Q&A for: 18-Oct-06
1843. Q:
Hi mike I am a 23 year old male at about 150 pounds and 5'7 pr 5'8. I work out with wieghts five days a weeks and do thirty to fourty five minutes of intense cardio the other two days. I am going to start a bulk program and was just wondering about how many calories I should have. I am really nervous about gaining weight and I really don't want to do it fast at all. Also his my weight about where it should be now? Thanks Mike
A:
Your weight now is perfectly normal and healthy and you should be in good position to start bulking up. Unfortunately there's no way to get an exact prescription of how many to calories to eat (it depends on your current diet and metabolism), but for a good starting point fill out my Fitness Guide.
The key to any successful bulk is good handle on your diet. You want to gain weight quite slowly -- the slower the gains, the more likely they'll be muscle and not fat. In the first few days your weight will likely jump quite a bit as your body adjusts to the new diet but after that aim for weight gain of about 1 pound every 2 weeks. After the initial weight gain start keeping track of your weight by weighing yourself in the morning on empty stomach. Adjust your calories every month or so -- if you've gained about 2 pounds in that month you're in good shape. If you gained more than that, lower your calories slightly. If you gained less than that, increase your calories slightly. Repeat this adjustment every month or so and this way you'll keep yourself on track for slow steady weight gains. Good luck!
1844. Q:
hi mike, how can i prevent legs cramps during a soccer match other than stretching?
A:
Stretching is the most important thing to do. Beyond that there's also possibility that your body could use more electrolytes -- calcium, potassium, or magnesium. While you can get these from a supplement I always believe that it's best to get your nutrition from real foods. Foods rich in calcium include dairy, broccoli, spinach, and beans. Foods rich in potassium are apricots, raisins, bananas, and nuts and seeds. Foods rich in magnesium include whole grains, nuts and seeds, beans, fish, and various green leafy veggies. Try to get more of these foods into your diet and see if that helps the cramps problem.
1845. Q:
best way to increase my deadlift
A:
Best way is to follow a strengt-specific deadlift program. I have a very good deadlift/squat/bench strength program here. You can follow it as is or only do the deadlift part (or perhaps deadlift and squat since there's a lot of carryover strength in those two exercises).
1846. Q:
What weight activity do you prefer to rid 'love-handles'?
A:
Unfortunately it's impossible to target specifically the love-handles or any one other part of the body (despite what all the TV commercials claim!) However by losing fat overall you will lose it in the love-handles as well and the best approach I know of to overall fat loss is this.
1847. Q:
Ive heard that people who engage in intense (exercise like pro cyclists ect.. are more vulnerable to oxygen damage – free radicals - and need to watch what they eat more, not less, as they need anti oxidants to protect them from the higher levels of oxygen they use compared to the average person. Is this true? I did read in this book that cycling more than a certain distance would start to damage the body for the reason above.
A:
Free radical production does increase during intense exercise, but I have not heard of it becoming such a problem that the exercise ends up doing more bad than good. It is true that very heavy duty exercise such as long-distance cycling and many other professional and elite-level sports can cause damage to joints, tendons, and ligaments because of the incredible stress put on them in training and competition. And it is very true that good nutrition is very important for all atheletes to ensure they get sufficient nutrients and calories for their bodies to supply energy they need and to be able to repair the damage done by the sport (including that from free radicals). But I have not seen any studies that would suggest that an athlete with a good diet will worsen his or her health due to free radical damage.
1848. Q:
mike, 13 months ago i was ~200-205. now i range from ~224-229. is this good progress for a bulk, or am i gaining to quickly?
A:
You've gained right around one pound every two weeks on average which I consider just about perfect aggressive bulk speed, appropriate for younger guys. So I'd say you've done very well! Ultimately only you can be the judge of the success of your bulk -- do you like the way you look and feel and lift now compared to 13 months ago? If yes, then your bulk has been a success.
1849. Q:
If a person gains 10 pounds of muscle and nothing else about their diet or exercise changes, how many days will it take them to lose a pound of fat?
A:
I think phrasing the question like that is going to be a little bit of oversimplification. Your body is a too complex and changing machine with too many variables to say things like 'You'll burn X pounds of fat in Y days'. If you undereat and lose weight your metabolism will slow down and some of your new muscle will be lost along with fat which will in turn affect the fat loss rate, and so on.
Similarly, it's difficult to estimate how many new calories you'll need to eat to maintain your newly gained muscle mass -- that depends on the exercise program you are following at that time. I would say roughly 50 calories per pound of well exercised muscle per day, so about 500 new calories daily to maintain the newly gained muscle mass. If you are sedentary, then you'll need less.
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