Weight gain(naturally)

five to six months seems plenty of time to put on muscle in my view.
I'm guessing you will start preseason training about 6 weeks before the season starts?

What i would do in your posistion if your diet is balanced is eat the same but in larger quantities and trainer at a harder intensity.

In order to gain solid muscle without supplementation, simply eat more meat. Monitoring your intake is great, too. Add 500 calories to your daily diet, and make sure you consume a lot of protein (1g protein per pound bodyweight). Basically, keep eating balanced, just add more protein until you reach that point. Instead of 3 large meals, eat 6 moderately sized meals, this will allow your body to constantly metabolize (burn fat for energy) instead of catabolize (burn muscle for energy). Doing this combined with your 5 days per week of workouts will help to naturally add more muscle.

Besides eating more you may also want to consider less time in the Gym. Three times a week of highly focused intense work outs that last less than one hour will give your body more time to recuperate and grow as well as give you a break physically and mentally so you start your season fresh and prepared, not burned out or injury prone.

This is all great but,in saying that I have to go to the gym less,I still need to increase my alround general strength.I'm playing with lads two years older than me and twice as big as me.Thanks though.I'll give it a go.

weight gain is quite simple really. You have to consume more calories than you are burning.

And if you combine this with a weights program, doing the basic movements. ie bench press, squats , leg press, bicep curls. you can ensure that at least a good proportion of the extra weight is muscle.

Dont listen to people who say that to put on muscle you have to eat more meat, or guzzle endless protein shakes. aslong as you are getting a medium ammount of protein a day, it'll work around 1.5 grams protein per kilo bodyweight per day.
It basically comes down to calories. You want to slightly over eat each day.

It is MY opinion that creatine would be good for you, all it does is give you a bit more energy. it is not a hormone or steroid. It helps you make more ATP, the compound that powers all your muscular contractions. Check it out on Brianmac's website. theres lots of info there.

Then you can decide for yourself.

Richard White
BSc (PE/ SS/ RM)

Clinical trials have shown that if you consume a protein rich source (protein shake) after a weight session, the muscle will start to repair and regrow quicker - more muscle mass. Hypertrophy (muscle growth) has shown to be statistically significant in some studies after protein consumption post exercise especially a heavy session.

You also need to consider periodization. have cycles of doing general strength training, followed by more sports specific strength movements then powerful movements to increase power. The body learns very well to adapt to a training technique. If you change the way you train every few weeks i.e. change rep numbers/sets/loads/tempo/rest then the body will start to develop more muscle mass. A good book for periodization is Tudor Bompa's 'Periodization training for sport. Its less than £15 You can design a complete training programme using this cyclic technique.

You have plenty of time to start training for next season. You may decide you want fat loss before increasing muscle mass. You have plenty of time for this too. Higher reps are more benificial at this time.

You can also incorperate plyometrics, SAQ sessions and circuits to break up the gym sessions you do.

I have trained clients in similar situations to you and trained rugby players in strength and conditioning as well as training myself. If you want any more info, feel free to send a provate message and discuss further.

Also a new book by Human Kinetics is coming ouot this April by Paul Pook (Harlequins Conditioning specialist) and Dan Luger. I think it is called Total Conditioning for Rugby. It is about £14 so ideal for you needs.

Hope this helps

you dont grow in the gym you grow out of it. I agree with the guy that said spend less time in the gym. train hard, recover well, and improve. take it easy John Murphy