Nutrition for muscle growth
Muscle growth exercise requires discipline and dedication, is about eating the necessary nutrients along with a series of strength exercises that will allow you to build muscle slowly without injuries.
To build muscle, nutrition plays the most important role, and Macronutrients should be your main focus. Proteins, Carbohydrates, and Healthy Fats will provide the necessary nutrients needed for energy, and muscle growth.
What diet is best for muscle gain?
Protein | Carbohydrates | Healthy Fats
Protein should make up 10 to 35% of total calories from both groups. Animal protein and Plant-based protein.
Animal proteins are meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy.
Lean meat: chicken breast or turkey 4oz portion (113grams) can provide about 33 grams of protein.
Dairy products: cheese, Greek yogurt, milk. Dairy not only contains high quality protein but also a mixture of fast-digesting whey protein
Eggs: each can provide 6 grams of protein. Eggs contain high quality protein, healthy fats, and other important nutrients like B vitamins and choline
Lean beef: 4oz portion contains 284 calories, and 19 grams of protein
Plant-based protein are fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds.
Broccoli: 1 cup of broccoli provides you with only 3 grams of protein due to the water content. Chickpeas: 1 cup of chickpeas or garbanzo beans contains 36 grams of protein.
Nut Butter: 2 tablespoons of nut butter contains about 8 grams of protein
Nuts and Seeds: Flaxseeds, Chia Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Walnuts, and Almonds contains 20-29 grams of protein per 1 cup serving
Lentils. Plant protein are essential and they should be part of your diet for lean muscle gain. Black, pinto, and kidney beans contain around 15 grams of protein
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are another important group of foods for fueling your muscles and should be a must for any muscle-building diet. This is because carbohydrates create glycogen, which is required for resistance training.
Vegetables, Sweet potatoes, Legumes, Oats, Quinoa, Whole wheat bread, Whole wheat, and Pastas are some choices to add to your daily diet.
Healthy Fats
Healthy Fats: Healthy fats supplies your body with energy, help on keeping you full for longer and support muscle recovery.
Healthy fats can be found in nuts, olive oil, avocado, and in oily fish and seeds.
3 main things to avoid during a muscle growth diet
Alcohol: Consuming alcohol can increase the rate at which you gain fat which will make it harder for you to build muscle mass.
Deep Fried Foods: Fried foods are full of unhealthy fat, cholesterol, and salt. Consuming deep fried foods can increase your risk of obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
Added Sugars: Foods that contains added sugars are high in calories and unhealthy fats which makes it impossible for you to gain lean mass. Avoid added sugars as much as possible.
EXERCISES FOR muscle Strenght
Steps to improve strength and flexibility
Muscular strength is an important part of overall wellness. Strength and flexibility exercises will help you increase muscle strength, maintain bone density, improve balance and reduce joint pain.
Tips to maintain muscles strong and healthy
Increase your protein intake
Add weight to your exercise routine
Do aerobic exercises
Strength exercises
Strength exercise is any activity that makes your muscles work harder than usual to increases their strength, size, power and endurance. This exercise involves using your body weight or working against some sort of resistance, to work specific muscle groups. Some examples are: Push-ups, sit-ups, squats, walking, planks, dancing.
Flexible exercises
A flexibility exercise is a movement or position designed to stretch specific muscles, with the goal of increasing flexibility and range of motion in that specific area. A flexibility exercise can be any kind of stretch, as long as it increases your range of motion and lengthens your muscles and joints. Examples are: Yoga, stretching, Pilates.