When it comes to increasing our muscle mass, usually we think that all we have to do is focus on our sports activity. However, the reality is that to increase our muscle mass, we must take into account binomial physical exercise and diet. Therefore, if you want to obtain the best results, the correct combination of a good training plan to gain muscle and adequate dietary guidelines will ensure that you achieve the desired objective and increase your performance to the maximum.
What strategies you can follow to gain muscle?
The diet has to be personalized to the physical characteristics of each person: age, sex, type of exercise and intensity, objectives, body composition, stage of life, physiological state, schedules, food preferences, etc.
To increase our caloric intake, we can:
Increase the frequency of our intakes: it is not always necessary that you eat every two or three hours to increase your muscle mass, but how to increase the number of calories ingested, and depending on how are you may need to do many intakes a day to be able to reach your calories necessary or, conversely, opt these calories with three meals a day. It all depends on how you feel most comfortable.
Having high caloric density foods and beverages; without significantly increasing the volume of our dishes.
Ensure optimal carbohydrate intake before, during, and after exercising.
Plan meals in advance to avoid skipping meals and make sure we always have good options.
How our diet must be composed:
We have to consider and value the following three macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fat, and understand what role they play in the nutritional plan to increase muscle mass.
Carbohydrates
It is required to increase the consumption of carbohydrates since they would have to constitute approximately 60% of the total caloric value of the intake.
They are essential for a good recovery and a correct replacement of our glycogen stores:
- Glycogen acts as energy fuel and contributes up to 80% of energy during high-intensity resistance exercise. It’s got glucose molecules (which make up most carbohydrates).
- Glycogen can inhibit AMPK, a protein that acts as an energy sensor and activates protein breakdown so that glycogen prevents a loss of muscle mass from occurring (since they increase protein catabolism).
When choosing foods with high carbohydrate, the best options are legumes, tubers, whole grains, vegetables, fruit. But it is necessary to be careful with foods that are very rich in fiber just before doing sports, that is better to reserve them for after sports practice or for rest days as they can cause intestinal discomfort.
Proteins
Proteins are an essential macronutrient in the formation of muscle mass since they are responsible for executing the following physiological functions:
- Participate actively in the immune system
- Have a significant role in physical performance
- Participate at a structural level in muscle tissue
They would not be essential as an energy source during physical activity. We usually obtain energy from other substrates, mainly from carbohydrates and fats.
To increase muscle mass a daily contribution would be of 1.6 – 1.8 g of protein/ kg per day should be taken, and for maintenance, the best offering would be between 1.2 and 1.8g of protein/kg per day. But you must bear in mind that these are general recommendations; It always has to be individualized for each individual since the protein needs vary according to each case.
If the glycogen reserves at the muscle and liver level are empty, the protein needs may increase.
When choosing foods, it is necessary to prioritize high biological value proteins such as eggs or milk protein. In vegetarian/vegan case athletes or those who wish to reduce their consumption of foods of animal origin, a good option is legumes (mainly soybeans or chickpeas) together with cereals such as quinoa to obtain all the essential amino acids.
Fats
Sometimes we neglect fats in our diet or think that they are not necessary for our day-to-day, but they also play their role in increasing muscle mass: they can be used in the same way as carbohydrates as a source of energy during exercise. Exercise and an adequate intake of fatty acids are essential for the proper performance of our body.
A contribution of between 25-35% of the total caloric value of our diet is required.
When choosing foods, it is essential to prioritize healthy fats such as olive oil, avocado, olives, nuts, and oily fish.
This macronutrient also allows our body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), thus achieving proper muscle growth and development.
In summary, the contribution of carbohydrates in our diet has to be increased, as in this way we ensure a correct muscle synthesis and, consequently, a growth of muscle tissue. In addition, we will obtain a higher glycogen load at the muscular level, which will allow us to optimize our sports performance. We must have an adequate supply of high biological value protein to help the formation of muscle tissue, and finally; We cannot forget to ingest a sufficient amount of good quality fats in our day-to-day life.
