Two posts in one day?

As with any exercise, diet is important; It's doubly important when you suffer from digestive issues like I do. You need to make sure you eat the right amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. You can't do that with ready meals. No way. No how!

Friends are constantly amazed that I don't own a microwave. It's not that I am living in the dark ages. I used to have one but used it so little that I decided not to bring it with me when I moved. Why not?

We'll mainly because I can cook as quickly using traditional methods as most people can using the microwave.

For example, take dinner on a training night; normally lots of boiled rice and turkey in sweet chilli sauce. How long does it take to cook rice in a microwave? about the same amount of time as a pot, and whilst thats being done I chop up the turkey, and griddle it in a hot dry pan. The heat ensures that the turkey is sealed on the outside leaving all the protein, and fats sealed within it. lastly, chuck some vegetables in a pot of boiled water and leave them there for 2 mins. Drain them and dunk them in cold water. Add the vegetabled to the turkey and cover in sweet chilli sauce, shave some ginger on to it. Drain the rice and serve...sorted. Total time: 18 mins.

Ok so if you used the microwave you have to throw a tiny plastic pot in the bin whereas with my method you have to do some washing up, but I know exactly what I am eating and I control my portions; so I can increase the protein/carbs as needed.

Secondly, cooking gives you time to relax, you can work out some stress whilst you are battering out the turkey; you can deep breathe whilst stirring the rice...its almost catharcic

Feel free to leave a comment!

When to realise your limits

Yesterday was a routine day of blood tests, being poked and prodded and various other tests that doctors could imagine. Or so I thought. I have recently moved to a new doctor and hospital so rather than just have the usual small amount of bloods, a whole gamut (ooooh fancy...I never thought I would actually use that word in a sentence) of tests were ran on me.

I'd planned ahead and had booked the day off work...good no problems there then. So this morning I woke to the residual stiffness from the DOMS mentioned a few days ago. So thought "Excellent, back to the gym today". When I got to the gym it seemed a bit busier than usual so the bikes were all used up... So I did my customary 3 second stretch and hit the weights.

WOW! what a difference that made. I was able to up my leg press from the usual 73kg to well over 100kg and bump up the reps to 30. Now, when you only weigh 58kg, I reckon thats pretty good going! Again, I was able to up my chest press to 60kg and increased the reps to 24. I was starting to get a bit worried...what was going on...how after no training for two days, no warm up and having quite a lot of blood taken was I able to do all this?

I'm still puzzling this out to be honest. With the lack of blood I should have been struggling for air as there is less haemoglobin to transport oxygen to muscles. Blood pressure is also lower as theres less volume of blood.

So anyway whats going on? The only thing I can think of is that because I didnt get the heart rate up, my heart was able to beat with a little more force to get the blood to where it needed to be. I really don't know why...answers on a postcard please...although a cheque would get my attention more!

Feel free to leave a comment!

EncHELLada

Enchiladas are evil! Actually, any vegetable is evil!

Let me explain.

After pretty major surgery in 2002 due to a case of Crohns Disease and my own mismanagement of my medication I'm left with the distinct inability to process fibrous (non-soluble fibre) vegetables.

So why bring it up? Well...over the past few months I've been working hard at the gym. 3 nights a week lifting weights and slowly working up to being able to bench almost twice my own weight, as well as being able to squat the same. Yesterday whilst out with the guys - after a few too many beers - we needed food and I saw that enchiladas were on the menu. I am a massive fan of spicy yet uncomplicated foods like enchiladas, chilli etc. So I decided on them. I didnt count on all the vegetables, fresh herbs and rich tomato sauce with their skins still on.

Its quite quickly undone all the good of my training with me having lost 3kg (about 6.5lbs) in one day. Now, I know that the weight loss is mainly dehydration and I will not have lost muscle mass that quickly. However, dehydration doesn't go away when your guts settle down, it takes days (up to a week) to overcome the full effects of dehydration and maybe even longer till you are back to normality.

The most important thing you can do is drink. Drink regularly. Your body will be trying to flush out something that it doesn't agree with, its best to let it.

Now, when you drink try to use electrolytic drinks (dyoralite works much better) and will help you more than just water. When you do eat, add a little extra salt to your food, the salt will help with water retention, normally a bad thing but when it feels like you are trying to expel your spine each time you go to the toilet, it can help you recover a little more quickly.

So whats the point in this post? Simple, when you are training, make sure you understand what eating certain foods can do to you, and if you are in any doubt, stick with the tried and tested foods.

Feel free to leave a comment!

I love it when a plan comes together...

Normally I spread myself out across 9 different machines in the gym after my warm up. I don't do much of a warm up as I don't want my metabolism getting into that fat burning zone. But lately I've noticed that my body isnt really getting pushed as hard as it used to. So...instead of working on all muscle groups, I've decided to break down my exercises over 2 nights instead. That way I can hit them harder than before and hopefully see better gains.

What do I mean? Well instead of doing pushing and pulling exercises in one night (and you really do have to do both types or your joints will suffer) I'm now doing only one type each night. But so as I dont leave myself totally crippled, I am working my legs on pushing on the nights my arms are pulling; and the nights my arms are pushing my legs will pull.

Why?

Think about it, when you are pulling a Lateral pull down bar, the rest of your body needs to keep you stable to work your arms properly, your abdomen, back, shoulders, chest all have to work to keep you straight and true, and if you are like me then your legs are also working to keep you from being pulled off the seat by the stack of weights.

Now thats fine normally, but say your back shoulders and triceps have already been hammered by benching that 220lbs you can do for 3 reps (read that as the 220lbs I do), when you pull down on the lateral bar, your back is going to be quivering worse than a jellyfish thats had a dodgy curry. So by splitting the pushing and pulling exercises I hope to a: keep better form, and b: lift (push/pull) heavier...

I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to try this for a week then bump myself on to creatine - to see if that makes any difference.

Feel free to leave a comment!

A fine balancing act...

Diet seems to be difficult for a lot of people. It's easy for me. Eat. Everything. Right now. Every day. Thinking about it though, there must be something I do differently to others to manage first of all to eat the same quantity every day without being sick, and secondly to not fall asleep at work after eating what I eat.

Well...rest assured...I used all the geek powers at my disposal (including those found on the informationsuperofficenet) to figure out what I was doing and why it works.

First of all lets deal with capacity. Stomachs have a massive capacity. You would be surprised how much they can hold. What limits them is first of all the space available to them, and secondly their suppleness.

I - after a large operation in 2002 - have masses of spare space in my abdomen after losing 1/3 of my intestines. That means when I do eat I can cram a lot more in without feeling like I am about to burst. Ok, I'm at an advantage and I dont suggest you go get 1/3 of your guts removed just so you can eat more. Stretching your stomach can be as simple as just massaging it a bit before eating to make it relax a bit, remember your abdomen is responsible for most of your vertical stability so its always under tension.

So now, I know how to eat loads but if you (or I for that matter) were to eat a 2lb piece of meat, you would soon want to sleep it off for a few hours. My boss is great but I think even he would draw the line at me having a nap at my desk!

So, how do you eat masses during the day without sleeping. Balance what you eat with the energy levels it is going to give you and the energy levels needed to process it. Each meal has to be a mix of sugars, simple carbs, complex carbs and proteins...as well as a little fat and salt to keep your body ticking over.

So...Lets take breakfast as an example...

Start with porridge oats (complex carbs), now add some full fat milk (protein and fats) getting there but add some golden syrup (simple carbs) and a banana (simple carbs) ...some white toast (simple carbs) with butter (fats and salts) and jam (simple carbs and sugar), and there you go. Balanced energy for a few hours.

How does it work? Well the jam and syrup give you instant get up and go energy in the form of the sugar they contain. The banana and to a lesser extent the jam too contain high levels of fructose and some other simple carbs which whilst quickly absorbed are absorbed more slowly than the sugar in the syrup...these two keep you going for around 30-45 mins...now the white bread kicks in keeping the energy levels topped up for a further 30-40 mins by which time the complex carbs of the oats are being released and absorbed into your body for a further hour or so. Thats 2.5 hours of energy.

And now its time to eat again...keeping the same kind of pattern throughout the day, balancing complex carbs with smaller amounts of simple carbs and sugars will stop that lull most of us feel after a meal. Try it... I bet it works!

PS if it doesn't work then I am not to be held accountable. Its your body and probably works differently from mine. They are all different, thats why doctors only ever "practice".

Going cold turkey

For years i've been battling my weight (the opposite of what most people think) - I'm what's termed a hard gainer. I can exericise till I am red in the face and I will gain strength and stamina but never gain mass. It's a real pain in the butt!

Anyway, I've been studying nutrition and trying to figure out what the best source of protein and muscle building nutrients is. Everyone knows eggs are high in protein but they are also high in fats. I don't and have never bothered with a low cholesterol diet. it doesn't matter what I eat I always have low cholesterol. However fat does slow the body down when it is trying to absorb proteins.

Instead, think outside the shell...if eggs are high in protein it stands to reason that poultry is too. And it is, but chicken isn't the best source (although one of the tastier). Turkey - yep all you Christmas fans already knew it - is the daddy! The university of Chichester carried out a study which showed that having 145g of turkey a day increased muscle concentration by 40% and improved cycling performance by about 20%. These gains were made without altering the rest of the diet or the exercise routines.

Doubling the amount of turkey you eat each day would over 6-12 months boost muscle concentration up to 80% more than your current levels.

Thats great but all lean meats lack one thing...FLAVOUR! so don't go for the extra lean turkey steaks go for the normal ones and wash them down with a nice glass of chianti ...and heres why...

The University of Jerusalem found that red wine neutralises toxins from fats in meat when you are digesting it. See I was going somewhere with it.

So next time you are doing your food shopping get yourself a nice fat turkey and some falling down juice. If anyone says anything - tell them its a highly scientifically balanced diet!

Training To Failure

This week sees the beginning of a hard training week. Training almost to the point where muscles have nothing left to give. Refuelling with high protein and carbohydrate drinks and food. Whats the point of that?

Well...each time your muscles reach the point of failure - the point at which they can physically exert no more energy (not the point when you think you are too tired) - your body has to repair that muscle but as it knows its been overworked it develops new muscle fibres in the hope that those new fibres will allow you to perform better, faster and more efficiently.

So whats that mean in terms of training? Cycling a minimum of 20 miles a night. Lifting weights at home (free weights such as dumbbells and barbells with no end caps).

A few friends have commented in the past about my lifting weights at home without a spotter - specially as I quite often lift more than I weigh. My retort to that is I always lift those heavy weights with no end caps. The weights stay on the bar purely through their own resistance and my lifting form. IF I should fail at any point the weights would slip off the bar on one end and leave me able to get out without any serious injury!

But all that training is no use if you are not eating right. I've posted numerous times on what my diet consists of so I wont do it again but remember: You need enough carbs to fuel your exercise, and enough protein to be able to rebuild those damaged muscle fibres!

Generally speaking...(weak stomach advisory)

Ok, I hate talking about this but it always comes up so I may as well get it over and done with. I suffer from Crohns Disease. I've had one major operation in which I had to have most of my colon; the terminal ileum and various sections of my small bowel removed.

Whats all that mean? Well, Crohns is an auto immune disorder where your body effectively rejects parts of your Gastric System. It affects everyone differently. Some people just from the colon down, others from the teeth down. How does it affect you? Well, you've all had those dodgy prawn salads before? or that bad curry? how about that bad pint?

I live with Nausea every day. I live with the other associated effects - The Scoots, Deli-belly, The runs, the green apple splatters. Whatever you wanna call them. Every day. Imagine yourself back when you had food poisoning. Imagine it for a week. Now...Imagine it for the rest of your life.

I also live with the problems caused by having so little bowel. I eat like a carnivorous horse! Yep, I strap a bag to my face and munch away on horse sandwiches all day. And if you believe that, I'm actually a world famous scientist only pretending to be into cycling. I eat to try and cope with the poor absorption I have which puts me at a disadvantage when training as my body struggles on most days to absorb what I need to get by, never mind to actually cope with the massive energy expenditure on long cycles. So how do I do it?

By balancing liquid intake with the right minerals, electrolytes and amino acids I am able to reduce the amount of liquid I put into myself. Which makes it easier for my body to absorb the nutrients as they aren't being flushed out.

In terms of food, I use a low residue diet but take it to extremes. I eat no or little insoluble fibre (soluble fibre like bananas and pears are actually a good thing for me) and massive amounts of what most people would call bad foods. Highly refined white flours, processed meats, american orange plastic squares of cheese (I know its a travesty) and chocolate. I know it sounds unhealthy but I don't fry any foods. I don't use oil (apart from Olive Oil) in my cooking and I dont eat cream or butter.

All in - on a rest day I eat around 4000 calories. On a training day I eat around 5000 to 6000 calories. Thats probably enough to keep most people going for 3 days. So where do I put it? Well I've always had a fast metabolism and this exercise makes me burn calories just sitting still.
If I have so many issues just getting myself to maintain my weight why am I still cycling? Cycling and any other long term endurance sport reduces your immune system. Thats exactly what my doctors need my body to do, so really it's just a complementary therapy to my medication. Although the more cycling I do the more efficient the leg muscles get at burning energy and mean I need to offset less and less energy. For example four weeks ago I used to need 2 sandwiches, 4 mars bars and 2 litres of still lucozade to do 20 miles. Yesterday I cycled 58 miles on 2 mars bars and 1.5 litres of water.

Oh and you get to meet loads of people while you are out cycling that you would never meet if you were at home drinking beer.

hey, lets go for a coffee sometime!

Well...it goes against all previous thought. Coffee is actually good for you when you are training.

Yeah you heard me. GOOD. FOR. YOU.

Coffee is a stimulant which can have positive effects on your mental ability when you are having one of those days at the office. BUT its also good for those hours AFTER exercise. See I bet you thought I was going to suggest taking it during or before exercise for a boost.

Taking a cup of coffee (and it has to be the one with caffeine) with dinner will help your body recover the carbs into your muscles Glycogen stores much more quickly. I read today that if you take coffee with food it will make your body metabolise the carbohydrates much more quickly than if you just ate normally. In fact, up to 66% more glycogen will be present in muscles if you have coffee with your meals.

So how does that help? Glycogen is used throughout the body for different things. When it is stored in muscles it is used entirely by that muscle alone, so there is no waste of energy being passed round your body. Its basically the fuel tank for your body. If your car had 66% more fuel would you be able to go faster and for longer in it? Your muscles work exactly the same.

I'm not saying everyone should drink coffee with food, but if you are suffering from muscle fatigue as opposed to tiredness it may help. If you also team it with simple carbs (white refined flour products instead of wholewheat/wholemeal) you should see a big improvement.

If you are in town, lets go have cakes and coffee! Honestly its all for training!

The ship of the desert

When camels are faced with an arduous time ahead they are able to use energy stores on their back in the shape of the hump to make sure they last the journey.

Camelbaks are brilliant, they are more comfortable, bigger and easier to use than bottles. undoubtedly they are safer to use than bottles too, how many times have you almost upended the bike due to a pot hole and cycling one handed whilst drinking... well if you are me too many.

So...I invested in a 1.5 litre Camelbak. They are basically a squishy silicon bag which you fill up with your drink of choice and then pass a tube/straw from the backpack all the way along a strap so that you can access it easily when cycling without removing the back.

Fluids are heavy and whats worse they tend to be going in the opposite direction from you due to inertia. To overcome that the backpack has a chest strap and a stomach strap. Whilst making the bag more stable on your back means that you cant breathe as easily. Loosen the straps and they may as well not be there. That causes your muscles to work with less oxygen, brilliant for short power training but really bad for endurance. Anaerobic exercise will tire you out far too quickly to gain any endurance from it.

And then when you are breathing heavily and struggling for air and go for a drink...your muscles work with even LESS air as you dont have to stop to drink any more. More anaerobic exercise. Thats not what I want. So yeah they are great but they have their disadvantages. Don't fall for the marketing hype alone.

How do you measure up?

Why are some people able to keep going further than others? I regularly cycle 14 miles. So why was I so tired halfway through the cycle on sunday; why was I not able to keep up with the other guys?

Partly its my lifestyle; other than the 1 and a bit hour training each night I lead a sedentiary lifestyle both at work and at home. I get to the office and sit down, I come home and sit down some more - I don't even have stairs to walk up when I get home to give me a bit of exercise.

Thats going to change from today onwards.

The other reason is Lean Muscle Mass and Body Fat. Each play an important role in your stamina. Lets take the easy one first, Body Fat (lipids) are your body's way of storing excess energy as well as storing other things. When you exercise your body starts to burn the fat as a fuel for muscles, so its important to have a certain ratio of fat in your body or you risk a lot of other problems. Ideally a male should have between 9-16% body fat; women slightly more from 15-25%. This will ensure that your body can function how it needs.

Thats all fine and well if you have the correct muscle mass to help burn the fat when it needs it. Ideally your Lean Muscle Mass (i.e. how much of your weight isnt fat or skeleton or internal organs, should be above 40%. Now - that doesn't mean we should all be Sly Stallone. Just because the muscle mass is over 40% doesn't mean you will be 'ripped', remember your legs and butt account for a lot of your muscle mass.

Now thats been explained I will explain my problem, currently my body fat percentage is hovering around the 10% mark - within tolerance for the healthy male range; but what is causing problems is having a lean muscle mass of 35%. There just isnt enough muscle to burn the energy I eat and store to keep me going.

How do I resolve it?

1. Eat more protein at the right time. There is a period of time after exercise where your body is more receptive to protein than any other time - sometimes known as the "Golden Hour" - during this time drinking/eating high protein foods will help build muscle mass. I hope it helps me!
2. Increase muscle efficiency - by not leading such a sedentiary lifestyle I should be able to make my muscles (specifically my breathing and legs) more efficient.

The Monday Morning Blues?

Well if your weekend was anything like mine it involved pain, exhaustion, exhiliration and pushing yourself past personal barriers you never thought were there.

The trouble with pushing your body to the limit like we did on sunday is that your muscles will start to hurt a day or two after the exercise. I didn't know there was a technical term for it until recently but have since found out its called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (or DOMS). What is it? Normally it is the symptom of over exertion. Either lifting too much weight, running too far or using your muscles past the limit of their endurance. That last one is particularly dangerous as you can actually cause far more than just the DOMS to occur.

I and the other guys, don't really have the luxury of using the 10% rule to train to - we'd be there for ever adding 10% on to our cycle each week to get to the distance we'd need. Instead I'm going about it slightly differently. I've drastically altered my diet. I eat a high carb, high protein diet (always keeping the same ratio of 2g of protein to 5g carb). This will allow the muscles to have enough fuel and enough building blocks to adapt to what I am subjecting them to.

Then there is the exercise. Normally through the week we train to about 12 miles. It's better than nothing but not enough. So weekends we do 20+ miles normally, although yesterday was about 47miles by the time I cycled home.

Pushing ourselves that far is bound to cause DOMS so what can you do to reduce the pain? To be honest not a lot. Research has shown that a warm down wont help, that stretching doesn't help after the exercise - but it can reduce swelling by as much as 30%. Massage can help too, it increases the blood flow and therefore the oxygen getting to the muscles making them recover slightly quicker.

Obviously avoiding the DOMS is the better option; for us its never going to happen, we'll be in pain regardless as we have to push hard to be able to complete the cycle in Sweden. For you guys though, a thorough warm up, and using the 10% rule will help to ensure that you don't overdo it, remember gradual changes are best. Don't go out running a 10k run if you haven't ran before.

Remember, you're not a salmon...

Salmon live all their life in the sea until its time for them to swim upstream, they begin to do so and never stop or take a break until they get there. They do their thing and then they die.

Tortoises take lots of small breaks, they take their time and get to where they are going eventually. They live for hundreds of years.

Exercise - specially endurance events are suited best to a steady pace. If you try to "blast" those first few minutes then you will suffer in your long game. Make sure you maintain a manageable pace regardless of the exercise you do.

Thats not to say you shouldn't push yourself - but dont do it at the start, do it at the end when it will have the biggest impact on your training and eventual stamina gains.

Today we cycled about 47 miles in the southern Highlands of Scotland. There were killer hills and it was important for us to take regular breaks to allow our muscles to overcome the pain and help build their endurance. If we had pushed on too hard we would have been stuck without a means of getting home. We managed it though - at one stage it felt like I ran out of gears and could do no more to get up the hill other than get off and walk it. On the way down though...hoooooly moley! we hit speeds of about 45-50mph and had a hard time making sure we didn't collide with anything. Thankfully there were no cars on the hill when we were pelting down it. Having that small break going downhill a few times helped make sure we made it home - well to Tullies again for a pint of cider! :-)

Muscle Fatigue? not me!

I'm going out with the guys I now work with (started a new job on monday) for a few drinks tonight to celebrate. I think working with brantas will be an excellent experience for me and I am sure that I will learn loads. It's currently a small consultancy but hey sometimes its better to work with like minded dedicated people than it is to constantly batter your head against a brick wall in a large corporation.

Cycling is the same - sure I could go and train with a local cycling club but they dont - in my opinion - have the same drives as me and the guys doing this sponsored cycle do. They love cycling. I think it's ok. They like cycling long endless routes punctuated with the odd stop for a quick glucose drink. I like to cycle shorter more varied routes that introduce a bit of excitement to the journey.

Today unfortunately I wont get out on my bike but in preparation for the cycle on Sunday to Aberfoyle I will be starting to load on carbs. Two breakfasts of muesli with extra nuts to give myself a bit of a boost with protein to help build the structures to store ATP (adenosine triphosphate) as an energy source. I'll be increasing the carbs (both simple and complex) through the day to ensure that I have plenty of energy on Sunday.

But why do I need energy stores? Well during Aerobic exercise your body burns oxygen and the fuels stored in your body to provide the energy for your muscles to move. If you restrict any of the parts your body needs then you will tire out more quickly, or worse still start to make your muscles work Anaerobically and risk masses of lactic acid build up.

Some controversy here - recently studies have shown that Lactic acid is just another fuel that your body creates for its muscles to work. Now - in an every day persons case like you and I - your body wont have the right proteins or receptors to convert that lactic acid to energy and so your muscles will run out of steam when the glycoids in your system run out. By training at a higher intensity (as we did last night with those buses chasing us) your body will be forced to create the proteins and receptors in a higher concentration making your muscles able to convert more of that lactic acid into energy.

Now get out there and pedal like you've never pedaled before!

Resting

Well - since today is a rest day theres not much I can talk about. My legs are fully recovered from yesterdays cycle - to be honest they feel a little tight but in a good way. I lost a bit of weight yesterday due to dehydration from perspiration. I'll be hoping to fix this today by eating and drinking enough to regain that liquid and hopefully build a bit of muscle.

I know most people don't worry about maintaining their weight but with very active crohns and short bowel syndrome I really have to watch my diet.

In short I eat a lot - high protein, high carb, high poly unsaturated fat diet. When I am training I drink about 500mls isotonic drink over 30 mins before the work out. During the training I drink about 500mls and then after I use specialised SIS after workout powders to help retain the energy in muscles and stop cramping.

During the day at work I just drink lots of water, and Coffee when things go bad :) Always with sugar though just to bump up the calories!

The Diet
Breakfast (6.30am)
Each day starts with a large bowl of nut based Muesli with added bananas and full fat milk. Occasionally I will use thick and creamy yoghurt instead of milk just to boost the calories a little.

Mid Morning snack(9.30am/10.00am)
A roll with bacon and potato scone (or when I've planned ahead a roll with ham and cheese and a few chocolate biscuits).

Lunch (12.00noon)
Two rolls with chicken mayonnaise, a bag of crisps, mars bar and a cake (Muffin/Rice Crispie cake/Millionaire short bread) - and two bananas if I feel healthy that day.

Afternoon Snack (3.30pm)
Normally a banana or a pack of crisps - I should increase this but I find too many carbs will cause a bit of a lull.

Dinner (6.00pm)
Pasta with a tomato sauce, then Chicken or Steak, potato wedges and a dessert (Yoghurt with strawberry Jam or 1/2 pint custard).

Evening Snack (throughout)
Normally a tube of biscuits (Chocolate Chips or Custard Creams).

Supper (10.30pm onwards)
Muesli or cereal - this time make sure the carb content is more than the protein. As you will be sleeping soon the carbs will be converted to energy stores more readily.

So thats it. I could make my rest day during the week but having it on a sunday allows me to catch up with all that boring house work that we all have.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers...

First things first, to fuel yourself you need to know your body type, everyone bandies about different terms but there are three generally accepted terms (I've simplified them in my own unique way) and note that you may fit a composite of two types instead of neatly into one:

• Ectomorph: normally small framed, with light muscle structure and finds it hard to gain weight.
• Endomorph: large frame, good muscle structure and gains weight more easily.
• Mesomorph: large frame, gains weight easily and less defined muscle structure.

Now, you Endomorphs and Mesomorphs are jammy gits, I hate you, pretty much anything you do to your diet will result in your body coping with the training.

Ectomorphs find it difficult to gain weight if at all. Normally upping your calorie intake by 1000 to 2000 calories a day should suffice.

You need to make sure you are eating the right foods though, 1000 cals of fat is going to harm anyone that eats it. If you need to train and need to gain weight then you should increase the carbs dramatically, and up the protein too.

Another trick I have is to snack at night, your body will normally still digest whilst you are asleep (somewhat slower) but you are expending far fewer calories; pack away some simple carbs and protein before bed and you will gain weight and be able to train properly without risking muscle fatigue as much.