Learn tips from professional athletes on how to intelligently consume carbohydrate blends before and after training to maximize muscle mass anabolism. A gainer is a mixture of carbohydrates and protein compounds. Most often, manufacturers use whey protein in their products, as well as carbohydrates with different absorption rates. The highest quality products are considered to contain at least 30 percent of protein compounds.
Thanks to proteins, the gainer replenishes the amino acid pool, and carbohydrates supply the energy necessary for the body. It should be noted that a quality gainer should contain a minimum of fat, since this nutrient is not useful for the athlete in this case.
Also, nowadays, other additives are often included in the gainer, for example, creatine or amines. Weight gainers are necessary for athletes who are gaining weight with great difficulty. If an athlete is inclined to be overweight, then the use of this type of sports nutrition, most likely, should be abandoned. Let's figure out how to take a gainer correctly.
How not to be mistaken with the choice of a gainer?
There is a large selection of gainers on the market now. This can make your choice much more difficult. Also note that you can prepare a gainer at home if you are limited in finances. As for the choice of supplements in sports food stores, first of all it is necessary to look at the composition of the gainer. You can often hear advice that the company that made the supplement is also of great importance.
You can agree with this, but you can overpay for the brand name, since the quality of modern food in most cases is about the same. It may well be that the product of a lesser-known company will in no way be inferior to its “eminent colleagues”.
You should be aware that carbohydrates can be converted into fat by the body. Protein blends should be preferred by overweight athletes. But for hardgainers, protein-carbohydrate mixtures will definitely not be superfluous. As you know, people with a thin physique are quite difficult to gain weight.
Since gainers are high in calories, this problem can be solved. To do this, you need to choose foods that are high in carbohydrates. However, protein compounds are also important. Cheap proteins often do not bring the expected effect, and the cost of the product also depends on the quality of the protein compounds.
Protein-carbohydrate blends are a perfectly balanced sports product, but you need to be sure that you need it. We have already said that other substances are often included in the composition of gainers. For example, you can take creatine as a standalone supplement, and then you shouldn't overpay for a gainer that also contains this substance. Or, say, you can also use vitamins separately, and then you should not purchase a protein-carbohydrate mixture, which contains these microelements, since an excess of them can form in the body. Let's continue to figure out how to take the gainer correctly.
What should be the optimal portion of the gainer?
Gainers, like protein mixtures, are powder that must first be dissolved in milk or other liquid. All manufacturers indicate the size of one serving, but this information may be unreliable. You must remember that sports food is now a multimillion dollar industry, and every manufacturer wants to earn as much as possible.
So there are products, the indicated portion of which is clearly overstated. If you follow the manufacturer's advice in this situation, the body will not be harmed. It's just that not all of the nutrients in the supplement will be absorbed. The portion of the supplement should be calculated for each individual builder.
You need to consider your weight, training experience, exercise intensity, and the energy value of your nutritional program. To begin with, you must know exactly your daily intake of protein compounds and carbohydrates. Only after that you can proceed to calculating the dosage of the gainer. As a rule, it should be one third of the daily requirement for nutrients (we are talking only about carbohydrates and protein compounds).
Once you start taking the supplement, you need to start tracking your weight. If you do not see a positive result, then the dosage should be increased. Accordingly, when gaining excess weight, the dose of the gainer should be reduced.
How to take a gainer?
So we come to the main question of this article - how to take a gainer correctly. You can use gainers in three cases, which we will now talk about:
- Before the start of the training. During this period of time, the use of a protein-carbohydrate supplement will allow you to increase the energy storage of the body, and, consequently, the intensity of training. The supplement should be taken about half an hour before the start of the lesson.
- After class. Consume the supplement within 60 minutes of completing your training session. Thanks to protein compounds, you will provide the body with the amines necessary to start regenerative processes, and the carbohydrate will become an excellent source of energy for these reactions. It should also be said that take a gainer no earlier than half an hour after training, as the body needs time to calm down after powerful stress.
- As a meal replacement. There are situations when there is not enough time for cooking. In this situation, you can safely use a gainer. However, this often should not be done. Try not to skip meals.
Note that sometimes athletes take a gainer at night, but this can only be done by bodybuilders with a lean physique in the case when the energy value of their diet is low. It is best to take casein before bed to stop nighttime catabolic reactions. This will ensure that you are free of new fatty deposits.
How to take a gainer correctly, see this video:
