How can I put on muscle without compromising performance?

Hello there,

Being 5"5 and only around 114lbs, I'm slightly underweight and may need to put on a bit of size. I'm an ectomorph and don't have a large frame so I might be okay but I've been wondering if being underweight (although only slightly, I think BMI is around 18) could be hindering my strength potential and if I might be better off with around 10-15lbs extra muscle.

I don't want to go on a bodybuilder type programme and don't want to compromise my strength gains or stop doing gymnastics training. Currently with most of my exercises I do 2 sets of 3-5 reps and don't train till failure. As for calories, I currently eat at maintenance level according to my daily acivity level. If it's a heavy day of training I eat a lot more but when I'm resting my calories come down. If I increased my calories to above maintenance, would this be enough to trigger some hypertrophy or would I need to change my training too? I'm fairly lean but am also worried I might put on fat instead of muscle.

You should be able to induce hypertrophy through diet alone. So long as your program is making you stronger it should make you bigger if you eat enough.

Fat gain is inevatible if any muscle gains are to be made. Dont worry about it, you can take it off quickly enough if it becomes a problem.

Eat a few hundred calories over your maintenance per day, plus 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight.

If you are getting stronger and eating like above, this is sufficient to stimulate hypertrophy. With that said, it wouldn't hurt for you to get more volume as 2 sets is slower for strength increases, plus there isn't much fatigue which is another factor in hypertrophy.

If your diet is right there won't be any excess fat accumulation. You should be able to put on weight while maintaining your body fat %, at the very least.

You may find, as a fairly large number of gymnasts around the world(perhaps not a majority, I don't have any info on percentages) have, that using free weight training as a tool to enhance your gymnastic strength could be an excellent idea. Thick bar bicep curls, reverse curls, bench press, dips and pull/chin ups may be just what you need. Perhaps not permanently, but just as a strength gaining cycle in your training. You work bench one day, curls and reverse curls the next, dips the next, and finally pull ups and chin ups. If you stay in the "relative strength" time under tension zone you will build extra strength and any size you gain will be pretty much pure contractile proteins. That's mass that actively produces force. That's mass you want!

As you say, going for a bodybuilding type of size would be foolish for you. I'd do as much with a thick bar as you can if I were you. For reverse curls you should probably use an EZ curl bar or dumbbells, either is fine. Make it thick if you can, 2" minimum! for you 2.5" is probably the maximum size that will be productive. The thick bar will enhance the training effect on your elbow flexors and wrist flexors/extensors, which will enhance your joint strength and add to your joint conditioning.

I hope it is obvious, but this should not be done exclusively. 4-6 sets of the select exercises for each day you train them is ideal. That can be done in a separate session or at the end of your conditioning, whatever works for you, and it should not be anywhere near enough to have much of an impact on your training. For the first few weeks I'd use the sets of 5, and then I'd do the 1/6 method, and after that I'd do the 5% solution. At 6 workouts per method and 4 days on, 1 day off, that's 90 days of training, with 30 days per mini-cycle. If you do once a week training that'll be 18 weeks. If you do this, whether you gain size or not (that's just something your body and your diet will decide together) you will gain a LOT of strength, and it will translate directly into your gymnastics. You will notice it fairly quickly, within the first month I'd imagine.

I'd probably do half my pull/chin up work on rings and half on a straight bar, since they work the body differently. You may even want to do just rings one workout, and the next time you do weighted pull/chin ups hit the straight bar for all the sets. However you think will benefit you the most. For bench, do close grip only. That means your hands are 14" apart. Not only is it MUCH safer on the shoulders, it emphasizes the triceps, which are pretty important for a gymnast. Much more so than the chest.

You could always grind it out and just keep working gymnastic progressions as well. The choice is yours. One thing I WOULD do is go out, buy a bottle of 200mg HCL capsules, and do the acid test that Charles Poliquin recommends. Make sure you eat good meals with lots of protein when you do this. For you that means 6-8 oz of meat or so, at LEAST. That's honestly not much. The average chicken breast is that size. I don't mean the frozen pieces in bags at the grocery store, I mean what you get if you cut it right off the chicken at the ribs.

At your first meal, eat half of the protein and what-not, take one capsule, and finish the meal. Wait 15-30 minutes. If you feel kind of like you drank a cup of hot tea, or hot chocolate, then you probably only need one capsule at really big meals and nothing the rest of the time. If you don't feel anything, and you'll know when you do I promise, at the next meal take two capsules. Repeat this each meal until you feel a warm feeling in your stomach after the meal. If you took 4 capsules and felt it you will need to take 3 capsules per meal until that dose starts to feel warm. When that happens, you bump down to 2 capsules, and so on, until you're only supplementing at really big meals.

I just did this acid test a few days ago and determined that I need 3-4 capsules per high protein meal right now. With less I just use 3, with big meals I use 4. I felt the warmth at 5 capsules. That means I was pretty low on digestive enzymes and was not digesting food properly. I feel totally different now than I did 3 days ago. I can actually FEEL the extra nutrients in my veins after I eat. I am sleeping better and everything! It's pretty crazy. Here is the link to the full article, this is a very good idea to read, understand, and try.

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article.aspx?ID=27

You may find, as a fairly large number of gymnasts around the world(perhaps not a majority, I don't have any info on percentages) have, that using free weight training as a tool to enhance your gymnastic strength could be an excellent idea. Thick bar bicep curls, reverse curls, bench press, dips and pull/chin ups may be just what you need. Perhaps not permanently, but just as a strength gaining cycle in your training. You work bench one day, curls and reverse curls the next, dips the next, and finally pull ups and chin ups. If you stay in the "relative strength" time under tension zone you will build extra strength and any size you gain will be pretty much pure contractile proteins. That's mass that actively produces force. That's mass you want!

I would like to know the opinion of the coach Sommer about it.

Me too, I don't have the experience that he does in gymnastic progressions. In fact, I have none outside of the basic FL, PL, dip, pull up, and core progressions.

The basic point will remain the same: there is no such thing as muscle that compromises performance if it is built by practicing for your chosen activity. What you build through strength work will directly benefit your athletic pursuit, in this case gymnastics.

Thank you all for the replies. I will increase my calories.

Slizzardman, I used to do some free weight training but have stopped. I stopped doing suitcase deadlifts temporarily because I'm working on my wrist strength so I can hold onto the bar and keep it steady and I stopped doing the clean and press because I'm working on headstand pushups and thought another shoulder pressing exercise could lead to over-training. Here is what my training looks like currently:

Afternoon

assisted one arm pullups-2 sets of 3-5 (up to 5 times a week)

Headstand pushups-3 sets of 1 rep (I can only do one). This is done 3/4 times a week

Weighted one leg squats-2 sets of 3-5 (up to 5 times a week)

Barbell holds for wrists-2 sets of around 5 second holds.

I rest 2-5 mins between sets.

Once or twice a week I practice the advanced tuck planche-10 sets of 6 second holds. Once or twice a week I practice the front lever-12 sets of 5 second holds (the first progression in Coach's book). If it's a front lever or planche day I won't do headstand pushups. On top of this I GTG with grippers and power breathing. I do my conditioning also up to 5 times a week, in the morning or evening and it consists of stuff like jumping rope, heavy bag work, sprint intervals etc.

So is it still okay to add on the exercises you mentioned onto my training programme? You mentioned pullups but is there a chance my one arm assisted pullup work could be affected by adding on this exercise?

Thanks for your help

Below is a link to Ross Enamait's video and essay from his experiment at gaining "functional mass."

If you aren't familiar with Ross, he knows his stuff. Period.

He focuses on combat athletes, not gymnasts, but the end result and the advice mirror Slizzardman and yield mass that is athletic, useful, and strong.

http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/hardcore.html