Adding Muscle while Tri'ing?

Let's go over the pros and cons of your situation.

Pros:

You're 22. Your body should be surging with testosterone and growth hormone creating a near perfect hormonal storm for muscle building or at least maintenance and you probably have a very good ability to recover from hard workouts.

You have a realistic attitude. You're not trying to get huge while at the same time training for an Ironman.

You're only training for a sprint.

You know you need to eat a lot and you don't seem to have trouble putting in at least 3,000 calories per day. Strange as it may seem, some guys, especially guys like you who are naturally skinny, have a lot of trouble eating massive quantities of food to the point where they (literally) can't stomach it.

You seem to have a general idea about what type of training you need to be doing, i.e., heavier weights.

Cons:

You're 6'6" and naturally skinny. Guys with your body type have trouble gaining muscle even while on a high calorie "bulking" plan. Some days I wouldn't mind having your physique. I'm 5'8" and naturally stocky. I gain muscle just looking at weights.

You're training for an endurance sport.

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As you can see, the pros outweight the cons. I think you can do this and you're certainly on the right track. Here's what to do:

Bump up your calories even more. Try to eat at a bare minimum 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Ideally you should go for 2 grams per pound. Anything in between is good.

Continue lifting heavy. Increase lifting volume. For instance, if you've been doing 5 sets of 5 reps, try to bump that up to 10 sets. That many sets with a heavy weight plus endurance training will wear you down so you'll really need to listen to your body and watch for overtraining.

Focus on the big compound lifts. Deadlifts, some form of press, rows or pulldowns. Squats are usually included in the list but I know that tall guys tend to have trouble squatting. If you can squat, do it.

Every three weeks, take a back-off week where you decrease the sets and use lighter weight. You could even drop lifting altogether during this week and just focus on your tri training. And before you ask, the answer is no, skipping the back off week will not help you gain muscle faster and it may impede it. This week is for your body to do some catching up on its recovery. Remember: You don't build muscle in the gym; you build it while you're resting and recovering. You'll actually get better results by taking the back-off week.

Doing the same thing.  Eat LOTS.  I'm 5'11" and eating about 600 calories more than you everyday.  My logs are in my signature if you want to check them out.  Best of luck.

So we are pretty much identical. Im 22, 200lbs, 6 6, and tyring to put on some muscle.

While my tri-training is not ideal for a number of reasons, ive been trying to eat alot (3500 calories a day) with close to 200 grams of protein a day and usually lifting about 4 or so times a week. I split my workouts as Legs and back, Triceps and Shoulders, and Chest and Biceps, and throw in abs once or twice a week when i feel like it.

In the past couple of months, ive had pretty good results with this and have noticed ive gotten stronger and feel i have a better, more muscular physique. Check my logs if you want.

Edited by patchadams 2009-06-27 6:37 PM

I used to have a similar body type a few years ago. I was 6'3.5 and in the 165-170 lbs range really strong for my weight and build but just incredibly wiry. In a little over a years time I was able to get up to 190 but that does include some "bad" weight which I didn't really mind because as you might know on a long frame too skinny is not always the best look. For me it was easier to cut the bad weight later.

The key like everyone has been saying is to eat, eat, and then eat some more. Youre probably going to want to break up the meals into at least 6 or more "meals" a day. Definitely going to have to redefine what a meal is but after awhile it becomes habit. A good lean protein with at least 4 of those meals and don't forget about fats so eat some nuts, avacado, or some flax seed oil at least once or twice a day. As stated earlier go with 2g of protein per lb of body weight so 400g of protein a day for now.

You dont have to eat alot at each meal. Youre body can only take in about 30 or maybe 40 grams of protein an hour so dont just stuff yourself. Before you go to bed at night I suggest a casein protein shake.  Casein protein is a slow digesting protein, this will allow your body to have some protein intake at night so you wont be running on empty.

Also other than eating make sure you get enough sleep. This will make a huge difference.

I wasn't training for tri at the time so I dont know how to account for that. I'm sure it will make things interesting.

Good luck!

Eat more, lift heavy, sleep well, repeat in that order to grow!!