Muscle Gain: Best nutrition & workout tips
Building muscle is why most of us hit the gym. The physical act of building muscle is easier said than done because in order to build muscle we need to have multiple variables aligned both with respect to our training and nutrition.
The tips below will help you build muscle with strategic and realistic means.
1. Maximise Muscle Building
The more protein your body tends to store, the larger your muscles grow. But your body is constantly draining the stored protein in making hormones and doing other activities. Thus, this leads to less available protein for muscle building. Go for mass gainers that help in effective mass gain. It puts your body in the calorie surplus mode making it perfect for weight management.
You can also try muscle fuel as it is enriched with different nutrients and give you the energy needed for a powerful workout.
2. Eat more
With an adequate amount of protein, you also need to consume more calories. A calorie rich diet that includes tofu, bananas, olive oil, avocados etc can help you reach your goal.
Not only will it provide you with the right and healthy amount of calories, but will also help you give all the nutrients and vitamins needed to keep your body moving for that extra muscle-building workout.
3. Work Big, not small
If you wish to put on muscle, then it is very important to do more to challenge your body. And one key to doing that is working through ‘multi-joint’ movements. For example, a dumbbell row will challenge biceps, lats, and abs. Using multiple muscle groups allows you to lift more weight. Moves like squats, deadlifts, pull ups and bench presses should be included in your workout as all will stimulate multiple muscle groups at the same time.
4. Have a drink first
Lifters who drank a shake containing amino acids and carbohydrates before working out increased their protein synthesis more than those who drank the shake after the exercise was done. Because exercise increases blood flow, drinking a carbohydrate rich shake before your workout will help you take greater uptake of the amino acids in your muscles.
5. Don’t be harsh on yourself
Yes it is important to move your body everyday, but that shouldn’t mean your workouts should exhaust you to an extent that it leads to fatigue. Aim to finish every workout feeling good and accomplished, not dead. Limit your weight room workouts to 12-16 total sets of work and just don’t go beyond that.
The Takeaway
Irrespective of age, gender, gym access, everyone can see and share benefits from muscle training. However, your muscle building strategy need not to be so rigid that it leaves no room for fun. You can still eat meals you enjoy and you don’t need to spend hours in the gym. The goal is to create a muscle building plan that is realistic for your goals and needs.