sheldon kreger's weight gain adventure (part 1)

Goal:

Gain 6-8 kg of bodyweight by my 23rd birthday, May 31 2012. This will allow me to compete in the 77 kg weight class when I compete in June.

Reasoning:

As a weightlifter, I am putting unreasonable amounts of stress on my body. It is a matter of my own safety that I GET BIGGER. Not only will I be able to lift and stabilize more weight because I will have more muscle, my ligaments and other internal tissues will be thicker and stronger. Therefore, I will be less prone to injury.

My training/programming (see below) is actually ideal for strength gain. I'm still making gains, but my frame is simply too lanky to be serious about the sport without gaining some serious mass. This quote explains the basic problem with weight gain I've been unsuccessfully facing for several months:

"The general principle is this: train as hard as you can to create a stimulus for growth. Then feed the body everything it needs to adapt. You must cover three needs. The recovery, the repair, and the growth. Some trainees only eat enough to recover from the last workout. They will end up overtrained because they aren't meeting the need for repair and their tissues begin to break down under the strain of heavy lifting."

This places me in a very unusual situation, in which the hazards of maintaining a low body weight are FAR more dangerous than the consequences of eating obscene amounts of unhealthy food. Remember, this is only something I will be doing for a few months, so there is no risk of me messing up my long-term health by eating this way. This is doubly true because my diet has been extremely healthy (for non-athletes, at least) in the past. In fact, I could probably get away with doing this for a few years and see no long term consequences.

Let me be clear - this is NOT fun for me. This is BY FAR the hardest diet I have ever tried to use. I have suffered from poor appetite my entire life and was vegetarian (mostly vegan) for more than 7 years.

So, what is the solution?

Diet:

EAT MORE (also see The Secret to Gaining Weight)

Specifically, I am aiming for AT LEAST 3000 calories per day with 200 grams of protein. In order to do this, I will be eating as much as possible of all of the following:

• Saturated fats (especially coconut oil)
• Bread, pasta, donuts
• Animals, especially chicken and fish - which unfortunately seem to be the only meats I can digest efficiently
• Sugar, including candy, soda, energy drinks
• Corn, soy, wheat, legume products
• Oil, butter, animal fat
• Beer
• Captain Crunch and Mountain Dew (ideally at the same time)

My diet will not include:

• Excessive dairy (I have a low lactose tolerance)
• Red meat (again, I can't digest it well - small amounts are OK)
• Anything that says "Diet" "Light" "Low Fat" or "Sugar Free" on the label

Ensuring high protein intake will encourage muscle gain rather than fat gain. Although, I'm perfectly happy if I get fat, too. Therefore, I'm supplementing large quantities of whey protein and hemp protein. How much? MORE.

In order to facilitate healthy digestion, I will also be consuming the following superfoods. Please note I have been using these for a long time, and my body is fully adjusted and ready for these higher levels:

• Reishi mushroom extract, 2 grams per day
• Chlorella, 2 tablespoons per day
• Chia seed - as much as possible

A Bit of Background:

I'm a 22 year old white male. I've been scrawny my entire life (other than a year or two of chubbiness in early puberty). I was completely non-athletic from the ages of 14 to 21. I literally had no interest in any kind of physical movement other than drumming and riding my bike as a means of transportation. Since I rode my bike a lot, I was never in bad shape, but I certainly was not an athlete.

While studying at Maharishi University of Management, I learned Transcendental Meditation and was - to say the least - extremely impressed at the way my personality changed. As a result, I now live in a state of perpetual bliss and generally kick ass at everything I do.

As part of my obsessive fascination with this change, I studied with Dr. Fred Travis, who is a leading researcher in meditation and higher states of consciousness. One of the studies I read which stood out to me, entitled "Higher psychophysiological refinement in world-class Norwegian athletes: brain measures of performance capacity" explains how top performing athletes maintain brain wave states which are identical to those of long term meditators.

At the same time, Dr. Travis explained how regular exercise could benefit the mind and body.

A few months later, as winter set in, I began to feel the effects of seasonal depression. I figured rigorous exercise would solve the problem, and began Crossfitting in November of 2010. Within two months, I had gained 10 lbs and felt great. This was a big surprise, considering that I had not changed my low calorie, vegetarian diet.

Of course, then I hit a plateau. I was overworking myself with extended metcons and a calorie deficit. So, I stayed at 140-145 lbs bodyweight for several months. As I became more serious, however, I realized I needed strength gains. So, in May of 2011, I switched to Crossfit Football, which utilizes shorter metcons (usually around 8 minutes) and heavy weightlifting daily. I started eating more, ate as much meat as I could stomach (nothing scientific here) and I gained another 5 lbs in two months.

Since then, I've been stuck. I am now starting my fourth month with Nicholas Horton to train as a weightlifter (see below). I'm getting stronger, but weight gain is still a problem.

The Programming:

I am working with coach Nicholas Horton to train in weightlifting in Portland, Oregon. Nick is all about the Bulgarian Method for weightlifting.

As a novice weightlifter, Nick has me working an even more specialized program. Although I have now completed his 3 month introduction, my programming is still roughly the same.

Monday through Friday:

• Snatch and Clean and Jerk practice, going 1 RM on each lift on alternating days. I usually spend 60 to 90 minutes on this.
• Front squat 1 RM
• Clean pulls 3 RM or 5 RM

Nick also lets me do anything I like with my upper body:

• Bench 5-5-5-5-5+ once a week
• Bench 3-3-3-3-3+ once a week
• Weighted pull ups 5-5-5+ once a week
• Weighted pull ups 3-3-3+ once a week
• Bicep curls 5-5-5-5-5+ once a week
• Shrug holds, 3x 30 seconds at max weight once a week

Current Numbers:

Bodyweight: 68-69 kg
Snatch: 54.6 kg
Clean: 70 kg
Jerk: 70 kg
Front Squat: 94.6 kg
Deadlift: 115.6 kg
Bench: 74.6 kg