How to grow muscle faster with good nutrition
Nutrition is AT LEAST as important as any exercise regime in a good bodybuilding program.
Your muscles need the proper nutrients if they are to grow and give you the body you want. Of course good nutrition is important for overall health, which is a nice bonus.
Today I’m going to give you a few pointers on getting the right balance of foods that your growing muscle needs.
First of all, your eating patterns are going to have to change a bit. Rather than two or three larger meals a day, you want to eat smaller meals frequently throughout the day.
The point of this is to increase your metabolism. This will help you burn fat and help your body get into muscle building mode. In fact after 4 hours without food, your body switches into catabolic mode, where you begin to accumulate fat; a biological function of the body from the days of being hunter/gatherers who literally didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.
So instead, you’re going to eat 4-6 meals a day, about three hours apart.
What should I be eating?
Good question. Balance is the key when trying to build muscle. You want protein, carbs AND fat in every meal.
Getting all three at once helps your body make the most of each element and gives you sustained energy without “crashes”. The ratio you should be aiming for is roughly 40% of carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat.
What about calories; don’t those matter?
What you should be looking for in terms of calories is an alternating pattern of low calories (about 2000 for men and 1200 for women) for two weeks followed by higher calories for two weeks (about 2500 for men and 1500 for women).
Doing your calorie intake like this will help you lose fat and build lean muscle mass — just what every bodybuilder desires. (You should send these numbers upwards somewhat if you are doing energy intensive training such as running.)
Are you now thinking, “OK, so what specifically are good things to eat while building muscle?”
You’ll want both complex and simple carbs - while I don’t have enough room here to go into an entire menu plan, here are a few ideas:
Simple Carbs: Fruit is your best bet for simple carbs; whatever fruit you like is fine here. As for complex Carbohydrates: Oatmeal, sweet potatoes, rice, broccoli, spinach
Go for these Proteins: Eggs, skinless turkey or chicken, tuna, very lean beef.
Fats: Stick with the healthy oils such as olive oil, canola oil, fish oils, and flaxseed oil, also natural peanut butter is a good source of protein/fat.
And don’t forget: you need a LOT of water. You need water to keep your body flushed of toxins and to stay hydrated for optimum performance/health.
If you follow everything in this article it will get you started on your way to a nutritious diet for lean muscle building.
About the Author:
Fitness expert Caleb Lee can teach you a lot about building muscle. His website will teach you ways to build muscle fast.
Tags: Exercise
