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Nutrition for Muscle Growth

Understanding the nutritional needs for muscle growth is extremely important. Getting yourself to the gym and weight training is only half of the battle toward building lean muscle mass. The other half relies on how you fuel your body in terms of the food you eat and the nutritional program that you follow. If you master the nutritional components of muscle growth in addition to the working out itself, you will greatly increase your results and successes.

  1. Total Protein Requirements

    • Nutrition for muscle growth requires that you ingest a hefty load of protein every day, even on days when you are not working out. General requirements state that you should eat approximately one gram of protein for every lean pound of muscle mass you wish to have. Since this can be difficult to gauge accurately, the standard guideline is one gram of protein per pound of desired body weight.

    Eating After Workouts

    • One of the core rules for building lean muscle mass is providing your body with a nutrient-rich meal within an hour of the end of your training session. This is when your muscles most desperately crave protein and its building blocks, amino acids. A meal with a good mix of both protein and carbohydrates will give you the energy you need and provide your muscles with the fuel it needs to begin repairing your damaged muscle fibers.

    Protein in Every Meal

    • Protein should be a component of every single meal that you eat. There should never be an occasion where you have a meal lacking in this important nutrient. If you struggle with this, consider that you can add nuts or beans to a salad to add protein, for example, or whey protein powder to your morning oatmeal or yogurt.

    Smaller Meals Throughout the Day

    • To properly fuel your body for muscle growth you should eat smaller but more frequent meals all day long. This will ensure that your body--and your muscles themselves--never get too hungry and always have the nutritional components necessary to build more muscle.

    Lean Protein Sources

    • Many different lean protein sources are available to include in your diet. Chief among these are chicken, fish, pork, turkey and leaner cuts of red meat. Nuts, whole grains, soy beans and dairy products including milk, cheese and yogurt all provide a strong quotient of protein as well.

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