Why do beginners manage to quickly achieve the desired muscle growth and why such rates are not maintained in the future without the use of specialized drugs? Many experienced athletes are interested in the question why those who are just starting to exercise are gaining muscle mass much faster and more efficiently, what factor affects its growth, and why does this effect disappear over time?
Quite often, you can observe such a situation when an athlete who visits the gym quite recently, after 2–3 months, achieves good results in increasing muscle mass. When a beginner is calm, he can gain 2–3 kg in a month and this usually happens, for an athlete with decent training experience who does not use any drugs to increase muscle growth, such a result can be considered very good.
It is believed that this situation occurs as a result of the anabolic action of insulin. Its level at the time of the beginning of intensive training increases significantly as a result of changes in the diet and the volume and nutritional value of food entering the body.
Insulin is a protein hormone that is produced in the pancreas and affects the level of glucose in a person's blood. Promotes the accumulation of glucose in fat cells, muscles and liver. A high concentration of insulin in the blood leads to high glucose levels and vice versa. Another feature of this hormone is to regulate the breakdown and synthesis of protein and its structure in muscle tissue. A low amount of insulin contributes to the destruction of protein structures, and a high amount catalyzes their synthesis. Accordingly, for a positive result in protein metabolism in the muscle tissues of the athlete, a high level of insulin is what is needed.
Often, athletes who continue to train according to starting schemes do not achieve the desired results after 5-6 months. Muscle enlargement remains almost unchanged. The reason for this is the period of adaptation of muscle cells to the changed insulin content in the blood. As a result, the balance between the synthesis and destruction of protein cells is stabilized and it is very difficult to achieve a positive balance.
Often, after pauses in classes, athletes rehabilitate the lost form faster than usual and achieve new results in gaining muscle mass and increasing working weight.
It is important to note that during a long period in the classroom, not only the diet itself usually changes, but also its calorie content. The body gets used to the lowered protein hormone level again.
After you recover from your workout in the gym, insulin levels rise again and act on receptors in muscle tissue. The anabolic qualities of insulin come into play, which contribute to a change in the balance between the destruction and synthesis of proteins in the cells of muscle tissue, shifting it to an increase in protein synthesis.
Adaptation (addiction) or de-adaptation
There are two ways in which muscle cells adapt to an elevated hormone level.
- Regularly increase the nutritional value and amount of food consumed, as a result of which the production of insulin is increased. Of course, there are disadvantages, a person is not always able to eat as much as necessary, and for some, the amount of incoming calories can be deposited in the body's fat cells.
- The use of periods of de-adaptation to an increased level of the hormone, in other words, getting used to its low content in the blood. In the case of a decrease in the amount of the hormone for a long time, muscle receptors get used to a lower amount of insulin, which the body will perceive as basic. Without a significant need, the process of destruction, as well as synthesis, of protein compounds does not start.
The body's need for cell synthesis arises when trying to restore internal conditions in the cells of muscle tissue. For example, healing injuries sustained in the gym. A long and impressive deficiency of glucose in the blood or the destruction of injured cells during classes in the gym can become a prerequisite for the destruction of protein cells.
Degradation processes can be prevented by avoiding tissue injury during exercise in the gym and by carefully monitoring blood glucose levels. During a decrease in the caloric content of food, it is very difficult to ensure normal blood glucose levels (if this can be avoided, then the protein from the muscles will not be used by the body as a source of energy). This problem can be avoided if you reduce the calorie content of food slowly and slowly.
Periodization
For insulin to manifest an anabolic effect, it is necessary to change periods of increasing muscle tissue mass (during this period, the calorie content of food is usually higher than usual) with periods of a decrease in the nutritional value of food and maladjustment to an increased content of the hormone in the blood. The combination of periods of de-adaptation and "drying" is the most optimal option, because a diet with a reduced amount of carbohydrates promotes the loss of a certain amount of body fat reserves.
It turns out that there are two periods that replace each other. During the first, the volume and mass of muscle tissue increases with an increase in the nutritional value of food. During the second (deadaptation), a certain amount of fat reserves is lost with a decrease in the nutritional value of the food consumed.
The onset of maladaptation can be outlined depending on the rate of increase in muscle tissue volume. In such conditions, the athlete has two choices, to continue to increase the nutritional value of food or its quantity, or to begin a period of maladjustment.
The length of the period of maladjustment depends on changes in the athlete's weight and overall health. The duration of the period of de-adaptation is, on average, several months.
Nutrition
The nutritional value of the diet should only change due to carbohydrates. Diet changes with carbohydrates are the easiest to deal with. Most often, a person, listening to his own body, changes his diet to achieve the maximum BJU ratios he needs. Violations in the ratio of BZHU always have unpleasant consequences for human health.
An athlete should remove foods that have a significant glycemic index from the diet. Their use can cause fluctuations in blood glucose. Which subsequently causes an increase in fat and muscle deprivation. The athlete's diet during this period should consist of complex carbohydrates, which do not contribute to the occurrence of sharp fluctuations in glucose levels and, accordingly, changes in insulin levels in the blood. See the glycemic index chart and post-workout nutrition.
Workout
In accordance with the goals set, the athlete must adjust the training program. If, after training, an athlete experiences muscle pain for a day or even several days, this indicates an injury to the protein composition of the muscles and the decay of those protein structures that were accordingly injured.
At the time of adaptation of muscle tissue cells to increased amounts of the hormone or at the time of a decrease in the nutritional value of food consumed, the athlete needs to be careful while exercising in the gym to prevent microtrauma. Exercises with impaired muscle connections have a positive effect on increasing the nutritional value of the athlete's diet, in which case the balance of protein structure in muscle tissues will be of excellent importance.
We will not recommend any specific methods or diets, as there are no ideal options for all athletes.
However, we will give an example of a diet for an athlete with an accelerated metabolism, who is closely involved in training aimed at gaining muscle mass.
For example, the period of time corresponding to de-adaptation or "drying" will last from March for six months, that is, until the end of the last summer month. The athlete needs to reduce the nutritional value of his own diet during this period of time. Previously, in February, the entire diet and diet remains the same. This month, only those foods that have a high glycemic index in their composition are eliminated from the diet.
The total daily calorie content of food remains unchanged, only changing the above foods to their opposite. In mid-March, the athlete needs to start gradually lowering the amount of carbohydrates consumed by him. To begin with, they reduce the amount of baked goods consumed, then gradually reduce the amount of garnish and increase the component of the diet in favor of vegetables. Breakfasts, brunches and lunches are becoming much less nutritious.
The fluctuation in weight should not be significant, by reducing the amount of carbohydrates in the diet, the athlete should lose no more than 450-650 grams over seven days. In the event that the decrease in weight fits into the above-described framework, then the diet for the next seven days remains unchanged. In the case of small fluctuations in the athlete's weight, the amount of carbohydrates consumed is slightly reduced. The above is the most common method of regulating the diet to achieve the desired effect.
By the end of the summer season, it is necessary to keep the nutritional value of food at the same level, make efforts to avoid weight loss. From the beginning of spring to the end of summer, weight loss ranges from 4 to 9 kg. If your diet is adjusted correctly, then most of all you will lose body fat. Gym workouts during this period are desirable but not required.
It doesn't matter when you start gaining muscle mass, the main thing is to slowly add the values of slow carbs to your diet. It is worth noting that all diets and workouts are purely individual. The only advice is to rely on your appetite, well-being, and gains in weight and muscle mass.
