Do you think it would benefit me to gain muscle mass?

[Ruben95632]

I am 5'11 and 145-150 depending on my body fat.

Would moving up to 170lbs via weight lifting + increase calorie intake be beneficial for me?

[mal103]

Do you want to be bigger, do you want bigger muscles?

It might be worth training to add strength so long as you don't lose any speed, speak with a personal trainer/expert and let them know what you want.

[Ruben95632]

Alright will do, the only reason I want to gain muscle mass is in case any situation I might come across turns into a grappling/wrestling match, the bigger I am the more likely I'd be able to handle that.

[JusticeZero]

More mass - in moderation, don't wreck yourself trying to turn into the Hulk - has health benefits. Pure strength always helps, and has health benefits.

Muscle does not slow you down. Muscle speeds you up. The only slowing down you might worry about is flexibility, if you just worry about bulking up and don't stretch.

[bushido_man96]

More mass - in moderation, don't wreck yourself trying to turn into the Hulk - has health benefits. Pure strength always helps, and has health benefits.

Muscle does not slow you down. Muscle speeds you up. The only slowing down you might worry about is flexibility, if you just worry about bulking up and don't stretch.

Absolutely good advise. There are a lot of Martial Artists out there that shy away from the idea of getting bigger, thinking it will slow them down or otherwise affect their abilities. This is not the case, as long as one trains smart. It will take some time to add that much weight, but it can be done as long as you find a good program with good progression. Progams like Starting Strength, Stronglifts 5x5, and Wendler 5/3/1 are great programs to look into, and start out with a linear progression that will help see results early on. Eventually, you'll have to move into a more subtle progression, but this comes in time. Your best bets are going to be doing full body lifts like squats, dead lifts, bench presses, overhead presses, and power cleans. As you gain muscle, keep stretching, and keep working speed with your techniques.

Also, having some weight is good, but when it comes to getting into a wrestling match with someone, you don't want to fall back only on your size. Having size and strength is a great tool to use, but make sure to focus on technique, and get that down, and learn to use the strength you gain along with your technique.

Hope that helps, and let us know how it goes!

[Ruben95632]

Thank you guys, I can definetly see how inflexibility slows you down. I work out but I haven't gained any mass since I am not consuming excess calories and even without the mass gain I seem to get slower, I know it's because i'm not stretching. It seems like the muscles just get tighter the more I workout which is the cause of becoming slower.

When I start my mass gaining I will let you guys know how it goes and I will also stretch a lot each day to maintain my speed.

Thanks again for the responses.

[JusticeZero]

Well, yeah. Speed can be thought of as a function of muscle strength times flexibility. If your flexibility goes downhill, so will your speed, but it isn't because "muscle slows you down".

[sensei8]

I don't think mass will make a difference because the technique must be performed properly first!!

[JusticeZero]

Well, yeah, that's what I mean. The only reason for muscle to "slow you down" is if you built the muscle up using poor and unbalanced exercises that neglected flexibility to the degree that you no longer have the flexibility to perform the technique correctly. And that is fairly easy to remedy with stretching.

[bushido_man96]

Well, yeah, that's what I mean. The only reason for muscle to "slow you down" is if you built the muscle up using poor and unbalanced exercises that neglected flexibility to the degree that you no longer have the flexibility to perform the technique correctly. And that is fairly easy to remedy with stretching.

I agree with you, Justice. It gets old seeing the same old "bulk slows you down" points being made. We know so much more about training now, we know what we need to do in order to get the most benefit out of strength training.