Professionals in the field of bodybuilding and fitness have long understood a simple truth - training in the gym contributes to progress by only 20%.
The most important role in building a beautiful and strong body is played by the food consumed. Therefore, anyone who is seriously involved in sports and wants to build muscle should not only devote time to visiting the gym, but also their diet.
The main mistake of beginner athletes
Scientists have long established that muscles consist of chains of amino acids, which combine in groups to form proteins, the main component of muscle fibers.
Many people misuse the information they receive and begin to abuse protein products.
However, protein, or protein, accumulates in the kidneys, increasing the risk of kidney inflammation.
Nutrition for gaining muscle mass in men should contain the entire complex of macronutrients.
About the role of food intake
The speed and stability of muscle mass gain is affected by the level of nutrients in the blood. This means that it is necessary to ensure a continuous supply of them to places of damage.
The recovery process should not be interrupted, and if certain elements are deficient, it stops.
Of course, many may think that if you eat more food at one time, more macronutrients will enter the body and ensure normal functioning. But no. The digestive system has a certain resource, exceeding which it simply begins to throw away undigested food.
Even a budget diet for gaining muscle mass will be more beneficial if you distribute meals correctly.
Professional bodybuilders who understand human physiology have long switched to 5 or 8 meals a day. This scheme allows you to divide a ready-made diet for weight gain into several small portions.
Because your body can do its job better when you don't overeat, your body's tissues can get the nutrients they need more easily.
Short breaks in nutrition do not allow nutrients to run out, which makes recovery better.
It is known that Arnold Schwarzenegger's diet for gaining muscle mass during certain periods could be divided into 10 different techniques.
Sports diet: calculating calorie intake
First you need to understand that the amount of energy a person receives from food is measured in calories. Each product has a certain energy value that will have to be taken into account.
You can also use our online calculator to calculate normal calories:
The average person spends about 3 thousand calories per working day on daily activities.
To start gaining weight, it is advisable to increase the number of calories consumed by 15-20%.
Don't have time for extra snacks, or are you running out of food? You can use sports nutrition to gain muscle mass.
Of course, the type of tissue that will accumulate in the body will depend on the composition of the food consumed.
If you get extra calories from sweets or fatty meats, you can soon become obese.
But switching to a strictly protein diet is not advisable. To gain muscle mass, your diet should contain vitamins and microelements.
How to gain weight
To understand the basic mechanism of weight gain, you need to delve into the theory.
Every work performed by a person or a technical device requires energy. In cars it is formed due to the thermal effect of fuel combustion, in the human body everything is the same, only food is the fuel.
An indicator of the amount of energy in a particular product is its calorie content. Every movement a person makes consumes a certain amount of calories.
Studies have found that the average man spends an average of 3000 kcal. This means that if there is insufficient energy reserve in the food received, the individual has to either move less or use up the reserves stored in the body.
A man's weight gain diet should contain at least 3,000 calories.
But an athlete goes to the gym, and a lot of energy is spent there, both physical and emotional.
The restoration of both occurs according to a single mechanism:
- food enters the body;
- breaks down to its elementary components;
- When they oxidize, they release energy to carry out chemical reactions in the body.
Consequently, losses increase. According to the theory, a person should receive at least as much energy per day as he expends.
A training athlete should receive 15-20% more calories than an ordinary person. Excess energy is used to restore damaged tissues and perform work.
What to eat to grow. BJU
The main indicators of any diet, be it weight gain or loss, are the caloric content and composition of the main macronutrients, such as:
- proteins;
- fats;
- carbohydrates.
To abbreviate, it is customary to use the abbreviation BZHU, after which the amount of each component is indicated in percentage terms.
The accumulated experience in the field of sports nutrition has allowed professionals to derive the average figure for each element for an ordinary person.
Thus, an athlete is recommended to consume 30-35% fat (preferably vegetable or fish), 50-60% slow carbohydrates (cereals), the rest should be obtained from protein.
By following the presented diet and devoting time to training, the athlete will begin to gain weight slowly. Don't be surprised that you will gain more fat. Muscles grow much slower if you don't gain fat.
To get rid of excess fat, you will then have to change your diet. The nutrition menu for gaining muscle mass for girls is not much different from that for men.
But given the specifics of their build, it is undesirable to greatly increase the amount of fat and carbohydrates.
How much protein do you need?
If you translate the given value into numbers, then a program to increase muscle mass should contain at least 120 g of protein.
This amount of protein in the diet will provide the training body with material for construction and recovery.
You can increase the intensity of your training, the speed of recovery and the results obtained by paying attention to the carbohydrates you consume.
Foods containing large amounts of fast carbohydrates (sugar, fructose) can provide a large amount of energy quickly, but in the long term they are not effective.
It is better to increase the consumption of foods containing slow carbohydrates (cereals, starch, plant foods).
They are digested and absorbed more slowly, but the blood sugar level rises to a certain level and lasts for a long time. Therefore, the body receives energy to perform activities and recover longer.
What to look for
The optimal ratio of BZHU can be achieved even with a modest budget.
To increase the effectiveness of the diet, you need to take into account human functions, which can vary greatly depending on the time of day.
Need to consider:
Breakfast. After a long night, during which the muscles spent nutrients on tissue repair, it will be good to replenish the fuel deficit. At this time, you can allow yourself some fast carbohydrates, which will instantly raise your blood sugar levels.
But we also shouldn’t forget about porridge, which will give you strength for the whole day. It is also advisable to eat something protein, the best option would be one or two boiled eggs.
Dinner. At this time, a person begins to work to the fullest. To prevent energy or macronutrient deficiencies, you need to eat a large meal.
It is advisable to consume slow carbohydrates and proteins. A good piece of boiled chicken with cereal and salad will provide the body with everything it needs.
Snacks. The longer your blood sugar stays at the same level and doesn’t fluctuate, the better.
Therefore, between lunch and dinner, you can add a little healthy calories. The best sources are nuts and fruits.
Dinner is a special meal. The body is preparing for sleep, during which it will take the necessary elements from the blood for restoration. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure a sufficient number of them.
The best dinner is a good piece of meat, preferably not fatty, with a vegetable salad. You can add some slow carbohydrates to this.
This diet allows the athlete to maintain an optimal ratio of all macronutrients in the body, which will increase the speed and quality of recovery.
How to build your diet according to the recommendations received?
The approximate nutrition plan is clear - more proteins, moderately complex carbohydrates and some unsaturated fats (don't forget about vitamins, microelements and minerals). All that remains is to buy groceries and cook. But not everyone has free time for this. Moreover, not everyone can create their own nutrition plan and often prepare food. Food delivery services were created for such people. One of the best examples is the service of our company General Food.
We have collected recommendations from the best Russian trainers and nutritionists and created balanced nutrition plans. Products are taken only from reliable sources and of the best quality. You can find a meal plan to suit your preferences on our website. We deliver ready-made and delicious meals 2 or 3 times a week (according to the selected diet). We also provide free delivery to all areas of Moscow within the Moscow Ring Road and beyond (up to 5 km)!
Nutrition menu for building muscle mass
To better understand the material provided above, you need to have a rough idea of the products you want to eat.
One day menu:
Breakfast. Oatmeal or other porridge with milk or water. You can add raisins and prunes. Fruits are great for dessert.
Dinner. Boiled chicken meat with buckwheat or rice. It is advisable to add vegetable salad, as this will improve the functioning of the digestive tract.
Snacks. It is best to eat a handful of nuts with fruit from time to time, but not necessarily, you can also have a chocolate bar.
Dinner. Seafood, beef, pork or chicken breast with lentils and vegetables. Protein-rich lentils are an excellent source of plant-based protein and slow-release carbohydrates.
Before bedtime. To prevent your body from starving at night, you can consume 100-200 grams of cottage cheese or a glass of kefir before going to bed.
The casein protein contained in dairy products has a strong intercellular structure, thanks to which it takes longer to digest in the stomach, providing the athlete with amino acids for a long time.
Using the information provided, you can create a weekly nutrition menu for gaining muscle mass, replacing similar foods with similar ones.
What should the food be like?
In addition to energy, the body needs building materials. You can't build bones using fat, so you need to get a variety of nutrients.
The main ones that are usually taken into account when drawing up a diet for weight gain are proteins (the main building material), fats (the source of necessary compounds), carbohydrates (the main source of energy), all together often referred to as BZHU.
A feature of an athlete’s life is constant microdamage to tissues, which, when restored, become stronger. This allows a person to perform more difficult work while gradually increasing strength.
Proteins are used to build new compounds. Proteins obtained from food are digested in the stomach, breaking down, they turn into amino acids, the smallest building blocks of tissue.
With the help of the bloodstream, they are delivered to the rupture sites and reassembled into complete protein chains, but as part of the muscles.
Therefore, an athlete’s diet to gain muscle mass should include a sufficient amount of protein products.
Fats, which are present in most foods, provide the body with vitamins and microelements; hormones and other important components are built from them.
Carbohydrates are the most energy-dense nutrients of all. They are easily broken down in the stomach, increasing the level of glucose in the blood, which is the very energy of a person.
Depending on a person’s constitution, his energy conservation mechanism may work differently. Some people find it difficult to gain weight, while others cannot lose it.
The most optimal set of BZHU is the ratio 30/50/20. This means that the calories entering the body should be distributed as follows: 30% from proteins, 50% from carbohydrates, 20% from fats.
Even a cheap diet for weight gain that follows this rule will give a good effect.
Teenage weight gain
Why do teenagers need a special diet? In young people who have not reached maturity, the body works differently from adults.
Excessive stress should not be placed on the developing bones and cartilage of the spine. Therefore, they are not recommended to perform squats and deadlifts.
In addition, if the bench press technique is incorrect, a large load is placed on the lumbar region, which can lead to disc protrusion. All this does not allow you to strain your muscles to the degree necessary for their mass growth.
However, the immature body has an advantage. The fast recovery rate and good elasticity of the tissues allow you to increase their size due to moderate loads and a stretching complex.
To develop your maximum potential before adulthood, it is enough to balance your baby's nutrition to gain muscle mass.
The ratio of BJU is the same as that of an adult, but more attention needs to be paid to the consumption of plant foods.
