Complete Nutrition

First, we need to understand what the role of nutrition is for muscle growth and how t Essentially, nutrition plays a supportive role in the muscle growth process. Nutrition can provide a more anabolic environment to build muscle in. T However, it should be understood that nutrition doesn't stimulate muscle growth. That is the role of training. Resistance training is what provides the trigger for muscle growth to occur in the first place. So without a good stimulus, no nutritional intervention will have any anabolic effects. So while this video will be on nutrition for muscle growth, we need to ass With that being said, the first nutritional consideration for muscle growth is our total daily calorie intake. More specifically, we are referring to how many calories we cons T Note that we are referring total body weight. We aren't specifically referring to muscle or fat here. T Regarding calories, there are three energy balance states that we can be in at any given time. First is a calorie surplus. T Second is maintenance calories. T And t Muscle growth can be ac However, not all of these states are equally effective at promoting muscle growth. A calorie deficit is the least anabolic state that trainees can be in. It is certainly possible for muscle growth to be ac A calorie deficit is the best option for lifters trying to lose body fat, but also comes with the trade off that muscle growth won't be ideal, and slight muscle loss is a possibility too. The next option is to eat at maintenance calories. It is certainly possible to grow muscle at maintenance calories. It will work quite well. However, it might not be the best option for muscle growth, but it will Trainees can also expect not to gain or lose much body fat during t And lastly, the best way to maximize our rate of muscle growth is via a calorie surplus. Gaining weight over time will promote the most anabolic environment and result in the fastest rate of muscle growth. However, t So eventually you will probably have to enter a deficit again to remove t So ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to go about our calorie intake, it is just a matter of what is most compatible with your current goals. So if we decide to pursue a calorie surplus to maximize our rate of muscle growth, the next question becomes how much of a surplus should we be in? Because each individual's caloric needs are different, it is difficult to give an exact calorie n Therefore, it is best to discuss t So how fast should we gain weight to maximize muscle growth? Well, it seems that a faster rate of weight gain may be slightly superior than a slower rate of weight gain. However, t Whereas a slower rate of weight gain may result in slightly less muscle growth but much less fat gain. The faster weight gain group increased body weight by around 0. 4% per week w 2% per week. As expected, the fast weight gain group gained more than twice the amount of total body weight. However, lean mass only increased slightly more in the fast weight gain group, w So in most cases, a smaller surplus over a longer duration would probably yield the best long term results. T A very general guide would be to gain somewhere around 0. 1 to 0. 3% of body weight per week. Now that we have covered the fundamentals of calorie intake, let's now explore macronutrients. There are three macronutrients that we intake via food and drink. These are protein, carbohydrates and fat. Essentially, these three macronutrients make up calories. Protein and carbohydrate each contain four calories per gram, w It should also be noted that when we are discussing macronutrients, we are talking about the proportion of macros in our diet wit For example, let'say our total daily calorie intake is 2,500 calories. We could have different macronutrient breakdowns wit We could cons Or we could achieve the same calorie intake by cons In both cases, total daily calorie intake is the same, but the macronutrient breakdown is different. So what we want to know is what proportion of each macronutrient should our diet be made up from? First, let's discuss protein intake, because it is the most important of the three macros for muscle building purposes. Essentially, more protein tends to better for muscle growth, but probably has diminis T Overall, it was found that cons 5 grams of protein per kilogram per day seemed to have a significant positive effect on muscle growth. However, beyond this intake, there was a less additional benefit of cons So as a practical recommendation, trainees should aim to cons 5 grams of protein per kilogram per day. Furthermore, I would suggest that males may want to b 6 to 1. 7 grams, while females may want to reduce this minim 3 to 1. 4 grams. T So for these reasons, it may be more accurate to scale our protein intake based on muscle mass as opposed total body weight. In either case, trainees will probably see greater muscle growth from eating more protein than this minim Ultimately, it is up to the individual how Once we have a goal protein intake, the remainder of our diet will be made up from carbohydrates and fat. So the question becomes, how much carbs vs fat do we want to eat to maximise muscle growth? Well, carbohydrate and fat intake seems to be much more flexible in its recommendations for lifters. The exact proportion of carbs vs fat doesn't seem to make much difference in terms of body composition outcomes when total calorie intake and protein intake are appropriately prescribed. This research review recommended that lifters aiming to maximise muscle growth should aim to cons 5g of fat per kilogram per day on the low end. So as long as we are meeting these minim For example, let'say we have a 2500 calorie diet for a 75kg meal. Let's also control protein intake at 2g of protein per kilogram per day, w T On the other extreme, this trainee may cons In either case, or any other carb vs fat ratio between these two examples, long term muscle growth is Therefore, lifters can be somewhat flexible with the prescription of carbs and fats and eat according to preference, making sure to hit the minim Next, let's discuss meal frequency. This refers to how many meals per day trainees should cons It is often stated that it is important to cons Hypothetically, a higher meal frequency, let'say cons While a lower meal frequency, let'say cons However, t For example, this study explored the effects of a high protein diet cons It was found that both groups saw similar gains in lean mass, with no significant differences between them. However, as far as I am aware, we don't have any good quality direct evidence comparing muscle growth between a low meal frequency, meaning 3 or fewer meals per day, compared with a So we can't conclusively say that meal frequency doesn't matter at all. It is certainly possible that cons So as a practical recommendation, trainees may want to cons Eating more frequently than t Next let's discuss meal timing. More specifically, we are referring to when we eat around our workouts. There are two considerations for meal timing that we will cover individually. First let's discuss the intake of protein around our workouts. Often trainees will claim that it is necessary to cons This is commonly seen in practice by cons However, is t Well, the evidence suggests that this study explored the effects of cons It was found that muscle growth outcomes were similar regardless of whether protein was cons This doesn't mean that cons Rather, trainees probably just want to ensure that they have had a decent protein serving before and after their workouts. As a practical recommendation, it is probably a good idea to cons And the other nutrient worth mentioning in relation to timing is carbohydrate. Since carbohydrate is the most efficient fuel source for It is common practice for other athletes, such as endurance and field sport athletes, to ingest carbohydrates before, during and after exercise, as this is However, typical hypertrophy style training sessions probably don't expend enough total energy to benefit to the same extent from specific carbohydrate manipulation. T However, in some cases, particular carbohydrate timing did have a positive effect on lifting performance. T So essentially, as long as you have had a decent carbohydrate serving wit However, if you are in a fasted state, such as training first thing in the morning, if you are performing very high vol And lastly, let's discuss supplements w Supplements are the least important consideration regarding nutrition for muscle growth, but may still have a small positive effect in some cases. While we can't discuss all supplements The first is caffeine. Caffeine can be found in drinks At T Although the doses required to see these effects are very Research suggests that for physiological performance benefits, trainees would need to cons However, I t Even low doses of caffeine can significantly enhance concentration, improve alertness and reduce perceived tiredness. T W T For the days that you aren't as motivated to train or just feel generally tired, a low dose of caffeine can get you in the gym and help you train effectively. The next supplement we will discuss is protein supplementation. T Protein supplementation doesn't seem to be inherently anabolic itself when total daily protein intake is equated. T It was concluded that protein supplementation was effective at promoting muscle growth, but only in lifters cons Once protein supplementation b 6g per kilogram per day, it had no additional hypertrophy benefits, which is a similar finding to what we discussed earlier So really, protein supplements don't seem to have any unique anabolic effects, w Supplementation is basically just useful for convenience. They can help lifters boost their total daily protein intake with minimal effort and preparation. Furthermore, protein supplementation can be a strategy to help with protein timing. As we mentioned, a common practice is for lifters to cons Protein supplementation can therefore beneficial for lifters who may be very busy in their day-to-day lives, or have to travel to and from the gym without being able to prepare and the last supplement on our list is creatine. Creatine has been known to have small beneficial effects on T For example, t It was found that eight weeks of training with creatine supplementation resulted in superior growth of the arms, legs and trunk compared with the same training program performed with a placebo supplement. It is well established that creatine is effective for long-term muscle growth. However, the issue is that it can be quite inconvenient to take. For maximal effectiveness, creatine needs to be taken in very small doses every day. Trainees can often forget to do t So w Check out flow com for online coac