Adding muscle should be considered an important component of your fitness program. That doesn’t have to mean getting bulked up. We naturally loose muscle as we age. And, since muscle takes up less room per pound than fat does, replacing fat with muscle will not only make you look leaner, but that additional muscle increases your metabolism, helping to to keep from putting fat back on. But, although exercise is important for building muscle, your diet is just as important. Here’s some diet tips for building muscle.
Tip #1: Eat Meat. You should strive to have 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight – any more than this, and your body can’t process that extra protein, so you’re just wasting food. Any less than that, your muscles may not be getting enough protein to build muscle. Good sources of lean protein include chicken breasts, lean beef, and fish.
Tip 21: Try to get about half your daily calories from protein. Eating meat is one of the best ways to get protein, but other good sources of protein are cottage cheese, eggs, Greek yogurt, and protein shakes. Get the other half of your calories from carbohydrates and healthy fats.
Tip 31: Eat More. This may sound counter productive if you’re also trying to loose weight. But if your workouts are designed to build muscle, your body will need more fuel to rebuild and grow new muscle. If you’re looking to gain 1 lb. of muscle per week, a simple formula for how much extra to eat is this. Take your current weight in pounds. Multiply by 12 to get your daily basic caloric needs. Multiply that number by 1.6 to get your estimated resting metabolic rate. Next, multiply the number of minutes you strength train by 5. Multiply the number of minutes you do cardio / aerobic conditioning by 8. Add these two numbers together and divide by 7. Take that number, and add it to the number of your resting metabolic rate. This number is the number of calories you need per day with your workouts. Now, add 500 to this number – this new number is the number of calories you need per day, while working out, to gain 1 lb. of muscle extra per week.
Tip 41: Drink Before Your Workouts. Having a protein shake prior to working out can help improve your body’s ability to synthesize protein more than having that protein shape after your workout. Make sure your shake has at least 6 grams of amino acids as part of it’s overall protein quantity, and also has around 35 grams of carbohydrates.
Tip 51: Eat Carbs After Your Workout. Having carbohydrates as part of your post workout refueling regime helps to increase your insulin levels, which slows down the rate of protein breakdown. Your body will recover better, and rebuild muscle faster on your rest days, if less protein has been broken down in your muscles post-workout.
And, if you’re looking for the best cardio and strength equipment options in Arizona, stop into any of Fitness 4 Home Superstore’s three Phoenix locations today!
