Gaining mass without adding fat & refueling after exercsie

As you know, some of us in the studio are on a strength/hypertrophy phase which will last through the middle of May.  Our goal is to put on lean mass without adding additional body fat.  In theory, to gain 1 pound of (.45kg) of body weight per week, you'd ned to consume an additional 500 calories per day above your typical intake.  Some people are hard gainers and require more calories than other peole do to add weight.  For exampl, in one landmark resear study (Sims 1976), 200 prisoners with no family history of obesity volunteered to be gluttons.  The goal was to gain 20-25% above their normal weight (about 30-40 pounds) by deliberately overeating.  For more than half a year, the prisoners ate a ton, and exercised minimally. Yet only 20 of the 200 prisoners managed to gain the weight.  Of those, only 2 (who had an undected family history of obesity or diabetes) gained the weight easily.  One prisoner tried for 30 weeks to add 12 pounds to his 132-pound frame, but he couldn't get any heavier.  Thus, it's may actually be very, very difficult for you to eat enough high-quality calories to put on lean muscle mass.

Because your muscles become saturaed with glycogen when fed 3-5 grams of carbohydrates per pound  of body weight, and your boayd uses less than 1 gram of protein per pound under grouwth conditions, your primary dietary goal is to satisgy these requirremens for carbs and proteins.  Then you can choose the balance of the calories from a variety of healthful fats.

If you are on the Zone, you may consider making an attempt to increase your carb blocks by roughly 20%and keep your protein blocks to the equivalent of 1 gram per pound of body weight per day.  Fats can be targetting to supply up to 30+ % of daily calories.

Recovery

Yesterday, some of us had the pleasure to suffer through the Bridge to Brew 8 & 10k.  My legs still hurt pretty badly, and I was starved nearly all day.  Getting in enough calories for my legs to regenerate after Saturday & Sunday seemed impossible.  The following is the nutritional plan that I like to stick to after a long workout to optimize recover and replenish for the next WOD:

Recovery ASAFP

.5gCarb(Body weight)/hour taken at 30 minute intervals for 4-5 hours. 

Take me, for example:

173 lbs x .5 g carbs = 87 g carb = 340 calories carb.

rougly 170 calories taken every thirty minutes.  The body willl naturally crave this amount, if not more. 

Yours in Strength, Conditioning and Wellness,

CG

Oh yes, remember to contact our great staff for questions about Paleo & Zone to assist you on your challenging journey:

jflood@crossfithillsboro.com

dflood@crossfithillsboro.com