5 Top Reasons Why Your Muscles Are Not Growing

Many guys when they first start working out tend to overtrain. After a month or two this question always comes up... "Why Are My Muscles Not Growing ?"

It's Monday morning and you just walked into the gym. Up first is chest. You load up the barbell and you lay down on the bench. You begin performing repetition after repetition of chest presses until you cannot do anymore.

You look at yourself in the mirror and realize that your chest is not growing at all. In fact, your body is not responding the way you would like to your workout program. This probably happened even though you believe you were doing everything correctly. You're pushing yourself in every workout -- you don't miss any workouts and still no results!

What's wrong you ask yourself.

5 Top Reasons Why Your Muscles Are Not Growing

In this article I will reveal to you the top 5 reasons why your muscles stopped growing and how to get your muscles growing again! Let's get started.

1. Many times the fact that you are pushing yourself real really hard is what stops you from making any muscle gains. Muscles actually do not grow when you're working out -- they grow when they are resting. Never ever train the same muscle group more than once per week and make sure you get eight hours or more of sleep every night.

2. One of the unknown "blocks" to muscle growth is working out for too long a period of time. After 45 minutes to an hour of intense training course levels will increase. I am talking about resistance training not cardio -- let's get that right. After approximately 45 minutes of training your body will release Cortisol. Cortisol is a known agent that destroys muscle cells.

3. As mentioned earlier sleep is very critical to your bodybuilding success. Make sure you do not skip on this vital component.

4. Consuming too much alcohol is another big culprit in stopping your muscles from growing. An occasional beer is okay however, no alcohol binging if you want to gain muscle mass and strength.

5. This one in my opinion is the biggest problem that most people have. Your diet! No matter how you do it you need to consume enough high quality protein. Protein is what your muscles use to repair themselves. If you're training heavy-- you should consume 1 g of protein for each pound of your body weight minimum. 1 1/2 to 2 g of protein is preferred. Many fitness models and bodybuilders use whey protein supplements to get enough protein in their diet.

While bodybuilding supplements are not a substitute for eating high protein healthy foods they are however a quick and easy way to guarantee that you meet your nutritional requirements.

An investment in a good blender and a quality whey protein powder will get you the muscle growth you're looking for.

There are other reasons why your "muscles are not growing" however, these top five tips are in my opinion the most important ones. Apply them and you will find your muscles responding again.

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Ways to Boost Testosterone to Get Bigger Muscles

Testosterone is the hormone that controls muscle growth in your body. This is a fact that every bodybuilders understands well. As a matter of fact, it becomes difficult to get the desired results from your workout when your testosterone levels are low.

Here are some simple and effective ways to increase testosterone in your body:

1. Take Care of Your Diet

Your diet plays a very important role in your testosterone production. Your diet must contain a moderate amount of proteins and a limited amount of fats. Good fats or omega 3 fatty acids are important for production of testosterone in your diet. If you eliminate all fats from your diet, you are going to hamper testosterone secretion in your body.

Yet another important thing to remember is that you must try to limit intake of carbohydrates. This is because carbs increase Insulin which affects testosterone secretion negatively.

2. Consume Olive Oil

Olive oil is excellent for increasing testosterone in your body. It helps your testicles to convert cholesterol into free testosterone.

According to a study, olive oil:

• increases activity of enzymes 3Beta-HSD and 17Beta-HSD that are involved in the process of testosterone production
• increases cellular antioxidants in the leydig cells. These are the cells in your testes that produce testosterone. Antioxidants helps prevent testosterone molecules from the damaging effect of free radicals and other toxins that might be present in your body.

Apart from this, olive oil contains a compound called oleuropein that inhibits enzyme aromatse from converting testosterone into estrogen in your body.

However, it is important to buy good quality virgin olive oil that does not contain any kind of soybean oil etc.

3. Have Some Raw Eggs

If you are serious about increasing your testosterone levels, you must consider having raw eggs. However, it is important to have organic eggs.

Eggs are rich cholesterol that help boost testosterone production in your body. Besides, they are also rich in selenium, Vitamins K2, A, B, E and D that are crucial for testosterone secretion.

4. Try a Natural Testosterone Supplement

Testosterone supplements are hugely popular with bodybuilders. Some of the best ones can help increase both testosterone and HGH to ensure quick and fast muscle growth in the body.

Such supplements are made with finest herbal extracts, amino acids and other nutrients and do not have negative side effects. They are recommended by fitness and bodybuilding experts too.

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Easy Tips For Muscle Building For Women

Muscle building for women needs more focus than men. Why? Because women have more difficulty building muscles than men. If you're a woman and you want to build muscles, you have to pay more attention to your diet and workout for building muscles. Unlike men, women go through changes in their body during pregnancy and menopause. But with proper planning and preparation, muscle building for women can be successful. Here are some tips for women about building muscles:

Arrange a workout program that accords with your lifestyle. You don't have to go to the gym to build muscles, especially if you have to or want to workout at home. You can use a spare room or space in your house as a home gym. Exercising in the pool is a workable option as well.

Your strength training exercises should be diverse. You need to work your body as a whole in order to build muscles, that's why you have to do different kinds of exercises during you workout schedules in a week. Always note that you have to give your muscles a minimum of 48 hours of rest after you've worked them out. It's during this rest period that your muscles are able to develop strength. While you're not lifting on your rest days, your muscles grow stronger.

Exercise in the pool. Swimming is a great cardio exercise. It also makes your upper body stronger. Water exercises that are ideal with strength training are core workouts and ball training. You can even walk or run in the pool, and these are good examples of basic resistance training exercises. These exercises strengthen parts of your body that you tend to neglect when strength training.

Exercise for 3 to 5 times weekly. You can work out in a gym or set-up an exercise area in an available space or room in your house. You'll need to use traditional weight tools such as barbells or dumbbells. These are workout equipments that'll help you build muscles. For starters, you can workout in your home gym. Many people are coaxed into shifting into a total muscle building regimen from there.

Use heavy weights when you're training in the gym. Don't fret so much about looking bulky when you're lifting heavy weights. It's actually an easier way to build muscles. Consider these different approaches when you're weight lifting:

• Use a weight that you'll be able to handle at 5 to 6 repetitions for every set. The weight you'll be choosing depends on your strength as a beginner.
• Stick to doing 3 main weight training workouts that you can perform regularly. These workouts should include dead lifts, bench presses and squats.
• Do 5 to 6 repetitions of 3 sets and rest for 2 to 3 minutes after doing each set. Two to 3 minutes of rest will enable you to recuperate if you're doing your exercises properly.

Don't spend long hours working out in the gym. Your workout time at the gym should be set to a minimum. You don't need to stay there for 2 hours doing long one repetition after the other. Although it increases your endurance, remember that muscle building for women requires short but hard exercises.

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Top 5 Reasons Your Muscles Stopped Growing

You may be wondering to yourself why your muscles haven't grown after a few months of disciplined, hard training. I'll list 5 typical reasons why your muscles stopped growing abruptly, and how to spark your muscles to start growing again.

1. The obvious reason is you are training too hard. Your muscles need time to recover after an intense workout. Try to train each muscle group once to at most twice a week to give your muscles time to regain its normal state.

2. Parallel to training too hard is the length of your training time. Try not to work out more than an hour each time, but continue to keep your workout intensity. You need to maintain your cortisol level, and after 45 minutes of intense workout, your cortisol levels tend to increase. Increase in your cortisol level is known to destroy muscle cells.

3. Get more sleep. When you sleep, your muscles develop and grow. You need a good 8 hours or more of sleep for good muscle growth.

4. Late night alcohol binging. Well, it doesn't have to be late at night, but stop misusing alcohol intake. Alcohol is known to be another culprit for breaking down muscle mass.

5. Not consuming enough protein. Protein is the basic building block for bigger muscles. The recommended ratio for each pound of body weight is 1 gram of protein. Bodybuilders typically supplement their diet with protein shakes to consume enough protein daily.

Of course, there are a multitude of reasons why muscles stop growing and methods to grow bigger muscles, but the 5 listed reasons above are a good start for a beginning bodybuilder.

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Muscle Building Workouts at Home!

Most people make an excuse that they don't have time to workout, they are too lazy to spend any time on workouts. Whatever time they are left with, they want to relax, watch TV or listen to music .Here are a few excesses that may just be a solution for you. These can be done while listening to music or during tv commercials.

PUSH UPS

Place the body in a face down and lift the body on both the palms and feet keeping the body straight. Take the chest toward the floor while exhaling and push up with the power of the arm and chest muscles while inhaling. If floor push ups are to difficult for you, start off with standing push ups with you hand on the wall, then pushing yourself back. Repeat at least 8 - 10 times, increase the number of repetitions as the exercise gets easier .Push ups effect your chest and arms the most . To effect your chest the most do push ups with your arms placed wide apart.

SQUATS

Stand with legs shoulder width apart and feet pointed forward. Sit down and stand up make sure that the knees don't lock. Don't move too far forward, try to keep your neck in line with you spine. Repeat this 20-25 times depending on the comfort level too start with and then increase the no of repetitions as you get used too the exercise. Squat is the best exercise for complete leg fitness. It can do wonders to your thighs hips and butts. For better results squats may be done with weights.

BICEP CURLS

Biceps curls can be done while sitting on a chair or while standing. You need a pair of dumbells. Hold a dumbell in each hand. Lift the dumbells alternatively without bending your elbows. Repeat this atleast 10 times. As you get used to the exercise you can increase the weights or the number of repetitions. Biceps curls is an effective exercise to increase your arm size.

                                                          Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/51376

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The Best Exercises to Include In Your Muscle Building Routine

As you go about you workout routine, it is important to discover the best muscle building exercises that you can be doing. This will point you in the right direction by eliminating wasted time, and mobilizing you to spend your energy on exercises that are proven to provide excellent results. Fortunately, there are a number of time-tested, basic exercises that have consistently provided outstanding muscle and strength gains for professional athletes, bodybuilders, powerlifters, and for anyone willing to put in the required level of work.

The benefits of muscle building exercises are well documented. Incorporating them into your workout routine will build lean muscle mass, which will increase your body's metabolism, allowing you to burn fat more efficiently. It will also lead to significant strength gains. An added benefit to doing these exercises is that they work more than one muscle group in your body at once, providing you with greater payoff for your effort. Given these benefits, lets take a look at some of the top muscle building exercises that you should consider incorporating into your daily workout routine.

The Details - Let These Exercises Take Your Muscle Development To New Levels:

• Deadlifts: This power-lifting movement will strengthen and build the muscle in your upper legs, glutes, and lower back very effectively. Along with squats, they are proven effective at significantly increasing muscle mass.
  
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• Squats: Often referred to as the king of strength and muscle building movements, the effectiveness of squats is unrivaled in terms of building mass and strength in the hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, muscles of the lower back and spinal column, and your core. Assuming you back will allow it, this exercise should be a staple of your regular workout routine.
  


• Lunges: This is a great movement for building muscle in your thighs and hips. They can be done with a set of dumbbells or a barbell across your back. If you are new to lunges, you will quickly discover their effectiveness as your legs will feel incredibly worked within just a few repetitions.
  

• Bench Press: Another power-lifting exercise, the bench press has long been lauded for building thick muscle mass in the chest, shoulders, and triceps. The strength gains that can be achieved are unrivaled as well. There also are several variations of this exercise that can be performed to enhance results. Close grip, wide grip, and incline bench press exercises are all very effective. Given its incredible muscle and strength building benefits, the bench press should also be a staple in your workout routine.
  


• Dips: A professional body builder was once asked what exercises he would do if he could only choose three, and dips was one of the exercises he selected! Little wonder, because dips are exceptionally effective at working the chest, shoulders, and triceps. To super-charge your dip routine, once you can do a high number of repetitions without stopping, you can begin to increase the weight using a dumbbell attached to your lifting belt.
  


• Overhead shoulder press: Nothing beats this movement for increasing muscle mass in the shoulders. It also provides a significant workout for the triceps. Shoulder presses can be done seated or standing, with a barbell or using dumbbells. Two huge favorites are seated dumbbell presses and seated behind the neck barbell presses. Any of these variations is a highly effective workout for your deltoid muscles.
  


• Push-ups: One of the things that makes push-ups such a great option is that you can basically do them anytime, anywhere. They can be done in combination with other upper body exercises, or as a stand-alone upper body exercise if you are away on vacation or can't get to a gym. Push-ups are great for building lean muscle in the chest, shoulders, triceps, and upper back.
  


• Rows: The ultimate exercise for working the lat muscles of the upper back, there is no substitute for rows. Bent-over dumbbell rows are immensely popular for building mass and strength. T-bar rows and seated cable rows are also an excellent option.
  


• Pull-ups: This is a hard one, but very effective! While you may only be able to do a couple of them if you are just starting out, pull-ups are an excellent way to work the upper back and the biceps.
  


• Curls: Whether they are done with a barbell, or in alternating fashion with dumbbells, there is no substitute for curls to develop mass and strength in the biceps. As an added benefit, they also work the forearms.
  


• Sit-ups/Crunches: Like push-ups, sit-ups and crunches can be done basically anytime, even if you can't get to the gym. Done in in several sets, they work the abdominal muscles very effectively.
  

The Bottom Line:

When you engage in these exercises as part of your regular workout routine, you can be confident that you are doing some of the very best muscle building exercises for your body. Because of their effectiveness at working the various muscle groups, none of them should be done on back-to-back days. Make sure that you establish a routine in which you work specific muscle groups in each workout, and then rest those muscle groups for at least the next day. Do your homework and research some sample workout routines to determine how to structure your workouts for the week, and how many sets and reps of each exercise to do. The important thing is to find a routine that works for you while incorporating many of these basic exercises into it.

                                                              Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9408614

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Muscle Building Routines - 5 Top Muscle Building Exercises

Dead lifting

Dead lifting is highly pragmatic exercise. A muscle builder will have to lift heavy barbells with balanced bent over pose. A Dead lift is one of the natural bodybuilding routines performed in the gym. The most thrilling dead lift exercises include: Romanian, sumo and lockouts.

Bench Pressing

This exercise provides you profound potency and self motivation while performing in the gym. You perform bench pressing up to your chest level, push it back until the arms are set straight, and elbows are secured. The major stress of bench pressing is on your front deltoids, serratus anterior, pectorals muscles, coracobrachialis and the triceps.

Squatting

Squat is the best lower body exercise. The main focus is on your quadriceps and glutes. Squatting phenomenally builds your hamstring muscle, calve, and lower back muscle. The most important squat muscle building exercises include: overhead, back, front, dumbbell, dumbbell, zercher, hack, split, pistol, air, and jump squats.

Military Pressing

This is overhead weight lifting exercise. Military pressing bodybuilding workout routines give you power in your deltoid muscles. Despite, it successfully works to your leg muscles, cores, and the entire body structure.

Straight Leg Dead lifts

This is one of the amazing muscle building routines performed in the gym. The reason is that straight leg dead lifts exercise stunningly provides you strength to your hamstring. However, I could cause some serious hamstring injury if you do not pay a proper attention.

In brief, we can say that those above mentioned muscle building workout routines are valuable in order to build quickly your leg muscle, chest muscle, hips, butts, thighs, arm muscle, and abdomen muscle, etc. That's why they are called the best bodybuilding workout routines!

                                                                Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1664357

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Seven Simple Exercises To Build Your Muscles Fast

Many people want to build muscle but don't know what to do. In this guide you will get seven exercises that when you do them together in one work out it is the fastest way to build muscle.

For this exercise to successfully build your muscle fast you need to do the exercise as followed:

-For the first 2 weeks only do the cycle twice. Do each exercise with no more than 30 seconds of rest in between. Once you have completed one cycle rest for 1 to 2 minutes and then finish the second cycle.

-After the first 2 weeks you should become comfortable with the workout and should increase to three cycles rather than two.

-It is important that you do each exercise with appropriate weight and when you are to move onto more weight you should only increase the weight by 10% or less.

Below are the 7 exercises that are going to be the fastest way to build muscles.

1. The first exercise you should do is bent-leg knee raises. You do these by lying on your back, relax your head and neck, and place your hands on the floor near your butt. You will need to place your feet flat on the floor. To do this exercise you need to lower your abdominal muscles so you can raise your knees towards your rib cage, and then you will slowly lower your feet back to their original position. You will need to do this 12 times per set.

2. This exercise is called the V-Up. To do this you lie on your side with your body in a straight line and your arms folded across your chest. You will need to keep your legs together as you lift them off the floor towards your top elbow that your are also raising toward your hip. You should do 10 reps of these on each side and should feel a contraction in your obliques.

4. This next one, the Bridge, is part of the palates program. You will need to get in the push-up position but with your elbows bent. It is important that your body is in a straight line and pull your abdominal in. You should start with doing 20 seconds while breathing steadily and move to doing about 60 second sets later. You should do 1 or 2 reps.

5. This next exercise, tricep pull downs, are an easy exercise. You will need to get to a tricep pushdown machine. To do this exercise you bring the bar to directly at your waste with your elbows against your side. Push the bar down until your arm is extended but not to the point that you lock your elbows out, and then go to the return position. You should do 10 reps of these.

6. Leg extensions are done by sitting on a leg extension machine with your feet in the bads, lean back slightly, and lift the pads to where your leg is extended. Do 10 reps of these as well.

7. You can do bicep curls with either a dumbbell or a barbell. Hold the barbell in front of you, curl the weight toward your shoulders, wait for a second, and then return to the starting position. Do 10 reps of these as well.

If you do these seven exercises together you should see that this is the fastest way to build your muscles.

                                                        Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/519039

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7 Tips to Build Your Body

Being lean and fit is okay but if you are lanky, it tends to downgrade your personality. Body building is a great idea. However, this idea is not about pumping your body with medicinal supplements. In fact, body building is all about developing a routine that includes the perfect blend of diet and exercise to give you a great looking body. Yes! If you follow the routine consistently and passionately, you will also develop muscles and increase stamina. But, the ulterior motive should be to remain healthy.
Here is a look at some quick tips to help in body building:

1. Include lifting weights in your exercise routine. While cardio helps you increase stamina, if you want to add muscle to your body, you need to start lifting weights. Also, remember to increase the capacity gradually.

2. Don't exhaust yourself on day one. Body building will happen gradually. You must not overstress yourself by trying to exceed limits on the first day itself else it could permanently damage your body.

3. Multiple muscle exercises are good when you are planning body building workouts. For example, lifting weights on the legs that strengthen your thigh muscles as well as your calf muscles.

4. Hydrate the body. Drinking proper amount of fluids before and after workout is important. The fluids you consume before the workout ensure that the muscles are not dehydrated which automatically enhances your stamina.

5. Change is the only constant. It's great that you have worked out an exercise routine to keep your body fit. However, if body building is your aim, you have to remember to alter this routine every once in a while. Ideally, two weeks is a good time to change. After all, this change is what will help you enhance the muscle power of your body.

6. Take rest. Here again, we would want to stress the importance of not exerting your body. Between two workout days, ensure that you have given the body ample rest. This resting period is what helps in restoring the muscle stamina after you have exhausted yourself in the arena.

7. Eat well. Exercise is just one part of the body building routine. You also need to eat well. For eating healthy, we would recommend you to consult a dietician. According to the requirements of your body, they will work out a diet plan. Ensure that you stick to this plan in addition to the workout sessions.

                                                           Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9047161

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Want to Know How to Get Huge Muscle?

Doesn’t everybody want to know how to get huge muscle?  There’s no top secret recipe, just fundemental steps that will get you the maximum results along the way.  Follow these steps, and you will be well on your way to the body of your dreams in no time.
I’m going to demystify the components necessary to get huge muscle.  There’s not a lot of secrets here, but if you follow these steps, you’re guaranteed to get great results and you’ll be proud to show off your new, huge muscles.

Nutrition - Nutrition is absolutley key when it comes to building huge muscles.  Without the proper nutrition, your body doesn’t have the fuel it needs to build your muscles bigger and stronger.  Many people depend on nutritional supplements (such as myself) to enhance their diet and provide their body with the proper levels of nutrition.  Supplements are exactly what their name implies, they supplement your diet.  They should not be used as replacement for your diet, and you should also be aware that supplements are not necessary if you’re able to eat a properly balanced diet with with the amount of protein, carbs, and fat your body needs to grow.  I take around 150-200 grams of protein a day.  For me to try and eat that, I’d probably kill myself, which is why I supplement my meals with protein shakes (these provide for about 100 grams of my daily protein).  If you want more information on supplements as well as recommendations, I highly encourage you to check out BodyBuilding.com.

Training - This one is almost self explanatory.  You’re not going to get huge muscle without putting in the training.  I’m not saying you have to spend 6hrs at the gym everyday, but you do need to consistently train.  Rather than training longer, I encourage you to train smarter! What I mean by this is focusing on your muscles and the movements they’re performing during your exercises.  Pay close attention and perform your reps slowly to make sure you’re doing them correctly and getting the most out of them.  Also, remember to try to increase your resistance over time - don’t just stick with the same amount of weight for months at a time.

Rest - I can’t stress this one enough.  Rest is one of the most important factors in developing huge muscle.  It’s absolutely critical that you give your body time to recover from your strenuous workout sessions and allow your muscles to repair themselves to a bigger and stronger condition.  I’ve seen too many people’s success being limited because they’ve been over-training and now resting enough.  Kick back and relax every now and then, you deserve it!

Patience - Ever hear the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”?  Well neither are huge muscles.  It takes time and dedication to get that body you desire.  If it came so easy, everyone would be walking around with huge muscles.  You need to put in the effort, but remember to step back and admire your progress every now and then.  If you begin to notice the little changes, it’ll help give you motivation to keep going.  All too often, people give up their dream of an ideal body within a few short weeks because they haven’t seen any results.  If you’re being honest, and sticking to your program, results will come, TRUST ME!

Well, there’s some food for thought for you.  I know it’s nothing ground-breaking, and it’s most likely thing we’ve all heard before.  I just wanted to touch back with reality because I know we all get caught up in the B.S. from time to time.  If you remember these 4 key areas, you can never go wrong.

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4 Ways to Gain Lean and Hard Muscle Quickly

Do you want to gain lean and hard muscle?

Most bodybuilders find it hard to gain lean and high quality muscle. Here are some easy tips that can help boost muscle growth in your body:

1. Lift like a Hulk

If you want to increase your muscle size, you need to lift heavy. You must use the heaviest weight that you can lift and do 6-10 reps in a set. If your aim is to increase muscle mass, there is no point in doing more than 10 reps in a single set.

When lifting heavy, make sure that you have spotter close by to assist you if you need some help. If you feel that you are not doing the movement properly, reduce the weight and try again. Once you get the movement right, you can increase dumbbell or barbell weight gradually.

2. Eat More

Diet and exercise go hand in hand. After a heavy workout you need to feed to your body with enough proteins and carbs so that your muscles can recover and grow in strength and size.

Increase your protein intake but cut down on saturated fats and simple sugars. Moreover, you must try to have something every two hours.

Try to include eggs, oatmeal, fish like salmon, peanut butter, broccoli, chicken, lean meat etc. in your diet. You must also try to include whey protein in your diet. It happens to be the most popular bodybuilding supplement.

3. Do Some Cardio

Cardio is good for burning fat. It is good for increasing blood circulation too. Blood carries a lot of nutrients that can help your muscles to grow.

However, you need to remember that your aim is not to run a marathon. Just 10-15 minutes, 3-4 days a week is more than enough if your aim is to increase lean muscle. Anything more than that can make it hard for you to gain muscle.

4. Use a Good Muscle Gainer

Muscle gaining supplements are immensely popular among bodybuilders. Such supplements increase protein synthesis and nitrogen retention in the body. They not only increase muscle mass in your body but also help boost strength and stamina.

Another advantage is that they can help speed up recovery after a hard and intense training session.

Some of the best supplements can help boost growth hormone also. HGH or human growth hormone plays a very important role in muscle growth in your body.

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The best way to Build Muscle Mass

Probably the common misconceptions with growing muscle mass is that to build muscle, you need to eat lots of protein. It’s true that you will want to consume a lot more protein then the average individual, but this is in part simply because you need more extra calories overall Muscle Mass . As important as protein is, any time you don’t have the correct distribution of protein, fat and also carbohydrates, you will be inefficient in your production of lean muscle tissue mass. Basically you will have the building blocks for muscle but yet no one to generate it.

Ideas to help build muscle:

Place the work in: This is obvious, but once building muscle it is important to do weight possibility activity!

Fuel yourself frequently with high quality meals: Treat the body such as a high efficient machine Muscle Mass . Put clean whole-foods in every single 2 to 3 hours. Try out 3 square meals in a day, with 2 or 3 well balanced snack foods in between.

Balance your meals: contain ~20-30g of protein at each diet, with a few complex carbohydrates (brown colored rice, quiona, barley, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruits and vegetables – the many more colorful the best!) and some healthful fats (avocado, olives, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts/seeds and their butters).

Consist of vegetables and fruit! Many people often ignore that vegetables and fruit are carbohydrate food. They enjoy A important role in muscle production. They give you antioxidants to help out with exercise recovery and rebuilding muscle.

A good rule is to obtain fresh fruit at breakfast and snacks, and get a minimal of 2 cups of vegetables with lunch and dinner

Have certain dairy before bed: If you may tolerate dairy, I recommend eating some cottage cheese or 0-2% MF Greek Natural yogurt prior to bed with some fruit. Greek Yogurt and cottage cheese have a higher percent of casein compared to whey protein. Casein protein processes slower in the body which can be key to supporting muscle tissue mass growth and repair work throughout the night.

Put up workout nutrition: Be sure you are consuming the appropriate post exercises nutrition to support your muscle gain. For tips, stay tuned to following month or longer when we discuss how you can maximize your post exercise nutrition.

Obtain your ZZZZ: Relaxation is necessary for building muscle. If you are going to put in the energy in the gym, you need to give your body period to recuperate from exercise. While 7-8 hours is recommended for the general humanity, I find the majority of the athletes I work with benefit from 8-10hours depending on working out volume and which training phase you will be in.

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The Best Foods For Muscle Gain

Looking to pack on more lean muscle mass? If so, one thing that you absolutely must do is look at your diet program. If you don't provide the raw materials that your body needs to rebuild up this lean muscle mass tissue, you won't be seeing results. It's really that simple.

You can't build something out of nothing, so diet must be there. So which foods are going to be most optimal for reaching your muscle building goals? Let's give you a brief run-down of the best foods for muscle gain.

Steak

When building muscle, steak is a terrific protein source to eat. Choose grass fed varieties for a healthier nutritional profile and you'll get high quality protein, healthy fats, as well as iron, which is required to sustain your energy level.

Salmon

Another good source of protein is salmon. Salmon is going to provide the amino acids your muscles need along with the essential fatty acids that will foster a leaner body composition and overall health. You should be aiming to eat salmon at least twice, if not more often, each week.

Cottage Cheese

The final protein source that's a must-have muscle building food is cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is a form of protein known as casein, which digests much more slowly in the body. For this reason, it's a great option to have before you turn in to bed for the evening. By eating this, you ensure your body gets a steady flow of nutrients.

Dry Oats

On the carb side of things, you can't go wrong with dry oats. When building muscle, since you do have higher calorie requirements, avoid cooking the oats as they'll take up too much space in the stomach, making it difficult to get in enough calories. Instead, serve them raw like cold cereal or consider mixing them in with your protein shakes.

Bagels

Another good carb source that is classified as one of the best foods for muscle gain is the bagel. Bagels are more calorie dense than bread and make for the perfect post-workout food choices. Eat these to immediately boost your calorie intake by 300-350 calories.

Nuts and Nut Butter

Finally, make sure you get your healthy fats in. Nuts and nut butter are perfect for this and will provide a small dose of fiber as well. Almonds, pecans pistachios, walnuts, and natural peanut butter are all terrific sources of healthy fats.

So keep these best foods for muscle gain in mind. If they aren't part of your diet, start making them a part of it today.

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