteners may cause cancer... we don't know for sure.

The best way to gain muscles is to train very hard with as much weight as possible - but not too often. Your muscles need a day to recover between training. If you lift weights every day until you break down, your muscles will become hard and defined - but they won't gain mass.
Muscle training for weight gain is the opposite of stamina training. Put on as much weight that you will not be able to make more than 15 repetitions. There's a saying that "if you train with your grandma's weights, you'll get your grandma's muscles" - meaning make it as hard as possible, if you can do more than 20 repetitions, then you need more weight. After you have done 10-15 repetions and you break down, wait 20-30 seconds, then do it again, you'll be able to do 8 or 10 at most now. Wait another 20-30 seconds, then again. Probably you won't be able to make more than 5 or 6 repetitions now. That's all for this muscle today - and tomorrow it needs to rest (you'll feel that, definitely). The day after tomorrow, repeat...

I think with your excessive stamina training you really need the advice of a pro who can work out a training and diet plan for you, so you won't burn too much calories in stamina training while still staying fit, and at the same time train your muscles with enough recovery time for weight gain.