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Archive for the ‘body building’ Category

To build up muscle then you need to do strenuous exercises fairly frequently – there’s no avoiding that. Still to get the best results, you can supplement your training regime through your diet. To build your muscles, you need “muscle fuel” – stores of the right kinds of minerals, proteins and carbohydrates to ensure that your exercises have the maximum effect on your body and to ensure that you’re still capable of exercising again after a big workout.

Here are a few diet and nutrition tips that you can take to get the most efficient muscle growth from your efforts:

Change your eating pattern to several small meals a day

The traditional schedule of two small meals for breakfast and lunch then one big one for dinner is well and good for convenience – yet it’s not so good for weightlifting and building muscle. As you exercise your body’s metabolism will speed up and your nutritional demands can radically change from the sedentary norm. If you stick with the traditional arrangement, then you could lose out on muscle growth and weight loss as your metabolism will slow down and you’ll likely feel very tired in between sessions.

Instead, consider switching to several small meals eaten throughout the day. This will provide your body with a consistent supply of nutrients and keep your metabolic rate at peak levels. If you’re worried about the extra calories this could add to your diet, then keep in mind that to actually put on muscle you don’t want to be cutting down on your food – in fact, you want to be eating at least 500 calories above your daily requirements. Of course, it should be 500 calories of the right foods…

Eat the right type of food

Getting the right balance of nutrition for your target goal is absolutely critical in any exercise regime. To put on muscle, as mentioned you’ll need to eat a larger number of calories to act as “muscle fuel”. Still these calories need to be balanced carefully.

One of the most important steps is to make sure you get enough protein – the basic building material used by your body for muscle tissue. If you’re engaged in intense resistance exercises then you’ll need much more of this to actually turn that effort into muscle growth. As a rough rule of thumb you should eat at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

Then there’s carbohydrates. Often cut out for those exclusively concerned with weight loss, they are vital for strength training. Cut these out and you’ll find yourself seriously flagging when you exercise. Generally speaking you should be eating around two grams of carbohydrates for every single pound of bodyweight.

Last but not least, you’ll need to make sure that your getting the right amount of essential fats in your diet. With all the carbs and protein it may not seem like there’s much room left in your diet, yet without the right kinds of fat you’ll be unable to get the amino acids that are vital in keeping you in-shape and turning your tired muscles into bigger muscles. Only a small amount – less than 30% of your total daily calories - of your diet needs to come from unsaturated fat sources yet without it you’ll get little return on your time in the gym.