Find out what ratio of fat, protein and carbohydrates should be consumed by aspiring athletes to maximize their progress in gaining lean muscle mass. Not only the growth of your muscles depends on proper nutrition, but also the work of all body systems, as well as the general tone. Bodybuilders should not make mistakes when drawing up a nutrition program, as they can dramatically reduce the rate of progress. No matter how well you train, but due to miscalculations in nutrition, all efforts may be in vain. Let's figure out together what you need to eat for muscles in bodybuilding.
What and how should you eat for muscle growth?
How often should you eat?
Most often, people use three meals a day, which is completely unsuitable for builders. If you eat three times a day, then there will be long breaks between meals, and this should not be allowed. You will definitely have time to feel hunger, which will entail an increase in the catabolic background. Also, during fasting, the body uses the reserves of carbohydrates that are found in the liver and muscle tissues.
As a result, you may begin to lose muscle mass and your glycogen stores will decrease dramatically. For this reason, you need to eat at least five times throughout the day, but the portion sizes should be small. Try to eat every three or even two and a half hours. Among other things, fractional nutrition speeds up metabolism, which is important for muscle growth.
What kind of nutrition is right?
This is a very popular question and although there is a lot of information on this topic, novice builders are often interested in what to eat for muscles in bodybuilding. Feel free to exclude from your diet all food that does not provide nutritional value to the body. These are various confectionery products, sweet carbonated drinks, sweets, etc. Also stop eating fatty and fried foods.
All food products that you eat must be exclusively natural. These are greens, fruits, lean meat, vegetables, fish, etc. All convenience foods should be struck off your list as they are low in nutrients. When cooking, use only vegetable oil.
Can you eat fast food?
If you have problems with being overweight, then definitely not. If you belong to ectomorphs, you can also eat fast food, but in limited quantities. When doing this, try not to use fried potatoes, ice cream, and various sweet cakes.
What are the best protein compounds?
If we talk about sports nutrition, and more specifically about protein mixtures, then whey proteins are most effective for gaining mass. As you probably know, there are three types of these supplements commercially available: concentrate, hydrolyzate, and isolate. Isolate is the most popular because it has an acceptable cost and contains practically no fat. Take protein supplements before and after your workout.
Fats
Fats should not be completely excluded from the diet, since this nutrient is necessary for the body. Suffice it to say that testosterone is made from lipids. Fat is the most powerful source of energy. You can eat fats, but only of plant origin. Animal fats need to be eliminated from the diet, but not entirely. You should remember that it is not the fats themselves that are dangerous to the body, but their excess consumption.
How to eat before class?
If you eat right before starting your workout, you can work more intensely. To achieve this, you need to use a two-step meal. First, about an hour and a half or a maximum of two hours before class, eat regular foods that contain at least 40 grams of protein compounds and 80 grams of carbohydrates with the mousse. After that, twenty minutes before the start of the lesson, take a portion of the protein-carbohydrate mixture.
How to eat after class?
Immediately after training, you need to drink a protein shake containing 20 to 40 grams of protein compounds, as well as 40 to 100 grams of carbohydrates. This can be a gainer or a homemade protein blend shake. Then go home and eat wholesome food.
Water
Water is of the utmost importance to anyone. However, for athletes, its importance increases, since in the process of training a large amount of water is excreted through sweat. You should drink at least three and a half liters of water throughout the day.
There are many examples of nutrition programs, but you should create your own. Of course, this will take time, since it is necessary to calculate the calorie content of the diet and the ratio of all the main nutrients. But if you want to achieve your goals, then you cannot do without it.
Top 5 foods for muscle growth in this video:
