For Christmas my husband got me a membership at his gym and a personal trainer. I love working out with Cathe and will not give her up totally, but I'm ready to try something different. I do not need to lose weight(5'4, 13.3% body fat and 112lbs). I want to add more muscle. My trainer is telling me that to add muscle that I need to do minimal cardio and up my calories to 3500 a day. Can that be right? I probably do not even eat half of that in one day. I eat real healthy(lots of fruit, veggies, protein and whole grains). He tells me that I should eat 4 carbs to 1 protein. I'm afraid if I eat like that without doing cardio I will get huge. Would love to hear what you all think about this.
Need some advice
- Thread starter cinnttu92
- Start date
I do not agree with that. I don't know how much cardio you do, but you could possibly get away with doing a little less. If you want to build muscle you should lift heavier and you should eat more protein. I think the carb/protein ratio your personal training suggested is a bit much...Sounds like something he would suggest to a man. 3500 calories for a woman is way too much! If you ate that much and reduced cardio, I don't think you'd be very happy with the results.
This is just my opinion...I'm sure others will provide you with some additional feedback as well.
~Marietta
FITXME
http://www.picturetrail.com/fitxme
This is just my opinion...I'm sure others will provide you with some additional feedback as well.
~Marietta
FITXME
http://www.picturetrail.com/fitxme
kathryn
Cathlete
>What I find odd is that he is telling you to eat so little
>protein when I thought you needed the PROTIEN to build muscle
>more so than carbs...??? Am I wrong?
Muscle is protein, but animals whose muscle people eat got that muscle by eating plants and less protein than most people would assume.
Carbs are actually protein sparing: by eating insufficient amounts of carbs, your body must create gylcogen (it's primary energy source, and the primary energy source for the brain) out of something else, usually protein, which means that it doesn't go to repair and build. By upping the good carbs, the protein you do eat is used for repair and building.
Kind of a catch 22: if you eat fewer carbs, you HAVE to eat more protein, but if you eat more carbs, that protein is used for what you want it to be used for, so you don't need as much.
Upping calories and reducing cardio are two techniques used by many bodybuilders to build muscle. Unfortunately, it's hard to JUST build muscle without getting extra fat (which is why some bodybuilders--especially males going for the HUGENESS factor!- can be a bit chunky on the off season! Until they get into pre-contest mode. )
>protein when I thought you needed the PROTIEN to build muscle
>more so than carbs...??? Am I wrong?
Muscle is protein, but animals whose muscle people eat got that muscle by eating plants and less protein than most people would assume.
Carbs are actually protein sparing: by eating insufficient amounts of carbs, your body must create gylcogen (it's primary energy source, and the primary energy source for the brain) out of something else, usually protein, which means that it doesn't go to repair and build. By upping the good carbs, the protein you do eat is used for repair and building.
Kind of a catch 22: if you eat fewer carbs, you HAVE to eat more protein, but if you eat more carbs, that protein is used for what you want it to be used for, so you don't need as much.
Upping calories and reducing cardio are two techniques used by many bodybuilders to build muscle. Unfortunately, it's hard to JUST build muscle without getting extra fat (which is why some bodybuilders--especially males going for the HUGENESS factor!- can be a bit chunky on the off season! Until they get into pre-contest mode. )
Aquajock
Cathlete
Hi, Cinnamon. These opinions are strictly my own, or at least those of MY five personalities and no others 
IMHO your trainer is full of it. For a number of reasons:
Number 1, minimal cardio will reduce your cardiovascular fitness, which is something you absolutely DO NOT want for health reasons. As you have indicated, you do not wish to "lose weight", but cardio work is important for heart, circulatory and respiratory health, not just burning calories. And I don't care what the muscleheads out there say, muscle training and the resultant mass-building IS NOT cardio training and cannot substitute for it.
Number 2, your trainer is just that, a trainer, and unless he is a registered dietitian or nutritionist he has no business at all giving nutritional advice. In fact, reputable fitness certifying bodies (including the American Council on Exercise {ACE} {I am ACE certified in group fitness instruction}, the American College of Sports Medicine {ACSM}, the National Strength and Conditioning Association {NSCA}, the National Academy of Sports Medicine {NASM} and a whole host of others) specifically forbid trainers and GFIs from attempting to offer advice or counsel outside their scope of certification and training. If I were you, I'd check out his certifications and academic training, and the less he has of each of these (and I'll bet he doesn't have much) the less I'd listen to him.
Number 3, I agree with you - at your height, if you were to increase your caloric intake that much you would be at great risk of building fat stores that you do not want. Strength training is not a big calorie burner, and the degree to which fat-free muscle mass raises your resting metabolic rate has been grossly overstated in previous years, primarily by trainers who are strength-oriented.
IMHO, it would be worthwhile for you to bring in a heavy-lifting protocol if you have not done so already (more on what "heavy lifting" means in a minute) while keeping your cardio output AND your caloric intake constant (and keeping your healthy food choices exactly as you have listed), and then YOU listen to YOUR body in terms of what it might need for additional fuel and what macronutrients (carbs, protein, healthy fats, etc.) you need. I found over the years that as I began lifting heavier and heavier, my body told me what it needed (and in what quantities) through my taste buds: I would crave carbs here, extra good protein there, and my appetite for crap (refined concentrated sweets, bad fats and the demon salt) plummeted. Pay attention to the muscle mass that you build and your own changes in appetite if any, and make changes from there.
Heavy lifting is relative to the individual exerciser, as I'm sure you know; what's heavy for one person might be light for another, AND what was heavy at one time becomes light as you build strength. A protocol that incorporates weight loads that nearly completely fatigue the muscle group after 8-12 reps would be a good one for you, and I'm sure others here (are you listening, LauraMax?) can chime in with their ideas for gym strength routines.
JMHO - I'm sure others will have their own as well.
a-Jock
IMHO your trainer is full of it. For a number of reasons:
Number 1, minimal cardio will reduce your cardiovascular fitness, which is something you absolutely DO NOT want for health reasons. As you have indicated, you do not wish to "lose weight", but cardio work is important for heart, circulatory and respiratory health, not just burning calories. And I don't care what the muscleheads out there say, muscle training and the resultant mass-building IS NOT cardio training and cannot substitute for it.
Number 2, your trainer is just that, a trainer, and unless he is a registered dietitian or nutritionist he has no business at all giving nutritional advice. In fact, reputable fitness certifying bodies (including the American Council on Exercise {ACE} {I am ACE certified in group fitness instruction}, the American College of Sports Medicine {ACSM}, the National Strength and Conditioning Association {NSCA}, the National Academy of Sports Medicine {NASM} and a whole host of others) specifically forbid trainers and GFIs from attempting to offer advice or counsel outside their scope of certification and training. If I were you, I'd check out his certifications and academic training, and the less he has of each of these (and I'll bet he doesn't have much) the less I'd listen to him.
Number 3, I agree with you - at your height, if you were to increase your caloric intake that much you would be at great risk of building fat stores that you do not want. Strength training is not a big calorie burner, and the degree to which fat-free muscle mass raises your resting metabolic rate has been grossly overstated in previous years, primarily by trainers who are strength-oriented.
IMHO, it would be worthwhile for you to bring in a heavy-lifting protocol if you have not done so already (more on what "heavy lifting" means in a minute) while keeping your cardio output AND your caloric intake constant (and keeping your healthy food choices exactly as you have listed), and then YOU listen to YOUR body in terms of what it might need for additional fuel and what macronutrients (carbs, protein, healthy fats, etc.) you need. I found over the years that as I began lifting heavier and heavier, my body told me what it needed (and in what quantities) through my taste buds: I would crave carbs here, extra good protein there, and my appetite for crap (refined concentrated sweets, bad fats and the demon salt) plummeted. Pay attention to the muscle mass that you build and your own changes in appetite if any, and make changes from there.
Heavy lifting is relative to the individual exerciser, as I'm sure you know; what's heavy for one person might be light for another, AND what was heavy at one time becomes light as you build strength. A protocol that incorporates weight loads that nearly completely fatigue the muscle group after 8-12 reps would be a good one for you, and I'm sure others here (are you listening, LauraMax?) can chime in with their ideas for gym strength routines.
JMHO - I'm sure others will have their own as well.
a-Jock