Build Muscle Information » Natural BodyBuilding Advice

What to eat to build muscles

NaturalBodyBuilder — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:26:23 +0000

Lots of hard work, perseverance and consistency combined with the right diet is your way of building muscle and increasing strength. To build muscles fast, you need proper intake of nutrition. Of course you don’t want that extra fat! The most popular nutrient needed for weight lifting is Protein. What does protein do? Protein is needed by the body to build muscle mass. Weight lifters need extra protein to replace the protein that is broken down during the training. It also aids in meeting the energy requirements of the body however it is not as efficient as carbohydrates in fueling the body for such activities.

Here is a list of some foods to help you build the mass of your muscles fast:

1.) Whole eggs- aside from the fact that eggs are very cheap, they are also a rich source of protein. Forget about the old school teachings that you only need egg whites. The yolk contains Vitamin D which aids in the muscle tissue repair. Eating 3 eggs per day is just right to help you build muscle mass.

2.) Beef- this is an all-time favorite of weight lifters. 100 grams of beef approximately has 30 grams of high quality protein. The best way to cook it is to roast it because it makes use of only a little oil.

3.) Chicken and Turkey- if you do not like beef as your main source of protein, then this is the best option for you. Just make sure you choose a lean cut and it’s 98% fat free.

4.) Fish Oil- it reduces muscle inflammation and it lowers body fat. There are a lot of fish oil supplements available in the market today.

5.) Oats and Berries- Oats reduce cholesterol level in your body and it is very high in fiber. Berries are a good source of strong anti-oxidants, they also prevent cancer and eye diseases. You can mix berries with your oatmeal.

6.) Mixed Nuts- they contain protein, mono and polyunsaturated fats, Vitamin E, zinc, potassium and magnesium. These are great if you want to gain weight and build muscle mass at the same time.

7.) Milk and Soy- although in liquid form, they are a good source of protein. Also, they compliment the amino acids found in meat which is utilized by the body for muscle recovery.

8.) Spinach- it prevents muscle and bone loss since it is one of the most alkaline foods high in nutrients.

9.) Quinoa- it’s a South American grain which is higher in fiber and protein than rice or oats plus it tastes a lot better and it’s gluten-free. You can eat it after you work out with meat and spinach.

10.) Yogurt- not only does it contain muscle friendly protein but it is also rich in probiotics which keeps your digestive tract healthy. If possible choose the Greek -style yogurt since it is thicker (more protein). You can mix it with fruit, spread it on bread or use it on top of chicken or onions.

How to Gain Muscle Mass the Right Way

NaturalBodyBuilder — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:36:42 +0000

A lot of people have misconceptions on how to gain muscle mass in a short period of time. We read about fad workouts and regimens that do not work. If your goal is to build muscle mass in 3 to 5 months then you must keep in mind that discipline and a lot of hard work is not enough. You need to be more efficient by doing the right things and at the same time doing them the right way.

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Experts say that using free weights for all heavy sets will help you gain muscle mass fast. The Smith machine works however if your goal is to add real mass, you can use dumbbells instead. How do they work? Dumbbells will make your ancillary (secondary) muscles work and at the same time build multipart mass. The point in here is that you have to utilize a great range of motion (using the dumbbells) for the number of muscles used in the routine. With this, results are better.

However, heavy weights combined with intense workout will increase the risk of injuries. A lot of bodybuilding professionals’ careers ended because of torn pecs, strained erectors and slipped discs. Always be careful and be sure to warm-up, don’t force because your body can only take too much strain. Gradually increase to the maximum lifting weight. Don’t overdo it! Some experts say you can use a limit of 16 to 20 sets per body part but if you are not competing, you’re fine with 12 to 16 sets per muscle group. Each set should be concluded in exhaustion, in this way, you can maximize the benefit of your weight lifting routine. Avoid training more than 2 body parts in a single day or you will end up over working your body. This might cause your muscles to stop growing.

Another important thing for building muscle mass is your diet. You need to watch what you eat all the time to get better results not to mention healthier. Include lean read meat in your diet – this can be beef or pork. Chicken, turkey and fish are also good sources of protein. You just have to make sure it’s 98% fat free. Proper diet incorporated with the right workout is proven effective to gain muscle mass and to achieve the body that you always wanted.

Food you can eat to help build your muscles

NaturalBodyBuilder — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:16:13 +0000

The philosophy that most people who are into body building follow is “Eat Big to Get Big”. You have to make sure that you have sufficient calories. But I’m not saying you consume a lot of fast food junk! I say enough and not too much. One thing you can do is to calculate the calories you need to grow muscles. How can you do this? Simply by multiplying your lean body weight by 19. For example, a bodybuilder who weighs 230 pounds with 15% body fat would need roughly 3,714.5 calories per day (230- (100%-15%) x 19).

While it is positive that you need adequate calories, you need to make sure that you are getting these calories from Protein. Most people should eat 1-1.5 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. So a 230 pound weight lifter needs 230 to 345 grams of protein every day. For the right diet, let’s not forget carbohydrates. Carbs are the natural source of fuel in your body, we need carbs for energy.

What specific food can you eat? Turkey, chicken and fish are good sources of protein and amino acids, these are essential for body building. Amino acids also aid in the breaking down of the protein to heal your muscles after weight lifting. But you also have to remember, stay away from fried food and always go for lean meat. As much as possible go for 98% fat free meat. Eggs are also popular source of protein. It is best if you eat the whole egg and not just the egg white contrary to what most people believe in. the egg yolk contains Vitamin D needed to maintain the structure of the muscle tissue. Studies show that eating 3 eggs a day will enable you to develop twice as much muscles than those who eat one egg every day.

Also, you can eat foods that are rich in potassium like strawberries and bananas. They definitely help in repairing your muscles. You can also try Spirulina, green-algae full of nutrition and protein but it is low in fat. It contains anti-oxidant for your muscle recovery. You can just add this to your breakfast shake.

Diet plays an important role in helping you build your muscles fast. Even if you work out religiously but if you have a very poor nutrition intake, the tendency is you will not achieve the results that you want. During your rest period, that’s when the body makes use of the nutrition from your diet to make muscles grow. Having an excellent nutrition plan is a sure way of achieving great results.

Fast Muscle Building Tips

NaturalBodyBuilder — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:16:12 +0000

There is really no shortcut in achieving a great body. For you to build muscles in a short period of time with NO steroids, it’s not enough that you exercise and do liftings. It won’t be easy but it won’t be as difficult as well. The key in here is that you know what you’re doing and you do it right and of course you need a lot of discipline to be consistent.

Before you start, you need to decide what your aim is whether you want TONE and ENDURANCE or MASS and STRENGTH. If your main purpose for lifting weights is for muscle mass and strength then the first thing you need to do is subject your body to a level of stress that it is not accustomed to so it will be forced to add muscles. Muscles grow as a response to the trauma during your weight lifting routine. However, there is no need to overdo it. You can start by working out 2-4 days per week and as much as possible do not go for more than an hour and a half every session. Try to keep your reps between 4 and 12, go down with control but speed up a little when you go up. This will help you build mass, increase your power and strength.

Take a break for 2-3 minutes in between sets. Remember that it is during the rest period that your body uses the nutrition to help muscles grow. Not allowing your muscles to recover after the stress will slow down the or in some cases even overturn the muscle building process.

You may also want to concentrate your training on key exercise movements. With this we mean bench press, leg press, etc. If you also want to burn fat while building muscles, you can incorporate cardio in your routine. You can do this before or after your muscle training. However, since your main goal is to build mass, you can only do cardio once every week or once in every two weeks. The reason behind this is that performing too much cardio can take away the quality of muscle gain therefore giving you muscles smaller in size.

Spending long hours working out will do you no good and it will not definitely give you instant or faster results. This is a mistake most beginners do. What’s important in here is that you do it properly, you take the right nutrition and you get sufficient rest. Patience and discipline are the key factors on how you can achieve great results faster.

Natural Bodybuilding – Natural Bodybuilding Advice

NaturalBodyBuilder — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:38:31 +0000

There is a lot of good natural bodybuilding advice out there, but there are also a lot of common misconceptions out there. That’s the problem with the Internet: while more information than ever is available online, not all of it is accurate. If you start looking online for natural bodybuilding advice, there’s a lot of information out there, and it can quickly become overwhelming as there are no lack of experts willing to come out of the woodwork and give their two cents on the topic of natural bodybuilding.

Natural bodybuilding is the process of building muscles naturally. There are varying degrees to which people take this definition. Everyone agrees that means no steroids or other illegal substances. Some think a natural supplement like creatine or whey protein is okay, while others want to go completely pure – with no supplements of any kind whatsoever. The good news is that either way, there is plenty of good natural bodybuilding advice out there that can help you reach your goals.

Some great natural bodybuilding advice for those of you trying to bulk up:

1. More meals, more calories. Eat six meals of varying calories instead of three large ones, and if you want to bulk up you need to eat more calories than your body can burn in a day.

2. Protein and carbs. Everyone knows that protein helps to build and repair muscles, but if you really want to grow, then carbs are the way to go. Many college football players are surprised the first time they show up and are told to wolf down rice and spaghetti, but it makes a huge difference in giving the fuel required to bulk up naturally.

3. Be patient. Good bodybuilding takes a lot of time. You need protein and carbs and a lot of time sticking to an excellent weightlifting regiment.

4. Keep a list of reasons why it’s good to be drug free. As with any long term goal, bodybuilding the natural way will have times of frustration and doubt. Keeping a list to remind you of why you want to stay dedicated to a natural path.

5. Be prepared for skeptics. The world is full of haters and doubters, and when you really start hitting success don’t be surprised to find lines of people who are going to accuse you of being a ‘roids user even if you never touched the stuff. That’s just part of the game.

There are many more tips that can help you on your path to getting a totally ripped bod as a natural body builder, but many of them are common sense that any weight lifter would know like doing less reps at heavier weight instead of more reps at a lighter weight, eating enough calories to gain muscle mass, and working out the muscles in groups that make sense and make sure that one group isn’t over trained while other muscle groups go under trained.

There is plenty of natural bodybuilding advice online, but like many things, nothing beats going out and actually getting started. The sooner you start, the sooner you can start bulking up to that body you’ve dreamed of.

Check out our Workout Routines. We have the Mark Wahlberg Workout Routine, the Tyson Beckford Workout Routine and many others.

Natural BodyBuilding Advice – Diet Tips To Build Muscle

NaturalBodyBuilder — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:30:02 +0000

Diet For Natural Bodybuilding – Powerful Tips You Can Use Everyday

We are going to examine the most common challenge bodybuilders face which is nutrition.

Unfortunately there is so much confusion about what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat and on and on that it is almost impossible to sort out what to do. Also eating to grow is very different the eating to get shredded so the key point to remember is that your diet needs to evolve with your physique.

Consistency and self-discipline on your eating is two biggest keys to long term success on whatever eating program that you are following. Bodybuilders who are successful always plan ahead and have meals prepared well in advance. If you don’t plan out your meals and have them with you at all times you will invariably fail in giving yourself the best possible gains. Hoping that restaurants, or friends or relatives will be serving “bodybuilding food” is unrealistic and leads to frustration as well as no progress. Don’t be one of those people who do not prepare their meals in advance.

Here are a few simple rules to remember:

1. Always carry 1-2 meals with you more than you think you will need. This way any delays in your schedule will not throw your eating off.

2. Always eat before you go shopping, to the movies, or to other social occasions where non-nutritious food will be served this way you will reduce any cravings for junk.

3. Prepare food in bulk and use Tupperware containers so that you can grab quick meals at any time. Also you will find it takes very little extra time to prepare 10 meals as it does one meal. This savings in time will actually make your life way more efficient and your eating plan easy to stick too.

4. Get off all artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners cause cravings for sugar, mess up your metabolism and brain function, and may have negative effects on your overall health. Cut them out of your diet immediately and switch to Stevia, or Raw Honey for sweetening. No Diet Sodas.

5. Drink plenty of water each day. Most often dehydration is misinterpreted as hunger. Slug back a liter of water 30 minutes before eating or when you feel hungry and you will see how it curbs appetite significantly.

6. Place nutritious snacks in you car, your office desk at your house basically everywhere that you spend a considerable amount of time. You will quickly develop the habit of eating healthy and junk foods will quickly lose their appeal.

7. Schedule a regular junk food meal once per week. This is a powerful lesson that starts building the will to understand delayed gratification. Every time you have a craving for junk food simply right it down and schedule to eat it on a set day. By the end of the week you can review the list and go eat those foods guilt free. Often times by the junk food day you won’t want the food or it won’t taste as good as you anticipated. Over time you will develop more control over your cravings and reduce negative guilt associations with food.

This list isn’t the be all and end all of eating but it gives you a start to work with.

Keep in mind that your eating program should evolve over time. Your body will naturally adjust from desiring different types of foods depending on a variety of factors such as season, nutrient levels, PH balance of the body, training demands, and conditioning levels to name a few.

Recording how food affects you as biofeedback is critical in understanding the powerful effects of food on your mood and your performance. Review your eating journal regularly so that you become aware of your patterns of eating as well developing awareness of how each food affects your body.

You must master eating and training first before supplements can be effective. So many people try the other way around and wind up frustrated. No supplement can make up for a poor diet or poor training so vow to master these two facets first before wasting money on supplements. Once you master your diet than the right supplement at the right time can do wonders to improve performance but seldom does the supplement deliver when the diet is poor.

Check out http://www.muscle-guide.com for more great information on building muscle and getting fit.