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Nutrition Aimed Towards Muscle Builders

At one time, athletes believed that if you wanted to build up your muscles, you would just have to eat a lot of calories. Body builders were known to eat up to a dozen raw egg yolks and several pounds of meat on a daily basis. In this day in age, we not only know that high-fat, high-protein diets aren’t healthy, but, they don’t promote lean tissue growth. The diet that will give you the highest increase in lean body mass that won’t cause a lot of body fat is still high in calories. However, the recommendations about where these calories should originate from have changed a lot.

Building muscles requires one to have great energy. This is to perform the muscle-building exercises as well as to build the tissue itself. A study has shown that every day an athlete would need about 20 calories per pound of body weight in order to maintain their muscle mass.

Another important factor is getting enough calories. Also, getting the right kinds of calories is just as important. Carbohydrate which is stored in the body as glycogen is the predominant energy source for muscle-building exercises. Depending upon how long you work out as well as how much you work out, the more glycogen your muscles will require. Once your muscles have been depleted of glycogen, you will no longer have any energy to continue the workout/sports activity.

There are different ways to figure out your carbohydrate needs. However, it all comes down to that with 500-600 grams of carbohydrates per day your muscles will stay packed with glycogen. One method is to base your intake of 3.6 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight.

Another strategy that you can use to determine your carbohydrate needs is based on a percentage of total calories. When your total energy intake is less than 4,000 calories per day, by getting 70% of those calories from carbohydrates will ensure the muscle power and endurance that is required to carry out your strength training. If your diet is above 4,000 calories per day, a lower percentage of calories can be obtained from carbohydrates, as long as you take in 500 to 600 grams of carbohydrate.

Protein is the basic building material for muscle tissue. Strength trainers need to consume more protein than the rest of us. In the same study of energy, researchers have found out that during weight lifting, the ones who ate enough calories required about 0.6 grams of protein per pound of body weight on a daily basis to maintain their muscle mass.

Once you have determined your carbohydrate and protein needs the rest of the calories can come from fat. This is less than 30% of your total calories. You need to make sure most of your fats come from unsaturated fats in order to keep your heart healthy.

Water and good hydration is just as critical to strength training as it is with any other sports activity. Your body requires at least 8 (8 oz.) cups of water that is caffeine-free and non-alcoholic. You should drink even more to replace the fluids that are lost during exercise.

Definitely don’t forget the sweating part. Gaining muscles will take determination, a good diet, and a ton of sweat. As long as you stick with it, you will be quite happy with your results until the end.