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If you are a player who feels like you are constantly getting bodied off the ball, and are getting âout-muscled,â maybe you should think about gaining some weight!
Before we get into this, you need to know that you donât need to be big and bulky to play football (maybe American Football, but that’s not the topic of conversation ;)).
In reality, footballers are generally lean with muscular physiques.
When trying to gain weight as a footballer, you should do it very slowly, with patience and consistency. Do not rush the process!
Instead, have a plan, purpose for why you’re doing it, a realistic/achievable goal, and trust in the process!
If you try to rush the process, and gain weight too quickly, you will end up gaining more body fat instead of lean muscle mass, which we both donât want that to happen.
The Science:
If you want to gain weight, you are going to have to be in a caloric surplus; which means you are going to have to take in (consume) more calories than you burn.
How to Calculate Your Caloric Surplus:
Counting calories is fairly easy. All you have to do is download a food tracker app (MyFitnessPal) and track how many calories you eat in a day.
On the other hand, counting how many calories you burn is the more âdifficultâ part. Nowadays, we have fitness trackers and devices that can count the number of calories we burn.
Unfortunately, most of them are inaccurate.
According to a Harvard Study, the most accurate device was off by an average of 27%.
Now, that is a problem if we are trying to get into a surplus.
So, what do you do?
Two Simple Steps:
- I generally advise clients to track their basal metabolic rate (the amount of calories needed to sustain daily living without training) using the Harris-Benedict Equation. Donât worry, you can use this link and plug in your data (height, weight, gender activity level) instead of doing the math:
https://www.verywellfit.com/what-is-bmr-or-basal-metabolic-rate-3495380
- If you have a fitness watch; take the calories you have burned and subtract 30% of those calories (for possible device inaccuracy).
-For example: If my fitness tracker says I burned 1,000 calories..
(1,000 x .30 = 300)
1,000 (calories fitness tracker says) â 300 (possible inaccuracy) = 700 Calories Burned from Training
Based on this (calories burned), your BMR, and your goal, you can determine what your caloric surplus is. Being in a consistent caloric surplus is what will help you gain weight.
To make life easier, so you don’t always have to be crunching numbers, here are 9 tips to help you gain weight as a footballer:
Tip 1: Do it in the offseason:
-Body composition should be addressed before or after the competitive season, as you donât want your body changing too drastically during your season. When you gain a lot of weight or lose a lot of weight, your body will naturally move differently, which is added stress that you don’t need during the season.
-Your focus during the season should be on how you perform during team training and games.
-It will also be hard for you to gain weight during the season, due to the extensive running that you need to do during the season.
Tip 2: Have a purpose:
âThe stronger the why, the easier the how becomes.â- Jim Rohn
-You need to establish a why/purpose for everything that you are serious about doing.
-There are going to be many days where you donât feel like doing what you need to do (lifting, eating more than you want too, calculating your caloric surplus, etc.)
Thatâs when you need to turn to that âhowâ and remind yourself why you have that goal.
-Maybe your purpose of gaining weight is because you want to be stronger on the ball and be a better player during training and games?
Tip 3: Set a realistic weight gain goal
-What is your weight right now? What weight do you want to get to?
-Realistically, I wouldnât advise trying to gain more than 15 pounds per year.
-You can start more aggressively in the beginning (0.5 lbs per week) before slowly tailoring it off. It’s your body, so it’s your choice!
Tip 4: Make sure you are in the gym at least 3 days per week
-Most of the weight that you gain should be lean muscle mass.
-You gain lean muscle mass by training in the gym with a smart, proper plan that looks at your end goal, and helps you reverse engineer what you need to do each day, each week and each month to get there.
Gym Tips According to Your Goal
Hypertrophy (muscle gain)- High Volume (6-10 reps of 3-5 sets)-Moderate Recovery Period
Strength (3-6 reps of 3-5 sets)- Long Recovery Period
Muscle Endurance (12-15 reps at 40-60% of 1 RM)- Short recovery period
If you donât know how to properly structure a gym plan, I highly recommend reaching out to a trusted resource of yours in your area, or online, who knows what they are doing.
PLEASE REACH OUT TO SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN IN THE SOCCER ENVIRONMENT. (I cannot stress this enough).
You may ask, how do you gain weight via resistance training:
6 Ways You Gain Weight Through Weight Training
- The secretion of anabolic hormones and up-regulation of cell signaling pathways, which increase muscle protein synthesis.
- The down-regulation of other cell signaling pathways which promote muscle protein breakdown.
- The activation of satellite cells that play a key role in the repair of muscle damage.
- The stimulation of DNA in skeletal muscle nuclei increases RNA, and results in protein synthesis.
- The Increased size of myofibrils, increased number of myofibrils, increased connective tissue, and increased glycogen and water.
- The more you train; the more you will want to eat!
Tip 5: Increase your calorie intake:
-This is the most important step. If you are not in a calorie surplus, you will not gain weight!
-If you want to be more aggressive, and you donât care about gaining a little body fat, go for a 300-500 calorie surplus.
-If you want to be less aggressive and you are worried about gaining body fat, go for a 100-200 calorie surplus.
Tip 6: Be okay that you will gain a little body fat in the process:
-If you are in a caloric surplus, we hope that you gain mostly lean muscle mass, but donât stress out if you gain a little bit of body fat.
-You are a soccer player, and, once you get back into season, you will burn it off without ever thinking about it.
-Focus on one goal at a time! If you want to gain muscle, focus on gaining muscle. After you build that muscle, you can then focus on cutting a little body fat.
-It is very very hard to gain muscle and cut body fat, at the same time, even though it is definitely possible.
My 1 on 1 Elite Client Axel from Sweden did it, so you can do it as well! You just have to be super dialed in and disciplined.
Tip 7: Increase your protein intake
-At least 1.2-2.0 grams of protein per kg of body weight. I like to have my athletes on the higher end of the spectrum.
-As with everything, donât go 0-100. Increase your protein intake gradually over time, unless you want to spend a couple hours on the toilet bowl per day… đ
-Protein is the most important nutrient for you to pack on lean muscle mass. Without adequate protein, it will be hard to gain muscle.
Check out this article if you want to lean more about how much protein you need per day as a footballer:
https://ricfittraining.com/blog/how-much-protein-you-need-per-day-as-a-footballer
Tip 8: Protein Timing:
-Post training session (30-60 minutes after), youâll want to get at least 25 grams of protein with carbohydrates (which will increase insulin secretion to increase glucose and amino acid uptake). Two to three bananas with 1-2 scoops of protein powder (depending on your goal and weight) should do the trick.
-If you donât have money to spend on protein powder, go for 8-16 ounces of chocolate milk. Your serving size will depend on the intensity of your training.
-If you do buy protein powder, shop for protein high in leucine that is digested rapidly. Look for proteins such as whey protein (as long as it doesnât bother your stomach).
Tip 9: Balanced Meals Per Day + 2-3 High-Calorie, High-Protein Snacks:
-Do not fast or skip meals!
-Make sure you are constantly fueling your body with nutrient dense meals and snacks to fuel your training and your brain.
-Set a consistent meal timing schedule so you can always be fueling properly.
For Example:
7: 30 AM: Breakfast
10:30 AM: Snack 1
12:30 PM: Lunch
3:30 PM: Snack 2
6:30 PM: Dinner
9:00 PM: Snack
If you follow these 9 tips and you are patient and consistent with what I have laid out in this article, I promise you that you will gain weight as a footballer.
But most important of all, promise me that you will be patient and trust the process! Results will take time and they won’t come quickly. If they come too quickly, you rushed the process and you will gain more body fat than lean mass, which is the last thing we want.
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Anyways, I wish you luck with your weight gain process as a footballer. And, as always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out!
Much love and health to you my friend!
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