Find out what side effects may occur if you use a weight gainer too much during the period of muscle gain. A gainer is a carbohydrate protein mixture, often containing additional substances, such as creatine, amines, etc. The main purpose of gainers is to increase the energy balance of the body and accelerate the set of muscle mass. Note that gainers are very popular in our country, but not very popular in the West. Often on specialized Internet resources you can find questions about the dangers of a gainer in bodybuilding and today we will try to answer it.
However, first, let's say that the gainer is not a new type of sports nutrition and athletes used prototypes of modern products even before the onset of the "golden age" of bodybuilding. Of course, the first gainers were very different from the modern ones, and this primarily concerns their composition. The first carbohydrate-protein mixtures consisted of cheap raw materials and had a high energy value. This often led to a gain in fat rather than muscle mass.
In this, of course, one can see the harm of a gainer in bodybuilding. But if we consider modern products that are made from high-quality raw materials and do not have such a high calorie content, then they can perfectly fulfill their task. However, there are also restrictions on the use of this type of sports food.
Why and how to take a gainer?
It makes sense to pay attention to bodybuilders with a lean physique. Ectomorphs naturally have a high metabolic rate and often have problems with weight gain, even with proper nutrition. If you don't have such difficulties, then you won't need a gainer either. It is better in this situation to pay attention to protein mixtures.
Athletes who have a slow metabolism do not need gainers at all, since they will gain fat mass, which is completely useless. In addition to bodybuilding, gainers can be used in those sports where it is important to have high endurance. In this case, carbohydrate-protein mixtures should be considered solely as a means of obtaining sufficient energy and maintaining body weight.
If we talk about how to use a gainer, then you should trust the manufacturers in this, who recommend using the supplement twice a day. The first intake should be carried out in the morning to stop catabolic reactions and replenish energy balance. Then consume the supplement about a quarter of an hour after training to speed up the regeneration process. This applies to training days. If you are not doing a class, then you should not use a gainer more than once a day.
It is also worth mentioning that the gainers can be used in conjunction with any kind of sports nutrition. Most often, builders use amines and creatine for this. We have already said that these ingredients can be included in the gainer. But, as a rule, their dosages are small, and it is best to purchase protein-carbohydrate mixtures without other additives. It is much more effective to use the same amines or creatine separately in the dosage you need.
Gainer harm
So we come to the main issue of today's conversation. A fairly large number of novice athletes are interested in what harm is possible from a gainer in bodybuilding. To answer it, you should thoroughly understand the composition of this type of sports nutrition.
To begin with, conventional food products are used for the production of gainers, and they cannot be dangerous to the body by definition. Moreover, the same protein compounds contained in the gainer undergo multi-stage purification and do not contain fats. At the same time, problems with the use of carbohydrate-protein mixtures can still arise.
First of all, this applies to those athletes whose body does not accept lactose. Also, you should remember that the gainer contains a fairly large amount of fast carbohydrates, which, when exposed to moisture, can be an excellent medium for the development of bacteria. When buying a product, you should find out the expiration date and check the integrity of the packaging.
Actually, these are all the negative aspects that can arise when using gainers. But talking in this situation about the dangers of a gainer in bodybuilding is completely inappropriate. Any food product, if stored improperly, can deteriorate. In conclusion, we recall once again that, unlike protein mixtures, gainers do not need to be consumed by all athletes. This type of sports nutrition is necessary only for ectomorphs. In other cases, it is necessary to use protein supplements, not gainers. Otherwise, you will gain fat mass, not muscle mass. That's all that I wanted to tell on the topic - the harm of a gainer in bodybuilding.
Learn more about the side effects of a gainer in this video:
