problems keeping weight on with crossfit
 

I am currently 6/185/31 and a hard gainer. I switched from typical bb routine in jan. Where I weighed roughly 200. Tried the strict zone, then zone with supplements, then just eating healthy with just a pwo shake. The whole time Ive constantly dropped weight, alot of it muscle until I finally hit 180. Ive now gone to a eat as much as I can with cytogainer shakes which is what I was doing before xfit. With a workout program of oly and bb workout in am and xfit in pm. I love doing xfit but I need to keep the size on. Trying to stay around 195, thats when I looked, felt and performed the best. Any pointers would be appreciated

Eat much more (esp protein and fat).....do less frequent and shorter metcons. Make XFit work for you. Your activity level is extremely high.

Thanks Mike. I dont want to keep this activity level up as it will ultimitaly lead to burn out. Im just using the extra oly and bb to put muscle back on. Problem is keeping it with strict xfit, and finding the balance of nutrition to do that. Once I reach my goal. I was thinking of maybe doing a oly wod like on this site w/ the mainpage xfit following right after and roughly a 3200 to 3500 ca diet. To where Im at roughly 4000 ca now.Any thoughts?

I think you said it yourself man: problems keeping weight on with xfit = drop the xfit.

Why not do what you did to get that way again?

Wish I had your problem. Nowadays I can gain on what I eat in one day what I used to eat in one dinner. For you, the program should be to step up the eating until you about burst. I'm talking way over the 4000 cals you mention. I dare you to eat 5-6000 cals per day for several weeks and see what happens.

Less metcon. More rest/sleep.

CF is not a program that breeds "large" athletes. Look at the elites for your prototypes of what a steady diet of CF will bring (not to mention piling OL and BB on top of it!). I'd say that 6' 200# is "large" for anyone doing CF on a regular basis.

Look to the PMenu or hybrid programming, and eat more.

I think it boils down to the individual. Some people have problems putting on weight, others have problems taking it off, no matter what exercise program they use.

Me personally, had to fight tooth and nail to put on weight while powerlifting. On the flip side, my appetite goes through the roof with CF ... if I keep the grains and starches out I'm pretty stable. Add those back in and I balloon up fast.

Hey thanks for the input. I guess I am just going to have to make a tough decision on what I really want.

If you enjoy the CF metcon, then keep them....but change it up to work for you, so maybe like 15 min max and only 1-2 a week. It's hard to put on serious muscle and size if you are running around alot...unless you like eating 5000+ cal a day and feeling bloated all the time.

The best way to put on the lbs....workout 2-3x a week with weights, forget cardio unless it is walking/hiking speed. Eat a ton pwo focusing carb loads either 1-2x a week, go protein and fat other days....and sit on your ass and play an XBox the rest of the time. You can always get your endurance up later and if you build size and strength now you will progress faster with XFit based competitions/workouts later.

+1, I've switched to 2 metcons per week currently along with Olympic Weightlifting basic programming. Once I get my C&J and SN up to intermediate levels for my weight (180) I see no reason to really push the metcons beyond what I'm doing now.