How I Gained 50 Pounds of Mass in a Year

While some kids were the “fat” kid growing up, I was the “skinny” kid. Ahead of the curve on my height, and behind in body weight. I remember being at the doctor’s office when I young, and the doctor estimating I would be around 160 pounds as an adult. My heart sank. In a family of built men, who were 230 pounds or more, that weight estimation felt disheartening. The thought of being skinny my whole life sucked.

People would make skinny jokes, not knowing it wrecked my self-confidence when I was young. Comments about looking like a Stork, or a Chimney Sweep. You learn to identify with the label you had as a kid, deep down we always fight the feeling of being “that kid” as an adult.

Despite being thin, I was a good athlete. I had “sneaky power” as a baseball player. My senior year of high school I hit over .720 most of the season. I was in discussion for entering into the top 10 batting averages of all time in a high school season. However, being an undersized athlete always came back to haunt me through injuries.

My freshman year of college was a tough one. I still battled with being thin, and dealt with some health issues. I was sick frequently. The intense schedule of training and practices wrecked me. But the summer following my freshman year, I decided to make a change for good.

In one year, from end of my freshman year the end of my sophomore year in college, I gained almost exactly 50 pounds. 30 pounds of that coming during the summer after freshman year.

Now the name of this blog is somewhat deceiving, I DID put on a significant amount muscle, but I also put on fat. I retained water, carbs, and sodium. A lot of “bloat.” But I did get stronger, and faster. Coaches looked at me different. I got the “okay” to start hitting the ball in the air. I finally looked like a power hitter. I went from 168 pounds soaking wet:

To 220 pounds, within a year:

Here is how that happened. This isn’t a prescription, or even a recommendation for most. Most athletes would be better off gaining weight a bit slower. But it does show what is possible with an extreme amount of focus.

My good friend Aj, owner of Optimal Power Performance, convinced me to head to Arizona for the summer. We were going to train at a facility in Chandler, AZ, and have a "pro-style" off-season.

During those three months in Arizona, we did nothing but eat, sleep and train 6 days a week. I went from eating 2-3 meals daily at school, to 5-8 feedings per day. While I wasn’t tracking calories, I was definitely getting into a caloric surplus. It consisted of:

-Three Bacon and Egg sandwiches, Oatmeal and Whole Milk For Breakfast.

-3 Feedings of a weight gainer shake called Russian Bear 5000 and a Nature Valley Crunchy Bar.

-Yogurt or Cottage Cheese with fruit for a snack, once or twice a day.

-Lunch and Dinner consisted of Steak or Salmon with 2 cups of Rice or an entire package of Pasta, a Veggie, and Whole Milk.

-I ate Ice Cream every night for dessert, sometimes blended up with more Russian Bear Powder, Whole Milk, and Peanut Butter.

-Fruit Snacks were always on hand and eaten during training and skill sessions.

For supplements, I consumed 10-20 Beef Liver Capsules per day, spread out across meals. Creatine was added post-workout to shakes. A Multi-Vitamin taken each morning along with Fish Oil. I always had pre workout before training, which was usually Bull-Nox by Betancourt.

The diet wasn’t the only thing that helped with weight gain. During that summer, I had nothing else to do but eat, train 4 hours a day, and hangout at the pool. When I wasn’t doing those things, I slept, and I slept a lot. Most nights, I was sleeping 10-12 hours, if not more on occasion. This was just as big of a driver in growth as the calorie surplus was. Most athletes get bogged down between school, practice, training, and life. Fighting to get 6-8 hours of sleep. When you put yourself in an environment to push the sleep and recovery, your body can do some crazy things.

While the training wasn’t the most structured, I trained HARD. But also recovered from it with food and sleep. The supplements definitely contributed. I didn’t drink alcohol all summer, go out partying, or have much stress. It was a very controlled environment. It was the first time in my life I had a consistent stimulus telling my body to get bigger and stronger.

There are definitely smarter ways to get bigger and stronger. Most athletes shouldn’t add that much weight, that fast. The permanent bulk lead to slower muscle gain and more rapid fat gain. But, athletes who need to gain a large amount of weight, should take a break from summer competition. Get into an isolated environment, with little distractions. Learn how to eat on a schedule, cut stress, sleep as much as possible, and train hard. You’ll surprise yourself with what you can do.