Bodybuilding Tips - Supplementation for Optimal Gains in Muscle Mass
Thursday, October 16th, 2008To achieve optimum results from training, it is necessary that you must supply your body with all the correct vitamins and minerals as well as enough of the major components of the diet being proteins, carbohydrates and fats. These are called the ‘macro-nutrients’ of the diet as they are needed in much larger amounts compared to the micro-nutrients’ being the vitamins, minerals and other biological substances which are needed in much smaller amounts in the diet than are the ‘macro-nutrients’, but are found present in different amounts accompanying the macro-nutrients in food.
It is true that most of the micro-nutrients are already present in the foods that make up the macro-nutrients, but hard-training bodybuilders have been shown to require much more than food can provide in terms of the micro-nutrients which are often lost out of foods through cooking. In addition, the stresses of training the body uses up a large amount of the micro-nutrients in growth and repair of body tissues, and extra levels are required at amounts that could not be acquired by food alone, and so are taken via a few pills from a health-food store in the morning, evening, and with meals.
The important question is what to take and when during the day. A good time in the day to take a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement is during the first meal of the day and this meal SHOULD be breakfast. If you are inclined to miss out breakfast then you really are working against yourself in terms of any lean muscle mass gains that you would otherwise make if you did have a good breakfast on a daily basis. After you have been asleep for a good number of hours, on waking up your blood sugar level is low, and the body is at the point where it has to start accessing materials to raise blood sugar levels and this ALSO means that your muscles can be accessed to raise blood sugar i.e. the muscles are being broken down (catabolised) in such a way that is the exact opposite to what we have in mind which is building muscles (anabolism) i.e. BODYBUILDING!
Therefore, it is quite clear that a good breakfast is a very important meal, and along with milk to drink, an egg-white omelette with a couple of yolks only (using about eight or ten egg-whites is a good basis for a great breakfast; for example, you can add complex carbohydrates by having some boiled rice with your omelette, and dont forget that complex carbs are another very important part of breakfast and boost blood sugar levels steadily as they are digested). Don’t make the excuse that a good breakfast takes too long to prepare, because it doesn’t!
Some people may not have much of an appetite at first, but as long as you eat something good for breakfast (even if it’s only a banana), then don’t worry, because your appetite can be your guide, and will probably increase along with gains from your training. Why the appetite increase? Because your body has more muscle tissue to nourish as your training progresses.Many people may benefit greatly from extra vitamin B-complex supplementation, and also extra vitamin C. The B-complex vitamins and vitamin C are water soluble vitamins and so are not stored to any great extent within the body, but are used up quickly in general tissue metabolism and VERY much so when your muscles are growing !!!
So bring on board extra B-complex and C vitamins in the morning and before going to bed, and even before your workout that day. Complement the taking of these vitamins with increased fluid intake especially bottled water along with carbohydrate sports drinks. Optimum hydration is required to flush out waste products from the body tissues.
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