A Complete Guide to Building Muscle – Nutrition

You’ve reached a turning point in your life where you are now convinced that enough is enough. You are ready to reach your goals at any cost. Really, any cost? Most spend countless hours at the gym with virtually no results. What went wrong?

Did you consider nutrition?

The foundation of your being alive is what fuels you, food. The same holds true for not simply surviving but changing your body’s appearance and function. Building muscle changes the way you go about your daily tasks. You’ll feel healthier, look better and have more self-assurance. Let us consider 3 essential rules to grasp covering the nutrition basics for building muscle.

Rule no 1: Eat More

You may have to get comfortable with this first rule, I know I did. It basically comes down to increasing your caloric intake.

I’ve seen body builders taking this rule too far. How? By stuffing themselves with calories low in nutritional value. We have this fast food thing here in the north east called “poutine” pronounced “poo-t’sin”; believe me it tastes a whole lot better than it sounds. It’s a big plate of fries with a mound of cheese curds and covered in a hot-chicken style BBQ sauce. Now can you imagine the nutritional value of this meal? Some serious weight lifters eat this stuff on a regular basis thinking that it will help them reach their goals. Well some of these same guys do have big arms but a big gut that goes with their empty diet.

Rule no 2: Eat Well

Here’s what you can do now to get what your body craves to build serious muscle: a lot of protein on a regular basis. Your protein requirements can come from wild fish, red meats, eggs, poultry, dairy and the like. Start your day off with a healthy dose. Remember this tip: eat at least 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. This gets your metabolism boosted to prepare you to eat more during the day fuelling your muscles. A whey isolate protein shake will cut it. I prefer adding 4 raw eggs to my shake bringing the protein count to 60 grams (I am glad I do not have to insist anymore on the fact that eggs are not dangerous to your health, on the contrary, they are now considered to be the perfect food). Pre- and post-workout shakes can include a scoop of protein powder and a cup of your favourite fruit juice for your carbohydrate requirements needed for the training session.

You’ll also want to eat lots of vegetables. One way to do this is to keep raw and steamed vegetables within arms reach to avoid the junk food pitfall. I suggest subscribing to a fruit and vegetable basket program which delivers a complete array of local produce. Take the time needed to prepare your vegetables ahead of time, whether cooked or not.

Rule no 3: Eat regularly

Once your metabolism is in high gear, your body will demand food more often. Eat roughly every two hours. Progressively increase your caloric intake to roughly 3000 calories if you will be doing regular muscle building; adjust this figure to your own body’s demand.

The intent of this guide is to direct you to the results you’ve been looking for. Now if you are just beginning you’ll want to avoid all the mistakes so many make when they start working out; if you’ve been training for years with or without significant results, you will greatly benefit from the ideas discussed in this series of articles.

Put these tried, tested and proven tips into practice and you will notice a real difference in your body transformation.