Gaining weight for competition, do it or not?

[40 cent]

Not sure if this should be in another section, so mods feel free to move this.

I have started competing quite regularly in kyokushin full contact tournaments, trying to fight once a month when im not injured. im 20 years old, and i do about 3 gym sessions a week, although my main focus is stamina and bag work/conditioning etc.

as ive gotten a little older and more mature, and through lifting weights, ive started to fill out and get stronger. i am reasonably short, and i have always fought light weight which is 70kg and under.

recently, i have been weighing in around 69.2kg, and i am REALLY having to watch what i eat and so forth, which is a real pain, considering my appetite after the amount of training i do.

my question is, do i now start making a run at middle weight? i dont like having to really monitor my food consumption before tournaments, and having the stress of not knowing if ill be over. but then again i dont want to fight at like 82 kg in middle weight. what do you guys suggest? stay with my advantage in light weight? or start trying to put pounds on?

i know its variable to the individual, but how long would 5kg take to put on? coz i would be comfortable fighting at that. also, to do that within a few months, would i need to stop the majority of my intensive stamina work and just focus on weights?

any opinions, advice, info will be greatly appreciated

[y2_sub]

Well , I do kyokushin , i am 69.5 kg ( supposedly ) and I am a short guy , I don't like to watch my food consumption , soooo.. Basically , I am just like you . I always have the problem of loosing weight before tournaments which is really a hard thing to do , my height is 170 therefore I can't fight in the middle weight , if you are any taller then yeah , gain some weight if you want to , but you will do better in the lightweight , I had to fight in the middle weight few times and believe me , it's not as easy as it sounds

[Meguro]

Wouldn't it be advantageous for you to be a large lightweight as oppossed to a small middleweight? This is the conclusion I've come to. I'm basically in the same position, in terms of weight, Height wise, I'm 178 cm. I don't do heavy lifting. Instead I do lot's of body weight exercises and cardio.

Going up in weight will put you against more guys with a reach advantage as well as guys on the borderline between middle and heavy. Which is not altogether bad, if your aim in competeing is to test yourself. If you want to win, it makes it that much harder.

If I weren't competing I would like to bulk up. I suppose as I get older it won't be a matter of choice either.

[orion82698]

I wouldn't think muscle would be a disadvantage. Now, I wouldn't sit around and eat cupcakes and twinkies

Up your calories until you start to gain. Keep and eye on your bodyfat with a caliper, and make sure you're gaining mass, not fat.