It’s key to focus on the best ‘building muscle food’ so you don’t slow recovery and growth down! Because most lift heavy and ignore the fact that specific foods literally convert effort into muscle! So, they add wood to the furnace without lighting the match. Or have workers ready but no bricks and mortar at their disposal! Besides it’s physiologically impossible to build something out of nothing, unless you’re queen Elsa fellas. Likewise, attempting to build muscle without adequate protein and calories will hand you your first and last plateau.
Best Muscle Building Foods
What is the best food for muscle building then? So, there are many but let’s start off with the basics. Firstly, the most important boxes to tick off are protein and total calories. Now, protein will repair damaged tissue and help it to rebuild back bigger and stronger. But this process is only as good as your total calories. Because calories fuel the protein to do it’s job. Thus, when calories are too low, protein may be used for other purposes. Namely, for hair, nails, bones or even energy if you’re in a calorie deficit. So, calories are just as important as protein in order to gain size.
Beginner to Advanced Calorie Recommendations
Beginners must take full advantage of their body’s sensitivity to building muscle. And you do this by consuming plenty of calories! Because as you develop from beginner to intermediate progress get’s harder. More so from intermediate to advanced. Individuals with higher body fat levels should consume around maintenance calories. The reason being is that their body utilizes stored body fat towards building muscle. So, this allows them to naturally build muscle and lose fat without entering a calorie deficit. Contrarily, a 500 calorie surplus is recommended for leaner individuals that are between 10-15% body fat.
For those who have been lifting for 3+ years it is a better idea to be in a milder surplus of circa 250 calories. Because your body is no longer as sensitive and you don’t want to accumulate body too quickly. As it will shorten your mass phase and require a mini cut! Although, the intricacies of this are for another blog.
Best Food for Muscle Building
Now, it’s okay to include foods deemed empty (due to the fact they’re low in micronutrients) in calories. But we recommend to stick to the 80/20 rule in favor of healthy foods. Moreover, allocating 20% of your diet to treats improves diet adherence due to not feeling deprived. And the other 80% of your food should focus on quality lean meats, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats.
Protein
Protein is a key component in the muscle building process that helps to repair damaged tissue. And build more muscle so that we can manage heavier workloads over time. The best foods include chicken, turkey, eggs, whey protein and tuna. Similarly, cod and fattier protein sources such as beef, salmon and mackerel. And for the none meat eaters good food sources are soya/pea protein, soya burgers, tofu, tempeh and soya beans. Additionally, peanut butter (actually a classified fat not protein) and less efficient sources such as lentils, quinoa, and chick peas. Lastly, protein has 4 calories per gram and best recommendations are to consume 0.7-1 gram per pound of bodyweight. However, if of very high body fat levels you can use 0.7-1 gram of protein per centimeter of your height.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram and are stored in the muscles in the form of glycogen. Additionally, they are the brains favorite source of fuel to use! And because strength training is anaerobic (the fuel process doesn’t include oxygen) by nature we need adequate carbohydrate intake. So to maximize your performance consume 40-50% of your calories from good carbohydrate sources. Such as wholegrain; rice, pasta, cereals, whole meal bread and sweet potatoes. Additionally premium vegetable carbohydrate sources include; broccoli, spinach and kale. Also, carbohydrates are big in size so they’re consumed in high amounts when dieting as they fill the tummy. Further, they are naturally higher in fiber too which keeps us regular and better satiated.
Fats
Fats have 9 calories per gram and are very small in size which make it easier to over eat! And they aren’t as satiating as the other two macro nutrients. So, there’s two main types; unsaturated and saturated. Moreover, unsaturated fats are healthiest and come from sources like walnuts, almonds, pumpkin and flax seeds, avocados and olive oil. Whereas saturated fats come with less benefits and potential risks if not moderately consumed. And they include foods such as; cheese, fatty cuts of meat, butter, palm oil, egg yolk and fast food.
For more examples of best building muscle foods check this blog out called 23 Best Foods to Build Muscle by Men’s Health.
Best Building Muscle Foods Conclusion
Finally, for best results be sure to focus on getting a good mix of the above foods throughout the day. Consequently, your body will have all the materials it needs for optimal muscle growth and energy to support your performance. You can then keep pushing for personal records!
This blog will be of interest if you feel your muscle building is going slower than it should be!
Happy pumping!
Coaches,
Luke & Kate
