Basic nutrition after strength training for muscle growth

To achieve con­stant mus­cle growth, you need to work hard in the gym. But weight lift­ing and endurance fit­ness train­ing won’t give you the results you want if you don’t bal­ance your diet. Mus­cle mass grows only if it has enough ener­gy and pro­tein. There­fore, it is so impor­tant not only to cor­rect­ly build an exer­cise pro­gram, but also to deal with the diet. After all, this is one of the main com­po­nents of suc­cess for both begin­ners and expe­ri­enced body­builders.

Principles of Nutrition for Muscle Growth

To stim­u­late the growth of mus­cle mass, you must adhere to the fol­low­ing nutri­tion­al prin­ci­ples.

1. It is nec­es­sary to eat frac­tion­al­ly — 5–6 times a day, every 3–4 hours. Por­tions dur­ing all meals are approx­i­mate­ly equal.
2. High-calo­rie foods should make up to 70% of the total diet. The secret to build­ing mus­cle mass is to eat more calo­ries than you burn.
3. It is nec­es­sary to aban­don quick­ly digestible car­bo­hy­drates and trans fats, drink more water.
4. On the day of strength train­ing, you need to eat 1–2 hours before class. After train­ing, you need to take a meal rich in pro­teins and car­bo­hy­drates for 60–90 min­utes.

It is nec­es­sary to take into account the ath­lete’s soma­to­type — physique and meta­bol­ic rate:

• it is dif­fi­cult for thin ecto­morphs to gain mus­cle mass, they have an accel­er­at­ed metab­o­lism; they need to reduce the amount of fat in the diet, eat more “com­plex” car­bo­hy­drates, and pro­tein — at the rate of 3 g per 1 kg of their own weight;
• meso­morphs — peo­ple with a nor­mal physique who can eas­i­ly achieve mus­cle growth — can con­sume any car­bo­hy­drates and pro­tein in the amount of 2–3 g per 1 kg of weight;
• endo­morphs prone to full­ness with inhib­it­ed metab­o­lism gain mus­cle mass eas­i­ly, but it is dif­fi­cult to burn deposits of sub­cu­ta­neous fat. There­fore, they should focus on pro­tein foods, as well as sports nutri­tion, except for gain­ers.

When and what to eat after fitness training

Mus­cle fibers are dam­aged dur­ing strength train­ing. Restora­tion of mus­cle tis­sue and caus­es an increase in its vol­ume. The more intense the exer­cise, the more mus­cle growth it can cause. But you need pro­tein to build mus­cle.

In addi­tion, strength fit­ness train­ing is accom­pa­nied by enor­mous ener­gy costs. If they are not replen­ished, the body will begin to use inter­nal resources — pro­tein from the mus­cles. There­fore, it is nec­es­sary to com­pen­sate for the lack of ener­gy and pro­tein by eat­ing with­in 60–90 min­utes after exer­cise.

Food should con­tain all macronu­tri­ents:

• pro­teins nec­es­sary for build­ing mus­cles, metab­o­lism, strength­en­ing immu­ni­ty;
• car­bo­hy­drates — a source of ener­gy, as well as the basis for the con­struc­tion of RNA, DNA and ATP, a means of equal­iz­ing osmot­ic pres­sure in cells;
• fats used by the body to gen­er­ate ener­gy, pro­tect against hypother­mia, and nor­mal­ize meta­bol­ic process­es.

Pro­teins are found in eggs, lean meats, fish, dairy prod­ucts, beans, and nuts. Com­plex car­bo­hy­drates are rich in cere­als, durum wheat pas­ta, fresh veg­eta­bles, berries, unsweet­ened fruits. Fats are sat­u­rat­ed with cold-pressed olive oil, avo­ca­dos, red fish, nuts.

If you exer­cise in the morn­ing, you should eat more high-calo­rie foods after class. After evening work­outs, you can lim­it your­self to pro­tein foods, and for high-inten­si­ty loads, you can also add “com­plex” car­bo­hy­drates. In order for the num­ber of incom­ing calo­ries to exceed the amount of ener­gy expend­ed, you need to eat short­ly before bed­time.

Late din­ner should be com­posed of foods rich in pro­teins, which are slow­ly digest­ed. It is bet­ter to refuse fats and car­bo­hy­drates. The ide­al option is 100–150 g of fat-free cot­tage cheese. Casein in its com­po­si­tion is absorbed for a long time and sup­plies ener­gy to the body for 5 hours. At this time, there is a restora­tion and growth of mus­cles.

You need to drink through­out the day. It is best if it is ordi­nary water. You can also drink green tea with­out sug­ar. The amount of water nec­es­sary for the nor­mal func­tion­ing of the body indi­vid­u­al­ly. You should focus on the feel­ing of thirst. The main thing is to avoid dehy­dra­tion dur­ing and after train­ing.

TOP 10 Muscle Building Foods

Experts iden­ti­fy foods that can accel­er­ate mus­cle gain if you eat them after fit­ness.

Besides the fact that it con­tains a large amount of pro­tein, it con­tains vit­a­mins of groups B, C and PP. Cot­tage cheese has a ben­e­fi­cial effect on the ner­vous sys­tem, increas­es bone strength, and helps pre­vent the devel­op­ment of ath­er­o­scle­ro­sis and obe­si­ty.

Con­tains pro­teins and healthy fats. They are a source of vit­a­mins, iron, phos­pho­rus, which help mus­cle recov­ery.

A source of high­ly digestible pro­tein and impor­tant micronu­tri­ents. Mag­ne­sium con­tained in meat sta­bi­lizes the ner­vous sys­tem and helps to avoid fatigue. The dis­ad­van­tage of eat­ing with white poul­try meat for gain­ing weight is low calo­rie con­tent.

• Fat­ty fish — salmon, mack­er­el, sar­dines.

A source of omega‑3 polyun­sat­u­rat­ed fat­ty acids, indis­pens­able for mus­cle recov­ery. This prod­uct starts the syn­the­sis of its own pro­tein in the body.

• Whey cheese — ricot­ta.

It con­tains a large amount of casein and albu­min. Cheese pro­motes rapid mus­cle growth, strength­ens bones and increas­es endurance.

• Whole wheat bread.

Slow car­bo­hy­drates in its com­po­si­tion are a source of ener­gy for the body.

• Baked pota­to.

A small amount of this prod­uct after train­ing con­tributes to the rapid replen­ish­ment of ener­gy.

Con­tains amino acids, impor­tant trace ele­ments, B vit­a­mins. Quinoa pro­tein is sim­i­lar in com­po­si­tion to milk. You can replace this grain with buck­wheat.

This drink con­tains antiox­i­dants, helps to quick­ly recov­er from work­outs, evens out blood pres­sure. It has anti-inflam­ma­to­ry prop­er­ties, increas­es effi­cien­cy.

• Mate, or Paraguayan tea.

It is known for its ton­ic prop­er­ties. Mate con­tains caf­feine, which, in com­bi­na­tion with cre­a­tine, helps to increase mus­cle mass and reduce sub­cu­ta­neous fat.

Sports nutrition and strength exercises

Mod­ern research has proven the effec­tive­ness and safe­ty of nutri­tion­al sup­ple­ments for those who seek to build mus­cle mass.

1. Pro­tein is pro­tein in a rapid­ly digestible form. It con­tains the opti­mal set of amino acids. The most pop­u­lar among body­builders is whey pro­tein in the form of a cock­tail. It is rec­om­mend­ed to take 20–30 g of pro­tein imme­di­ate­ly after the ses­sion.
2. A gain­er is a pro­tein-car­bo­hy­drate mix­ture tak­en imme­di­ate­ly after a work­out.
3. Cre­a­tine mono­hy­drate — pro­vides ener­gy metab­o­lism in the mus­cles. It can be tak­en in its pure form — 3–4 g with a gain­er, pro­tein or with 2 g of argi­nine.
4. BCAAs are a com­plex of amino acids that help restore mus­cles, increase their strength and reduce body fat. It is tak­en dur­ing train­ing or imme­di­ate­ly after it.
5. Vit­a­min-min­er­al com­plex­es help to replen­ish the reserves of essen­tial trace ele­ments.

It is impor­tant to remem­ber that sports nutri­tion can­not replace a full meal. This is just a use­ful addi­tion to the usu­al diet.