Muscle Building Diet Plan

Everyone is different and everyone has different goals for their health. Everyone can build muscle and shed fat. But first you need to know your body type, and there is an easy way to determine this. Wrap your thumb and middle finger around your wrist at the bony area. If the tips of your thumb and middle finger bypass each other, you are light-framed. If the tips touch, you are medium-framed. If they do not touch, you are heavy-framed.

Calories Are King

• When you want to build lean muscle mass, diet is king. It is important to understand that the time you spend in the gym will be wasted if your diet is not in line with your muscle-building goals. If you do not eat enough of the right things, you will never gain muscle mass. And while there are many ways to determine how much you need to eat in a day, the easiest rule to follow is this simple equation:

  (18 to 20)x(Body weight in Pounds) = Daily Caloric Intake

  Or, in other words, you need to eat 18 to 20 times your body weight in calories per day to gain weight. What you eat determines whether your gain will be muscle mass or fat.

  After learning how many calories you should be eating, you need to know how much of each macronutrient (protein, carbohydrate, and fat) you should be eating as well. Start with a 30-40-30 breakdown: 30 percent of your calories should be protein; 40 percent should be carbohydrates; and 30 percent should be fat. Eat lean meats, fruits, vegetables, and good fats, like olive oil, fatty fish, avocados, and flaxseed oil to provide your body with the nutrients it needs to build muscle. Also, work protein supplements into your diet to provide enough protein to build muscle.

Muscle Building Workouts

• No single workout will work to build muscle. An important consideration is your current level of fitness and your level of experience in the gym. If you have no experience in the gym, your workout will be very different than someone who has years of experience in the gym and wants to take their body to a higher level of fitness. If you are new to muscle building, purchase a good workout book and read it, or a good portion of it, before entering the gym. Look in the Resources section for three suggestions that are among the most popular in the industry.

  Most workout books will have beginner-level workouts in them. Follow one of those workouts and change the workout as your experience increases. For experienced gym rats, consider a split workout, compound moves, and lift the heaviest weights you can while keeping your form safe and correct.

The Execution

• You need to eat often enough to keep your body well-fueled. Eating six meals per day is the correct way to do this. These are not full meals. Three of them are, and three of them are protein shakes. Protein is required to build muscle, so you need to keep it coming. Work out regularly by joining a gym or by purchasing your own equipment so you can work out at home whenever you want. Then set a workout schedule that fits your lifestyle. Then stick with it.