How to Gain Weight as a Football Player

Learning how to gain weight as a football player is an essential skill if you are going to take it to the next level.

As a young adult, your metabolism is already fast as it is. Now you throw in conditioning drills and practice, and you are burning so many calories that it’s hard to keep on the weight.

Lucky for you, we have a solution. In this article, we are going to discuss what it is going to take to gain weight as a football player.

Growing up, I was always skinny. Not only was I an active kid, but my metabolism was extremely fast. Therefore it was difficult to keep on weight. Once I finally figured out the formula, it was like I turned a switch on in my body.

I was able to build muscle and put on weight like I never have before. Being almost 35 years old at the time of this writing, I can confidently say that I wish I had this information when I was younger.

Read this article carefully and take it to heart. This is over 10 years worth of truth packed into one article.

Calories before anything else

If you want to know how to gain weight as a football player, start with how many calories you are eating. We already discussed the fact that practice and conditioning burns a ton of calories to begin with.

And if you are someone who already has a fast metabolism, you are going to struggle to keep on weight if you are not careful.

If you have ever read any of my articles, you know that I believe the single most important thing that you can do for yourself is learn how to calculate your maintenance calorie number. This is how many calories your body burns on a daily basis without gaining or losing weight.

The best thing that you can do to gain weight is eat at a caloric surplus. Now, most people will tell you that you should start with a caloric surplus of 500 calories per day over maintenance.

Since you are considered extremely active, I would recommend starting at 1000 calories per day over maintenance.

But what if your maintenance calorie number is high? You still have to eat at a surplus. For example, my maintenance calorie number is 3,100 calories per day. My cousins is 5,000.

This means that if I want to eat at a caloric surplus of 1000 calories per day over maintenance. Therefore I need to eat 4,100 calories per day to be in a surplus.

Do not underestimate the necessity of a caloric surplus. You simply will not gain weight if you do not eat at a caloric surplus.

Check out my 1000 calorie protein shake recipe to help supplement your nutrition. If you want some more information about how to eat a lot, take a look at my affordable diet plan for muscle gain.

Strength training is key

You probably caught on from that last section that gaining weight is not just about gaining weight. It’s about gaining muscle alongside your caloric surplus.

Here is how a caloric surplus works. You start by eating more calories than your body can burn. From there, your body needs a place to put those extra calories. It either goes into fat stores or goes towards repairing muscle.

And the only way that it is going towards your muscles is if you are doing strength training. So, how do you gain weight as a football player? Eat at a caloric surplus and do weight training. It really is that simple.

But what type of workouts should you do? It’s all about compound exercises. Meaning exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once. For example, squats, deadlifts, bench press, barbell bentover row, etc…

You can start by taking a look at our beginner bodybuilding routine for mass.

Don’t forget to check out our FREE workout plans on our app All Workouts: Personal Trainer (iOS | Google Play). Our app was built for people looking to build muscle. Don’t miss this opportunity.

The reality is that strength training isn’t just going to help you put on weight. It is going to help you on the football field also. It doesn’t matter what position you play, you are going to benefit from extra muscle.

Another thing I want to mention is be sure not to overtrain. This is when you workout too much and end up not seeing any progress. It’s because your body can only repair so much muscle before it is overwhelmed.

That is why I recommend strength training only 3-4 days per week as a football player.

Don’t expect overnight results

One of the biggest mistakes of beginners to working out is the idea that they can get shredded in a short amount of time. This type of damaging thought will ruin an otherwise mentally strong person.

Our media has jammed down our throats the idea that we can just go on a juice cleanse and be in great shape. It doesn’t work like that. How many people do you know who went on a crash diet and then ended up worse off than they were when they began?

I am sure we have all heard the term, it’s a marathon not a sprint. That actually is a great application to the process of putting on weight. Some people find it easy to put on weight. But I assume that if you have read this far, you struggle with putting on weight.

Combine the caloric surplus with strength training, and you now have an unstoppable combination. But only if you can keep it up for many months at a time.

Here is one tip. If you are not gaining at least a pound per week, you aren’t eating enough. If you are following our plan of eating 1000 calories per day but still not gaining a pound per week, it’s time to up the calories.

Add another 250 per day on top of the 1000 calories that you are already over. Weigh yourself after a week of doing that. Have you gained at least a pound?

You can see where I am going with this. Keep adjusting until you find the sweet spot. And also keep upping your weight in strength training. You want it to be difficult, but you don’t want injuries. Use your own discretion here.

Main Point: How to gain weight as a football player

You came to this article to learn how to gain weight as a football player. Do you think you can do it?

There are no shortcuts to building a solid foundation of muscle and putting on the weight necessary to build the best body that you possibly can. It is going to take commitment and time.

Start by understanding that calories matter before anything else. You are going to need to eat at a caloric surplus before you put on an ounce. Remember that some people have low maintenance calorie numbers, while others have high ones.

It is important to understand that every single person burns calories differently. So what works for your teammates might not work for you. For example, someone on the team might have a maintenance calorie number of 2,000 while you have a maintenance calorie number of 4,000.

Now, if you ate at your teammate’s caloric surplus of 3,000 calories per day, you would actually be in a caloric deficit. You cannot build muscle in a caloric deficit. In fact, you would lose weight.

Since you are going to be eating in a caloric surplus to begin with, make sure that you are working out in conjunction with that. Strength training to be specific. Lift heavy weights and put them down. It really is that simple.

But what is not simple is staying consistent with this process. Eat big, lift big. What they don’t tell you is keep that up for months or years.

Consistency is so important that I cannot stress it enough. You are going to go through ups and downs of motivation. But if you can make it a habit to stick with the two truths of this article, you are going to crush it.

How to Gain 30 Pounds in 6 Months

Lifting Weights But Not Seeing Results? Do This

Does Working Out Increase Confidence? More than you Think

How Does Lifting Weights Build Muscle? It’s Simple