Obtaining muscular hypertrophy, or even hyperplasia, is
possible but provided that some essential criteria are respected that we can
summarize in three steps, therefore adequate training, well-sized nutrition and
optimal rest. We immediately remember that in the absence of even one of the
above requirements, the mass results will be significantly discouraged, so pay
close attention to this article and equip yourself with a good dose of patience
and perseverance. We also want to say that increasing muscle mass is a long and
tiring process, there are no magic methods or products , if you understand this
you are already half done, but let's go step by step.
Diet for muscle mass gain
Before going into the details of the guidelines to ensure
good mass gains, it must be said that there is no single method that can be
ad-hoc for everyone, in fact, although our body works in the same way, each
subject is unique. given , therefore it is not said that what works very well
for one person then works equally well for another.
However, it should be remember that there are dietary
criteria that are certainly unanimously recognized as essential for obtaining
an increase in lean muscle mass. One of the first things to understand is that,
in order to gain mass, it is absolutely necessary that more calories and
proteins are consumed every day than what is consumed and / or excreted from
the body.
It is not possible for a natural, that is a person who does
not take doping drugs, to increase muscle mass without meeting the
aforementioned calorie and protein requirements, so this is the first thing to
do to size a diet that is effective in determining growth. of muscle tissue.
Muscle Mass Diet: Consume more calories than you consume
As we said, one of the essential requirements to be met in
order to gain mass is to take in a greater amount of energy every day than is
consumed. Having said that, it is clear that, in order to exceed the energy
consumption threshold, it is necessarily necessary to know it first. To do
this, you need to do some calculations to get your basal energy requirement ,
i.e. the amount of calories your body needs to perform basic functions at rest.
Once this value has been obtained, it will be multiplied by
the LAF, that is the level of physical activity which is determined not only by
the type of sporting activity that is practiced but also by the lifestyle that
is followed. In fact, a person who works as a laborer will certainly have a
higher LAF than a person who carries out administrative activities and
therefore works, most of the time, sitting at a desk. You can easily find on
the web mathematical formulas and scientific methods to obtain the average
daily energy balance value to which you will have to add at least 10-15% of
calories to increase muscle mass.
Muscle mass diet: the importance of protein
Let's face it, muscles are made of proteins and if we can
interpret the energy that is taken with the diet as if it were the workforce of
building muscles, proteins are the necessary building blocks to build them.
Here too, more or less the same criterion of energy balance applies, it is in
fact necessary to take a greater amount of protein every day than that used in
the restoration of muscle tissues and expelled with urine and faeces. Obtaining
this result means, in technical jargon, going to obtain a daily positive
nitrogen balance, another indispensable requirement for muscle hypertrophy.
To obtain an optimal protein quota there are no mathematical
formulas or scientific methods as in the case of calories, but we can
undoubtedly say that in order to increase mass it is necessary to take at least
1.5g net of protein per kilo of body weight , therefore, an individual of 80
kilos will have to introduce 120g of protein into the body every day.
How to calculate dietary protein for muscle mass?
Although there are no formulas, two important aspects
relating to the achievement of the adequate protein quota must still be
observed, and therefore:
• when we
refer to net proteins we want to indicate the real protein quantity of a
certain food, if for example we were talking about red meat we should refer to
its specific protein concentration which is about 20%, this means that 100
grams of meat contain about 20 grams of net proteins, therefore, to obtain the
120g of the hypothetical individual of 80 kilos mentioned above, we would have
to take 600g of meat per day;
• It is
essential to take proteins of high biological value , i.e. nutrients that the
body is able to use in almost all of their entirety, the biological value is
given by the presence of essential amino acids, therefore we advise you, in
order to size your protein quota, to refer only to noble proteins such as those
of meat, fish, eggs and milk.
Regarding the protein per muscle mass discourse, a little
in-depth analysis should be made for vegans , a category that today is
represented by an ever-growing group of people. Unfortunately, for those who
are vegan, obtaining results of increasing mass will be even more difficult
than for those who are omnivores , this is because vegetable proteins, in
particular those of the individual foods that contain them, have a lower
biological value than animal proteins.
This aspect involves two different difficulties, the first
relating to the concrete sizing of the diet and the second relating to the lack
of some essential amino acids. In the first case it will be a huge stress to
follow an exclusively vegetable diet that can provide adequate quantities of
noble proteins as, to reach a fair biological value, it is always necessary to
combine several protein sources in the same meal.
In the second case , for example, think of soy which must
always be added to other vegetables that contain the amino acid methionine, almost
completely missing in soy legumes . According to official science, an amino
acid that is missing in a specific food is called a limiting amino acid, as it
significantly inhibits the protein synthesis process which is essential for
muscle growth.
Fat in the diet for muscle mass
So far we have talked about total calories and protein
intake in the diet to increase muscle mass, now let's see what role fats play.
The first thing that must be said is that even the lipids will go to size the
positive caloric balance on said , and indeed, providing about 9 calories per
gram, they will obviously be important in this sense too. However, it must be
said that fats perform numerous and more important functions in the body ,
which go beyond the mere energy intake, so let's see what we are talking about
also in relation to the results of lean mass gain:
• some
types of fatty acids, such as omegas, are precursors of membrane phospholipids,
lipid molecules that determine the correct functioning of all cells, therefore
also of those that are directly or indirectly connected with muscle growth;
• other
types of lipids , such as cholesterol, are physiologically used to synthesize
androgens such as testosterone, so without these compounds there could be a
hormone deficiency which would negatively affect the results of mass gain and
even physical strength.
As you can see, even fats, although demonized by some, also
perform very important functions in the context of food programs that aim at
muscle growth.
Percentages of nutrients and time of intake for the bulking
diet
Now that we have understood the main requirements to be
respected to follow a diet of adequate mass, the distribution of calories
remains to be seen , in fact even the percentages of nutrients according to the
energy intake must have precise (more or less) values. There are many currents
of thought regarding the correct percentage distribution of calories, for us an
optimal ratio could be 40-30-30 or 50-30-20, respectively considering
carbohydrates, proteins and fats in order.
It must be said that in these cases also the specific
genetics of the subject following the diet counts a lot , in fact you should go
and see some factors before deciding the percentages and even the foods, let's
talk for example about insulin sensitivity and the ability to use proteins. .
To better understand what is meant by these last statements, just think that,
with the same training, diet, rest, sex and age group, two different subjects
can experience clearly different results, in fact there may be the case of the
one who increases a lot. muscle mass but also of those who struggle to increase
lean tissue.
These situations are precisely determined by the genetics
that are different in each of us as the somatotypes and therefore the body structures
are different that can be categorized into three large groups of belonging,
therefore mesomorph, ectomorph and endomorph, but this is another matter.
When and what to eat to gain muscle mass?
Many bodybuilders, both past and present, have a basic rule
regarding the diet to build mass, which we can summarize as follows: "eat
little and often". This little sentence is perfectly reasonable for two
important reasons:
• our body
is not able to use high quantities of nutrients in a short unit of time,
therefore, taking meals that are too consistent will only lead to a burdening
of the organism and also an increase in adipose tissues;
• by eating
often, the metabolism is always kept in activity and therefore it will be
easier to trigger the mechanisms of building muscles, an aspect that also
applies to weight loss although in the latter case the diet must be absolutely
different.
In general and in agreement with the needs of a normal day
of routine, we can say that in a mass diet it is excellent to eat every 140 150
minutes. For what concerns the distribution of the types of nutrients according
to the times, here are some simple rules that will give you the basis for
building your hypertrophic diet, and then let's see when to eat what:
• carbohydrates
or carbohydrates, macronutrients that will be taken for about 65% of the total
caloric intake in the time slot between pre, intra and post workout, when the
energy demand, both for performance and for recovery, is maximum;
• proteins
, must be taken distributed throughout the day, in fact there are no reasons to
take proteins from the diet at certain times, then if we talk about protein
supplements then the discussion can change, as we will see later;
• fats ,
share the lipid share away from training, this is useful for two reasons, fats
are more difficult to digest and have, some types, anti-inflammatory properties
that would break down that muscle inflammation that the body perceives as a
switch to pass from a phase of stasis or catabolism to a phase of anabolism and
therefore muscle regeneration and growth.
Training for muscle mass
Even in terms of training to develop muscle mass, there are
multiple methodologies that can be more or less effective also according to
individual genetics , therefore it is not possible to determine a priori a
better training for everyone, which is why we will focus on the objective that
you have to try to get on with the workout and not on concrete examples of
exercise. Having said this, one fundamental thing must be observed, the muscle
is structured in different constituents, therefore the physical stimuli must
also be different to determine the total growth of the same.
The personal experience of the writer, made up of almost two
decades of training, goes in a direction that sees the alternation of light
training with heavy training as one of the best methods , let's see why. First
of all, let's dispel some myths that have no scientific basis, such as the one
that sees the correspondence between high loads and well-developed muscles.
This, if not minimally, is not true, in fact, if it were not
so, those who practice weightlifting sports such as power lifters, would have
incredible masses as they are very strong. We know very well that this is not
the reality and that a power lifter that can lift considerable loads, in the
vast majority of cases, has not developed enormous masses. But let's go back to
our method, it is about carrying out weight training that stimulates all the constituents
of the muscle which are two specifically, so sarcoplasm and myofibrils, let's
see them:
• the
first, sarcoplasm , is an interstitial fluid that is found around the muscle
filaments and is mainly made up of Atp, glycogen and mitochondria, and responds
better to training with lower loads, prolonged tension and reduced recovery;
• the
second, myofibrils, is made up of actin and myosin filaments which are
responsible for muscle contraction and respond well, increasing in number, with
very heavy and short workouts.
If you size your workout following a form that takes into
account the above, you will be able, with the same nutrition, recovery and
genetics, to obtain mass results much faster than another subject with the same
characteristics as you but who, for example , follows the classic short and
intense workout. There are many other types of training, you could periodically
read up and try them in person to understand what works best for your specific
genetics , although the method we have recommended above is certainly an
effective method, but not the best for your personal needs. physiological and
metabolic.
Supplements for mass, anabolic and anti-catabolic but not only
You are following a well-proportioned diet, you train
adequately and you get the right rest, very well you are already increasing
your muscle mass, but you can do better by using some specific supplementary
help. We can differentiate the supplements for the mass in three categories,
therefore anabolic, anti-catabolic and energetic, let's see them:
• to
anabolics belong first of all proteins and related amino acids which represent
the basis of muscle building, then there are other compounds that act by
inducing, even indirectly, a greater anabolism, see the stimulants of nitric
oxide , testosterone and natural GH ;
• anticatabolics,
or antiproteolytics, are nutrients that reduce, in various ways, the demolition
of muscle mass already acquired, among these we certainly find HMB , glutamine
, leucine and phosphatidylserine .
Conclusion
Energy products such as creatine or carnitine, are
compounds that act on the release of energy and therefore on the potential
intensity of training which in turn is connected, in part, with muscle growth.
To conclude, it should be remembered that a well-sized diet is absolutely
capable of satisfying the nutritional needs of the individual, even of those
who eat to obtain increases in muscle mass . The use of supplements should
therefore be done only if, also for reasons of practicality, it is not possible
to take everything you need with classic foods.