Muscle memory weight gain

[Ross Davidson]

So I used to weigh 180/185lbs when I played football (5'6''), but dropped to 150/155 after dropping the weights to focus on jiu jitsu (jiu jitsu is waaaaaaay more fun than lifting weights). I recently started getting back into lifting, however, because I plan on competing at gracie worlds this year and want to be all strong and such. It's been working great too. I feel fantastic in my rolls, feel like I'm better equipped to hold my own with the big guys, and even feel like it's been helping me pull off techniques with better form (ex: last night I pulled off a great Russian Cowboy kneebar with excellent knee squeeze and hip drive—I absolutely suck at knee bars).

There's one problem though: I'm gaining weight. I'm eating well too! I haven't increased my calories and I've been reducing carb intake. But I've gone from my normal 150-155 fluctuation to 172 out of nowhere. I was absolutely shocked when I got on the scale for fun tonight, as I don't feel like I'm lugging around extra weight. So the gains are technically good, as I'm not larding it up, but I've just managed to go up 1-2 weight classes, which is not my desired result. I'm kinda scared that I'm gonna wind up being 185lbs again, and end up competing against monsters with long ass limbs and torsos.

So yea, dunno if I'm looking for feedback, but I had to get that off my chest lol

[Nick Paul]

Yeah, it can be tough to balance strength training with jits without putting size on. Hope this gives you some ideas. I'm a big fan of hang cleans, snatch, all the explosive movements.
http://www.mensfitness.com/training/...t-size/slide/9

[Ross Davidson]

Thanks man. Unfortunately my lifting routine already incorporates advanced lifting techniques (explosive/eccentric/reactive/isometric variations), but my plan has been to gradually work my way up to more and more conditioning as time goes on. So I'll be adding in plyometric training eventually. The next phase is to get oly lifts in there. But I'm really hoping this will drop down.

[Tori Applegate]

Thanks man. Unfortunately my lifting routine already incorporates advanced lifting techniques (explosive/eccentric/reactive/isometric variations), but my plan has been to gradually work my way up to more and more conditioning as time goes on. So I'll be adding in plyometric training eventually. The next phase is to get oly lifts in there. But I'm really hoping this will drop down.

You have time Ross, don't sweat it too much just yet. You may have to cut when you get close to time. So maybe bulk up and get your strength now, but then do more cardio/conditioning type workouts. Your body will keep the muscle it needs. Just remember you need to be able to persevere. I did all cardio/strength and conditioning type stuff for worlds last year. I really pushed my rolls to be competition style..very hard and rough. And I pushed myself to roll like that for an hour. Doesn't sound like a lot to some folks, but not everyone goes that speed and can keep it up for that long. All of the supplemented workouts were all body weight and very cardio based although I was also worried about my strength. I did a lot of holding one position types moves as well. Then incorporated explosiveness as well.

How much weight exactly are you lifting?..

[Ross Davidson]

You have time Ross, don't sweat it too much just yet. You may have to cut when you get close to time. So maybe bulk up and get your strength now, but then do more cardio/conditioning type workouts. Your body will keep the muscle it needs. Just remember you need to be able to persevere. I did all cardio/strength and conditioning type stuff for worlds last year. I really pushed my rolls to be competition style..very hard and rough. And I pushed myself to roll like that for an hour. Doesn't sound like a lot to some folks, but not everyone goes that speed and can keep it up for that long. All of the supplemented workouts were all body weight and very cardio based although I was also worried about my strength. I did a lot of holding one position types moves as well. Then incorporated explosiveness as well.

How much weight exactly are you lifting?..

I'll keep that in mind.

The only exercise I've been lifting heavy with is dead lifts. I started at 300lb 5 rep max and have been sticking with it to really own the power. But I'm going to be stepping up to 315 or 325 soon.

Everything else I've kept the weight relatively low (135 bench, 115 rows, 75 over head press, 100 ghd sit ups at bw, and even just 135 for squats----but those have been atg for max ROM, so I'm not trying to go heavy at all with those yet)

But the ways in which I've been moving the weights are what's been really helping my performance. Read up on explosive, eccentric, and reactive exercise if you want.

[Apperz]

Not sure about this, man. I've been up to 82kg, but now happily walk around about 72kg without putting weight on. I lift heavy (120kg bench, 180kg deadlift, 85kg press) but never do more than 3 sets of 3.

To me the problem seems to be you are eating too much and lifting too much. The only possible way to gain weight is to eat more calories than you expend. Your body is pretty clever in that any excess it will store as fat or muscle depending on your lifestyle: if you are tricking it into thinking it needs to be strong through strength training it will be used as muscle to help that. If you are lazy and lying around all day it will store it as fat incase you end up in a desert without food somewhere.

Remember that if you are eating your RDA but lifting in a way your body is being told it needs to get stronger it will tell your brain you need to eat more food. Again, your brain is clever and powerful - it won't tell you that you are eating too much; it will tell you that you are eating the correct amount (or not enough until your meet its requirements).

To reiterate: your brain doesn't care about weight classes: your brain cares about survival. As far as it knows all this weight lifting is you fighting polar bears or contending with rivals for food. Should it not help you get better at this (by building your body in the way you are training it) you may get killed by a predator or lose out to a rival and starve.

[TThompson]

It sounds like you are putting are more muscle while retaining still a little bit of fat due to cutting carbs. Yes cutting carbs is good but if you are attacking the conditioning factor of working out, your body is not producing enough glucose to help break down fat. I'm not saying you should eat a lot of complex carbs because it can store up as fat, but make sure you eat healthy carbs after a hard work to help fuel the body to keep your metabolism running. Also, deadlifts put on a lot of muscle on especially from the weight you're putting up, and from your picture your legs already look like tree trunks. Try cutting the weight but raising the reps. Always keep your body guessing too while working so do not get into the "same old routine" or your body will not build muscle and burn fat as quickly as you would like. Last, remember to eat small portions of food so you are eating four course with healthy snack foods in between to help keep your metabolism running all day and drink a ton of water cause that will benefit you too.

[Ross Davidson]

I can assure you both that a) I'm not over eating and b) carbs are not completely out of the mix. I exercise 1-2 times everyday, so giving my body reason to kick start glucogenesis isn't an issue. I have been reading up on muscle memory however and it seems that muscle cells don't lose their excess nuclei after putting down the weights. What's very likely happening is that the weights have stimulated the nuclei to express their programming again and are causing the cells to blow up (and act like they don't know nobody).

http://news.discovery.com/human/gene...y-strength.htm

[Andrew Maxwell]

How many reps are you doing with your bench? It's really easy to put on size if you're doing alot of light weight reps. If you are only wanting to work strength and not size you need more weight and less reps. Pick a weight you can do no more than 5 reps with.

[Ross Davidson]

Hmmmmmmmmmm not in my experience, my friend. Maximal weight has always lead to increases in size for me. I used to power lift all the time for football.

And I'm not power lifting anymore.

Like I said, this has become a more DNA thing than anything, as it seems muscles don't lose their forceful extra curricular nucleic programming. So I'm just gonna have to deal with it and see what happens.