Gaining muscle mass is a complex biophysical process. However, we will try to outline the main points of this process so that you can decide for yourself how to gain muscle mass.
In our article, we will tell you how to tell your body that you need to build muscle, how to put it into an anabolic mode of functioning. It is in it that the growth of muscle tissue occurs at the highest speed.

Some professional bodybuilders have been in this state since early childhood, while others have only now realized the need for change. We will build our article in the form of tips, after reading which, you will understand what, when and in what quantities should be eaten.

The basis of any muscle mass is protein, more precisely a protein molecule. Let's imagine what this protein molecule looks like, for this we must remember with you a Christmas tree garland with colored balls strung on a wire. Each ball of the garland is one amino acid - the structural unit of any protein. At the moment when a garland of such amino acids enters our intestines, the “wires” holding the amino acid balls break, the amino acids are absorbed through the intestinal wall into the blood, and then they are carried with the blood stream and deposited in the muscles. In the muscles of single amino acid balls, your body is already building its garlands, but in a new order. This is how a new protein molecule is born. An increase in the number and size of such protein molecules in your muscles gives you and me our cherished increase in muscle mass. In other words, in order to grow their own muscle tissue, a person should consume "foreign" protein - animal and vegetable.

Tip number 1. 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.
Your goal is 2 grams of protein per kilogram of your body weight per day. This total mass of pure protein should be divided into 5-6 doses, so that at one time you consume more than 40-50 grams of pure protein, the body simply will not absorb more in 1 dose. Recall that the main sources of protein for a bodybuilder are meat (pork, beef, fish), beans (beans, soybeans), dairy products (cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, milk, yogurt).

Tip 2. Give carbohydrates.
Eat more carbohydrates, they provide the body with “light” energy for muscle growth. Since the forces on the body spends a minimum on the breakdown of carbohydrates, and receives a maximum at the output of new energy, relative to the same amount of protein / fat. The main sources of carbohydrates for the bodybuilder are vegetables, grains and fruits, as well as carbohydrate powder concentrates. Now is the time to open the first secret - if your body lacks the energy of carbohydrates, then the body without thinking for a long time breaks down muscle tissue to replenish its reserves. I think that everyone understands that in this case there will be no sense in the lack of carbohydrates from hard training in order to gain muscle mass.

Tip 3. Count calories.
A calorie is a unit of energy that our body receives from food. At the same time, a person's energy consumption for each movement / effort is measured by the same calories. The fact that a person should “eat” as many calories as he expended looks obvious, but this is not so. Why? It's simple, remember that the body spends part of the energy on the growth of muscle tissue, which means that you need to eat a little more calories than you spent on training. if you consume exactly the same number of calories as you expend, there is simply nothing left for the muscles, and they cannot grow.
Let's remember the so-called effect of post-workout muscle growth. It is based on the consumption of calories with some excess, so that the body has the opportunity to use all the protein for the sole purpose of building new muscle fibers and increasing the volume of existing ones.
The words of the famous Mr. Olympia - Dorian Yates - read: Start with 400-500 grams of carbohydrates per day, and then follow the arrow readings of the scales arrow. The meaning of these lines is this approach: “If you train hard, and muscle growth is extremely slow or completely absent, then you may simply not get calories. Feel free to throw in 100 extra grams of carbohydrates per day, and so on until the scales begin to tell you about the beginning of weight gain.

Tip 4. Fats
Fats are our body's friends, not its enemies. The production of essential hormones and fat intake are linked. Testosterone and other anabolic hormones are produced by the body directly from fat. That is why, the transition to a low-fat vegetarian diet always affects sexual desire, which indirectly tells us about concentrations of sex hormones, in particular testosterone. However, it should be borne in mind that an excess of fat is harmful in the same way as a deficiency of the latter.

It is important to follow the recommendations of nutritionists, who say that fat should be ingested with food no more than 15% of all daily calories. For information, our traditional menu contains up to 45% fat. Bodybuilders, and just athletes, should differentiate fats into animal and vegetable. Animal fats are unhealthy for the most part, except for fish oil or other omega-3 fatty acids.
For a bodybuilder, it is important that fats in this form help the uptake of glucose by muscle cells. The result of this is the accumulation in the muscles of a sufficient amount of energy, which is so necessary for effective training and the construction of new muscle tissue.
In light of this advice, we recommend that you eat at least 2-3 times a week fish - salmon, mackerel or sardine. As an additional portion of omega-3 fats - a couple of egg yolks, which will be especially, by the way, during intensive training.

Gaining muscle mass in our time has become an end in itself. Nowadays, many athletes are wondering what if, instead of natural products, they take protein and carbohydrates in powder, fish oil in teaspoons, and vitamins and minerals in capsules? Is it possible to build muscle mass in this way. In our opinion, no, because in recent years, studies of, for example, plant foods have shown the presence in the latter of the so-called phytocomponents that affect the rate of breakdown of proteins and carbohydrates of plant foods, as well as the digestibility of these products.

Tip 5: Eat vegetables.
Having studied most of the manuals on rational and sports nutrition, we can conclude that if a bodybuilder's diet is poor in vegetables and fruits, then the growth rate of muscle tissue tends to zero. The bodybuilder's daily menu should include at least three servings of fruits and vegetables. In winter, freshly frozen blueberries, currants, strawberries, or melon pieces can be added to yogurt, oatmeal, or a protein shake. Chopped stewed cabbage, mushrooms and finely chopped onions with sweet peppers go well with rice or pasta. An excellent recipe would be at least once a day (and preferably two) eaten a large portion of vegetable salad, preferably with seasoning based on natural vegetable oil. In winter, such salads can be prepared from fresh cabbage, adding pre-cooked beans, green onions and chopped bell peppers to it.

Tip 6: Eat carbs before your workout.
Before training, bodybuilders should consume "slow-release" carbohydrates. There are two types of carbohydrates - fast and slow. The former are quickly broken down in the intestines, releasing their energy reserves, while the latter, on the contrary, are slowly broken down, calorie by calorie, releasing their energy.
A reasonable question arises, how to distinguish fast carbohydrates from slow ones? The answer is also simple. Fast carbohydrates are always sweet. An example of fast carbohydrates: sugar, cake, cream, honey, jam, sweets. "Slow" carbohydrates do not have a sweet taste, this type of carbohydrate is ideal for fueling the body before training.
Examples of slow carbohydrates are oatmeal, rice, potatoes, these foods, slowly breaking down, give you their energy step by step.
The result of the use of slow carbohydrates will be a stable level of glucose in the blood, which means that muscle glycogen will remain intact and will be used to build new muscle fibers.

Tip 7: Eat after your workout.
Intense training causes an increase in the secretion of cortisol, glucagon and catecholamines in the athlete's body. These hormones, capable of provoking a chain reaction of destruction of muscle tissue, are always released in response to stress, physical or nervous.
Our goal with you is to refresh yourself with "fast" carbohydrates immediately after training. They will provoke the production of insulin, and he is the first enemy of the evil trinity and neutralizes its detrimental effect on the muscles.
Excellent sources of "fast" carbohydrates are crackers, raisins, honey. You can try out the formula of a professional Jay Cutler. He recommends eating 1.5 g of carbohydrates per kilogram of your weight while still in the locker room.

Tip 8. Multiple meals.
Fractional nutrition in small portions was invented by doctors, but bodybuilders were the first to try on themselves. When you and I eat often, the muscles constantly receive an influx of new amino acids from the blood, which are immediately included in the construction of muscle tissue.
Amino acids "repair" muscle tissue damaged by training loads, and glucose maintains a high level insulin in the blood, thereby