Monday, April 1, 2013

How to Build Muscle with a Bodybuilding Diet

By Harley Radowski


Bodybuilding routines must include eating to build muscle as a component of an overall bodybuilding program. Working up a sweat in the gym and concentrating on all your muscle groups in order to build muscle mass is fine, but you are only going half way if you do not also eat foods that build muscle.

Lifting weights in the gym forced your muscles to work, but guess what? Working your muscles uses considerable energy, and energy is supplied by your food. Correct nutrition also helps heal muscle injury that often occurs while you are working out. You may not even know you have caused injury to your muscles, but your body knows, and your body needs fuel from food that helps build muscle in order to repair that muscle.

A diet that is low in fat goes without saying with any serious bodybuilder. Even if you do not carry extra flab or fat, it is important to keep it that way. And if you do have some fat you want to get rid of, eating foods that build muscle in the form of low fat food is important. But what about protein? Is it important or not? You bet it is. Protein provides the building blocks to build that muscle. What types of protein are best? Chicken, eggs, steak (with the fat cut off), fish, cheese (especially cottage cheese), and nuts are all great sources of protein.

There is an optimum amount of protein that your body needs for building muscle effectively. Do you know your lean body mass weight? Yes? Great! Take that figure (in kilograms) and multiply it by 2.75. You have now got your daily protein requirement. If you do not know your lean body mass weight, you will need to apply one of the formulas that calculate this.

Foods that build muscle include carbohydrates. Many uninformed people believe that all carbohydrates should be eliminated in order to obtain a fit, lean body. Nothing could be further from the truth. So long as the carbohydrates you ingest include plenty of fibre, carbs will contribute to building muscle mass - not body fat. Great carbohydrate based foods include rice, oatmeal, bananas and other types of fruit such as apples and pears.

Fats need to be reduced when you are consider what foods build muscle mass. Fat can never be eliminated completely (and nor should you try to do this), but reducing fat can have a healthy effect on your attempts to build muscle mass. Most foods that contain protein also contains fat, so when choosing your proteins, providing you opt for the ones that are low in fat, you will be on the right track.

You may argue that drinking has no effect on what to eat to build muscle. But you would be wrong. Hydration is critical to general health and wellbeing. Even more so when you are working to build muscle mass.

Two litres of water a day is what most experts recommend to maintain optimal health. To drink that amount, you need to drink up to 12 glasses of water a day, which is quite a lot. So start early in the day, and space your water consumption out throughout the day.

Regular bodybuilding workouts are also essential to maximise the effects of good bodybuilding diets. It is all very well knowing what to eat to build muscle, but if you do not combine this great new diet by building muscle mass with weight lifting exercises or other bodybuilding routines, you will not be able to build muscle fast. So do both - eat foods that build muscle, and undertake bodybuilding workouts, and you will end up with a body you will be proud of.




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