How to gain weight healthy?

[Gaelan Trombley]

Originally Posted by Eric Montgomery

I would do the assistance work as prescribed by the program--it's fairly important for continued gains due to the reduced volume in 5/3/1 as compared to LP-type programs. For instance on GSLP you'd be squatting twice per week with each session including 3 relatively difficult sets, but on 5/3/1 it's only one very taxing set of squats per week.

You can keep the assistance work simple--mine usually looks something like this:

Press days: 3-4 sets of 8-12 weighted dips or close grip bench press, 3-4 sets of 6-8 weighted chins
Deadlift days: 3-4 sets of 8-12 RDLs
Bench days: 3-4 sets of 8-12 DB incline presses, 3 sets of 20-30 DB rows
Squat days: 3-4 sets of 6-8 front squats

I'm sure I'll switch the exercises up at some point but don't really see a need to right now. The 2nd edition e-book has a handful of different options for laying it out...if you want to get fancy you could go with 5/3/1 percentages for the assistance work.

If I do 5/3/1 for the main lift then do 1 assistance exercise, then a 10-12 minute WOD, would that be smart for strength gains? How should I program it each day?

[Alexander Jon Smith]

As people have already stated you need to change your programming and eating habits. I am in the same boat as you and have an extremely fast metabolism and am very active so gaining weight was an issue. I started lifting heavier and more often, and only doing maybe 2 easy aerobic crossfit workouts a week. I then supplemented in whole milk with every meal, and started eating a PB&J sandwich after every class period along with all my other meals. If your as fit as you say you are this wont make you fat in any way, only bigger. I've been gaining weight for a steady 2 months like this and I've kept my still defined figure, because your body tears through any calories you put in. So seriously, lift heavy and eat like a mad man and it will happen