I’ve finally decided that it’s time to put on a few pounds of muscle, in hopes of, well, racing faster. Anyone have any special tips/foods/etc for gaining 5-10 pounds of muscle? I know the simple ones such as “don’t make all your extra calories butter”.
Thanks,
-C
Go to the gym and lift weights???
…sorry!
Up your protein intake with lean meats (chicken breast, tuna) and get in the gym for some resistance training 2-3x per week. As a triathlete you don’t want to put on muscle mass purely for cosmetic reasons so you should focus on doing multiple sets of higher repetitions at moderate resistance. If you don’t currently include resistance training as part of your routine, this in itself should do the trick. You’ll also want to start out erring on the light side so as to avoid excessive soreness and injury. Squats and lunges are good multijoint exercises to include.
Seeing from your sig line that you’re a fairly fast guy, I’d say to stay away from the weights and trying to beef up. I used to be a very big (figuratively and literally) weightlifter. 43# later, I’m finally starting to feel pretty good in a race. Gain functional strength- do a ton of body-weight exercise this winter.
If you’re dead-set on gaining some muscle mass, accept that it just may slow you down. But hey, its cool to be strong as hell.
Thanks. You are right, I’m not trying to gain bulk just so I can crush people in bench press competitions. I’m looking for some more power on the bike, and I’m hoping that with smart training, going from 155 pounds (5’10") to 160-165 will help.
-C
It’s not clear that 10 lbs of muscle would result in a faster bike split. It would almost certainly slow you down on the run.
IMHO, lighter = faster for triathletes.
Steroids.
Friel’s weight workouts for Tri? Found here.
-Jot
As those have stated before me, gaining muscle just to look good is not the answer (although there is nothing wrong with looking good!). Also, gaining muscle to be faster on the bike is a little more complicated than it may initially seem. Specificity says that you get what you train for. This means that if you train slow and heavy you will probably be slow and heavy. That being said there is hope for you (and everyone else)!! As my primary job is strength and conditioning, I use many different strength training techniques and modalities to add speed, or more specifically POWER, on the bike, only some of which may or may not make you bigger. For what you want, size is just a by-product of the work being done. At this time, in the middle of the season, is no time to think about heavy and slow. If your goal is IMFL then it is a little too late for size but there is a lot you can do in the way of improving your efficiency and economy in all movement. Check out this article http://www.tri-ihp.com/articles/article_detail.php?ArticleID=6. I think that it will explain what I am talking about. Training functionally with bodyweight or light resistance is the way to go at this point. Talk to me in December and I will be happy to add 5+ pounds, the right way, to your already lean and mean machine! If you have any questions feel free to contact me here or off-line and as always…
Keep Tri-ing,
stay at 5’10", 155#. After 3 years, I’m (finally) at 155#, at 5’8". Hills are only now NOT a monumental pain in the ass. I’d guess some sort of overgeared bike intervals, but I’ve spent all my time dropping weight and building endurance. Running stairs did wonders when I rowed over 10 years ago, plus a ton of lunges.
I’m looking for some more power on the bike, and I’m hoping that with smart training, going from 155 pounds (5’10") to 160-165 will help.
Don’t tell that to Levi… he’s only 5’7" 140#… You don’t need mass to get faster… just HTFU!
I’m only 5’8" 147 and had a 4:53 bike split at IMFL 03’… read my tag…
Colin, I arrived at Ironman LP this year carrying ~5 lbs of extra leg and lat muscle over my 136 weight from IMLP and Kona 2006. My bike ride was stonger than ever and I came off the bike in top 50 place vs my usual top 150 placing. I also hit a PB and was not slower on the run. I did lots of lunges, dead lifts, calf raises and step ups all year up to 1 week out from race week. For upper body just lat pulldowns. Typically 3-4 times per week doing this 15 minute circuit after my runs.
Dev
Colin, I arrived at Ironman LP this year carrying ~5 lbs of extra leg and lat muscle over my 136 weight from IMLP and Kona 2006. My bike ride was stonger than ever and I came off the bike in top 50 place vs my usual top 150 placing. I also hit a PB and was not slower on the run. I did lots of lunges, dead lifts, calf raises and step ups all year up to 1 week out from race week. For upper body just lat pulldowns. Typically 3-4 times per week doing this 15 minute circuit after my runs.
Dev
~5lbs? Seriously? That is a big chunk o’ steak, my man, and a very high % of your lean mass. And how you managed to add that muscle while training the high volume that you do – and at an age >40 – is pretty amazing. I could quit this tri crap and just pump iron for a year and probably not add much more than that.
Colin, I arrived at Ironman LP this year carrying ~5 lbs of extra leg and lat muscle over my 136 weight from IMLP and Kona 2006. My bike ride was stonger than ever and I came off the bike in top 50 place vs my usual top 150 placing. I also hit a PB and was not slower on the run. I did lots of lunges, dead lifts, calf raises and step ups all year up to 1 week out from race week. For upper body just lat pulldowns. Typically 3-4 times per week doing this 15 minute circuit after my runs.
Dev
Yeah, that’s exactly the type of thing I’m thinking of. Most others seem to think that I’m posting because I want to get HUGE, or because I want to “look good”. That’s not my goal at all. I already do several sessions of lunges/pushups/core work each week, along with paddle swimming (for strength) and overgear hill intervals. I’m thinking that with some extra fuel, such things will help me get faster. I’m not sure I have been eating enough to build the muscle that these types of exercises are designed to build, i.e. muscles that improve power. Increased weight may or may not be a by product of my goals, but I believe it will be.
Thanks, great race in LP by the way.
-C
Colin, for myself being a smaller rider, the extra muscle mass in the legs, core and lats just gave me some additional strength to survive the swim and not get blown around as much on the bike. For nutrition, the prime culprit was my wife. She started running more this winter, and was going nuts with more chicken and fish, so I was just consuming a bit more protein from animal sources than I formerly did and it helped with maintaining the muscle mass through a stretch of massive 24-27 hour weeks.
Dev
if you real big you can run for gov of California
Thom
ps you would look good in the gov mansion.
Short answer - DON’T BOTHER.
<< I’m not trying to gain bulk just so I can crush people in bench press competitions. I’m looking for some more power on the bike, and I’m hoping that with smart training, going from 155 pounds (5’10") to 160-165 will help.>>
Well then, you have very misplaced hope. Sorry.
Think about professional cyclists. Do ANY of them ever look to put on 5-10 lbs to get faster?
(no need to answer that one, it’s rhetorical)
Being that faster biking is increasing either W/kg and/or W/CdA, gaining weight will likely help neither.
I’ve gone from 170 to 155 (also 5’10") over the last 3 seasons, and my biking (and moreso running) has improved (the running more dramatically) because of it.
You wanna get faster on the bike? Hook up w/ Rich Strauss, or Trukweaz, or Hunter Allen, or…
there are plenty o’ coaches who can help you improve bike power, in the context of being a triathlete.
IF you wanna put on muscle, it’s easy:
Lift increasingly heavier weights using basic compound lifts (bench, squat, lat pull, for example) eat lots of protein, supplement w/ creatine.
You will NOT be a faster cyclist (when I did this, I got realllly slow on a bike), but you’ll look better with your shirt off 
What about putting on some muscle in order to get a bit stronger in order to prevent injury? This is going to be my strategy post IM Louisville as I am 5’8" lower 130’s and have recently over last 1.5-2 years been battiling ITB and quad injuries where as a few years ago when I was 142-147 range did not have the injuries. The nagging injuries may have been as much a factor of wear and tear over that 1.5-2 year period but my hope is that getting some more muscle like 5-10 pounds will help out.
stop maths
.
I’m not going to repeat what others have said regarding muscle gain and triathlon results. Instead, I will note this; it is a myth to state that eating lean proteins will allow you to gain muscle. Instead, like all weight gain, it can only result in excess calories. In other words, it don’t matter if you’re eating lean protein if the calories you take in are insufficient. Furthermore, with all weight gain or weight loss, it rarely is ever just muscle, it will always be a mixture of muscle and fat.
Problem with triathletes is that they do burn so much calories with the training, it will be real hard to gain the muscle. Functional strength would therefore be the solution you should aim for. I also believe(correct me if I’m wrong since it’s been a while since I read my NSCA-CPT material) that fast twitch muscles fibers can turn into slow twitch muscle fibers but not vice versa-making it harder to gain absolute strength. However, the good news is, rarely do people reach the point in which that is a hindrance.