It is obvious that food is something vital in our lives. Yes, it is delicious, but it is literally vital because, without food, we can’t survive. However, when you’re strength training trying to gain lean muscle and/or burn fat, food has an even greater importance in your life. For example, when you’re working out in the gym, your muscles will require a lot of energy to perform the tasks. That energy comes from somewhere – the food you eat. Besides, when you’re working out, you’re actually creating micro-tears in your muscles, so they can grow stronger and bigger when they are healing. Then again, they can heal and grow bigger out of something – the food you eat.
In short, strength training must be combined with proper food for it to be efficient to reach your goals. Without correct food, you won’t be able to reach your goals, or at least, the process will be way slower. Think of food as fuel from which your body (and muscles) are taking energy. If you fill a sports car with poor-quality fuel, it will significantly dampen its performance, won’t it? The same is true if you fill poor quality fuel in your body – it will significantly dampen the performance.
If you want to lift weight efficiently, recover, burn fat, and build muscle successfully – you will need the right type of fuel in your tank. Unfortunately, though, it’s not as easy as it is with the fuel in your vehicle. You will need the right amount of food, and you will need the right balance of the right foods! In the end, regardless if you try to lose fat to gain muscle, it all centers around your diet, mixed with regular strength training.
The right foods lead to the right results
Yes, pushing your muscles hard in the gym leads to micro-tears, which make them grow bigger and stronger, increasing muscle growth. However, it is important to understand that both before and after working out, your body will need the fuel – to perform and to recover. The food that you eat will support the performance abilities of your muscles to perform the strength training in the first place and will support the rebuilding of stronger and bigger tissue.
Yet, in order for muscles to perform and to construct (recover) muscle, you will need to provide your body with the right nutrients. This is the reason why eating a lot doesn’t help as long as you do not provide quality foods.
In fact, if you do strength training without adequate nutrition, you may even lose muscle tissues. As said, during strength training, we tend to cause micro-tears of muscles. Without eating the right foods, you are wasting your workouts because there’s nothing that could rebuild those muscles. That’s why you may feel sluggish and weak in the gym, without being able to perform at your best.
So, to maximize your gains (muscle mass and strength gains) you will need the perfect balance of:
- Calories
- Macronutrients
This is why you need to ensure you have the correct amount of calories every day and you need to ensure you get quality macronutrients. Mostly, you should ensure an adequate protein intake to rebuild muscle tissue.
How much should you be eating while training?
Well, it greatly depends on your goals. For example, if you’re trying to lose weight for a cutting cycle (burn fat while maintaining muscle mass), you need to eat in a calorie deficit. For that, you need to find out your daily calorie needs (based on your weekly activity level, age, gender, height, and weight). If you need to build muscle, you need to eat in a calorie surplus (unless you’re overweight, carrying a significant amount of body fat).
You need to eat in surplus to gain muscle because your body will require more than simply maintaining body composition. But this is where it gets tricky. You need to eat in a controlled surplus and eat right. Your aim is muscle development. Too large an increase in calories can cause fat gain. Not eating the right food also can cause fat gain. Incorrect calculations of calories or macros are also working against you. That’s why you should start calculating your macros and calories, and then adjust according to your needs.
As long as you ensure you eat right and work out correctly, however, you surely won’t be gaining a lot of fat. You should pay attention to how much you eat (calories amount), but what you eat is actually the key. Working out a lot and eating a lot (of the right food), will help you build muscle and build strength, without much fat gain. But if you stock up on pizza and fries – you can’t expect much muscle development and are likely to notice fat gains.
- The number of calories an individual needs a day when working out and gaining muscle can greatly vary. In terms of macros, aim for 15-20% of your daily calories to come from healthy fats, 30-40% from protein, and 40-50% from complex carbohydrates.
Protein for muscle growth
It is extremely important to have a balanced, varied, and healthy diet, rich in nutrients. That’s important to stay healthy, but it is even more important during strength training. One of the easiest ways to ensure you get on the right path is to focus on protein intake while you are trying to gain muscle. That’s because protein plays a vital role in your success.
Increasing your protein intake, you are likely to notice both fat loss and muscle gains. Muscle tissues are predominantly made of protein therefore it is a key ingredient to maximize your workouts and muscle growth. Protein is important as an everyday element for the usual person, but it is absolutely crucial for those who want to add muscle mass.
- Generally, people with sedentary lifestyles need around 0.8 to 1 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass per day. Those who are active should get about 1.2 to 1.7 grams. Yet, those who want to gain muscle should get at least 1.6 grams, or even higher (up to 2-2.2 grams) according to studies.
That’s why a person who weighs 80 kg but is not active may require about 70-80 grams of protein per day without much activity, 100-130 grams a day if pretty active, and 120-200 grams a day if that person wants to build muscle and is strength training.
Junk food when strength training
A pizza every now and then won’t completely ruin your gains. However, a diet high in processed and sugary foods is surely not going to maximize your muscle growth.
- Those foods are usually full of unhealthy fats and they add a lot of calories without providing any nutrients that your body and muscles need. That’s why junk foods may add a lot of calories, but those are usually “empty” calories without nutrition. They will not help build muscle, but they do add fat.
Junk food will undoubtedly help gain weight. But only a fraction of it will be in the form of muscle, most of the weight is likely going to come from fat. Not only that, but junk food affects your energy levels, the way your body and muscles perform, your motivation to work out, the way you look, and the way you feel (as you’re likely to feel sluggish). You can (and should) build muscle without junk food. Burgers, pizza, and fries won’t make you develop that defined physique.
Don’t avoid carbs and fats
As I earlier said, you should aim for a perfect balance in your diet to build muscle. That’s why you do need carbohydrates and fats to build muscle. While protein is vital, carbs and fats are just as important. You just need to aim for a balance here. Usually, you get enough fats (but I recommend paying attention to the fats source, so it would come from such foods as avocado, nuts, and healthy oils), but many people avoid carbs. Carbohydrates are not evil. They are unhealthy as long as you eat too much of it.
- In the end, as long as you hit your protein and carbs, you are likely to be hitting your fat intake too. Moreover, it is harder to be deficient in fat considering that fat is easier to store in the body.
Muscle Building Foods
Building muscle and strength is almost impossible without the right foods. Perspectively, building muscle and strength is far easier and faster with the right foods that fuel your workouts and support muscle growth. That’s why, you will need to aim for a diet that is high in lean protein, complex carbs, and lots of micronutrients.
Here is a list of the best muscle-building foods that can support your gains:
- Eggs – provide healthy fats, and essential amino acids from proteins, with lots of B vitamins.
- Chicken (and other white meat) – perfect source of lean protein.
- Lean beef (and other red meat) – perfect source of protein and creatine. Nonetheless, you should avoid overconsumption of red meat.
- Salmon (and other fatty fish) – perfect source of protein, healthy fats, Omega 3, and vitamin D.
- Cottage cheese (and other types of cheese) – high in protein and calcium.
- Beans – opt for all types of beans, such as black beans, kidney beans, and others. Great source of protein and fiber.
- Nuts – opt for lots of nut types, such as peanuts, walnuts, cashews, and others. They are full of micronutrients, healthy fats, and protein
- Seeds – go for a lot of seed options such as sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and others.
- Tempeh and tofu – great source of protein, found in all vegetarians and vegans diets.
- Greek yogurt – this yogurt is highly popular because it contains more protein and less fat than regular yogurt.
- Quinoa – it provides protein and lots of micronutrients, as well as a boost in complex carbs.
- Brown rice – you can go for white rice too, but brown is less refined than white rice. Great source of complex carbs with a good amount of proteins and nutrients.
- Potatoes – easy, cheap, and a great source of lots of micronutrients and carbohydrates.
Foods to avoid when strength training:
Keep in mind that the list above is just examples of foods that you should be eating, there are others that you can (and should) add to your diet. However, there are also foods that will not help your strength training progress. In fact, they may actually dampen your progress. Some notable examples include:
- Alcohol (any type)
- Foods (or beverages) with added sugars
- Processed and fried foods
Get your strength training to the next level
With the guide I’ve shared here, you’re well on your way to huge muscle growth and strength gains. Keep in mind that what you do outside the gym is just as important as what you’re doing in the gym. You’re spending just a fraction of your time in the gym, so your diet will significantly dictate the results you can expect. Hitting the gym is crucial, but your nutrition pre and post-workout is just as important.
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