Inside Blackhawks defenseman Sam Rinzel's plan to continue gaining weight this summer

Intermittent fasting is a popular weight-loss strategy.

During his years-long effort to fill out his body, young Blackhawks defenseman Sam Rinzel has found the reverse to be true, too: Intermittent eating helps with weight gain.

‘‘The thing that I’ve been playing with is the time slots in the day when to eat and how much to eat,’’ Rinzel said recently. ‘‘I found out that . . . if I eat a whole bunch in one sitting, I go a longer period of time without eating. [It’s about] having good meals and high-calorie meals but also having more meals throughout the day.’’

Rinzel, who will turn 22 in June, tries to munch on healthy foods regularly throughout the day — he’s a fan of avocados, for example — then eat one big meal about 90 minutes before he goes to sleep.

As long as he’s able to digest that meal overnight, wake up at a normal time, eat breakfast promptly and follow the routine again, he gains weight at a steady rate.

‘‘There’s days where it sucks, and there’s days where you’re hungry [for meals] and feeling good,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a process, for sure.

‘‘You’re probably not going to gain 40 pounds in one summer. But over the last three years, I’ve done a good job gaining a good 10 or 15 pounds of muscle and weight over the summers.’’

One more summer of gaining 10 or 15 pounds might get Rinzel close to his ideal long-term weight. His trainer, Cal Dietz, has estimated that to be about 205 pounds, based on Rinzel’s 6-4 height, lanky limbs and bone thickness.

Rinzel entered the just-completed season at 194 pounds, but he lost more weight than he hoped to during the course of it, even though he tried to maintain it by maximizing his sodium intake.

But there’s a difference between weight and strength. So even if Rinzel gets up to 205 pounds by September, he probably still will have more strength work to do in future summers.

Rinzel also has determined it’s ‘‘not necessarily the most horrible thing to put on a little bit of body fat’’ in the short term, either. Although it wouldn’t be muscle, at least it would be there.

More weight should improve his biggest weakness against NHL opponents. He has tried to use his brainpower to overcome his lack of physical power, but that makes winning board battles and boxing out difficult.

Fellow Hawks defenseman Kevin Korchinski has the same problem, but Rinzel looks more capable of outgrowing it than Korchinski does.

‘‘I’m definitely a late bloomer,’’ Rinzel said. ‘‘Growing up, I was a late bloomer, whether that was physical strength or just figuring things out. It takes time. Everyone’s trajectory is going to be different. But if you really believe in yourself, you’ll get to where you want to go.’’

He’s reminding himself of that adage coming off an eye-opening and ultimately unsatisfactory rookie season. It wasn’t disastrous, but he didn’t live up to the lofty expectations put on him — nor to his own expectations — after his stellar nine-game NHL cameo in April 2025.

Rinzel finished with four goals and 10 assists and averaged 18:16 of ice time in 54 games with the Hawks. He also went down to the AHL for 23 games between early December and late January, which was humbling.

The Hawks were outscored only 39-35 during Rinzel’s five-on-five ice time, but he was relatively sheltered. His analytics on defensive-zone retrievals and exits were poor — surprisingly so, considering his smooth skating. Coaches encouraged him to play with swagger while staying alert for danger.

‘‘There were a lot of highs and a lot of lows this season — a lot more than I wanted — so it’s [about] finding that consistency,’’ Rinzel said. ‘‘The summer is a good time to try things and see what works.’’