Endurance athletes face an uphill battle in gaining weight. Performance requirements restrict them from doing so to any great degree. They may want to weigh more, but their coaches and teammates depend on them to win. There is generally perceived to be an inverse relationship between weight and proficiency in endurance activities.

Can an endurance athlete gain weight and still perform well? That depends on the athlete’s current physical condition, bone structure and what type of weight is gained. Gaining excess fat clearly has negative consequences for endurance.

Aerobic capacity is expressed as oxygen consumption per kilogram of bodyweight. Gaining fat will increase the requirement for oxygen without increasing the ability to utilize it. Excess fat produces no increase in the force that can be generated, but increases the workload.

Can an Endurance athlete be too thin? The answer is yes. The minimum healthy bodyfat for men is 3% and for women it is 12%. Below this level, negative health consequences may occur. Inadequate fat stores reduce the body’s ability to conserve heat and absorb shock. Sufficient fat is also important for hormone production, bone density and proper immune system function. Certain fats (omega 3′s), considered essential fatty acids (EFA’s), are required for proper brain and nervous system function and regulation of blood lipids, such as cholesterol and triglycerides. EFA’s may also help prevent breast cancer. In addition, vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble, which means they are only able to be stored in the body fat. These vitamins essential to proper body functioning, Vitamins A and E are important anti-oxidants. These are especially important for endurance athletes who produce large amounts of free radicals during training. Vitamin D is important for strong bones and vitamin K is required for proper blood clotting.

Endurance athletes need to “strength endurance.” This is the ability to contract the muscles used in your sport repetitively for long periods of time with no diminution of force. That would result in a faster time even in marathon running or triathlons. A stronger athlete will do better on hills or against a headwind. They will also have an easier time if there is jostling in the pack during a race. If there is a close race at the end, the athlete who has a higher strength to weight ratio will be able to attain higher final speeds if all other factors are equal.

Making the choice about what weight to be at is not only dependent on what works best for performance, it also depends on the degree to which top performance is important to the individual athlete. Some people enjoy the competition, but are doing it for fun and for health.

Others may be using the competition as a way of conditioning as part of a larger plan for another sport or for his or her occupation. A police officer or professional boxer may run to develop endurance, but need more muscle to do his job. A weekend warrior type athlete may find his appearance and health more important than his competitive ranking. The build that does best for the sport may not be perceived as the most aesthetically pleasing by that person or by their significant other. A choice may need to be made about what is considered most important – aesthetics or performance.

TRAIN AND EAT TO GAIN MUSCLE, NOT FAT

Different types of activities make different demands on the body.
The body adapts by making changes to more easily accommodate that demand. The body uses different energy systems to fuel activities of different intensities. It is the intensity and duration of the activities that determines the type of training and caloric intake required for top performance.

High intensity exercise that lasts for 10 seconds or less, use Adenosine Tri Phosphate (ATP) as fuel. In that period of time, energy is produced when the bond between one phosphorus atom and the rest of the ATP is broken and energy is released. After 10 seconds, all the ATP has been used up and became ADP (Adenosine Di Phosphate). Taking Phosphorus from Creatine Phosphate regenerates the ATP. This is used up in about 30 seconds.

Events of sustained effort that last longer than 30 seconds require more energy than is available from the Creatine-ATP system. This type of activity generates more energy from a process known as anaerobic Glycolysis. Energy is produced from the breakdown of sugar molecules in a process that doesn’t use Oxygen. The sugar is found in the blood and a stored form of carbohydrate found in the muscles and liver called Glycogen. This type of metabolic process produces lactic acid, lowers the pH and produces large quantities of Carbon Dioxide. The result is breathlessness and a burning sensation in the muscles.

The longest burning energy source is the aerobic system, which breaks down fats and sugars in the presence of oxygen. That is a process that produces moderate amounts of energy for as long as the stores of fat and glycogen are available. The fat is burned systemically rather than locally, which is why spot-reduction of fat stores does not occur. In practice, the body usually uses more than one of these processes during exercise, the intensity of activity and the availability of the energy substrates being the trigger for the relative proportions of each energy source.

The more a particular energy system is used, the more the body creates adaptations to make those processes more efficient. Aerobic exercise stimulates and increases the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the tissues. The more time an athlete spends exercising aerobically, the more the muscles become efficient at removing lactic acid. Athletes who train with short intense bursts of power develop a greater ability to store Creatine Phosphate in the muscles. That is why Creatine is a lot more effective in producing gains in strength and muscle size for people who do hard strength training and sprinting. The body will just excrete what it doesn’t need.

The muscles are made up of three types of fibers. Each fiber contracts either completely or not at all. The more fibers contract, more force is generated.

The first fibers to contract are known as slow-twitch or Type I fibers. These fibers do not contract very hard, but can continue contracting for long periods of time without fatigue. These muscles contain large quantities of Fat-burning enzymes and sub-cellular structures to use fat as fuel. They also don’t become much larger when trained.

Increases in cross-sectional area are the result of increased size and numbers of mitochondria, which are the powerhouses of the cell. Type IIb fibers are the last to contract when great amounts of force are required. The contract powerfully, but fatigue quickly and grow much thicker through increased contractile proteins when trained with very heavy weights. This type of fiber is lacking in fat-burning enzymes because they do not contract unless the intensity is very high. These types of fibers have a high concentration of glycolytic enzymes that produce energy from sugars.

Type IIa fibers are an intermediate type of fiber with qualities between the other two. They can actually convert to Type I fibers when subjected to extensive endurance training for long periods. Strength training for any athlete should include variability in the workloads used. Endurance athletes should primarily use lighter loads 50-70% of one rep maximum single, but should periodically work up to 80% or more for short periods. Endurance athletes will need to use higher intensities of weight training during the weight gain program and temporarily do less aerobic training.

Athletes in strength and power sports should primarily work at 70-90+% of one rep maximum single. However, they should also periodically use lighter loads for high reps to create variability so they can avoid stagnation. In addition, these athletes do need to include a moderate aerobic program to increase recovery ability and burn fat to prevent the wrong type of weight gain.

Athletes in sports requiring strength, speed, endurance and power such as Basketball players, martial artists, boxers, wrestlers and decathlon competitors need to develop all these aspects of athletic abilities and carve a nutritional path midway between the two extremes.

The type of program that would produce increases in the ability of the slow-twitch muscle fibers to contract repetitively for long period without reduction of force would use primarily high reps with lightweight. It is important to try to increase the weight while maintaining the number of repetitions. Some of the time each training year should be spent doing heavier weight and fewer repetitions, which increases overall strength. After that routine is finished and a higher repetition program is resumed, it will be with a higher weight than was used previously in those high rep sets. Varying the intensity in the program is important to avoid plateaus and over-training. In endurance training, only doing long slow distances will actually reduce your speed for races. High intensity techniques such as Interval training, Fartlek’s, sprints and Hill training should also be part of the program, to retain or increase speed in races. Comparisons of intensity in strength training are referred to by percentage of the weight the athlete can lift one time, which is known as the one repetition maximum. Intensity in running, swimming and cycling is measured by speed and percentage of maximum heart rate.

The differences in energy systems, used by the different sports have a profound influence on the percentage of fats, proteins and carbohydrates required. Athletes in endurance sports burn a higher number of calories in relation to body weight than strength and power athletes do and a higher percentage of these calories are fat calories. Strength training and training burns mostly carbohydrates. The overall calories may be higher for the strength and power athlete because they tend to be larger. Individualized eating programs are beyond the scope of this article. However, general guidelines can be presented. More specific information about calculating calorie expenditures can be found in Ultimate Sports Nutrition by Fred Hatfield Ph.D. Nutritional information about particular foods may be found in Dr. Art Ulene’s Nutrition Handbook. Dr. Ulene’s book also has nutritional software for sale to keep track of your eating program.

As indicated in the previous article, have bodyfat and girth measurements taken at the outset of any weight-gaining program. Try to do the program during the off-season of the sport, since it will be easier to do when fewer calories are burned. If there is no off-season, you may need to take a little time off to make the program work. Be sure to do strength training during the weight gain program and do no more aerobic exercise than is necessary for maintenance. The thinnest athletes may find this most critical. Always record all food and beverages you ingest each day. Recording this information will make it more likely to adhere to the program and let you know if you need to increase your food intake if weight is not being gained. Eat every 3-4 hours, but do not gorge yourself. Do not eat junk food to increase calories; it makes the system work harder. Eat a variety of nutritious, healthy food to assure enough fiber, vitamins and minerals are being eaten. Include low-fat high protein foods such as poultry, fish, and low-fat dairy products. Eggs are a good source of protein, but are high in cholesterol. You can eat one whole egg and the rest as egg whites. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Eat them either raw or cooked. Eat only whole grains, because refined flour and rice only provide starch, no fiber or little in the way of vitamins except those that they are “enriched” with. If you feel you need more fat in the diet, eat nuts. If you feel the need for “snack foods”, do it in moderation. You can also try dried fruits as a sweet snack. They have plenty of sugar and calories, but also have plenty of fiber and are actually more nutritious than fresh fruit. Weight gain drinks often have too much sugar or fat and may be too many calories to take in at once. Instead, you can make your own weight gain drinks using a low or non-fat protein powder, fresh fruit or fruit juice or milk or soy milk. If you have an especially high calorie requirement, add peanut butter or other nut butters, preferably non-sweetened. You can also add flax oil to your drinks.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is essential to understand your initial condition, what your goals are, and how to gain weight without sacrificing performance. Your nutritional program and exercise program must be designed to reach your goal without sacrificing your competitive edge or your health. Monitoring your progress and keeping track of your eating program will enable you to change the program if you find you are either a.) not gaining weight or b.) gaining too much fat.