Many bodybuilders are under the impression that as long as the work out consistently at the gym, their muscles will continue to grow. This particular line of thinking just ends up costing them years of hard work as there are other things that matter too, if they want tangible results.
It’s quite logical to believe that when you work out hard with weights, your muscles will grow. The things you should be focusing on are increasing your intensity levels and shortening the actual volume of work. Apart from this, you should also be adding a larger amount of calorie-dense foods. This should be higher than your regular calorie expenditure. If you fail to do this and steadily increase the amount of calorie-dense foods you consume, your muscle mass will only stagnate; in fact over time, you will also start to lose muscle mass.
Things to focus on
The lesson to be learnt here is that even as you follow a regular workout routine, you should also ensure that you are following a proper nutrition plan; this will help you build muscle in a more effective manner. Weight training is only just one aspect of the muscle building puzzle. The other important aspects are rest and nutrition. The only way to optimize muscle growth is to combine all these 3 variables.
If you miss even a single one, it has an adverse impact on your muscle growth. If you want your muscles to grow, you should focus on including the right kind of nutrition into your plan as well. Here are some foods that can aid muscle growth. The recommendation is to eat everything we have included in this list, at least once every week; and you can also enjoy some of these foods every day:
#1 Grass-fed beef
This is excellent for muscle building and has significant amounts of Vitamin B, Creatine and Zinc
#2 Whole Eggs
These are the highest-grade protein source. They are packed with essential amino acids & calcium that your body needs to recover post an intense workout. It’s a good idea to include whole eggs in your daily diet.
#3 Quinoa
This wonder grain has very high fibre content and is rich in essential minerals, vitamins, proteins as well as carbohydrates.
#4 Chicken Breast
This is an excellent source of lean protein and skinless chicken breast is also 99% fat free. You can safely add it to your daily diet.
#5 Edamame
This is an excellent vegan source of protein and just 1 cup of it has an amazing 17 gms of lean protein as well as healthy fibre.
#6 Salmon
This fish has healthy fat and is rich in Omega 3 and protein.
#7 Almonds
These are packed with nutrients and are very high in healthy fats and helps increase testosterone levels in the body. They also contain a good amount of manganese and Vitamin E.
#8 Greek Yogurt
It has high calcium and protein content. Since it’s a skim-milk based product, it’s a very healthy snack for just about anyone that wants to build muscle.
The one thing that all these foods have in common is that they aid in building lean, hard muscle. Ideally, these foods should be used to complement a customised weight training program as well as optimal recovery strategies.
If you have any questions about building muscle or want a workout routine that would help, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at Schembri PT. You can send us an email to info@schembript.com or fill in this contact us form and we’ll reply as soon as possible.
Thanks for reading,
Schembri PT Team
02 9648 6405