6 Pack Abdominals

Posts Tagged ‘muscle building nutrition’

  

Holding down two jobs, meetings to get too, kids to pick up from school and so on there are so many distractions, pressures and time constraints that if we are not careful can only lead to one thing… not sufficient time to organise your meals. As far as getting correct nutrition for your diet goes this is one of the biggest crimes possible. The main reason is that it can lead to eating junk fast food.

Fast food is exactly what you don’t want to eat to build muscle up. Too much fat and very little nutrient value combined with little in the way of decent energy providing nutrition. So, how with all of these time constraints and pressures and if we cannot avoid going to fast food restaurants can we actually eat properly for correct muscle building nutrition?

Here are a few golden rules for eating at fast food restaurants in order to build muscle up:

Avoid the apparently good value for money drink and fries. A simple portion of medium sized fries will stuff your body full of around 200 calories including around 400 calories with around 20 grams of fat and the drink will provide you with around 200 calories with heaps of sugary content!

Always select the grilled option. You can save about 80 calories that come mostly from fat by consuming a McDonald’s grilled chicken sandwich rather than a premium crispy chicken. A simple selection choice but often not stuck to.

Ensure that you don’t have a dessert unless you really have to. Go for the kiddies size if you really have to have one of the many sugary snacks available.

Make sure you limit you use of the sauces. A good deal of these are extremely high in fat content with not much muscle building nutrition. You know the things I am talking about, those tiny packets of different sauces such as tartar sauce and mayonnaise. Do yourself a favour and give them a miss.

If a fast food joint really is the only option then what can I eat?

If you want to build muscle food that you could eat at McDonalds would be:

For the main meal a Premium Grilled Chicken Sandwich would provide 420 calories, 10 grams of fat, 51g carbs and 32g protein. A Honey Mustard grilled Snack Wrap would gibe your body 260 calories, 9g fat, 27g carbs and 18g of protein. The Asian Salad Grilled Chicken would give you 390 calories, 12.5g fat, 38g carbs, 33g protein with the low fat Sesame Ginger Dressing. Probably the premium option would be the Caesar Salad Grilled Chicken that, yields 220 calories, 6g fat, 12g carbs and 30g of protein.

If you are on of those lucky people living in Australia then your choices may well be:
A Lean Beef Burger: 250 calories, 8g fat, 25g carbs, 18g protein or a Herb Fusion Chicken Salad: 100 calories, 2g fat, 3g carbs 20g protein.

A fairly good muscle building nutrition would be 300 calories, 12 grams of fat, 30g carbs and 18 grams of protein. Possibly a Sausage Burrito including 300 calories, 16g fat, 26g carbs, 12grams of protein or If you are looking for just a snack then how about the Fruit ‘n Yogurt Parfait which beaks down into 160 calories, 2g fat, 31g carbs, 4g protein.

I hope you can see how you can get a fairly decent muscle building snack even at a fast food restaurant. Of course it would be better to allocate some time for planning decent meals throughout the week but if you can’t do this then the above selections should be a good guide and on some level help you burn the fat feed the muscle.

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Holding down two jobs, meetings to get too, kids to pick up from school and so on there are so many distractions, pressures and time constraints that if we are not careful can only lead to one thing… {not enough time to plan and organise your meals}. As regards muscle building nutrition then this is the ultimate crime. The main reason is because it leads to eating fast food.

Fast food is exactly what you don’t want to eat to build muscle up. Too much fat content that contains very little fat content mixed with very little in the way of quality energy. So, if it is not possible to avoid fast food restaurants then what can we eat for decent muscle building nutrition?

Here are a few golden rules for eating at fast food restaurants in order to build muscle up:

Avoid the apparently good value for money drink and fries. A portion of medium fries can get up to as much as 400 calories with around 20 grams of fat and the drink we are looking at around 200 calories with bags of sugary content!

make sure you always choose the grilled option. You can save around 80 calories coming mostly from fat by eating a McDonald’s grilled chicken sandwich as opposed to a premium crispy chicken. A simple choice but often overlooked.

Skip the dessert if at all possible. There are so many sugary delights in store for you at fast food joints but if you really must try them go for the kiddies size.

Make sure you limit you use of the sauces. Many of these have very little muscle building nutrition that are high in fat content. I’m sure you know the little packages of sauce that I am talking about, tartar sauce, may and such like. Look over these if at all possible.

If a fast food joint really is the only option then what can I eat?

If you want to build muscle food that you could eat at McDonalds would be:

For the bulk of your dinner/lunch a Premium Grilled Chicken Sandwich will yield you with 420 calories, 10 grams of fat, 51grams of carbohydrates and 32 grams of protein. A Honey Mustard Snack Wrap (Grilled) would yield 260 calories, 9g fat, 27g carbs and 18g of protein. The Asian Salad Grilled Chicken would give you 390 calories, 12.5g fat, 38g carbs, 33g protein with the low fat Sesame Ginger Dressing. Probably the best option is the Caesar Salad Grilled Chicken that provides 220 calories, 6g fat, 12g carbs and 30g of protein.

If your in the land down under (Australia) the choices might look like this:
A Beef Burger: 250 calories, 8g fat, 25g carbs, 18g protein or a Herb Fusion Chicken Salad: 100 calories, 2g fat, 3g carbs 20g protein.

A decent breakfast selection would be: 12 grams of fat, 300 calories, 30g carbs and 18 grams of protein. Possibly a Sausage Burrito including 300 calories, 16g fat, 26g carbs, 12grams of protein or If you are looking for just a snack then how about the Fruit ‘n Yogurt Parfait which beaks down into 160 calories, 2g fat, 31g carbs, 4g protein.

I hope you can see how you can get a fairly decent muscle building snack even at a fast food restaurant. Of course it would be better to allocate some time for planning decent meals throughout the week but if you can’t do this then the above selections should be a good guide and on some level help you burn the fat feed the muscle.

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We hear loads of advice and guidance on what to do to build up muscle but much of it is conflicting. For that reason we are going to clear up a few things right now about what not to do to build up muscles. Here we go, 7 things not to do when trying to build muscle up:

1) Train for more than 45 minutes. training longer than this can actually inhibit muscle gains because at this point a hormone is produced that limits the muscle building process, train for less than 45 minutes and the hormones level is about correct for building muscle.

2) Follow a ’see food’ diet. Often you hear that you should just eat as much as everything as you can. Well of course we need extra calories to add muscle mass but do you really believe that stuffing yourself full of E numbers, fatty red meats, fast food, simple carbs (sugars) and so on is going to be healthy for you long term. Of course not stay with the nutritious muscle building foods and these will then make sure that you develop lean muscle mass and prevent your body suffering long term health problems.

3) Isolation muscle building exercises. That refers to exercises such as tricep presses that place focus on one individual muscle alone. Your time and energy could be put to use a lot better. Stay with compound multi joint exercises such as squats, pull ups,presses and so on. These exercises stimulate muscle growth in more than just one muscle at a time.

4) Do not ignore aerobic exercise. I’m sure you have heard that you should avoid aerobic stuff as it uses up valuable calories that could be used for burning muscle. yes this is true but come on there is a sensible balance here. Sure get big but do you want to be huge and not be able to walk up a few flights of stairs without panting. In order to preserve long term health then do aerobic exercise 2-3 times a week and simply make up for this by eating more.

5) Switch exercises a lot. You may know that variety keeps the muscles growing, that is true but at the same time not allowing your muscle to establish an exercise groovecan also stop you from making the progress you otherwise could do. Stick with an exercise for a couple of months before dropping it.

6) Lift too often. Over training is probably the biggest cause for lack of progress. One to two workouts a week for each muscle group should sufficient fro most people.

7) Give up. Too many bodybuilders quit just because there muscle growth eases up a bit. This is the exact time when you should be rising to the challenge and training with more intensity, paying attention to muscle building nutrition and showing determination.

Go get massive!

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A typical dilemma for any active sportsmen who lifts weights and wants to gain muscle mass is that they know there goal to build muscle up conflicts with the fact that they do a lot of cardio-vascular work. How can someone like this build muscle fastest whilst still doing cardio, indeed is it even possible?

Quite often it is suggested that in order to build muscles fastest you have to keep cardio training down to as limited an amount as possible. This is said because cardio workouts do two main things that work against muscle building, they are: 1) use up a lot of calories 2) increase the speed of your metabolism. Both of these two things contribute to the same problem, namely, not getting enough calories on board. How many calories ought I to be eating is therefore the next natural question?

Well, to maintain weight each day you must eat enough calories to cover the energy expenditures of your body as if it were at rest (this is known as the basal metabolic rate), then consume enough extra calories to cover the exercise that you will do. Every day you will have to take on board another 500 calories if you want to build muscle mass.

Is there a way to figure out this total?

Yes, there definitely is and one way of finding this total is by following the Katch-McArdle formula (BMR based on lean body weight). Here it is:

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) – (6.8 X age in years)

Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) – (4.7 X age in years)

Once you have gotten this figure you should then multiply it by one of the following to allow for your daily activity levels:

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (1-3 days/wk sports/light exercise )
Mod. active equals BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active equals BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. active = BMR X 1.{9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i}.e marathon, contest etc

So, should you be doing cardio and weights frequently then you should multiply this by at least 1.725. Your daily energy needs will be safely covered by this amount. This total then needs to changed according to your specific goals. Assuming your goal is muscle building a further 500 calories each day need to be added to this amount.

So, if the number you reach is for example 3000 calories then that would equate to 6 meals a day of 500 calories. To follow this strategy one snack or meal would be based around 11 gram coming from fat, 62 grams coming from carbohydrate and 37 grams coming from protein. This is figured out as so due to the fact that one gram of protein or carbohydrate is worth 4 gram whereas one gram of fat equals 9 calories.

Correct muscle building nutrition and working out your calorie needs like this is what is going to ensure you build muscles fastest, not any miracle new exercise!

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 It is a well known fact nowadays that to build muscle diet is a key component that will determine whether you are successful or not. If you don’t have good muscle building nutrition then no matter how much you lift you won’t progress. So just briefly we’ll go over a few simple rules to follow for a superb ‘build muscle diet’ and then we’ll uncover some of the best foods for building muscle mass.

Ok, quick guidelines for a diet to build muscle:

1) Eat 5-7 meals per day. This will enable you to easily consume the amount of calories you need in order to grow. {It will mean that your body keeps high energy levels through the entire day}. 

2) Divide your meals up in to approximate portions of 50% carbohydrate, 30% protein and the remainder can come from fats.

3) Eat about an hour half to two hours prior to your workout and eat immediately or at least within an hour after your workout. The post workout meal maybe a meal replacement powder and should include a high dosage of protein. taking a energy drink or eating a snack before retiring to bed is a good idea also as this means your body will have enough calories to support growth throughout the night. You muscle will be short on energy at this time so eat as soon as possible after waking.

4) If you can afford it take supplements. Try supplementing with these: essential fatty acids, multi-vitamin pills, whey protein and creatine. Whilst you know correct diet to build muscle is essential adding supplements can give an extra boost also.

5) Regularly drink small amounts of water. water is essential for a great many of the reactions in the body. They occur much more easily in the presence of ample supplies of water. Muscle growth requires water so drink it. You will be left feeling bloated and full if you drink massive amounts of water at once.

OK, so we have got the basics down. Now what food exactly is good for muscle building purposes. Here are some great foods for your to try:

Protein is needed for growth and repair of muscles. Obviously this is important for muscle gain seeker. Greta sources of protein: Chicken Breast, Tuna Cottage Cheese, Egg Whites, Turkey Breast,  Salmon, Lean Beef, Whey Protein.

Carbohydrate is the bodies supply of energy and fuel for day to day activities and for supporting muscle growth.In your diet to aid muscle growth and provide energy try to include the following foods: Brown Rice, Baked Potatoes, Whole Wheat Pasta, Sweet Potatoes, Bagels, Oatmeal, Fat Free Yogurt and Beans.

Build muscle diets often neglect to mention that fats are important too. Certain metabolic functions need to be sustained by different types of fat. For fats that build muscle try to include in your diet: Avocado, Olive Oil, Nuts, Flax Seed Oil, Natural Peanut Butter and Fish Oil

Vitamins and minerals play a wide variety of roles in all of the important reactions in the body including muscle growth. Great source of vitamins and minerals are: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Asparagus, Green Beans, Peas, Carrots and Spinach.

With those guidelines in mind you ought to be able to build some serious muscle mass. Remember that lots of calories are required by the body for both energy and to support the growth of enlarged muscle tissue and growth. If you don’t consume excess calories you won’t grow. Follow these above rules and a sensible ‘build muscle diet‘ containing these types of foods and you should have no problems building muscle.

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Just before I tackle the main purpose of this article which is to show how to build muscle vegetarian style I will briefly outline the different types of vegetarians. Vegans won’t eat dairy products or any other products of animals, pesco-vegetarians will cosume fish and other dairy products whereas lacto-ovo vegetarians will both consume milk and eat eggs but won’t eat meat. There are a number of other types of vegetarians however for our needs this is adequate categorisation for now.

Why be vegetarian?

Well due to the dangers of the food that none vegetarians eat, vegetarians actually have a decreased risk of a variety of diseases such as: coronary artery disease, hypertension, cancers and diabetes mellitus. As you can see the reasons for becoming vegetarian are quite compelling and that is before we even talk about the idealistic side of things such as saving animals, keeping food available for others, saving the rainforest, being more enviromentally friendly and so on.

Ok, so if I am vegetarian how on earth am I going to get adequate supplies of protein?

The answer to this question very simply is Soy. Soy contains all eight essential amino acids and in fact has higher levels of protein than beef. Great sourcces of soy include: miso, soy milk, seitan, tempeh, textured soy protein and of course tofu. These can all be put in to a variety of delicous tasting dishes. Another great supply of protein for vegetarians are beans, rice, seeds, legumes, nuts and even vegetables which together can pack together a wide variety of amino acids, so you should never go short.

Alright so that is protein dealt with but what about vitamins and minerals, particularly zinc, vitamin D, calcium, iron and vitamin B12?

Well, supplements should be taken by vegans for this. vitamin B12 is found in dairy products so is not an area of concern for other types of vegetarians. The others can easily be gotten from a decent meal replacement powder. Of course however many minerals and vitamins are easily available in the form of leafy green vegetables and fruit that you should not overlook if you wish to build muscle vegetarian style. 

So, overall there are many health benefits to being a vegetarian and being a vegetarian need not prevent you from achieving your bodybuilding goals. Planning is the key and this is just as true for none vegetarian bodybuilders also. With the above guidelines in mind go ahead and build muscle vegetarian style!! 

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Bodybuilders are typically always searching around for new ways to bust through training plateaus, to provide variety for your routines and to find new ways to trigger muscle growth and improve strength levels. Discovering new variations is critical for bodybuilding success as your body soon adjusts to new demands of new exercises and will not continue to grow unless new ways to stimulate muscle growth are found.

There are a great deal of ways in which to trigger growth including the regular progressive overload principle of using certain amounts of sets and reps and doing as many repetitions as you can until your muscles fail. Other possible variations are: compound sets, supersets, 21s, drop sets, partials and so on. However here we shall take a look at how to use negatives when stimulating muscle growth.

So, what are negatives? And how can you build muscle fast using negatives?

Well, negatives go like this. Using bench pressing as an example, lets say your usual bench-press is to do 110kg for 8 reps. You have stopped making any significant muscle building progress and gotten stuck at this weight. Put another additional 20kgs on to the bar and have your gym partner aid you in pressing the bar until your arms are nearly locked out. Now from the top start position get your helpers to let go of the bar so that you can gradually under control lower the barbell. Then again your friends can help you press this weight up again. Do this repeatedly as many times as you can until you are unable to do any more reps safely.

Why do negatives? And will I build muscle fast using negatives?

Well your muscles are actually stronger in the lowering phase so when you do regular reps you are only placing stress on the muscle fibers in the lifting phase which are not as strong. So, you can actually force your muscles to handle more weight than they are used to using negatives. Do a few workouts such as this and you can trigger muscle mass growth and therefore improve your training sessions efforts for your normal workout routine and increase your overall musculature.

Does doing this pose any problems?

Because your muscle will probably not be used to performing this type of work and also for physiological reasons you will probably be sore on the next day after your workout. Obviously do not return to the gym until you have totally recuperated and keep high your protein intake and be completely sure to take a very good protein shake straight after your training session.

Negatives can be made use of for just about any exercise but work best for the classic mass builders such as the major compound multi-joint exercises like: squats, deadlifts, pull ups, shoulder presses, and such like. To trigger muscle growth and break training plateaus then use these workouts on an infrequent and occasional basis.

With those guidelines in mind keep taking on board good muscle building nutrition, rest sufficiently and workout intensely and often and you should have no problems packing on muscle mass. Now go ahead and build muscle fast using negatives.

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Ok, cool, you have made the decision to pack on some muscle mass. Whether it is because you want to look lean and trim for your holidays or you have just seen another ‘Rocky’ film or you just wish to make a bigger impact on the sports field. So obviously you are aware that you are going to have to life weights. However you may not be aware of what you are supposed to be eating for muscle building nutrition. This mini muscle building nutrition guide will give you enough knowledge to install an effective muscle building diet.

Firstly to build muscle eat more often. Try to consume 5-7 mini meals each day. This is due to the fact that excess calories are required in order for your body to support muscle gains. If you are not taking on enough calories then you will not be able to build muscle. 5-6 small meal each day will mean that you can consume enough calories without eating too much at any one meal.

Secondly, you will have to significantly reduce the amount of junk food in your diet. Go on admit we are all guilty of it at some time or other but these measl need to be replaced with decent muscle building nutrition.

Thirdly, you are going to need to take on more water than you are used to. try to keep a bottle of water to hand at all times, perhaps leave one in your car. nearly all of the bodies reactions need H2O to some extent and of course it is required for muscle building reactions too.

Fourthly, divide your meals up so that they contain roughly the following portions of protein, carbohydrate and fat. Try to make them equal to 50% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 20% fat.

Fifthly, you need to learn what foods you should be eating for muscle growth. Here is a start to illustrate what some of the best muscle building foods are:

For protein: turkey, chicken, fish and shellfish, eggs, red meats, dairy products. These are terrific sources of quality protein so include them in your daily meals as often as possible. However caution is advised as these foods are high in saturated fat so it would be sensible to mix them with the following foods that supply protein but with a great deal less fat: egg whites, lean meats like poultry and fish, non-fat or low-fat milk and dairy products, lean cuts of red meat, turkey breast,and skinless chicken breast.

For carbohydrates and long term release energy: bread, brown rice, oatmeal, bagel, pasta cereals and potatoes. For instant hits of energy take on board: fruits such as grapes, bananas, apple, raisins, orange and sports drinks.

The fat portion of the meal will naturally come from the foods that you will be consuming and will thus take care of itself. Also ensure that you are eating lots of healthy fresh green vegetables that are rammed full of minerals and vitamins. If you wish to give yourself a boost with supplements then I suggest you go with: a decent multi-vitamin, whey protein, essential fatty acids and possibly creatine.

Lastly a few words of advice as regards when to eat your meals. To build muscle eat within one hour of finishing your workout, before bed and immediately on rising. These are critical times if you want to ensure muscle growth. With the above muscle building diet guidelines in place then you are in an excellent position to start building muscle mass fast.

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there are many articles, websites, magazine columns and so on that all supply information and advice about the easiest ways to build muscle. so, if there are all these varied methods to stimulate muscle growth then how come it is so such a difficult task for certain people? Well, the answer is partly supplied by the question itself. With so much conflicting and individualistic advice about, both on the net and in bookstores and magazines, how on earth is someone new to bodybuilding supposed to know what to do?

The new bodybuilder really needs to merely have knowledge of the essential basics in order to start growing therefore much of this information will be irrelevant. So with that in mind here are three sure fire steps to help anyone build muscle easily.

1) Train intensely. Try to include the following proven muscle building exercises in your routine: dead lifts, rows, squats, benchpresses and pull ups. These exercises will help you build muscle easily and have been tried and tested for many years now. try to keep away from exercises that promote isolation of individual muscles, these are designed for muscle shaping, carving and defining as opposed to building muscle mass. Get in the gym, workout vigorously for 45 minutes, stay focused and then get out.

2) Pay attention to muscle building nutrition. For decades now experienced trainers have been saying that at least 80% of muscle growth success is down to good muscle building nutrition. This is very true even today! As a rule of thumb 50% of your food should be from carbohydrates, 30% from protein and the rest made of fats.

The following source of food come highly recommended, for carbs: rice, potatoes, pasta, brown breads. Good sources of protein include: chicken, milk, turkey, beef and fish, particularly mackerel and tuna. fats will come naturally in all of these foods. If you really wish to boost your progress and have the money available then try taking the following: whey protein, essential fatty, acids, creatine and a good multi-vitamin product.

3) Rest. You should spend time in quality rest as this is when your body is going to grow. Many people new to bodybuilding overtrain and do no give their body adequate time to rest and recuperate. Two workouts for each body part a week will be enough for most people.

Ok, I said it was simpie and it is. If you just stick to those basics you too can build muscle easy. Of course you can go into as much detail as you like within any one of those subject areas but in essence that is all you need to know to grow. Now with those things in mind, ensure correct muscle building nutrition, train hadr and intensely and give yourself time to recover!

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There is much advice floating around both on and offline about how to build muscle fast. As a personal trainer myself here are a few little known facts and secrets that I personally consider worth your while contemplating on your quest to build muscle mass:

I often hear that you should train each muscle group just once a week. Whilst this may be provide optimal progress for extremely hardgainers it is not true for the vast majority of people. You only improve at something if you practice a lot, once a week in my opinion is not enough, twice a week is more like it for each muscle group. Muscle groups should be hit at least twice a week, no less. In fact ideally you should push your body through periods of near overtraining an then drop off into periods of undertraining. This provides times of great stress for the body and also times when the body has more time for growth and repair than necessary. This technique will help you avoid training plateaus.

Make sure your workouts last no longer than 45 mintues. If you deem that time limit to short then possibly your workout is not short enough or you are not staying focussed and working out intensely. 45 minutes will be plenty if you really focus on intensity and avoid distractions. If your workouts last longer then this then testosterone levels drop dramatically due to the increased production of cortisol which actually causes the body to eat muscle tissue and store fat. exactly the opposite to what we want.

You should cycle your training. after a while a workout loses its ability to stimulate growth as your body has already adapted to it. You should change your routine before your gains diminish completely. You should also avoid switching your routine too often. Doing this will confuse your body too much and prevent it from getting into a nice groove and feel like you are just simply spinning your wheels.

Regardless of whether you follow the above rules or not you will never make big gains if you simply use the wrong exercises. The classic time proven muscle building exercises are the multi-joint exercises otherwise known as compound exercises. The best ones are: dead lifts, bench presses, rows, squats, pull ups, shoulder presses plus any exercise that moves your entire body through air ie, not just moving individual limbs. If you use these exercises, with a few of their variations and correct muscle building nutrition then you can’t help but stimulate muscle mass growth. With those points in mind it is time to go hit the gym and get huge.

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