Maintaining muscle mass

[ramnares]

Need some help here bros. I'm going to start training for a half-marathon from this week on. I already have the half-marathon training program downloaded but that's not the problem. While training for this, I would like to AT LEAST maintain my current lifts.

I'm 6'3" and 205lb at the moment. My current one rep maxes are:

Bench : 315
Squat:425
Deadlift:425

So what I'm really looking for is some diets that will allow me to stay at my current level.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[shibs]

that's a difficult damn task man i'm not gonna lie. i'd load up on the creatine and carbs for sure.. what other supplements are you on?

 

[ramnares]

Typical diet looks something like this:

Meal 1
2 bananas
4 whole eggs
10 fl oz egg whites
2 fish oil pills

Meal 2
1 Nitrotech protein bar
1 fiber one bar
1 Orange
1 Granny smith apple

Meal 3
8oz chicken breast
1 nature valley bar
1 cup baby carrots (raw)

Meal 4
1 Nitrotech protein bar
1 cup almonds

-workout-

Meal 5
2 scoops ON Gold standard whey

Meal 6
Fish / Chicken breast
Assorted Veg - 3-4 differant types
4 fish oil pills

And like you said, I know that I'll have to add a lot of carbs in there so I'll probably throw in brown rice / pasta in some of the meals...

 

[shibs]

Yeah and honestly you'd be way better off subbing in some real food for one or two of those protein bars.

 

[shibs]

You're gonna have to eat a lot more when you start running

 

[the.gladiator1987]

Typical diet looks something like this:

Meal 1
2 bananas
4 whole eggs
10 fl oz egg whites
2 fish oil pills
I'd add some good complex carbs in here. Add some ww toast, or what you could do is have a whey/milk/oat/banana shake as SOON as you get up, and then an hour later have the eggs/banana/fish oil pills.

Meal 2
1 Nitrotech protein bar
1 fiber one bar
1 Orange
1 Granny smith apple
Why so many bars bro? convenience? I mean its better than nothing imo as long as youre getting the cals, but I think a sandwich with ww toast and the fruit would be a better option here. Save the bars as snacks

Meal 3
8oz chicken breast
1 nature valley bar
1 cup baby carrots (raw)
I love nature valley bars!

Meal 4
1 Nitrotech protein bar
1 cup almonds
If this is your pre w/o and it works for you then I wouldnt change it.

-workout-

Meal 5
2 scoops ON Gold standard whey
Id add some carbs LOL, even some ANPB with the shake would be good, just for some extra cals.

Meal 6
Fish / Chicken breast
Assorted Veg - 3-4 differant types
4 fish oil pills
Brown rice / pasta

And like you said, I know that I'll have to add a lot of carbs in there so I'll probably throw in brown rice / pasta in some of the meals...

See above brosiphilis

I like all the fish oil. And im being critical above but main thing I would say is add more complex carbs. But you already said that in your post so besides that I think you would be good to go. You SHOULD keep a log of your diet though and see what changes go on with your body (composition/weight/size) and see what you need to do to change it.

 

[ramnares]

the.gladiator1987 - thanks for the suggestions, the whey shake as soon as I get up sounds like a great suggestion, as well as adding the toast. As for the protein bars, it's purely for convenience really since I'm out of the house at 0530 and get back in at 1830. I definitely plan on adding brown rice / pasta at every dinner meal and I'll let you guys know what the results are at the end of this.

 

[bblazer]

I'm sort of in the same boat.

A friend of mine who is my age, but not in shape (but no couch potato either) decided he needed to do something for himself and his family. He also is one of the more vocal one of my friends about what I do eventually really hurting me. Long story short he challenged me, and I accepted to train for an complete a triathlon sprint. In this case it is a 400 yd swim, 20 mile bike, and a 5k run.

The winner gets paid $500 with a $100 bonus if they beat the loser by 10 min or more.

Last year, when I was really training my anaerobic capacity I ran a 5k cold in 28:51. I have no idea about the swim or bike. The only thing there I have going for me, ia another frient, Jeff Tarkowski, is loaning me his bike. Jeff just turned pro as a triathlete. He is going to teach me to swim too.

The race is in June.

Jeff seems to think that I can train for this and not lose very much if any of my strength. I'm not sure I totally believe him, but he has a ton more experience with this than me, and at one time competed as a powerlifter. He also trained our other friend Jim Flannigan (Bears/Packers DT) to do half ironmans. Jim has come off his playing weight of 320 and is down to 255 and is a solid competitor in his age group, and still is strong as a bull. He does really no heavy strength work but still can squat 600, bench 405 and hang clean 315 (that bench and hang clean kill mine).

Jeff (trainer) believes that I should focus on keeping my protein at 1.5g/lb of bw, restrict my carbs to only complex as much as possible, and eat other foods with a very low glycemic content. Good fats are fine, and as long as I follow those rules, I can take in as many calories as I want. He feels that if I follow that, and train like he wants, along with my weight training, I should stay pretty close to my current strength levels, and if I do drop it wouldn't be more than 10%. If that's the case I should be able to get that 10% back pretty quick after the race. I will have the added benefit of having increased my VO2 max and lactic acid threshold levels.

I'm sorry I got so long winded, but I hope this helps.

B-

 

[ramnares]

Thanks B, I'm hoping that he's right and 10% is the most I lose, if any. I'll definitely take your advice on upping my protein intake (with the carbs too naturally)!

 

[ramnares]

Oh btw, hope you win that $500 with the bonus B, best of luck!