Bulking while active with sports activites????

[hkstylez]

Not sure if this makes much sense at all, but I'll try to explain it the best I can. I've always wondered how Hockey players or any other sports related players train or bulk up during the off season.

What I am trying to say is, I've quit playing Goalie for ball and Ice now for 2 months just to bulk up to my appropriate weight. I'm about 6 feet tall and weigh about 160lbs and I am trying to reach my appropriate weight which is probably 180+lbs.

Anybody know how hockey players do it during the off season?

Is it best to stop cardio altogether for however many months just to bulk or should I just stuff myself with the proper food to gain the weight and still be able to play hockey.

I've got a coworker who keeps telling me to stop playing hockey so that I can bulk up while another friend says I should keep doing what I am doing with eating lots and still be able to play.

What do you guys think is the best solution? Thanks.

PS: wrongplace to put.. please move to off topic

[TorqueDog]

Keep playing, eat more, supplement (protein), and do weights. The cardio will keep the fat at bay while the weights help build muscle mass.

[Yakbutter]

Really heavy weights everyday, lots of protein and complex carbs. Eat every three hours, force the food down if you have to. Make you big like ape.

[HELPNEEDED]

Simply u need to eat more calories then u utilize daily

[Rifleman]

Stuff your face with pasta.

[H2SO4(aq)]

u aware brah?

typical miscer, alright fella, lift heavy, eat a surplus of calories and ensure you are getting lots of protien. eat chicken, whole wheat grains (huge quantities) and limit empty calories. you can still play hockey obviously, just make sure you are hitting the gym as well and and eating way more than you need to sustain (5-6k cals a day). and when youre at the gym dont bother with bike, jogging. you will need to bulk to ~190 lbs and then cut to 180 to properly achieve this.

[H2SO4(aq)]

oh yah, and it aint gonna happen in just a couple months unless you want that extra weight to be fat/water. takes time to grow muscles.

[Yakbutter]

You are not going to be able to eat clean and consume "5-6k" a day. Thats an unholy amount of chicken.

[3 Justin 3]

Aware.

Here is a simple list of bulking foods which will up your calorie intake, but are rather easy to consume:

- Nuts
- Milk
- Olive Oil (Srs, do shots of EVOO, tastes gross but two shots is ~540 calories)
- Peanut Butter
- Honey
- Rice Krispy treats (I can eat like 4-5 at a time (500 calories total, though its all sugar))

Don't cut out sports if you don't want to, but it will be easier to bulk if you do cut it out (because it obviously burns a lot of calories). Just consume like 4500-5000 calories a day if you are playing hockey. You should gain some mass in a couple months. Also, eat Fettuccine Alfredo, if you make it yourself with a simple recipe it has like 1500+ calories in one serving.

[Northendzone]

if you really want to bulk up, then i'd say chicken on the way and old dutch are your friends.....

out of curiosity why do you want to bulk up?

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Something about this doesn't seem like a good idea and is just going to result in increased adipose tissue rather than muscle.

[Buff]

Ice Cream


Hamburgers and Fries


Potato Chips


Eat lots of those. You'll bulk up your midsection quickly, it will make you a bigger target for the shooters to hit.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Yakbutter

Really heavy weights everyday, lots of protein and complex carbs. Eat every three hours, force the food down if you have to. Make you big like ape.

Ummm no. Heavy weights yes, but every day? No.

[GreenLantern]

When I was bulking I had a plan like this:

7:00 A.M. - Shake (Oatmeal, Ground Flax Seed, Natural Peanut Butter, Scoop of Whey Protein and Skim Milk)
10:00 - Low fat cheese slices (two finger rule) (grow up) w/ a Granny Smith apple
12:00 - Grilled chicken breast w/ brown rice
2:00 - Protein bar (25-30g of protein, less than 8g of sugar)
4:00 - Fat free Yogurt w/ 10-15 almonds
6:30 - Chicken breast/pork chop/lean protein w/ steamed veggies (Broccoli and Cauliflower are staples here)

At night I would snack on either another apple, or sometimes I would split a chicken breast in half and eat one half one night and the other half the next night (eating three a day can get pretty expensive). Also a casein protein shake made the cut quite a bit, good to have before bed. But not to close to bed...

On this diet I did weights 5 times a week, yoga once, and I ran for 45 minutes after every session. I did interval sprints on an incline for 30 minutes and a warm up/cool down jog for the other 15 minutes. I did a different muscle group every day, 4 exercises with 8-12 reps x 4 sets and a burn out exercise, abs every second day. With that diet and that cardio a guy who has been a stick his whole life and struggled to put on weight put on about 20-25 pounds in approximately a year. That is 20-25 pounds of the good stuff, muscle.. I could have put it on a lot faster if I didn't care what it was :P

I was actually your weight when I started, right around 165, and I ended up right around 190. Since then I have put on another 5-10 pounds, but its the bad stuff

The point of this story is that I was right around where you are, I was a guy who struggled to bulk, and even with cardio every single day I was still able to do it. Lift heavy, eat lots of protein, and interval sprints over straight up running. Targets the fat but not the muscle. Another important thing people over look is meal times. You read any health book from any doctor that knows his stuff and he will talk about the importance of regular meal times. Eat the same time every single day and your body becomes like clock work.

Also fotze is right about one thing, the older you get the easier it gets to put this on.. just the harder it is I find to make it the 'good' stuff

[Goodlad]

GOMAD: Gallon Of Milk A Day
Stick with whole milk, lift heavy and keep up the cardio. Like others have said you need to eat regularly and get lots of sleep. My old trainer was fond of saying there's no such thing as a hard gainer, there's just people who don't eat enough. Also, if you really want to bulk up in a hurry forget about the six-pack for now. Plan on overshooting your ideal weight by 5-10 pounds then cutting back. It will get you there faster than trying to only put on lean mass.

Edit: You also might consider simplifying your weight room routine. My guess is at 160 lbs you probably haven't maxed out any kind of linear-progression program. A good start would be "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe. I've found that a lot of guys when they want to bulk up they think the more exercises they do the better the results will be, but unless you have a solid strength base this isn't true. Stick to Back squats, dead lifts, bench press and power cleans with maybe a few accessory exercises for now, and make sure you're really pushing and not just going through the motions. You'll be surprised by the results.

[vektor]

A word of caution while lifting to bulk. Make sure you do proper form with everything, I was benching 340 and leg pressing 600 back in the day, with improper form. My shoulder and my knee are both screwed. If you do a single rep with bad form you are doing too much weight. You can gain mass doing proper slow reps just the same as going for broke.

[Yakbutter]

Originally Posted by valo403

Ummm no. Heavy weights yes, but every day? No.

One or two days off for rest. Yeah not everyday.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Yakbutter

One or two days off for rest. Yeah not everyday.

Recovery is often just as important to gains as the work itself. I'm particularly bad for taking the position that more exercise or more weight = more gains and have had to really force myself to take days off. That doesn't have to mean doing nothing though, active recovery is a big part of training.

This guy has some good stuff, although parts of it are subscription:

http://www.kevinneeld.com/

There's also a good nike program developed with Gary Roberts out there, I have a print out of it but can't find the link to it. It's through niketraining.ca I think.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by valo403

Ummm no. Heavy weights yes, but every day? No.

Even if you lift at 65% of your 1RM, you still shouldn't hit it everyday.

If you do heavy lifts like the deadlift or squat, you should try to get in at least 48 hours of rest/active recovery/foam rolling/stretching before lifting again.

If people say they can't bulk up, they're either not hitting the weights hard enough, or eating enough. It is possible to get 5k in calories per day and still stay clean. Its called drinking a lot of milk with protein powder mixed in. In fact Mark Rippitoe recommends this when people ask him about bulking. Deadlift, squat, and some kind of press, and drink a gallon of milk per day.

Sounds extreme, but if you want to bulk in a short period of time you have to go extreme.

I personally like this program.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/R...mGenerator.htm

It says it is designed for gaining strength and not mass, but if you eat enough you'll pick up weight.

Another great one is this.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/irontamer5.htm

It will literally kill you, but if done properly and accompanied by a proper diet, you will gain a lot of mass.

Also, bulking does not mean you gain just muscle mass. You will gain fat as well, which is a problem for hockey players. This is why players that are 18 and ready to go pro actually bulk up over a longer period of time. This allows them to maintain the 10% bodyfat that most want and still gain muscle mass.

I would imagine most players that have been in the league for a few years don't bulk as much as maintain. I know Jarome actually lost a few pounds of muscle mass a few years ago to get a bit quicker.

All in all, unless you're a freak of nature, I honestly don't think bulking or gaining mass is that difficult provided you're actually willing to lift heavy, eat a lot of good food, and be sensible in both.

If you don't do both as best you can, chances are you burn out in a short period of time.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by valo403

Ummm no. Heavy weights yes, but every day? No.

Yes. As you should do a different body part everyday.
I.e. Heavy chest Monday. Heavy legs Tuesday, etc. Each BP gets up to a week off in between. Certain ones can be hit twice a week.
This split can have you doing 5 or 6 heavy weights days a week.