Click Here for Free Bodybuilding and Fitness Magazine Subscription
What To Eat To Gain Muscle
By Oliver Wolter
How eating the right foods at the right time could boost your muscle gains
This is one of the most frequent questions I hear "What should I eat to boost muscle gains?".
While it is the truth that you need the right amount of food for maximum muscle gains, muscles are not build through nutrition at all. Muscle gains are the reaction of your body because of the stimulation during a workout. You could eat one million calories a day - if you don't workout - you'll fill up your fat storages but won't gain one single gram of muscle mass.
So why care about nutrition at all?
Muscles grow during recovery time.
Let me explain this for you - while it is the truth that only muscle building workout routines let you gain muscle mass - muscle gains don't happen while you workout.
Muscle gains happen during your recovery time. In fact - during your workout - you destroy your muscles in a way.
So if you would workout the whole day around - you won't gain muscles - you would lose muscles instead.
But to come back to your nutrition program - it is essential for optimum recovery. And optimum recovery means optimum muscle gains.
That's easy isn't it?
But what's the optimum nutrition program?
It's easy - the optimum nutrition program means - to give your body exactly the foods it needs at the right time.
Wow that sounds hard - how will I know what my body needs at which time?
Hey - don't get frustrated - this is the reason why I am writing this article for you.
Once you understand it - you are on your best way to achieve maximum muscle gains.
So what happens during a muscle building workout?
Your muscles primarily lose glycogen. Glycogen is your muscles fuel during any anaerobic routine. So the first thing your body needs after a workout is - you can already guess it - carbohydrates which your body uses to build up glycogen in it's muscles.
So the first thing you should do after any workout is to drink something that is rich in carbohydrates. Also a meal which is rich in carbohydrates should follow next. This will ensure that your muscles can build up enough glycogen for your next workout.
I have heard things about a protein drink after workouts, but this doesn't make any sense at all for your body. Your body wants to refill his energy before he is willing to build up muscles.
This is because your body doesn't know what you want to do next - probably you decide to repeat your workout a second time - probably you want to take part in the Ironman triathlon competition.
So he wants to have a energy reserve for his next task - that's the most important thing. Always give your body what he needs.
At the next day after you have refilled your energy levels the next step begins. Your body wants to rebuild his muscles you destroyed during the workout.
So he needs protein. It's that simple. But he needs protein all over the day - it's not like giving him 100 grams of protein at once and he will thankfully taking it.
You'll need a constant protein flow throughout the day.
So here is my suggestion - drink every 1 ½ hours a glass of milk. Nothing exotic - just a glass of milk while do the job fine for you.
But what should you do if you don't like milk or have a lactose intolerance like 30% of all people. My suggestion is to look out for some nutritional supplement that delivers protein without lactose. You cannot deny your bodies needs if you are going for optimum gains - and your body desperately needs the protein to rebuild muscles tissues.
If you follow this simple guideline you are on the best way for optimum muscle gains.
Oliver Wolter is a world renowed fitness and bodybuilding expert. He is the creator of X-Size Bodybuilding Software.