Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I'm 6'5" and weigh 198kgs. I'm not a total bone rack, but I'd like to beef up from my workouts, but feel like I am just maintaining. Work out 4 times a week, eat all the time. Can't gain an ounce of weight to save my life. I eat paleo 95% of the time, 4-6 meals a day. Any ideas how I can put some mass without resorting to empty calories?

flag	asked Dec 2 2011 at 7:53 Buddy

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have you ready any of Four Hour Body or looked at Lean Gains (though those approaches may involve the empty calories to which you refer)? – patrick3000 Dec 2 2011 at 8:19

198 kgs is definitely not a bone rack! ;) – gydle Dec 2 2011 at 10:03

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198 kg? you sure? – peter Dec 2 2011 at 10:36

Haha! Like the others said "kilograms" or pounds (unless you weigh over 400 lbs.). I assume the latter, lift heavy and only as frequently as your body can recover from. Four times a week may be too much. But instead of more calories you might just need more rest. – lil' Richard frm tx fan Dec 2 2011 at 13:55

Should have been "former" not "latter." – lil' Richard frm tx fan Dec 2 2011 at 13:56

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Bristlebeard · Answer 1 · 2011-12-02 09:53:37Z UTC

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For more of a training oriented approach to gaining mass, I'd recommend StrongLifts. It's a good program for beginners, and intermediates or so. Also some diet talk.

If you are lacto-paleo, I'd GOMAD (Gallon of milk a day), which is also mentioned on StrongLifts.

answered Dec 2 2011 at 9:53

Bristlebeard
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GOMAD is the proven approach to put muscle on ectomorph/hardgainers. If you try this, see if you can't find a good source of grass fed raw milk. – Dave S. Dec 2 2011 at 14:45

AndyM · Answer 2 · 2011-12-02 11:05:58Z UTC

Working out 4 times a week would seem too much to me, and if you're eating 4-6 meals because you need to then I'd take that as a sign that your body is working flat-out just to recover. Are you gaining strength (lifting more each workout)?

The most credible sources I've seen and tried is that to build big muscles you need to lift pretty heavy weights for a single set, and you can only expect to do that and improve at most twice a week. If you're not getting stronger, rest longer. The stuff in four-hour body effectively moves towards a 2 week gap between working the same muscles at max intensity. The analogy that stuck with me was thinking how long it took skin to fully repair after a small cut. Muscles aren't that different.

I'd be interested in the total amount you're eating with 4-6 meals too. I know CW says to eat big, but if you aren't even gaining fat then there's clearly something wrong here too.

Brent · Answer 3 · 2011-12-02 09:09:04Z UTC

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198 kilograms = 436 pounds

And you want to gain weight? Maybe you meant you weigh 198lbs. Either way, you should check out what John Welbourn (football player/coach) has to say about training and gaining.

edited Dec 2 2011 at 9:09

answered Dec 2 2011 at 8:46

Brent
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lil' Richard frm tx fan · Answer 4 · 2011-12-02 12:22:06Z UTC

Like some of the others have mentioned check out what Tim Ferris has to say in Four Hour Body about hardgainers. You don't need to work out your major muscle groups more than once per week and if you can't lift as much or more than you did last week then you haven't recovered yet--take another full rest day before trying again. And don't overlook "empty calories." Check out Skyler Tanners blog even anorexics and sumo wrestlers gain lean body mass when they're putting on weight. If your lifting in a fashion that your seeing regular strength gains you can be sure that the weight gain is muscle.

Paleo Weight Gain for Ectomorph

4 Answers