rapid wieght gain/endurance?

This works for me:



As for hydration packs, tesco do a 1.5 litre hydration pack rucksack for £12 that does the job, with room for your pump, multi tool, spare inner tube, wallet, phone etc. I have the older version, but the bladder's identical in the current version that's in stores now. Why would you look stupid? They just look like a small rucksack.

andrewgrundill wrote:

surely weight gained from mass gainers is lost due to cardio workout of cycling.

Taking in more calories than you use = gain body fat. Extra colories + training = gain muscle mass. Training for muscle mass and training for endurance are two different things, requiring completely different approaches.

The 4.4kg tub of the one pictured is about £37 at the shop I get it from. Chocolate ones always taste foul, the strawberry isn't something I'd drink for pleasure, but it's bearable in half pint semi skimmed milk doses, especially with a dose of raspberry Crusha added. Pint measures leave me feeling a bit unpleasant.

It sounds to me like you've got 2 conflicting goals:
1) the 20 mile race
2) gain muscle and get bigger

For the race part you can develop 'riding strength and endurance' by RIDING.
Do hills that are difficult, and also do extended flat & rolling rides that last for 2 hours or more. Keep the pace on the long rides at a pace that allows you to get home, but feel knackered for the rest of the day.

For muscles and weight gain, I suggest (and do in off-season) exercises at home.
What I do is sets that include: upper body stretches, knee raises, lower body stretches, step bench, lower body stretches (again), push-ups. Then immediately do more sets - I do a total of 5 sets in about 30 minutes. If you have access to a pull-up / chin-up bar, do some of those too - with stretching between sets. The pull-ups / chin-ups can be very difficult - just do what you can, and don't give up.
You'll get stronger fairly quickly, but getting bigger will take at least several months - but the exercises will build larger muscles and weight.
Have confidence that the exercises will work, but will take time to see results.

The attraction of supplements such as whey protein, and 'mass gainers' is that they are easy and convenient. But, eating good quality foods will work just as well - look for foods that are high in protein and carbs, and low in fat. Lean ham and turkey are good for protein, rice & beans, pasta, potatoes are good for carbs.

In the seasons that are good for riding, I don't do the indoor exercises unless the weather is not suitable for riding. In the cold/wet seasons I do the exercises every other day - they are difficult enough that I need rest days, otherwise my muscles get too sore.

If you want to be bigger THIS year, it might not work - But if you want to be bigger & stronger for NEXT year, then start the exercises when the riding season is over.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

Your weight and body 'type' are greatly influenced by your genetics, and by your age.
YES, you can exercise and build bigger and stronger muscles, and have better endurance, but you can't change your basic biology (or your parents).

Back when I was 18 years old (1966, yeah old guy...), I was 5 foot 10 inches and weighed 139 pounds, today still same height and weigh 170 pounds - a little chunky around the waist, but bigger and stronger legs, chest, arms, neck. The added weight is mostly from getting older, the bigger & stronger is from doing exercises and keep doing them.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

Kowalski675 wrote:

Concorde wrote:

No need to buy that critical mass either. Go on Myprotein website, get a bag of oats, whey. Mix up 100g oats, 25g whey with a pint of full fat milk and a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil and you can a shake packing a good 900 cals

That sounds minging, I think I'd bring that back up, lol. As has been said, there's nothing magical about the weight gain supplements, they're just a convenient alternative to eating more food (good if, like me, you don't have a big appetite and see food as a necessity, rather than a pleasure. When I was a lot younger and training at the gym three times per week I was eating 5000 or more calories per day, and I couldn't have eaten enough food for that - I was having three pints of weight gain shake per day.

It's lovely, the oats are fine oats so they mix well. The whey is vanilla flavoured and the EVOO gives it a nice taste too. Tastes like a thick milkshake. At first they're a bit heavy on the stomach but get used to that quickly. Packs a punch!

5000cals per day is a bit excessive just for weight training three times per week I'd say?! Unless you was riding or other cardio activities.

njee20 wrote:

If you want to get quick on a bike don't take crap like that, just ride your bike! Extra muscle mass will be of no use whatsoever, it's just additional weight to lug up the hills.

Learn to drink while riding, either from a bottle or a hydration pack, no need to stop.

If you want to 'bulk up' then you need to accept it will come at the expense of any fitness gained from riding.

But he said he wants to build muscle as well as endurance, nowhere did he say 'I want to get quicker on a bike! You can build endurance and muscle at the same time. Getting faster and muscle don't really go together. I've said it before, we don't all wanna be skinny little boys.

njee20 wrote:

If you want to get quick on a bike don't take crap like that, just ride your bike! Extra muscle mass will be of no use whatsoever, it's just additional weight to lug up the hills.

Learn to drink while riding, either from a bottle or a hydration pack, no need to stop.

If you want to 'bulk up' then you need to accept it will come at the expense of any fitness gained from riding.

Have to agree here.

Focus more on the endurance of the muscle than building bigger ones i.e. high reps, low weight.

Big muscles are fine for impressing the ladies, but generally dont mean sh*t on the bike.

Firstly, you don't need to stop to drink

Second, stopping is gay.

Im 65kg (was 60kg) and I drink Myprotein's impact weight gainer. Its about 400 calories and full of complex carbs. Ditch the chocolate, its awful stuff. You'll find more power & energy if you eat good carbs. Peanut butter is also good. Packed full of calories and protein.