It’s because they don’t eat.
“Athletes looking to gain weight:
Go to Publix and get a rotisserie chicken and a packet of Uncle Ben’s rice.
It takes 5 minutes to consume, it costs less than $10, and you’re looking at:
1500 calories, 160g protein, 70g carbs.
I used to eat this meal 10-15x/week.
Eat.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
I’d often eat the above meal, twice over in a 6-hour period. Add a little bbq sauce, butter, and olive oil, and you’re at 2,000 calories in an easy meal before you know it.
When I was in High School, like most other males, I wanted to be strong and jacked.
I was a decently strong 160lber. benching 2 plates for reps in the 8thgrade, but I wasn’t “jacked” and I wanted to be jacked.
After reading through the bodybuilding magazines I learned that you had to eat a lot.
I also knew I wasn’t willing to take steroids so my undeveloped frontal lobe told me, “well hey, just eat even more, then.”
So that’s when my weight gain journey started.
I would read about how people would have a protein shake after their workouts.
I did the same thing, but also added a protein shake after every single class period at school. How easy is it pour powder into shaker and fill it up at the water fountain on the way to class?
7 classes a day, meant 7 shakes a day. 30-40g per shake meant that during the school day alone I was getting a minimum of 210g of protein per day. And this was without factoring in breakfast, lunches (2), dinner, and my pre-bed meal.
I “hacked” my caloric intake before “hacked” even became a phrase.
My meals would typically consist of large omlets/scrambles, giant subs from jersey mikes, 5 double stacks from Wendy’s, a couple large pizzas from papa johns (little ceasers was cheaper), or a triple meat entrée from either Panda Express or Moes. And then of course, my parents dinners at home, which, again, I would also search for cheap ways to add more calories. (I could take down an entire jar of PB with a tablespoon pretty quick.)
You’d think I’d get fat, right?
And while I wasn’t always walking around shredded to the bone, I stayed relatively lean most of the time because I was burning off so many calories.
Factor in 4+ hours of physical activity via practices, games, and multiple training sessions per day and to maintain the mass I wanted, I needed the calories.
The biggest problem these days is that kid’s don’t eat.
You have to EAT to gain.
You have to.
