How to eat right to gain weight. What should you eat to gain muscle mass?

Corbis/Fotosa.ru

I have already told you how to organize. Now let's move on to nutrition. I will explain how to properly create a diet for gaining muscle mass, based on my own experience.

Gaining Weight: Increase your intake of high-calorie foods

Fruits and vegetables are healthy. However, while they're a high-fiber source, they can interfere with protein absorption if you overload your diet with them. By covering most of the intestinal surface, fiber can limit the absorption of nutrients from other foods. Take this into account when thinking about your diet for gaining muscle mass, and make it 70% high-calorie foods and only 30% vegetables and fruits.

Distribute food correctly throughout the day

In the first half of the day, you need to eat heavily so that you have enough energy, and before 16 hours you need to eat about three-quarters of all the food you are given. Under no circumstances leave fatty foods or foods high in carbohydrates for the evening. Dine on poultry or fish with vegetables or dairy products. This regimen will ensure sufficient production of somatropin, a hormone that is responsible for muscle growth.

To withstand your workout, two hours before it, be sure to take care of: eat foods rich in slow carbohydrates. After class, have a good meal (this meal should be the largest), leaning on proteins and, again, slow carbohydrates. They will replenish energy reserves and help muscles recover. If you take, do it an hour and a half before meals so that food that gets into the stomach does not prevent it from being fully absorbed.

Replace three meals a day with fractional ones - 5-6 times a day

Each meal forces the body to work; split meals speed up the metabolism. And this is important both for gaining muscle mass and for preventing you from gaining fat. With three meals a day, which many are accustomed to since childhood, it is easier to gain weight, because the body often receives more calories at once than it needs.

Take protein shakes or amino acid capsules

In addition to the already mentioned protein-carbohydrate shake, I advise you to include a small amount of a protein shake with your meal once a day or drink amino acid capsules 15 minutes before meals. This “accompaniment” is perfect for a fruit snack or any other meal without protein.

Don't forget about vitamins

During periods of heavy physical activity, you especially need vitamin C and B vitamins. Take them as part of a vitamin-mineral complex.

Limit the amount of fast carbohydrates in your diet

Confectionery, sweet fruits, freshly squeezed juices and other carbohydrate foods that are quickly absorbed can only be consumed immediately after training. At this moment, they will not harm, because the body needs to replenish its reserves of glucose and glycogen. Sweets eaten the rest of the time will certainly turn into fat on the waist.

Drink enough water

To maintain your metabolism while gaining muscle mass, you need to stay hydrated. Drink water without waiting for thirst. The norm is 30 ml per 1 kg of body weight (or 40 ml in hot weather).

Diet for weight gain

When I started doing fitness, the trainer strictly monitored not so much the training process, but how I followed his advice in terms of nutrition and rest! During the period of gaining muscle mass per day, for example, I could eat:

1. 200 g oatmeal, 1 apple, 20-30 g nuts.

2. 200 g chicken, 200 g potatoes, 1 leaf of Chinese cabbage, 1 tomato.

3. 250 g cottage cheese, 1 banana, 2 tangerines.

4. 200 g fish, 100 g rice, 3 leaves of white cabbage, 1/3 tbsp. l. pepper

5. Fruit salad: 1/2 orange, 1/3 grapefruit, 10 grapes, 1 kiwi, 2 walnut kernels, 10 almonds, 2 tsp. pumpkin seeds, 2 tbsp. l. syrup.

6. Salad: 2 cans of tuna in its own juice, 1 tsp. l. olive oil, 2 lettuce leaves, 1 green onion, 1/2 tomato, 1 mashed bread.

Now, of course, I eat differently. And for some, it may seem like you simply can’t eat it all in a day! Perhaps this will be the case at first, by the way. But after a couple of weeks you will get used to this amount of food. I am not a fan of cramming food into myself and for me it was real torture. But a year later at the Russian Fitness Championship I became not the penultimate (as the first time), but already the fifth, and a year later at the European Championship - second!

How do you create your diet for gaining muscle mass?

(30 ratings, average: 5,00 out of 5)

Effective muscle growth is impossible without compliance with three factors - anabolic nutrition, and. Neglecting even one of them will do little to build a beautiful body.

In this article we will talk about nutrition for gaining muscle mass. You will finally be able to get your mass off the ground. Forward!

Nutrition for weight gain - the engine of your growth

Nutrition is the engine of your bodybuilding progress. Many people guess about this and even know something. But when you start strength training, don't worry too much about your diet. At most, they add a little more meat; at worst, buy a can of protein. However, such nutrition for gaining mass will not affect your training successes at all - neither on the rate of growth of your muscles, nor on volume.

You need to take nutrition seriously!

On the Internet you can find a huge number of different weight gain diets. Every author wants to bring something new, although 90% is based on unchanging principles, which we will talk about later. You must create a diet for yourself, and not take other people's thoughts.

The principles of nutrition for gaining muscle mass are suitable for everyone: both beginners and experienced fighters. This scheme can be used at any time, and not just during the mass-gain period. The only thing you need to remember is that you cannot sharply increase or decrease the amount of food entering the body; let the body adapt to the changes.

How to gain weight: what you need to know

To provoke such a resource-intensive process as muscle growth, it is necessary to supply the body with sufficient energy and material to create new muscle tissue. All these resources need to be obtained from food!

The main pillar of muscle building is excess calories. You should receive more nutrients and energy from food than you expend, approximately 15-20% above your norm. When gaining weight, it is better to overdo it and get more calories than not get enough. Here the question may reasonably arise: “Won’t I gain excess fat in this case?” Yes, you will!

Along with your overall muscle mass, you will increase your body fat content. But this is an inevitable process. You can't gain weight with lean muscle alone. One cannot live without the other, and one must come to terms with this. In any case, it is easier to remove fat () than. So focus on how to gain weight in your entire body and don't think about fat.

More, more calories!

The body is a self-preserving system. Adding 5%, 10%, or 30% extra calories to your diet may not be enough. To break through the dead point, start adding calories to your diet gradually until your weight increases by 500-800 grams per week. If there is no increase, increase the amount of food ( add in 200 calorie increments), if the increase is large, reduce it (otherwise the excess will quickly turn into fat). Weigh yourself once a week at the same time.

Meals for gaining weight should include several additional meals. For example, your diet consists of 3 meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner. Start surprising your metabolism by adding two more meals. You will immediately receive an excess of energy and nutrients beyond your basic norm. Plus, make sure to have a purely protein meal (casein, cottage cheese) shortly before bedtime.

The amount of food you should eat per day while gaining muscle mass should be greater than when you were not exercising. Break your diet into 5,6 or 10 meals (whichever is more convenient for you), the main thing is that the total amount eaten is greater than before. It is more convenient to use approximately equal periods of time between meals. This way you will ensure a uniform supply of amino acids and nutrients to your body. This keeps your metabolism at a constantly high level.

Break your diet into 5-6 meals, more if possible

The effect of anabolism (formation of new body tissues) from food taken lasts 3-4 hours. That is why it is worth eating evenly, but often. It is very difficult to take and assimilate the same amount of food in 3 meals, firstly, due to the volume of food eaten, and secondly, there is a possibility that the nutrients will not be fully absorbed due to their excess. Try not to take long breaks between meals (more than 5-6 hours). If you can’t have a full meal, eat bananas or drink a protein shake.

Almost 70% of the food you eat should be high in calories, otherwise your digestive system will suffer from food overload. You should not base your diet on vegetables. The body needs fiber, but in reasonable quantities, so the content of vegetables should not exceed 30% of an athlete’s diet.

The more food enters the body, the more water the body needs to digest it. Strength training triggers numerous metabolic processes that also require water. Drink at least 3 liters of water per day. Avoid feeling thirsty.

A particularly important point in nutrition is the correct distribution of nutrients entering your body. In the modern world, unfortunately, this incorrect distribution ruins the health of many people - cardiovascular and other diseases appear. This is due to the large amount of incoming fat, and very tiny portions of protein, which is so necessary for the construction of the necessary structures.

Therefore, your task is to make the proportion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates not just correct, but healthy.

Correctly balance the amount of proteins, carbohydrates and fats in your diet

Optimal nutrient ratio :

Proteins – 25-30%, fats – 10-15%, carbohydrates – 50-60%

This ratio maintains the correct quantitative supply of amino acids (the building material of your muscles), energy for the growth process in the form of carbohydrates, as well as the content of healthy fats necessary for normal life.

You should receive your calories based on this ratio (). To make the calculation easier, use this hint - 1g of protein gives 4 kcal, the same amount of carbohydrates, 1g, and 1g of fat gives 9kcal. In order to get, for example, 3700 kcal you will need (based on B-Zh-U 25-15-60) 230 g of protein, 60 g of fat, 555 g of carbohydrates.

Make sure you get 1.5 - 2 g of protein per 1 kg of your body weight. You can get half of your daily protein intake from sports nutrition.

How to make nutrient ratios work for your growth

It would seem that everything is simple - I ate the required amount of BZHU and the muscle began to swell! But it's not that simple. In order to ensure maximum digestibility of food, you should not have problems with the gastrointestinal tract and you must correctly combine certain foods. To properly combine nutrients you need to know what they are.

Squirrels

Squirrels are fast and slow. A fast protein is one in which the amino acids are in the most split state, practically free. Such protein is quickly, and most importantly, easily digestible, because... its design is simple and does not require additional splitting. Examples are free form amino acids, whey protein isolate, egg whites and milk proteins.

We need fast proteins immediately after training. They stimulate the production of insulin (transporter of amino acids and glucose) and somatotropin (growth hormone). Also, after sleep or a long break from food, you need to fuel yourself with fast proteins.

A slow protein is one in which the amino acids are in a bound form. It takes a long time to break down and is slowly absorbed, supplying our body with building material for many hours. The best time to take slow protein is any other time when you are not taking fast protein. For example, before a long break from food (during work) and before bed. Examples of long-lasting proteins are cottage cheese and casein.

Try to combine plant proteins with animal proteins.

The best proteins (in order of value for an athlete): meat (poultry is preferable), most seafood and fresh fish, dairy products (low-fat cottage cheese, low-fat cheese, low-fat yogurt, milk, kefir), eggs (you can safely eat 6-8 eggs a day, if you don’t have problems with cholesterol), legumes (beans, peas, lentils), nuts.

Avoid the following proteins: smoked meat, red meat, homemade cottage cheese, dark meat of turkeys and chickens, sausages, ham, salami, yoghurts with sugar.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates, like proteins, are also fast and slow. Fast carbohydrates often taste sweet. These include fructose and glucose. Such carbohydrates quickly enter the bloodstream, raise insulin levels and are quickly absorbed. Examples of such carbohydrates are honey, jam, buns, raisins, white bread, chocolate, etc.

Long carbohydrates contain a large amount of dietary fiber. Such carbohydrates take a long time to digest and gradually give us their energy. These are cereals and porridges (rice, millet, buckwheat), bran, rye bread, pasta, legumes, nuts, etc.

Try to base your diet on slow carbohydrates. After a workout, fast carbohydrates (fast energy) are suitable, and after a long break without food and after sleep, take slow carbohydrates to recharge your energy for the whole day. The main thing is not to eat carbohydrates before bed.

The best carbohydrates:

Cereals: porridge (buckwheat, rice, millet, pearl barley, oatmeal), pasta (made from durum wheat), noodles (not instant), bread (black, bran, rye), cereal or muesli. Vegetables: potatoes, carrots and beets should be reasonably limited due to the large amount of starch they contain.

Fats

Fats are either good (unsaturated) or bad (saturated).

Harmful fats are found in butter, fried foods, mayonnaise, ketchup, and sausages. Unsaturated fats are necessary for normal functioning of the body and reducing the level of bad cholesterol in the blood.

The best fats are found in sunflower, olive, flaxseed oils, nuts, avocado and fish (eat fish without restrictions, it is rich in healthy fats such as Omega-3).

Morning

A complete breakfast (fast and slow carbohydrates + fast proteins).

During the day

Pre-workout nutrition

2 hours before training you need to eat slow carbohydrates and fast proteins. Carbohydrates promote the production of glycogen (an energy transporter), and proteins will supply the body with amino acids for anabolism.

Half an hour before training

Whey protein isolate + amino acids.

Immediately after training

Post-workout nutrition

An hour (maximum one and a half) after training, a full meal is necessary. Food should be rich in slow carbohydrates and proteins. This should be your most powerful meal. You consume the highest amount of nutrients.

No later than 2 hours before bedtime

Slow carbohydrates + slow proteins.

Before bedtime

Only slow proteins.

Beware of sweets. All these delicious confectionery things look delicious, and when they enter the body, they quickly increase blood sugar levels. In response, our body turns glucose into fat.

Limit your intake of fast carbohydrates and fats. Avoid foods such as sausages, smoked meats, mayonnaise, ketchups, fatty meats, and margarine. Your body builds new structures using proteins and takes energy from carbohydrates. Excess saturated fat only worsens your health and is deposited on your body. For fats, gain the norm with vegetable fats, incl. vegetable oil, fish and seafood. Take Omega-3 fats separately, they have a positive effect on the health of the whole body.

Don't forget about fruits and greens. They are rich in minerals and vitamins.

Give preference to natural foods

In conclusion, it must be said that the diet of different people depends on metabolism. If you have a fast metabolism, then you need a lot of everything - proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and vitamins. If your metabolism is slow and you gain excess fat easily, then get the calories you need from lean foods and proteins. Don't eat to your heart's content. It's better to eat smaller portions, but more often.

Approach nutrition issues responsibly

You train only once every two or three days for an hour and a half, and eat every day every day after 3 hours. Sticking to such a schedule is difficult. Therefore, draw up your diet for weight gain right on paper. This will discipline you and make you stick to it consciously.

Get better and stronger with

Read other blog articles.

Gaining muscle mass is an important task, primarily for those who are involved in bodybuilding. Beginners, due to their inexperience, believe that they will be able to become the owner of a beautiful body only if they train for several hours a day. But don't rush. Exhausting exercises alone will not help you get the desired result. It's important to eat right. We will tell you how to do this in this article.

On the eve of summer, young people and girls try to get in shape: remove excess fat deposits, surprise friends, acquaintances (and complete strangers) with a beautiful, slender figure. A sculpted torso is more beautiful than a skinny body with protruding collarbones, but not everyone knows how to acquire it. Although there are those who are sure that they know everything. Without proper education and experience, these people develop a set of exercises for themselves, create heavy loads, and devote little time to recovery. As a result, they either give up what they started halfway, without achieving the desired result, or they achieve their goal, but very slowly and often with injuries. Not every one of us can boast of good knowledge in the field of anatomy. It is not enough to know the name of the muscles (biceps, triceps, latissimus dorsi, etc.), you need to remember where they are located, how to create a load for them, but not stretch or “tear”. In this case, you cannot do without the help of an experienced trainer (instructor).

There are people for whom gaining muscle mass is important at any time of the year. These are bodybuilders. Many people have heard the following information: those who engage in weightlifting regularly “consume” protein shakes, since without them it is not so easy to “pump up” muscles. The most important component in such cocktails is protein, a building material for tissues, bones, and joints. Just don’t forget about other micro- and macroelements. The body needs vitamins (even if a person does not exercise at all), antioxidants, and amino acids. And it’s better to get them during meals, from natural vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy products, and grains.

Diet for gaining muscle mass

The golden rule for every athlete who decides to conquer the ladies with a well-built figure is to consume more than you spend. There is no need to worry about excess fat deposits appearing. Gaining muscle mass is a lot of stress for the body, and if you eat poorly, then instead of positive changes the reverse process will occur. Having a metabolic disorder has never benefited anyone, so it is important to know how many calories are needed for normal metabolism. Once you know the figure, you will understand how much you will have to consume in excess of this measure. Calculations can be made using the following formula:

weight (kg) x 30 = number of calories (Kcal)

In this case, as a rule, it is enough to “eat” 500 Kcal more. But we should not forget about the individual characteristics of each athlete. If an ectomorph (prone to thin) does not harm even 1000 Kcal, then for an endomorph (prone to being overweight) more than 500 Kcal is too much, which will make itself felt by the growth of adipose tissue, not muscle. To create a menu, it is important to know the calorie content of a particular product. You can get this information from a special table of BZHU (proteins, fats, carbohydrates). Finding it is not difficult: it is freely available on the Internet.

The diet should be designed in such a way that the average daily intake of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is in the following proportions:

Proteins – 20%-30%;

Fats – 10%-20%;

Carbohydrates – 50%-60%.

If it is difficult to remember this percentage, understand another truth: there should be little fat, protein - no more than 2 grams per 1 kg of weight, and carbohydrates - 2 times more than protein.

What is protein for?

There are two types of protein: plant and animal. Both are necessary for a person, but if we are talking about gaining muscle mass, then it is preferable to increase the consumption of animal protein. It is found in meat, milk, eggs, cottage cheese, and fish. There is a lot of plant protein in nuts, and it is also found in cereals (cereals). However, some athletes do not take it into account when preparing their diet for the simple reason that they usually consume it in small quantities (less than the required norm).

What are the benefits of carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are also divided into two types: simple and complex. The former are found in sweets (chocolate, sweet pastries), are quickly absorbed by the body, but can cause an increase in blood sugar levels and often cause excess weight. They are necessary when you need to quickly recharge your energy (for example, immediately after an intense workout). The latter are found in cereals (buckwheat, rice), are absorbed more slowly, but are a source of energy for a long time. An athlete, however, like everyone else, should limit the consumption of simple carbohydrates and “lean on” complex carbohydrates. Most of your daily carbohydrate intake should be consumed after sleep or exercise, since at these moments the body is especially in need of energy replenishment.

It is important to eat several times a day (5 to 6), and not fast for more than three hours. Get ready for the fact that at first you will have to weigh the product, record all your calculations on paper (calories, quantity of products), but later the need for this will disappear by itself. Bodybuilders will need additional special sports nutrition, for example, carbohydrate-protein mixtures.

Diet for gaining muscle mass for men

How to create a menu for an athlete who has decided to become the owner of a sculpted torso? A beginner may not be able to cope with this task on his own. It’s better not to take risks and seek help from professionals. For those who intend to do everything themselves, we advise you to consume daily:

Meat (500 g);

As for the last ingredient - water - it should be at least 1.5 liters. Without sufficient water consumption, it is unlikely that you will achieve good results. Will a vegetarian or someone on a vegetable diet be able to increase muscle mass? Here opinions differ. Some experts believe that vegetables alone will not help and such a diet should be excluded. Others are confident in the invaluable benefits of vegetables and grains. Rich in fiber and vitamins, they will help achieve the desired effect. There is no consensus on whether men should consume low-fat dairy products or whether they are only suitable for girls who want to lose weight.

You can create the menu yourself or use ready-made “recipes”. There are several options, below is one of them. It is reserved for those who need to consume 3,000 kcal daily.

Breakfast:

Corn porridge with milk (100 grams of dry cereal);

Butter (1 teaspoon);

Fried egg made from 1 egg and 2 whites;

Milk (200 ml);

Whole grain bread toast.

Lunch:

Any nuts (30 grams);

Pear (1 piece);

Sweets (marmalade, marshmallows - no more than 100 grams).

Dinner:

Pearl barley porridge with water (100 grams of dry cereal);

Beef goulash (200 grams);

Vegetable salad (150 grams);

A slice of rye bread.

Afternoon snack:

The same dishes and products as for lunch (in the same quantities), but without bread

Dinner:

Chicken breast (200 grams);

Rice (100 grams);

Canned vegetables (150 grams).

Before bedtime:

Low-fat cottage cheese (150 grams):

A glass of fermented baked milk.

There are fewer people willing to engage in weightlifting, but fitness is quite popular. In both cases, there is a need to increase the volume of muscle cells. And despite the fact that the general rules are the same as for men (fractional meals, training), there are nuances that are worth focusing on.

To gain muscle mass, a girl needs to gain weight, but don’t overdo it: you need to “pump up” the muscles, not the tummy. And if men need to consume 500 Kcal more, then women need 300 Kcal. The ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates should be in the following proportions:

Proteins – 40%;

Carbohydrates – 40%;

Fats - 20%.

You also need to eat 5-6 times a day, with ⅔ of the daily requirement must be eaten before 16:00. Note that men need 2 grams of protein per kilogram of weight daily, women need 1-1.2 grams.

Don’t forget about training, including in the gym. There is no need to be afraid of them. Benching a barbell and working with a kettlebell will not make a girl masculine, since these physical exercises will not increase the level of testosterone (male hormone). They will help highlight the muscles. Some ladies want to increase their breast volume. This is also unlikely to work. A woman, like a man, has pectoral muscles, but her breasts are composed of mammary glands and fatty tissue. This means that increasing the pectoral muscles will not allow you to change the size of your breasts. However, everyone will be able to pump up their buttock muscles. The main thing is not to be lazy. If you don’t have the proper experience, you shouldn’t take risks and try to create a training program for yourself. Trust your health to professionals.

The achieved result will be helped to maintain sports nutrition, carbohydrate-protein shakes or a gainer. They should be drunk 20 minutes before training or in the first 20 minutes after. The finished mixture can be purchased at a specialty store or prepared at home. For this you will need:

Cottage cheese (200 grams);

Milk (150 ml);

Small oatmeal (2 tablespoons).

Mix the ingredients in a blender and get a healthy gainer.

You can create a menu for each day yourself or, again, seek help from a specialist. Below is an example.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with milk (70 grams of dry cereal);

Ginger tea.

Lunch:

Chicken breast (150 grams);

Buckwheat (100 grams of dry cereal);

A fresh vegetable salad;

Glass of water.

Dinner:

Pollock (100 grams);

White rice (100 grams);

Tomato sauce;

Glass of water.

Dinner:

Low-fat cottage cheese (200 grams);

Ladies need to consume more foods than usual to gain muscle mass. If over time, subject to all the conditions described above, the weight does not increase, this can happen for various reasons. One of them is insufficient food intake. He thinks he eats more, but in reality it turns out differently. Another reason is metabolic disorders, hormonal imbalance, which often occurs in women after childbirth. In the latter case, you should contact an endocrinologist. Girls should not confuse losing weight and toning muscles. It is impossible to build up muscles (for example, buttock muscles) and lose weight at the same time. It will increase, but not due to fat deposits.

And proper nutrition will help muscle fibers increase in size, but the body needs time to recover. And for this you need to sleep at least 8 hours a day, eat right and not give yourself too much stress in the gym. This is the only way to create a beautiful body without a drop of excess fat. Otherwise, there is a risk of acquiring a bunch of diseases. One of them is a disease of the nervous system. If you decide to become the owner of a slim, fit figure, do not exhaust yourself with excessive physical activity.

So, increasing muscle mass is a complex process that can bring tangible results only with special knowledge and experience. You can't do it without willpower. Men and women need to adhere to certain principles, but physical activity and nutrition will be somewhat different. If everyone wants to achieve the final goal, everyone can achieve it, but it is important not to overdo it. Be sure to consult with a specialist before monitoring this process yourself. Your reward will be the envious glances of passers-by. But you just need to take it and do it, but do it right. Remember the main rule - do no harm.

This article will show you how to easily plan muscle-building meals for men, coordinate your diet and workouts, and how much protein, carbs, and fat you need based on your body weight.

Diet is almost the most important component of muscle growth. Of course, there are many other important factors to consider, but none are as important as proper diet and meal planning. You can have the perfect workout, but without the right fuel for muscle growth, progress will be minimal.

Most people just starting out in the world of weight training and muscle building are often confused by the information they are bombarded with from magazines, in the gym, and on the Internet. In this article I will try to present everything as simply as possible. Proper nutrition when gaining muscle mass for men and good diet planning is a task that every man can do.

So, let's start with the fact that I will show you the 3 main components of a good diet - this is a diet for gaining muscle mass, and I will tell you what role they play in it.

1. Protein

Oh, squirrel, what would we do without him? Well, they certainly wouldn’t have grown. Apart from water, our body contains most of it. Protein is responsible for the growth, repair and maintenance of muscle tissue. Protein is also the body's second energy resource after carbohydrates. Simply put, without protein we would shrink to skin and bones. When it comes to gaining muscle gains, the body needs increased amounts of protein in order to repair muscle fibers that have been destroyed in the gym.

Very easy to determine using our calculator

2. Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for our body. There are two types of carbohydrates: simple and complex. The simple one can be found in foods such as sugar and fruit, and it will give you an instant boost of energy by raising blood sugar. Complex or complex ones are found in whole grain products such as brown bread, rice and potatoes. Complex carbohydrates are important because they provide the body with slow-burning energy sources needed for tough workouts. If you don't have enough complex carbohydrates in your muscle building diet, your body will use an alternative source of energy, namely protein (which we don't want!).

3. Fats

Fats are also a vital part of your diet, but they need to be consumed in the right quantities. The most important fact you need to know about fats is that there are two types. First of all: “good” fats exist! They are found in foods such as olive oil, fish and nuts. But there are also “bad” fats. These are saturated and trans fats. They are found in meat, eggs and vegetable oil. You should try to reduce the amount of fat in your diet and focus on consuming enough healthy fats.

So now you know what the main 3 components of a muscle building diet should consist of, next let's take a look at how much and what you need to eat for optimal muscle growth. Before we continue, there are a few things to note.

First: it is best to calculate the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat you need based on your body weight. I will use a 200-pound person as an example for this article.

Second: the numbers we get are a guideline for the case when your goal is muscle growth. In all of my articles, I say that the best results come from experimenting with what works best for you and your body type.

Basic amounts of proteins, fats and carbohydrates

Like many other aspects of muscle hypertrophy, these numbers are debatable. Some people agree with them, others don't, but they can be used as a guide, and it worked for me. So, the basic amount you need to aim for on a daily basis is:

• Proteins: 1.5 - 2.5 grams per kilogram of body weight
• Carbohydrates: 5.5 grams per kilogram of body weight
• Fat: 0.5 grams per kilogram of body weight

So let's turn to my 200 pound man who wants to build muscle. Using the numbers above, he needs to eat 135-225 grams of protein, 500 grams of carbohydrates and 50 grams of fat per day.

What does this mean in terms of calories?

Here's what the grams to calories conversion looks like for protein, carbs, and fat.

• Protein - 4 calories per gram
• Carbohydrates - 4 calories per gram
• Fat - 9 calories per gram

So, going back to our 200 pound person, he needs to consume 3,350 calories per day. This figure can be used as a starting point for a person of his size to develop a menu for the month and gain weight.

How many times a day and at what time should you eat?

The frequency and timing of meals are as important as what to eat. It is important to break out of the captivity of the stereotype called “3 meals a day.” It is preferable to eat 4-7 times a day at intervals of 3 to 4 hours. I know that for most people this is quite difficult due to work, study, etc., but you should try to eat often and in small portions if possible. If the king of bodybuilding, Ronnie Coleman, can work out a full-time job and still stick to a bulking diet, then so can you!

Ideally, each meal should contain a certain amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates. It's easy to figure out how much of what should be in each of them. Simply take the total number and divide by the number of meals you plan to eat during the day. Let's say my 90 pound man eats 6 times a day. Each meal should contain about 33-50 grams of protein, 80-85 grams of carbohydrates and 8 grams of fat.

You should try to eat 1 time 1 hour before training (to have energy for exercise) and 1 time after training (nutrients for muscle recovery).

For guys with a thin build

If you are naturally thin and have a fast metabolism, I would recommend adding carbohydrates to your diet for more calories and increasing the amount of high-calorie foods in your diet.

Find out more about this and make your muscles grow.

I am a real hard gainer, with natural thinness and a reactive metabolism. While this has its benefits (like burning fat), it also means I need to eat more calories to gain weight. Read the article about, there is a lot of useful information on the topic. If you have the same body type, you need to literally eat as many carbs as you can.

Easy, isn't it?

That's all, actually. This is the easiest way to plan a diet to gain weight. There are many other aspects of diet and meal planning (such as sports supplements), but I did not touch on them in this article, but tried to address the simplest things.

Weekly Budget Meal Plan for Muscle Growth

In order to afford a nutritious and tasty diet for building muscle mass, you do not need to have an income like an oligarch. This seven-day plan provides you with the protein you need for muscle growth, the carbs you need to power through your toughest workouts, and the fats and vegetables for optimal health, all on a budget. Instead of slabs of expensive ribeye and chicken breast, it features pork steaks, chicken thighs and turkey burgers, which have all the same things, but are much cheaper. Here are three more tips that can help you get more for less.

1. Buy groceries for the week

If you buy food for the week ahead, you save time, and in some supermarkets you can get food at wholesale prices with a discount. Instead of buying the necessary groceries every night on the way home, buying a batch of chicken thighs, canned tuna and nut butters can cut your costs by almost half. Try to buy all this on the weekend so that you can immediately unpack everything and put it on the shelves without cluttering the refrigerator.

2. Prepare meals for the whole day, or better yet, for a week.

Now you have the ingredients, which means it’s time to start cooking. Take one day and prepare enough meals to last you a week. Stews, casseroles and burgers can easily be portioned into meal portions and defrosted as needed, saving you time at the stove after a hard day at work. The main thing is not to eat everything at once.

3. Better frozen than fresh

Stock up on frozen fruits and vegetables in your freezer. The freezing process preserves all the essential nutrients and flavor, and frozen foods tend to be cheaper than fresh—plus they obviously last much longer. Frozen berries are good to add to porridge and smoothies. Take them out in the evening to eat at breakfast, defrost them in the microwave at low temperature, or you can also pour boiling water over them, add fresh lime and a teaspoon of honey and make a delicious compote for oatmeal at home.

Now let's look at the diet for rapid muscle growth.

Diet for muscle growth for 7 days

Monday

• Breakfast - Boiled eggs with spinach garnish
• Lunch - Whole grain pita with tuna, red onion and tomatoes
• Snack - Greek yogurt with frozen berries
• Dinner - Steamed salmon, broccoli and sweet potatoes

Tuesday

• Breakfast - Oatmeal with milk and banana slices
• Lunch - Thai coconut milk curry with shrimp, frozen peas, corn and brown rice.
• Snack - Liver with onions
• Dinner - Grilled pork steaks with chopped tomato sauce, spinach and green beans

Wednesday

• Breakfast - Smoothie with milk, frozen berries, Greek yogurt, honey, peanut butter and whey protein
• Lunch - Mackerel with tomatoes, onions, zucchini and carrot salad
• Dinner - Chili with beans, brown rice and green beans
• Snack - Chocolate milk

Thursday

• Breakfast - Grilled sausages and three-egg scrambled eggs
• Snack - Peanut butter, pita, apple
• Lunch - Leftover chili with sweet potato puree
• Dinner - Chicken thighs fried with garlic puree, lentils and zucchini ratatouille

Friday

• Breakfast - Three egg omelet with mushrooms, leftover chicken
• Lunch - Pita with salmon and cottage cheese
• Snack - Carrot sticks (or hummus)
• Dinner - Stew with mushrooms, broccoli and cabbage

Saturday

• Breakfast - Porridge with banana puree, apple, honey and berries, sprinkled with almond crumbs
• Lunch - Ham, brown rice, peas and corn
• Snack - Cottage cheese and pita
• Dinner - Shrimp and mussel pie with sweet potato, kale and green bean puree

Sunday

• Breakfast - Sausages, broccoli and frittata
• Snack - Peanuts and apples
• Lunch - Turkey burgers (ground turkey and chopped onions)
• Dinner - Slow-cooked lamb neck, roasted sweet potatoes, carrots and peas

Mass-gaining nutrition for skinny guys

This nutrition plan is designed for men who want to gain muscle mass. Pay attention to this one, which is good for skinny guys.

Nutritional value: 3000 calories, 300 g carbohydrates, 225 g protein, 100 g fat

Gaining additional muscle requires a diet rich in carbohydrates, and therefore calories. However, you should not rush to fast food under the pretext that you are gaining weight.

Let's take Miles Teller as an example. While preparing for the film The Devil of Pasman, in which he plays the fearsome Vinnie Pazienza, nicknamed "The Devil of Pasman", the actor gorged on chicken, avocado, spinach and tomatoes, while his breakfast remained the same: "Protein powder, ice, water, a little almond milk and frozen fruit, literally 10 blueberries," he said in an interview with Men's Fitness.

For clean bulking, you need plenty of high-quality, nutrient-dense carbohydrates, which are especially beneficial to your body immediately before and after your workouts. Note that this plan is designed for a person who trains in the evenings. If you prefer morning workouts, modify it to eat high-starch meals immediately before and after your workout, and try to avoid them later in the day.

If you want to stay healthy and energetic, this plan is just for you. It's fairly low in carbohydrates and very high in protein, with an emphasis on foods rich in antioxidants to improve blood vessel health and avoid inflammation, two factors that accelerate the rate of aging of every cell in the body.

Example power mode:

• Dish 1: Contains starchy carbohydrates
• Dish 2: Almost no carbs
• Meal 3: Almost no carbs
• Meal 4 (post-workout): Contains starchy carbohydrates
• Dish 5: Contains starchy carbohydrates
• Dish 6: Contains starchy carbohydrates

Examples of dishes and menus

Dish 1: Scrambled eggs with cheese and shallots

• 3 omega-3 eggs
• 4 egg whites (for variety, substitute 2 slices turkey bacon, 2 small chicken sausages, 2 slices Canadian bacon, or ¼ cup canned salmon)
• ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 shallots, chopped (can substitute 2 tablespoons salsa, ¼ cup regular onion, or 2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes)
• 2 slices Ezekiel bread (can substitute 1 multigrain English muffin, 3 small corn tortillas, 1 large wheat tortilla, and 1/3 cup rolled oats)
• 1 small apple (can be replaced with 2 kiwis, 1 small banana or 1 cup raspberries)

Dish 2: Blueberry and almond smoothie

• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1 cup blueberries (can substitute ¾ cup frozen mango chunks)
• 20 grams of almonds (can be replaced with 30 grams of cashews)
• 1 cup vanilla almond milk (can substitute coconut vanilla milk)
• 1 cup water
• 3-4 ice cubes

Dish 3: Grilled steak with tomato and bean salad

• 200 gram steak (can be replaced with 200 gram salmon fillet, 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 200 gram trout)
• 1 chopped tomato
• ½ chopped cucumber
• 1 cup chickpeas (can substitute 1 cup black, red, or white beans)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Meal 4: Post-Workout Meal

Recovery Shake, 50g Carbs + 25g Protein

Dish 5: Roasted Chicken with Quinoa Salad

• 200 grams boneless, skinless chicken breast (can be replaced with 200 grams pork tenderloin, 150 grams buffalo ribeye or 150 grams beef from the top of the carcass)
• 1/3 cup quinoa (can substitute 1/3 cup couscous, ¼ cup brown rice, or ¼ cup wild rice)
• 2 tablespoons walnuts (can substitute 3 tablespoons crushed almonds, 2 tablespoons crushed pecans, or 2 tablespoons crushed pistachios)
• 2 tablespoons dried cranberries (can substitute ½ cup chopped grapes, 2 tablespoons sweet raisins, or 2 tablespoons unsweetened)

Dish 6: Yam and Parmesan with white fish

• 200 grams of tilapia (can be replaced with 150 grams of tuna, 200 grams of cod or 200 grams of shrimp)
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan
• 2 medium yams (can substitute 1/3 cup amaranth, 1/3 cup wheat germ, or 1/3 cup pearl barley)
• 1 tablespoon oil (can substitute 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, or 1 tablespoon coconut oil)
• 1 cup broccoli florets (can substitute 4 asparagus spears).

4 Week Plan for Guaranteed Muscle Growth

To achieve a more impressive and defined form, both bodybuilders and ordinary people often turn to the same strategy: first eat everything that comes into view, that is, bulk up, and then burn fat or “cut”, reducing the amount calories and making cleaner food choices to let the muscle gains show through. It works, but it takes a long time and can cause long-term damage at the cellular level, making it very difficult to stay fit for long.

However, if your goal is to lose fat and gain muscle, and you're willing to make every calorie count, these two phases can be combined into one super-effective "clean bulker" that will allow you to build muscle while burning fat at the same time to create the body of your dreams.

Bottom line, the recipes in this meal plan are designed to be in a calorie deficit, with ample high-quality protein and moderate amounts of carbohydrates, which combine to burn fat, stimulate the formation of new muscle tissue, and meet the recovery requirements of high-intensity anaerobic exercise. Also, their nutritional value is distributed so that it gradually increases towards the end of the day, this allows you to burn fat in the first half of the day and then direct the bulk of your daily nutrition to muscle growth.

Try sticking with it for six weeks and see for yourself.

Breakfast

Coffee

Start your day with 350 ml of black coffee, which contains only four calories and, according to research published in the Yearbook of Nutrition and Metabolism, initiates thermogenic processes that speed up metabolism. You can drink any coffee; personally, we like French press.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. l. coarse coffee
• 350 ml water

Instructions:

1. Pour coffee into a French press and add water. Close the container (do not stir) and leave for 4 minutes.
2. Gently and slowly lower the plunger, using only your hand weight, until it reaches the bottom. Pour and serve immediately.

Nutritional value: 4 calories; 0g protein; 0g carbohydrates; 0g fat; 0g fiber

Total time: 6 min.

Feel the need to snack in the morning? Human beings were formed in conditions of alternating periods of hunger and feeding. We spent most of our time fasting or eating very lightly during the day, while actively tracking prey and hunting, as well as collecting pasture. In the evening we relaxed and ate most, if not all, of what we managed to get during the day. This pattern matches our natural instincts and social patterns. Essentially, it can be boiled down to the phrase "all or nothing", but if you really can't avoid eating a couple of hours after waking up, here are some options that won't affect your diet: ¼ cup of nuts, a piece of fruit, 200 grams of lean meat, 4 eggs or 2 tbsp. l. natural peanut butter.

Dinner

Salmon and avocado

You can take any fish that is available to you with such a weight calculation to get 45 grams of protein.

Incredibly, 230 grams of salmon will provide the body with more than 45 grams of protein from which it can build muscle, and it also contains heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids that reduce inflammation and speed up recovery.

Ingredients:

• 230 grams salmon (you can also use steak or chicken breast)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
• ½ avocado (or 3 eggs or 1/2 cup almonds, cashews or macadamia nuts)

Instructions:

1. Brush the salmon well with oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste and fry for 5 minutes on each side.
2. Cut the avocado in half and serve.

Nutritional value: 483 calories; 47g protein; 9 g carbohydrates; 29 g fat; 7 g fiber

Total time: 13 min.

Dinner

Pork loin and potatoes

We mixed white rice and potatoes. If you don't like potatoes, use 3-4 cups of white rice, they will provide the necessary carbohydrates. If rice is not your thing, then 700 grams of potatoes will cover your needs.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons rapeseed oil
• 1 ½ red potatoes, cut into cubes
• 1 large sweet potato, cut into cubes
• 230 grams pork loin (can be replaced with bison, chicken or salmon)
• 1 cup white rice
• ½ chopped red pepper
• 2 tbsp. chopped red onion
• 1 cup broccoli
• ½ cup chopped carrots

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 tbsp. l. oil in a non-stick frying pan. Stir in the red and sweet potatoes, add to the pan and stir for about 12 minutes until the mixture turns slightly brown. Clean the pan, add 2 tbsp. oil and fry the pork loin for about 3 minutes on each side.
2. Cook rice according to package directions.
3. Heat 1 tbsp. l. oil in a frying pan. Add the red pepper, onion, broccoli and carrots and stir vigorously for about 10 minutes until the mixture turns a light brown color.

To maximize muscle building quickly, diet is critical.

Your body is a machine that constantly reassembles itself. Any andrologist will confirm this idea. Every minute of every day, it breaks down its own tissues and replaces them with materials that are a combination of the food you eat and the processed substances it extracts from other tissues.

No matter what your social media profile says about your age, your components are significantly younger. Even bones are renewed every 10 years. By these standards, your muscle cells, which are about 15 years old when you read this, are the oldest ones at the party.

Exercise causes protein in muscles to break down and build muscle mass much faster than under normal circumstances. Essentially, when you're training to become even more awesome than you already are, your main goal is to break down protein. But in the end, if you follow a balanced diet, you get more than you spent.

There are several ways to achieve this. The first and easiest: consume more protein than you currently eat. Protein itself is an anabolic steroid. It tends to be deposited in the muscles. The second is to train in such a way as to break down muscle tissue, which will cause it to become stronger and bigger in response.

The combination of a diet rich in high-quality protein and a good strength training program is the oldest, proven, and only way to achieve this goal without the use of pharmaceuticals. And here is your best meal plan for gaining muscle.

Part 1: How much?

A 2007 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that muscle growth increased by 0.2 percent per day in the first 20 days of strength training. This growth exceeds the amount of protein simultaneously broken down in the muscles, although it is quite high.

This explains why a person who is just starting out or returning to the gym after a long break needs more protein than a strength-training veteran who has trained nonstop for years and is at or near his genetic ceiling for strength and size. But it is beginners who pay the least attention to their diet and are most at risk of not getting the protein they need.

How much is needed? This is approximately 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. For a person weighing 80 kg, the daily norm will thus be 130 g.

Part 2: How often

Protein synthesis is the process of taking it from food and turning it into muscle tissue. As Dr. Mike Roussel explains, protein synthesis is like a light bulb. It either works or it doesn't work. At 20-25 grams of high quality protein, it works. Increasing the amount of protein will not increase the reaction, just as the room will not become brighter if you press harder on the switch.

Here's why it's important:

Most of us shift our protein intake towards the end of the day. We typically have a high-carbohydrate, low-protein breakfast (say, a bowl of cereal with milk), a moderate-protein lunch (a turkey sandwich), and a protein-rich dinner, such as a large serving of meat or fish. But a 2014 study in the Journal of Nutrition found that more protein from meals is converted into muscle tissue if the protein is distributed evenly across meals.

In this study, protein synthesis was 25 percent greater in subjects who consumed 30 grams of protein at each of three meals per day, compared with those who consumed the same amount overall, but almost all of it came at dinner.

Thus, for a protein diet to work, you need to consume it equally for breakfast, lunch and dinner: for example, an egg dish is a good start to the day.

A recent study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that subjects consuming at least 20 grams of protein six times a day lost fat and built lean muscle with a low percentage of body fat, with and without exercise. They were given a protein supplement within an hour of waking up and no earlier than two hours before going to bed, and every three hours thereafter.

Perhaps eating six times a day is too much for you. But at least three of your meals should be rich in protein, especially if you're in the early stages of a new training program. Protein synthesis peaks in the first 16 hours after exercise and will remain elevated until 48 hours. Protein breakdown will also be increased within 24 hours.

What this means for you is that every meal matters. If you exercise three or four times a week, your body will be producing new muscle tissue every hour of every day, and at least half that time it will be breaking down that tissue.

Part 3: Before and after training

For consistent gym goers, protein synthesis peaks much earlier—about four hours after exercise—and returns to baseline levels more quickly. This is why the protein you consume immediately before and after your workout is so important.

In a 2012 paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers compiled data from multiple experiments involving protein and strength training. They found that those who used the supplements gained an extra kilogram of muscle over 12 weeks compared to those who did not use them. Thus, they concluded that experienced athletes need pre- and post-workout protein supplements to achieve maximum results.

According to a 2013 study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, the "window of opportunity" when your muscles are most receptive to protein occurs between four and six hours after exercise. Ideally, you need a protein-rich meal two to three hours before your workouts and another one an hour or two after.

For those who train in the morning before breakfast, this window is narrower. According to research from Dietary Protein and Strength Training, when we sleep, protein synthesis slows down by 15 to 30 percent. Therefore, if you exercise before eating, you should eat as quickly as possible after exercise.

Part 4: Best Sources of Protein

Different types of food contain different combinations of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Leucine is the most important of the 20 amino acids for building muscle. To obtain the maximum anabolic effect from food, 2 to 3 g of leucine is enough.

Almost any normal (that is, about the size of your palm) serving of meat or poultry will contain at least 2 grams of leucine. Three eggs, two glasses of milk, a piece of fish or a cup of yogurt will give you 1.5 grams. A cup of cottage cheese or scoop of whey protein (25 grams) will give you approximately 3 grams.

Among plant foods, soy is richest in leucine. There are 2.3 grams of it in a cup of soybeans. Beans and legumes in general are one of the best sources, with 1.2 to 1.4 grams per cup. A quarter cup of nuts or flaxseeds contains about 0.5 grams.

Part 5: Carbohydrates and Fats

If you had read this article ten years ago, it would have told you to consume carbohydrates while avoiding fat during your pre- and post-workout meals. The idea was that carbohydrates before a workout provide an easily accessible source of energy, and after it will help not only restore this energy, but also produce insulin, a hormone responsible for nutrient reserves, in this case, for the delivery of protein to muscle cells. However, fat is digested more slowly and blunts the response of key hormones. All this was based on the assumption that your body is a repeat student, for whom the simpler everything is, the better. In general, your body seems to be telling you: thank you for caring, but no.

Here's what we know today:

1. Those of us whose jobs require us to sit at a desk for long hours when we're not working out don't need carbs before exercise. There are already more than enough of them in reserve.
2. You have plenty of time to replenish your energy reserves during the day, unless you do more than one hard workout per day. Regular meals should handle this just fine.
3. Given this, it will be useful to combine proteins with carbohydrates when eating after a workout, be it food or sports nutrition. This will lead to slightly more protein synthesis, according to research from Dietary Protein and Strength Training.
4. As for fat, it shouldn't bother you anyway. If you're just working out to look better, the total number of calories you consume matters more than the specific composition of the food or how you eat it. You can be lean and muscular on a low-carb or no-fat diet, with different combinations of meals and snacks in between.

Let's sum it up

1. Guys who train for strength and size will get the best results by consuming 1.6 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. This is about 130 grams for a person weighing 80 kg. This overall figure is perhaps the most important factor in your muscle building goal.
2. Protein synthesis is greater if you spread your protein intake across three or more meals instead of eating everything in one sitting. Aim for at least 20 grams of high-quality protein in each dish to help activate the synthesis process.
3. Strength training leads to increased protein synthesis for 48 hours for those who are just starting to train or returning after a long break, or for 24 hours for those who are more experienced, this can be based on a weight gain schedule.

Nutrition for gaining muscle mass - the correct ratio of nutrients for rapid muscle recovery after training and its further increase.

The issue of an attractive figure for men is no less acute than for women. A beautiful, slender body and toned muscles not only attract the attention of the opposite sex, but also indicate a person’s healthy lifestyle. Regardless of where you train, in the gym or at home, when doing intense exercise to develop muscles, you should not underestimate the importance of proper nutrition.

The growth of strength and volume of muscle mass depends on the amount of energy expended and the correct use of “building materials” for its restoration.

Heavy physical exercise promotes increased carbohydrate burning and intensive protein breakdown. As a result, to maintain good health and replenish energy deficits, you need to follow sports nutrition based on the optimal ratio of BJU. If this expense is not compensated, the athlete’s strength will decrease and he will begin to lose weight rapidly.

Let's consider the basic rules that every athlete who wants to increase muscle mass must adhere to.

1. Burn carbohydrates with exercise. Consuming 20% ​​more than your daily calorie intake each day will ensure active muscle growth.
   To minimize the deposition of fat under the skin, take carbohydrate cocktails 2 hours before. before training and after 1.5 hours. after her.
2. Remember the fat-testosterone relationship. Excluding animal triglycerides from an athlete’s menu will inevitably lead to a decrease in the production of male sex hormone, which will negatively affect the development of muscle mass. In addition, a lack of fat reduces the endurance of an athlete by 10% and the performance of an athlete by 12%. It also causes a drop in lactic acid during strength exercises, which is the main sign of ineffective metabolic processes in the body: an increase in the proportion of harmful cholesterol, loss and inability to absorb vitamins and microelements.
   The daily intake of triglycerides for intensive development of muscle mass is 80-100g.
   Exceeding this indicator several times leads to the launch of the mechanism of subcutaneous fat deposition. Therefore, effective nutrition for muscle development prohibits the consumption of excessively fatty foods (salty snacks, chips, margarine, mayonnaise, crackers, smoked meats, spreads).
3. Reduce cardio loads. To maintain endurance and strengthen the heart, it is enough to limit yourself to cycling training or 1-2 jogs per week for 30 minutes each. Neglecting this condition can lead to “burning” of muscles.
4. Reduce the number of repetitions per exercise. The training program for gaining muscle mass is designed for no more than 50 minutes. At the same time, it is important to perform up to 12 repetitions in one exercise. The number of approaches should not exceed 5 times.
5. Balanced nutrition (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, dietary supplements).
   Ideal nutrient ratio for muscle gain:
   • fats (polyunsaturated fatty acids) – 10-20% of the daily diet;
   • carbohydrates (slow or complex) – 50-60%;
   • proteins – 30-35%.

   The lack of the required amount of useful organic substances in the diet leads to the fact that the body has nowhere to get the required amount of energy to build muscles.
   An athlete's daily diet for muscle growth should consist of three full meals and two or three light snacks (fruits, nuts, protein shakes).

6. Not to starve. You need to eat 1.5-2 hours before. before classes, preferably carbohydrate foods and after 1 hour. after physical activity. Otherwise, training on an empty stomach will lead to the body starting to intensively burn protein reserves necessary for muscle growth to replenish energy loss.
   When refreshing yourself, it is important to control the amount of food you eat - do not overeat.
   After training, you cannot remain hungry; you need to nourish your body with foods rich in minerals and vitamins. A banana, nuts, cottage cheese, protein shake, bun with milk, kefir, gainer, protein, sandwich with jam are suitable as a light snack. And after 1.5 hours. you need to eat well, preferably protein foods, to restore and increase muscles, otherwise exhaustion of the body cannot be avoided.
7. Drink plenty of fluids. The daily volume of water consumed during intense training should be 2.5-3 liters. Lack of fluid leads to dehydration, a decrease in muscle strength by 20% and slower muscle growth.
8. Rest. The growth of muscle mass does not occur during periods of intense exercise, but during the rest of the body. Stretching and muscle growth occurs within 3-7 days. During this period, it is worth following a diet and alternating between exercise and rest.
   For beginners, the period of muscle recovery after strength exercises is 72 hours, for trainees – 36 hours.
   Healthy sleep should be at least 8 hours. in a day. It is important to avoid stress, since nervousness leads to an increase in cortisol levels in the body, which causes fat deposits and muscle loss. Failure to comply with the rest and nutrition regime helps to pump up muscles without increasing volume.
9. Change the training program periodically (every two months). For example, introduce new exercises, take additional weight, change the number of repetitions.
10. Go towards your goal. Don't walk around the gym doing nothing. To achieve the desired result, you need to concentrate as much as possible on performing the exercise.

Following the above key rules for gaining lean muscle mass is an effective path to a healthy, pumped-up body.

If you are overweight, it is important to lose excess fat before performing strength training exercises to increase muscle mass. To do this, you need to take a weight loss course. This is due to the fact that, contrary to popular belief, it is physiologically impossible to “pump” fat into muscles. A protein diet will help solve this problem.

The importance of water and proper nutrition for an athlete

The key to rapid muscle recovery after physical activity is proper nutrition. An unbalanced diet reduces the results of your workout to zero. The effectiveness of strength exercises depends on the literacy of the athlete’s menu.

Benefits of proper nutrition:

• rapid muscle growth;
• increased productivity;
• possibility of increasing the load during training;
• more endurance and energy;
• there is no glycogen deficiency in muscle tissue;
• improved concentration;
• constantly keeping the body in good shape;
• elimination of excess fat deposits;
• insurance against burning protein reserves required for muscle development;
• no need to take long breaks between workouts.

A properly designed nutrition program (see in detail) helps to squeeze out maximum energy and strength to perform even the most difficult strength exercises.

Do not underestimate the importance of water during training, since it makes up 75% of the muscles. During sports, an athlete loses a lot of fluid (up to 300 ml in 50 minutes), which leads to dehydration. In order to prevent a violation of the water-salt balance and, as a result, an ineffective workout, it is important to drink a glass of water before starting it, then take a few sips every 10 minutes.

The amount you drink directly depends on the season and the amount of sweat produced. The hotter it is outside and the more sweating, the higher the level of consumption of purified still water should be.

Signs of dehydration:

• headache;
• dizziness;
• fatigue;
• apathy;
• irritability;
• dry mouth;
• chapped lips;
• lack of appetite;
• feeling of thirst.

If at least one of the above symptoms occurs, you should immediately start drinking fluids.

During training, it is allowed to drink freshly squeezed orange juice, diluted with water in a ratio of 50%-50%, or special protein shakes - BCAAs, gainers, which minimize the breakdown of muscle protein, promote energy generation, and speed up the start of the recovery process.

Drug options: MusclePharm Amino 1, BSN Amino X. Immediately after completing the workout, you are allowed to drink milk, green tea, and a protein shake.

Let's consider, using the example of an athletic man weighing 75 kg, the optimal ratio of BJU/calories per day required to increase muscle mass.

Daily calorie intake

For muscle growth, it is important to meet the body's need for the required amount of energy. To do this, you need to calculate your daily calorie intake using the Lyle MacDonald formula or use a specially designed nutrition calculator available on the Internet. In this case, the obtained value should be multiplied by the energy reserve coefficient - 1.2, necessary for muscle development.

Daily calorie intake = Weight, kg * K, kcal/per 1 kg of weight

The K coefficient depends on gender and the intensity of metabolic processes.

In our case, the calculation will look like this:

Daily calorie intake = 75kg * 35kcal = 2625kcal

Taking into account the energy reserve correction factor = 2625 kcal * 1.2 = 3150 kcal

Thus, when performing strength exercises, the diet for muscle development in a man weighing 75 kg should be 3150 kcal. Daily caloric intake in this volume, on average, will provide an increase in muscle mass by 2 kg. per month.

Lack of weight indicates a lack of energy and the need to include an additional 400-500 kcal in the daily diet. If your weight gain exceeds 3 kg in 30 days, you should reduce the amount of calories you eat by 300-400 kcal.

As you can see, an athlete’s nutrition schedule depends on the individual characteristics of the body and is subject to constant analysis and adjustment.

Body weight is taken into account without fat mass. For example, the “clean kilograms” of an athlete with 95 kg and 12% body fat are 95-95 * 0.12 = 83.6 kg.

After determining the calorie content of the daily diet, we will consider the correct ratio of nutritional supplements, which make up a sports nutrition complex for muscle development.

The daily intake of carbohydrates is 5g/kg – 4kcal/g, protein – 2g/kg – 4kcal/g, fat – remaining, 1g/kg – 9kcal/g.

For a man weighing 75 kg:

• proteins – 150g. – 600kcal;
• carbohydrates – 375g. – 1500kcal;
• fats – 115g. – 1050kcal.

Daily protein intake

The most important building material for muscle growth is protein. When doing strength exercises, it is important to ensure that a sufficient amount of protein enters the body every day, based on the calculation of 1.5-2 g/kg of weight. Slow muscle growth indicates a lack of protein, in which case the norm should be increased to 2.5 g/kg.

The athlete's diet should consist of egg whites, cottage cheese with a fat content of 0-9%, fish, lean meats - beef, chicken breast, seafood. You can replenish the required amount of protein in the body of a bodybuilder who does not consume animal products by introducing plant ingredients into the daily menu. Namely, soy milk, legumes (beans, lentils, peas), seeds, nut butters, nuts (almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, cashews, walnuts, pine, Brazilian, coconut, macadamia, pistachios). However, it is important to consider that a vegetarian diet slows down the process of muscle building due to the lack of animal protein in the diet.

To get the maximum effect, you should drink a protein shake immediately after training, since this is when the body absorbs nutrients best.

As a result of intense exercise, micro-tears of muscle tissue often occur; their healing occurs with the participation of amino acids and protein foods.

The optimal solution for rapid muscle gain is a combination of animal and plant proteins.

Despite the fact that the main building material of muscles is protein, its consumption in excess of the calculated norm leads to an increase in fat deposition in the liver, increased excitability of the endocrine glands, the central nervous system, increased decay processes in the intestines, and an increase in the load on the cardiovascular system. Protein in excess amounts will not be absorbed by the body and will not have an effect on muscle growth.

Protein nutrition not only increases muscle volume, reduces fat deposits, but also makes the body of women and men more prominent.

Daily fat intake

Currently, most athletes are wary of triglycerides. However, there is no need to be afraid of fats; if they are consumed correctly (compliance with the daily norm), they do not transform into adipose tissue. On the contrary, they will have a beneficial effect on muscle growth.

Namely, fats take an active part in the production of hormones, which, in turn, are involved in building muscles. For testosterone production, it is important that the daily intake of triglycerides in the body is at least 15% of the total diet.

The following types of fats are distinguished:

• healthy (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated);
• harmful (saturated).

Monounsaturated triglycerides include: avocados, olives, chicken, olive and peanut meat. These products are a storehouse of healthy Omega 9 fatty acids, which speed up metabolism, stabilize blood sugar levels, and protect the heart from the harmful effects of blood pressure fluctuations.

Sources of polyunsaturated triglycerides (Omega-3.6) are: fish oil, cottonseed, soybean, corn, sunflower, flaxseed, rapeseed oil, as well as seeds and nuts. Fatty acids in this category improve the anabolic response of protein and insulin, increase performance, and increase performance, which is especially important during heavy strength exercises.

Sports nutrition while gaining muscle mass excludes the consumption of saturated triglycerides found in butter, palm, coconut, cocoa butter, lard, red meat, and confectionery products.

This is due to the fact that the molecule of harmful fat is completely saturated with hydrogen and contains “bad” cholesterol, which means it can provoke the development of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Therefore, the main sources of healthy triglycerides in an athlete’s menu are fatty fish, vegetable oils, and nuts. It is allowed to include in the diet milk 3.2%, cottage cheese, cheese 9%.

Daily carbohydrate intake

The main source of energy is carbohydrates. Nutrition for gaining muscle mass involves taking 5g daily. organic compounds containing hydroxyl and carbonyl groups per 1 kg of own body weight.

The role of carbohydrates is to increase insulin/hormone levels in the body and help repair tissue after exercise. In addition, they serve to transport nutrients directly to muscle cells.

A lack of carbohydrates in an athlete’s diet causes apathy, weakness, decreased performance, and reluctance to continue training. Muscle development is impossible without consuming carbohydrates.

Depending on the rate of splitting, they are:

• fast (simple), it is preferable to consume them an hour before, immediately after sports, as they are perfect for quickly restoring spent energy reserves;
• slow (complex), they should be eaten 2 hours before physical activity.

Ingredients containing complex organic compounds more than 50g. per 100g: beans, chickpeas, lentils, peas, buckwheat, rice, oatmeal, bread, pasta.

Slow carbohydrates should be included in the daily menu for gaining muscle mass for girls and boys, since they are the main source of energy not only for the muscles, but also for the brain.

Products containing simple organic compounds in moderate quantities - 20g per 100g: all sweet berries, fruits (most in persimmons, bananas, grapes, less in citrus fruits, apples), boiled potatoes, carbonated drinks (lemonade, Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Burn, Schweppes, Pepsi, Fruktime). The latter, in turn, should be avoided, since such drinks do not contain useful substances and do not satisfy hunger.

Products with a minimum carbohydrate content – ​​10g. per 100g: dairy products, fresh vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots). In addition to enriching the body with healthy carbohydrates, they contain everything necessary (vitamins, minerals, fiber) to improve the digestion of food in large quantities.

Thus, in the process of selecting the optimal ratio of BJU, you should, first of all, focus on your own well-being. If during the period of strength training you experience a surge of energy by consuming more carbohydrates than the daily norm “allows”, the amount of fat can be reduced to 0.8 g/kg.

The key to a successful workout is the athlete’s well-being.

If apathy occurs during physical activity, fats should be increased to 2g/kg, and carbohydrates should be reduced in direct proportion. Adjusting your diet to suit your body’s individual characteristics will increase the effectiveness of your stay in the gym.

A rapid gain of muscle mass is possible only if the following conditions are met:

• natural balanced nutrition;
• healthy eight-hour sleep;
• a properly selected set of strength exercises.

Violation of at least one of them leads to a decrease in the effectiveness of training and a slowdown in muscle development.

Building muscle is a long process that requires self-discipline in nutrition. Eating five meals a day every three hours is a reliable way to achieve the desired result.

The best nutrition for an athlete is fractional, it ensures the systematic intake of food into the body in small doses, which helps accelerate synthesis, improve protein absorption, metabolism, having a positive effect on muscle growth.

It is strictly forbidden to skip meals, go hungry or overeat. In the first case, separate nutrition will not bring the desired effect - the muscles will not increase in volume, in the second - it will lead to excess weight gain and the deposition of fat under the skin.

Sample daily menu for an athlete to increase muscle mass

Let's look at options for each meal. Choose any of them, focusing on taste preferences and individual characteristics of the body (ectomorph).

BREAKFAST

1. Banana – 1 pc., black bread – 2 slices, omelette from two egg whites of one whole.
2. Pear – 1 pc., cocoa, oatmeal – 150g, dark chocolate – 30g.
3. Apple – 1 pc., milk, buckwheat porridge – 150g.
4. Yogurt – 100g, rolled oats – 50g, cottage cheese 9% – 100g.

SNACK #1 (pre-workout)

1. Kefir 0% or 1%, cheese – 50g, bread – 2 slices.
2. Black tea, low-fat cottage cheese – 200g, raspberry jam or honey – 4 tsp.
3. Unsweetened oatmeal – 150g, jam – 3 tsp, grapefruit – 1 pc.
4. Apple – 1 pc., nuts (assorted) – 40g, prunes, raisins, dried apricots, prunes – 80g.
5. Banana – 1 pc., protein – 1.5 scoops, rye bread – 3 slices, peanuts – 30g.

DINNER

1. Avocado – 150g. (half), boiled turkey fillet – 100g, unpolished rice – 100g.
2. Beef broth soup – 200ml, dried fruit compote, buckwheat – 100g, chicken – 150g, vegetable salad – 100g.
3. Rice – 100g, milk 1%, turkey 150g or 2 whole eggs.
4. Carrot or orange juice, banana – 1 piece, mashed potatoes – 100g, poultry meat – 150g.
5. Green tea, honey – 2 tsp, vegetable puree soup – 200 ml, fish – 200 g, rice – 100 g, grapes – 200 g.

SNACK #2 (immediately after training)

1. Gainer + nuts – 40g, dark chocolate – 50g.
2. Black tea, raspberry jam or honey - 5 tsp, low-fat cottage cheese - 200g.
3. Banana – 2 pcs., dark chocolate – 50g.
4. Milk, oatmeal – 150g.
5. Pineapple smoothie with chocolate pieces, bread - 2 slices.
6. Apple – 1 pc., egg yolks – 2 pcs., whites – 4 pcs., almonds – 50g.
7. Dried fruits – 100g, nuts – 40g.

DINNER

1. Broccoli – 100g, boiled beef/chicken breast – 200g, rice – 100g.
2. Berry fruit drink, egg whites – 5 pcs, vegetable salad – 150g.
3. Fish – 200g, green tea, orange – 1 pc.
4. Nuts – 50g, raspberry jam – 4 tsp, low-fat cottage cheese – 150g.
5. Buckwheat – 100g, turkey – 200g, vegetable oil – 3 tbsp, cabbage and carrot salad – 100g.
6. Mashed potatoes – 100g, veal – 150g, stewed vegetables – 100g, banana – 1 pc.

The presented variations serve as the basis for creating a menu for the week.

You can make changes to the nutrition plan: replace products with analogues according to BZHU. To supply the athlete with strength, in 1 hour. before the start of training, the menu (snack No. 1) consists of fast and slow carbohydrates. They act as the main sources of energy. At the same time, proteins and saccharides will help replenish wasted energy and ensure muscle growth after exercise (snack No. 2).

If the nutrition when gaining muscle mass is balanced and calculated correctly, the first results can be observed after 3 weeks.

If at the end of this period there is no weight gain, carbohydrate intake should be increased by 50g. after training, at breakfast.

An example of a diet (schedule) for a vegetarian athlete to increase muscle mass

BREAKFAST

1. Green tea, tofu cheese – 100g. bread - 2 slices.
2. Freshly squeezed juice from cucumber, green apple, cabbage, spinach, ginger, celery – 450 ml, protein shake from almond milk (1 glass), banana (1 pc.), soy protein (2 tbsp) – 200 ml.

SNACK #1

1. Carrot casserole or cheesecakes – 150g, mixed nuts – 40g/peanut butter – 1 tbsp.
2. Pumpkin-almond oil - 2 tsp, oatmeal - 150g, tofu - 100g.
3. Protein bar – 1 pc., apple-grapefruit cocktail.

DINNER

1. Vegetable soup – 250ml, stewed zucchini, carrots, broccoli – 100g, soy meat – 150g, tempeh – 100g.
2. Burger with avocado and cheese – 1 pc., cabbage salad with tomatoes – 150g, banana – 1 pc., broccoli and spinach cream soup – 200 ml., almond butter – 2 tsp.
3. Kion rice – 100g, lentil and couscous salad – 100g, seitan – 50g, quinoa seeds – 1 tsp, olive oil – 1 tsp.
4. Pea soup - 200ml, cheese - 100g, buckwheat porridge - 100g, tomato and spinach salad - 100g.

SNACK #2

1. Kefir, pumpkin or sunflower seeds – 80g, fruit jam – 5 tsp, bread – 1 slice.
2. Dried fruits – 100g, peanut butter – 1 tbsp.
3. Protein shake made from banana, almond milk and hemp protein with dark chocolate pieces.

DINNER

1. Flaxseed porridge – 100g, steamed pumpkin-carrot cutlets – 3 pcs, berry smoothie or jelly, cabbage salad, tomatoes, walnuts – 150g.
2. Rice or mashed potatoes with cheese – 100g, boiled broccoli – 150g, avocado – 100g (half), tofu – 50g.

Vegetarian nutrition during the period of gaining muscle mass should be as balanced as possible. Animal proteins (fish, shellfish, eggs, meat) should be replaced with: tempeh, nuts, kefir 0%, low-fat cottage cheese, yogurt 2.5%, Mozzarella, Riccotta cheeses, soy products, tofu, legumes. However, you should not overload your body with protein products. To increase muscle mass, the daily protein intake is 2g/kg, for maintenance – 1.5g.

For vegetarians, the ideal training regimen is intense but short (up to 30 minutes). This is due to the fact that prolonged exercise “uses up” a large supply of protein, which is problematic to accumulate on foods of plant origin.

Age, gender, adaptation, the body’s adaptation to intense strength exercises, poor diet, stress, and nutritional deficiencies lead to slow progress and delay the achievement of the desired result. Special supplements will help speed up the “building up” of muscle, fill gaps in the athlete’s diet and lack of nutrients (minerals, vitamins, dietary supplements, calories, amino acids).

The best basic sports nutrition for intensive muscle growth and health maintenance is glutamine, BCAAs, multivitamins, omega-3. Protein did not fall into this category of fundamental components due to the sugar/lactose content, which should not be consumed during the drying period.

Let's look at the most popular sports supplements, how to choose them and features of use.

1. Glutamine. It is the most abundant nonessential amino acid in muscle. Despite the fact that the human body produces it on its own, additional use of the supplement at night, after training, reduces protein loss, relieves pain, activates the body's protective properties, stimulates the production of growth hormone, promotes fat metabolism, increases glycogen reserves, neutralizes the toxic effects of ammonia, and resists catabolic processes.
   Exercises in the gym aimed at increasing muscle mass increase the need for glutamine by 4.5 times, since during the period of intensive muscle development its amount in the blood drops by 18%.
   An athlete's daily requirement for amino acids is 5-7g. and depends on body weight. For a teenager it does not exceed 3-4 years.
   Natural sources of glutamine: eggs, spinach, parsley, fish, beef, milk, cabbage, legumes. You can compensate for the lack of amino acids by including a sports cocktail in your home diet. Cooking recipe: 10g. Dilute the powder in a glass of water.
   You need to take the glutamine drink three times: on an empty stomach, before bed, after training.
2. BCAA is a group consisting of three essential amino acids: valine, leucine, isoleucine. The primary role of the supplement is to reduce the harmful effects of catabolism, which interferes with muscle growth. In addition, BCAAs are the basis for protein synthesis and energy production. During intense exercise in the gym, the athlete’s body experiences an increased need for this amino acid. A lack of BCAA leads to the fact that the body begins to destroy muscle tissue to make up for its deficiency, which absolutely cannot be allowed.
   Products that contain a complex of valine, leucine, isolecine amino acids - eggs, peanuts, tuna, beef, turkey, chicken, salmon.
   The daily requirement for BCAA for an athlete to gain muscle mass is 10-20g, a single dose should not exceed 4-8g.
   If the above products are not consumed in sufficient quantities (the table of BCAA content, mg per 100 g of ingredient is presented online), the athlete’s body begins to experience a nutrient deficiency. To meet the daily requirement for amino acids, you need to include a sports supplement in your diet. It is optimal to include it in your diet before training and immediately after it.
   To achieve the best effect, BCAA is best combined with gainer, creatine, and protein.
3. Omega-3. Healthy unsaturated fatty acids improve blood circulation and brain function, reduce appetite, speed up metabolism, prevent muscle breakdown, have a general strengthening effect on the body, and have a positive effect on heart function.
   The main sources of omega-3 are tuna (0.5-1.6g per 100g), salmon (1.0-1.4g), mackerel (1.8-5.3g), halibut (0.4-0.9 ), herring (1.2-3.1), trout (0.5-1.6), flax seeds (22.8g), oat germ (1.7g), walnuts (6.8g), beans (0.6g).
   Meals for gaining muscle mass for girls and boys should include 2-3g. unsaturated fatty acids.
   You can add omega 3 by consuming fish oil in 2-6g capsules. per day with food.
4. Gainer is a nutritional supplement for athletes, consisting of 60% carbohydrates and 35% protein. Some manufacturers (Weider, MuscleTech, Dymatize, Ultimate, API, Multipower, Prolab) add trace elements, glutamine, vitamins, creatine to the drink, which nourish the body, compensate for lost energy reserves, increase the anabolic effect, and improve the absorption of the drug.
   With a gainer, the athlete receives an additional amount of “building materials” necessary for muscle growth. It’s easy to prepare a nutritional cocktail from the concentrate: just dilute 100g. powder in 300 ml of liquid (water, milk 0.5% or freshly squeezed orange or apple juice).
   You need to drink the drink in the morning, 30 minutes before and after classes. You can drink a carbohydrate-protein shake at night an hour before bedtime. Budget nutrition for muscle growth consists of the following types of gainers: Super MASS Gainer, Anabolic Muscle Builder, Optimum Serious Mass, Up Your Mass, BSM True-Mass, Weider Mega MASS, which can be used as a partial replacement for your usual food.
5. Creatine is an organic compound that, when introduced into the body, serves as “fuel” for muscle contractions.
   Natural sources of the substance – cod (3g/kg), salmon (4.5g/kg), tuna (4g/kg), pork, beef (4.5-5g/kg), herring (6.5-10g/kg) , milk (0.1g/l), cranberry (0.02g/kg).
   Creatine increases muscle strength and endurance and quickly restores their energy potential. However, for it to affect athletic performance, you need to eat at least 5 kg of meat per day, which is quite problematic. You can saturate the body with an organic compound by taking a dietary supplement before and after training, 5 g.
6. Protein is a fundamental, inexpensive nutrition for intensive muscle growth and has the highest biological value. In addition to essential amino acids, the powder contains reducing impurities and microelements. It inhibits myostatin synthesis, stimulates muscle growth, increases energy production, suppresses catabolism, and burns fat.
   There are the following types of protein: vegetable - soy, animal - casein, whey, egg.
   The rating of the most effective sports supplements is headed by whey protein, which, after entering the body, is quickly absorbed into the gastrointestinal tract, sharply increasing the concentration of amino acids in the blood.
   To achieve maximum effect, your post-workout meal should consist of protein and BCAAs.
   In its natural form in 100g. The product contains protein: meat (25-29g), fish (21-22g), cottage cheese (12g), seafood (21-23g), cheese (23-28g), tofu (17g), lentils (25g), buckwheat (12.6g), egg (6g), chickpeas (19g), a glass of kefir and milk (3g). The daily dose of protein during muscle building is 2 g/kg body weight. A single serving of protein shake is 30g. powder per 250 ml of water, juice, milk.
   You need to drink a protein drink up to 5 times a day: in the morning, 1.5 hours before and immediately after training.

Despite the wide range of dietary supplements available, to gain muscle quickly and safely, it is important to get 50% protein from food sources and 50% from sports supplements.

Often athletes who strive to develop muscles are faced with the problem of how to properly prepare food. Monotony in nutrition is a serious obstacle to the desired result. A diet for muscle growth should contain plenty of protein and complex carbohydrates.

You can diversify an athlete’s diet by introducing the following dishes from permitted products: cottage cheese muffins, cheesecakes, squid salad, protein, pea cream soups, omelette with vegetables, tuna, tofu, banana dessert, almond jelly, yogurt sorbet, veal liver with raspberry sauce, oatmeal pancakes with pineapple, chicken sandwich, diet homemade cheese, seafood in sour cream sauce, grilled salmon, pike perch with horseradish, Italian scallops, shrimp with bell pepper. Recipes for these dishes are presented online on the sports nutrition website http://sportwiki.to.

A balanced diet, a well-chosen set of strength exercises, drinking plenty of fluids, and alternating the “training-rest” regime are fundamental factors, the observance of which leads to a rapid gain of muscle mass.