If you want to constantly progress and gain muscle mass, you need to make the right diet. Here everything is painted down to the smallest details. Every novice athlete should be aware that the nutrition program is one of the main factors in the growth of muscle tissue. If you want to get a good result from your workouts, then you need to take full responsibility when choosing a nutrition program. In this case, one should rely on scientifically proven facts and the vast experience of many athletes existing today. Today we will talk about what should be the correct diet for an athlete.
Renowned bodybuilder Robbie Robinson says he ate high amounts of carbohydrates and protein compounds early in his career. As a result, during the first year of training, he managed to gain about 18 kilograms of muscle mass. He advises all beginners to focus their attention on gaining mass, and to deal with relief later.
Robbie's advice is also supported by science. Together with protein compounds, a lot of nitrogen enters the body, which is one of the components of amino acids. The substance accumulates in the muscles and, thanks to this, the recovery processes are accelerated. If you eat little, then the tissues will begin to deteriorate, which will lead to a sharp increase in the concentration of free nitrogen excreted from the body by the kidneys.
This allows, according to the results of urine analysis, to speak with confidence about the presence of a process of growth or destruction of tissues. When nitrogen is absent, the muscles increase in size. In the course of numerous studies, it has been found that maintaining the nitrogen balance at the required level can only be achieved with the help of a high-calorie diet. Thus, with sufficient caloric intake, even one and a half grams of protein per kilogram of body weight will be enough to increase muscle mass.
At the same time, with a low calorie intake, even with a high consumption of protein compounds, muscle growth cannot be achieved. One of the most common mistakes beginner athletes make is skipping a day's meal. Also, very often they consume little food and this is the second serious oversight.
All specialized web resources speak of the need to consume a large amount of protein compounds. At the same time, the need to maintain a high calorie diet is rarely mentioned. To achieve good results, you must consume 500 more calories per day than you expend.
Most professional athletes agree that this figure should be at least 1000 calories. Of course, this will lead to an increase in fat mass, but also muscle mass will grow rapidly. The excess fat can then be eliminated, and there are many tried and true methods for this. At the same time, these methods should not be confused with various dietary nutrition programs. Bodybuilding uses a combination of training and a low-carb nutrition program to burn fat, and you can quickly lose excess fat.
Now we can summarize the intermediate results in the question of the correct diet of the athlete. Remember, at the initial stage of your studies, you should only think about gaining mass, and the relief should be left for the future. Calculate your daily calorie requirement and gradually increase it to exceed it by at least 500 calories. You need to eat a lot and regularly.
How many calories should be consumed in the diet
[s] [/s] Simply put, carbohydrates are sugar. At the same time, say, pasta or potatoes are not sweet, but contain a lot of carbohydrates. The point is that carbohydrate molecules are different from each other. The shorter their length, the sweeter they will be. The shortest molecule is common sugar, which we all use in food.
Long-chain carbohydrates are tasteless but have the same properties as sugar. Now we are talking about the synthesis of insulin in the body. This is a very important question when it comes to proper diet for an athlete. Insulin is produced with every carbohydrate intake. If this did not happen, then the blood would become thick. Thanks to the action of insulin, sugar from the blood is delivered to the tissue cells of all organs, where it is subsequently used as an energy source. Without insulin, no human being would be able to increase the size of their muscles. It is also important to understand that cells do not always allow insulin to pass through. The higher the training experience, the greater the cell capacity becomes, and glucose enters the tissues. That glucose, which was not required for energy, is again converted into glycogen with the help of insulin.
This substance begins to be consumed by the body for energy during excessive exertion, when the supply of glucose is depleted. In a common person, glycogen accumulates only in the liver, and in athletes - in muscle tissues. This is the main difference between beginners and experienced athletes. We have already said that the correct diet for an athlete should include a minimum of 1.5 grams of protein compounds for every kilogram of body weight. The rest of the calories should come from fats and carbohydrates.
The proportion of fat should not exceed 15-20 percent, and the rest of the nutrients will be carbohydrates. For example, the well-known Dorian Yates says that he weighs himself every week. If seven days after that, its mass does not increase by 250 grams, then it increases the calorie content of the diet by 300 kilocalories. For this, Dorian mainly uses potatoes, pasta and oatmeal.
Of course, all people are individual and what can be very effective for one athlete will not produce any result for the second. Someone digests protein compounds faster, while someone's body processes carbohydrates better.
How much fat should be in the correct diet of an athlete
Those athletes who believe that they can achieve more results with less fat are mistaken. The body needs fats and their share in the daily diet should not exceed 20 percent. To achieve this, you need to eliminate powerful sources of fat from your diet.
These include fried foods, vegetable and butter, and whole milk. Fats should be present in the diet for the reason that they contain cholesterol, about which so many negative words have been said. But you should be aware that the body uses cholesterol to synthesize anabolic hormones such as testosterone. If your body is deficient in cholesterol, then you can forget about muscle growth.
Sports nutritional supplements in the diet
You must understand that muscle growth is not possible with the simple use of supplements. They are only used to help athletes provide the body with the necessary amount of nutrients that cannot be obtained from food. It is very difficult to always adhere to a diet and it is at this moment that sports supplements will come to your aid.
The most important are protein blends and gainers. The former contain protein compounds and a small proportion of carbohydrates. But in gainers, more than 70 percent of the active substances are carbohydrates, while protein compounds - no more than 30%. With a protein blend, you can easily fulfill the loss of one meal. Weight gainers are designed primarily to increase the total caloric intake of a daily diet.
If we talk about sports supplements that directly affect the rate of muscle growth, then now it can only be creatine. This is a very effective supplement and the results from using it will show in as little as one or two weeks. Beginner athletes can start using creatine in their proper diet of the athlete from the first day of training.
It is also necessary to pay attention to vitamin and mineral complexes. Almost every person has a deficiency of various micronutrients. For obvious reasons, this applies even more to bodybuilders. Exercise also increases the consumption of vitamins and minerals.
More information about the rules for compiling a diet in this video:
