This is a guest post from Barry White who runs Gym Hut a site dedicated to supplying you with all of your home gym and equipment needs. Here Barry is going to write about the best nutrition tips for building muscle. Enjoy.
If you’re serious about putting on size, then you need to eat the right foods. When it comes to changing how you look and perform, then majority of the progress will come from your diet. You can work as hard as you want in the gym, but if you’re not eating the right foods, then you won’t get the right results.
Today, we’re going to look at 5 of the best nutrition tips to help you build as much muscle as possible with minimal fat spill over to help you get the best body you can.
1 – Stock up On Protein
Protein is an incredibly important part of our diet that helps us to recover, repair, and rebuild muscle tissue. It also helps to keep us full whilst preserving muscle mass which is perfect if you’re trying to lose fat as well.
About an hour before your workout, have one source of slow-digesting protein such as casein powder or food, and then afterwards, aim to eat a fast acting protein such as whey. This means that your muscles will be being drip-fed amino acids throughout your workout and then have a heavy dose of protein afterwards to kick-start the recovery process.
2 – Don’t Skip the Carbohydrates
After protein, carbohydrates are next in terms of importance. Carbohydrates help to fuel our workouts as well as help us to recover afterwards.
Similarly to protein, you want to eat carbohydrates around your workout with a slow digesting source before and a fast acting source after. Good sources of slow digesting carbohydrates are oats, wholegrains, beans, and potatoes. Fast acting carbohydrates include rice, sugar, bananas, and cereal.
3 – Fat Isn’t That Bad
Both carbohydrates and fat have received a lot of bad press in recent years, but in reality, neither of them are inherently bad for you; it just comes down to moderation, portion size, and the source.
Fats help to improve our hormone levels as well as our cardiovascular and mental health. Good sources of fats include oily fish, olives, nuts, seeds, avocados, and coconuts. Aim to eat one source at every meal.
4 – Fuel Your Workout with Creatine
Just behind protein powder, creatine is one of the most widely used bodybuilding supplements around due to its effectiveness and price. Creatine is incredibly cheap, and can help you to perform better over the long-term.
The way it works is that supplementing with creatine increases your stores of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) which is your body’s preferred energy source. By increasing your ATP stores, you handle a higher volume and a heavier weight.
Now, creatine doesn’t work instantly and independently of hard work. Many people think that creatine works similarly to steroids in that all you need to do is take the recommended dose and you suddenly put on 50lbs. However, creatine has only a mild effect, but with minimal possible side effects and an incredibly low price point, there’s no real reason not to take it.
Creatine is best-taken post-workout, but there’s only a slight difference in this specific timing, so just take it at the most convenient time for you.
5 – Add Antioxidants
Lastly, we have antioxidants. Various studies have now shown that antioxidants can help to increase your strength and endurance, not to mention your cardiovascular, immune, and mental health.
Antioxidants fight off things called ‘free radicals’ which can be extremely harmful for the body and can be created through the metabolism when we exercise. By eating foods high in vitamins such as C and E, we can prevent the damage being created by these radicals to improve our overall health and performance.
Good sources of antioxidants include green tea, blueberries, dark chocolate, goji berries, kidney beans, and blackberries. Aim to eat at least one source of antioxidants with every meal.
