First, proper nutrition when doing sports implies compliance with the regimen. Before a workout, the body needs carbohydrates – an energy source for muscles, but after it, proteins for mass gain and the right fats for recovery.
Proper nutrition for strength training is not just a serving of a protein shake or a capsule of BCAA amino acids. To make your muscles grow, you must completely overhaul your daily diet and not just rely on sports nutrition.
Ultimately, no matter how effective physical training is, it is impossible to pump up without following a sports diet. In particular, the diet should have a high-calorie content – the body needs the energy to gain weight.Â
On the other hand, there are no special foods from which the athlete’s muscles grow faster. Practice shows that it is quite possible to gain muscle mass on ordinary buckwheat, oatmeal and chicken breast.
The main difficulty in nutrition for mass gain is that the only way to regulate the diet’s correctness and composition during training is to calculate the calories of food. In other words, keeping a food diary and cooking at home while weighing the ingredients is necessary.
Otherwise, it is almost impossible to determine how many calories, proteins, fats and carbohydrates are contained in the portion of food you eat. In addition, most meals prepared per day in canteens contain too many carbohydrates – while the amount of good fats is minimal.
Below are the seven most important nutritional rules for muscle growth during strength training. If you really want to pump up, you should study them carefully and follow them regularly:
Do not forget to monitor the daily calorie intake – it should be at least 15-20% higher than the norm. Otherwise, the body simply will not have enough calories to recover from a workout and the energy necessary for muscle growth.
If you’re aiming for muscle growth, not fat, it’s important to increase calories and monitor the percentage of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Fats should account for about a third of all calories consumed in a strength training diet. Approximately 2 g of protein is needed per kg of body weight. The rest of the calories are for carbohydrates.
The ideal option is a serving of fast carbohydrate-rich food 2-3 hours before training. Suppose you go to the gym early in the morning and you do not have the opportunity to have a full breakfast before training, then immediately after waking up. In that case, you need to take a portion of the gainer (20 g of protein and 15-20 g of carbohydrates).
Protein consumed before and after training should be absorbed as quickly as possible. Regular foods especially eggs and meat take several hours to digest fully – you won’t get energy when needed. The use of sports protein is preferable.
The intake of BCAAs during the strength training itself will become a source of additional energy for the body. It will reduce the stress hormone cortisol, which is formed during muscle fatigue and negatively affects subsequent muscle growth and recovery.
Immediately after a workout, the body is in carbohydrate window mode and needs a quick source of energy replenishment. A post-workout shake should contain proteins and carbohydrates – 0.3-0.5 g of protein and 0.3-1.5 g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight. Either a gainer or a mixture of protein isolates with juice will do.
Sports nutrition wins only in one case – before, after and during training, because at this time, fast-digesting protein cannot be replaced by anything else. At any other time of the day, you can replace sports nutrition with a regular meal – it is also paramount that it is much cheaper.
Given the high level of physical activity during training, athletes require increased vitamins and minerals. The lack of zinc and magnesium has an extremely negative effect on both the metabolic processes of men in general and the mechanism of muscle growth in particular. Even though you can take a multivitamin complex in tablets to cover the deficiency, it is important not to forget that the athlete’s diet must necessarily include not only meat and sources of carbohydrates but also all kinds of vegetables, nuts and fruits.
On the plus side, a diet high in vegetables is good for health, both in terms of vitamins and minerals and fiber.
Athletes-bodybuilders say that to maintain optimal performance during strength training. You need to consume 12-15 g of isolate protein and 30-45 g of carbohydrates for every hour of training. If you use liquid amino acids or BCAA amino acids in capsules, 5-7 g is enough.
Such supplements will help speed up the rate of recovery and muscle growth by lowering cortisol. An additional reduction in cortisol can be achieved by adding 0.2-0.5 g of vitamin C and 3-5 g of D-aspartic acid to the cocktail. Most of the special sports nutrition for muscle growth has just such composition.
Another sports supplement that helps the body build muscle faster is creatine. Creatine, as a structural component of animal meat,m optimizes energy processes in muscle fibers, acting as a source of fast energy.
In simple terms, creatine allows muscles to become stronger while at the same time increasing their volume. It is necessary to take creatine daily since it does not act instantly but only accumulates in the body’s tissues – the effect of taking it appears no earlier than after 5-10 days. That is why the scheme of taking creatine does not play a significant role – you can take it both immediately after training and during the main meal.
From nutritional supplements, you can also consider the following options:
When training to get rid of excess weight, not only loads and simulators will help, but also proper nutrition. These principles must be observed when going to the gym:
Proper training nutrition for muscle growth is not just about taking expensive sports protein powder immediately after training. If you want to gain muscle mass quickly, you need complete control over your strength training diet, calorie, protein, fat and carbohydrate content. Only this will allow your muscles to grow.
To feel full and release energy, you need protein and slow carbohydrates. These foods include lean meats, seafood, cereals, bread, and vegetables. Oatmeal and green tea are good before your morning workout.
For weight loss, after training, you can not eat for 1 hour, only drink water. After 1 hour, you need to eat a balanced meal consisting of proteins and carbohydrates. At the same time, carbohydrates should be healthy, not chocolate, but brown rice, buckwheat, wholemeal pasta, cereals, bread, vegetables, etc.
Protein shakes and bars, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, fish, chicken breast or dietary meat, and tuna are suitable sources of protein. You can get carbohydrates from sweet potatoes, quinoa, fruits, buckwheat, whole grain pasta, unsweetened fruits, and green vegetables.
Products that will contribute to effective muscle recruitment:
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