Why gaining weight might not be as bad as you think.

This is a bit of a personal one. I feel like weight gain gets a lot of bad rap, and I’m here to tell you, (full disclosure: I had moments of severe self doubt, espeically when I could no longer fit into my old clothes, and occasionally had to dodge the “why do you want to gain weight, you look great!” Eye roll…. ) when done right, can really benefit your performance.

I’m not preaching, just hear me out.

14lb weight gain.

Left photo I was sitting at around 14% body fat. Right photo is me now probably just under 19% body fat.

Notice how I didn’t have abs even at a low body fat %, still don’t have abs now.

Quads though?

Check.

I got them from my momma.

Funny thing about weight gain is, society often looks at it with scornful eyes, but body fat isn’t something you should be ashamed of. Having a healthy amount of fat is going to serve you well in your sports performance. After all, fat is the most dense form of energy.

More fat: longer runs, heavier lifts, better energy storage, you get the point.

If you plan your weight gain phase really well, you could really see a huge improvement in your performance - this is obviously very contingent upon your choice of sport, but a healthy amount of body is going to help you move better.

What causes a lot of emotional discomfort in a lot of athletes during massing phases is the loss of some gymnastic movements like pull ups and other bodyweight exercises, and the fluffiness they experience.

These are normal, and won’t last forever.

I talk to my clients a lot of about planning phases specifically for each goal, you either eat to perform, eat to grow muscle or eat to get lean. They all have different approaches, neither is right or wrong, they are just different and require a different nutrition plan.

Now, I am absolutely not going to sugar coat it. Weight gain is hard emotionally especially if you’ve been taught all your life that staying lean was the way to stay healthy. Please believe me when I say this, this is not true.

Ridiculously low body fat can also cause health concerns.

The answer? Stay somewhere in between.

Everyone will have their own set points, and those can be challenged, but if you want to change your physique then make sure that you do so safely with the right strategy.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that having abs equals health or that having more body fat than you are comfortable with means you aren’t healthy.

Eating in a surplus changed my training, helped me build muscle, and made me stronger, but its not for everyone.

I’m super grateful for having way more muscle on me than I did a year ago, and I love the way I move, but when the time is right, I will be cutting weight just to get rid of some of the extra fat that came with the bulking phase.

Your training phases and mesocycles don’t have to be rigid, they should be flexible to allow for a change in goals.

If you’re interested in learning more about when to cut and when to bulk, check out this blog I wrote about it.