Laws of eating for increasing muscle mass

A great workout is just the beginning when it comes to building muscle. Here are some key nutrition and supplementation tips for the other 23 hours of your day.

If you're committed to a resistance-training program, you can instead pack on muscle by following a number of key nutrition and supplementation tips. Follow the laws of eating for muscle below;

Tip The Scales

Whether you're just trying to add some off-season size, or you're a hard-gainer who has trouble adding mass, growing muscle means consuming more calories coming from quality food sources such as chicken, lean meat, turkey, eggs, pasta, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, oats etc.

By ensuring you have a caloric surplus, you provide your muscles with the raw materials to repair tissue damage brought on by heavy training to support growth.

Eat More Meals More Often

If you're active and train hard, you likely burn a lot of calories each day. It's very difficult to eat clean foods that replace all the energy you've spent in just three meals. That's why bodybuilders eat 5-8 meals per day to support mass-building. While most individuals still eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they also eat a number of high-protein snacks as well.

If you're looking to add size, it makes sense to eat multiple meals every day, not just three. Take your meals to work and eat them anytime you can. If you are finding it difficult then protein shakes like LA Whey can help reach your protein macros required.

Protein Counts

Try to get in around 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to ensure your muscles are getting the protein they require. Remember if your not feeding your muscles with protein they simply wont grow and your hard training will go to waste. Muscles need protein simple, so make sure you are fuelling your muscle every 3-4 hours for best results.

Eat Clean

You have any number of food options for a given meal that have various macronutrient and micronutrient profiles, but remember sayinh "You are what you eat."

The most important aspect of gaining quality weight is high-quality food choices. Your body needs quality food and nutrients to aid in performance and recovery. A lot of beginners and advanced athletes tend to make mistakes when trying to add quality weight, making poor food choices like fast foods or processed foods.

Make the right choices

The right choices of protein-rich foods like chicken breast can be spoiled by the wrong preparation methods. When preparing your foods at home, try grilling your meats; battered and fried foods boost fat-content and calories, and are less healthy.

Avoid oils, butter, and sauces in at all time as these are main culprits to fat gain.

Don't Fear Fats

On a mass-building plan, you should be getting 25-30 percent of your daily calories from dietary fats. Divide your fat intake between healthier versions (including olive, nuts and seeds, fatty fish) and saturated fats (which are contained in animal proteins such as dairy, meat, and eggs).

Ignore Your Sweet Tooth

Sugar-sweetened drinks and processed foods do your body no favours at all. These empty calories displace healthier options that could've been hard at work helping you add quality mass. Clean your kitchen of these unhealthy foods so you're not tempted when a craving arises.

Also, never go food shopping on an empty stomach. And eat a high-protein food before you leave the house on weekends, so you're not hungry and don't give in to fast-food cravings.

Choose Slower Carbs

Nearly half of your total daily calories come from carbohydrates, but there's a big difference between the simple ones and the complex variety. Complex carbs such as brown rice, whole grains, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and quinoa take longer to digest and absorb.

The benefit is that you'll have sustained energy throughout the day, and the lower hormone response means you'll be less likely to store any excess calories as body fat. Opting for complex carbs with minimal processing is better for your health and to keep body fat in check.

Post workout nutrition

The only time a high-glycemic carb (think sugars like dextrose and glucose and highly processed carbs like bagels and white rice) is your carb of choice should be after your workout, when your muscles are hungry to replenish spent glycogen stores.

The hormone spike helps drive those fast carbs and, the 40 grams of protein you consumed with it quickly into cells for repair and growth. This hormone spike that you can manipulate post-workout is one reason why carbs are called the anabolic nutrient. Consuming simple sugars at any other time is more likely to contribute to gains in body fat.

Eat A Pre-Bed Snack

Late-night food 'binges' can ruin a day's effort of clean eating, so if you're looking for a midnight meal, a half-cup of cottage cheese is a good option as it's slow releasing protein and provides a healthy amount of protein without the fat and carbs. if your not a fan try egg whites a tablespoon of peanut butter.

Creatine Boosts Metabolism

The importance of whey protein for boosting your protein intake can't be overstated, but other supplements can support anabolism too like Creatine as it helps boost strength and size gains. Naturally found in red meat, creatine increases the volume of muscle cells, which helps signal anabolism, as well as short-term energy. You can also have a top quality creatine supplement such as Explosive Creatine to give you that strength you need to power through your workouts.

Never Miss A Meal

We can all get caught up with our schedules and appointments, running late, and skipping meals. But I'll bet you almost never miss a workout. Adopt the mindset that missing a meal is as bad as missing a workout. That might mean planning and preparing meals on weekends, carrying food with you and occasionally carrying snacks with you on the go such as nuts, protein bars, protein shakes etc.

Sleep For Gains

Muscles grow outside of the gym and when you rest. So make sure you are getting plenty of sleep daily to fully rest and recover your muscles from the hard training you have accomplished.