If you really want to put on lean muscle and do it quickly, you are going to have to do more than just hit the gym every day. There is a lot that goes into it. Even more important than training is your diet. If you really want to see serious gains quickly, then you are going to have to pay special attention to every aspect of your diet and your lifestyle.
Here are some tips for getting that lean muscle you want quickly and effectively.
1. Anabolic Sleep
This might sound pretty weird, but a lot of professional bodybuilders stick to this routine religiously. To understand what anabolic sleep is, you need to understand what anabolic eating is first. Body builders advocate eating six to eight times a day in order to have a steady intake of the nutrients you need for your body to stay anabolic.
When your body is in this state, it is building muscle. Of course, sleep is also a very big part of putting on lean muscle, because you need a good amount of sleep to grow and repair your muscles. But some serious weight lifters do not want their body to ever leave this anabolic state. That’s why they say it’s a good idea to wake up periodically and have a high protein snack before going back to sleep.
It might interrupt your sleep cycle a bit, but according to serious athletes, it can really work wonders when it comes to building lean muscle.
2. Post-Workout Insulin Spike
This is a theory that has a lot of supporters and detractors. Some say that you need to eat some carbs right after a grueling workout. By consuming high glycemic index carbs right after working out, you are creating an insulin spike that is supposed to be replenishing the glycogen that has your body used up during the workout.
Some people do not agree with this. They believe that there is no workout that is intense and long lasting enough to completely deplete your body of glycogen if you are eating right to begin with. But there are others that swear by this technique. You can test it out for yourself. Try eating something like pasta every day right after your most intense workout and see if this ends up leading to better and faster gains.
There is research that backs both claims, that’s why it’s not completely accepted yet, but there are a lot of serious body buildings who use this technique.
3. Fasted Training
Once again, this is another technique that a lot of people do not agree with; however, there seems to be an equal number of people and experts promoting it. If you haven’t seen this being talked about on all the best fitness blogs, then you probably haven’t been reading them, since this topic has become very popular over the last several years.
The premise is that if you are training without having eaten for a long time prior to that, your body is going to be releasing free fatty acids in order to help you get through the training.
However, it might be pretty hard at first. According to the experts who swear by this method, you shouldn’t eat anything 12 to 16 hours before working out. And while you are working out, you can only drink coffee, tea and BCAA supplements. Training on an empty stomach might sound crazy, but the result can be equally crazy.
4. Incorporate Cheat Meals
If you have been on an incredibly strict diet, trying to get that cut look and get all of your muscles super defined, you might not be doing it right. A lot of people get disappointed when they don’t see any increase in muscle mass despite following strict dietary plans.
According to many experts, you don’t really have to be that strict with yourself. You can incorporate cheat meals that are a bit less healthy; in fact, you should be incorporating them into your diet.
If you are limiting your calorie intake severely, your body is going to act like you are starving, and eventually it’s going to start burning off your muscles for energy. Also, you are suppressing all of the hormones that you need most to gain muscle mass when you are getting a very small amount of calories every day. Have cheat meals every now and then to give you that glycogen influx you need for muscle growth.
5. Take In Some Dietary Creatine
If you’re serious about your body and your muscles, then you probably know how creatine can come in handy in the gym. Of course, if you’re buying creatine supplements, you know that they can get pretty expensive, especially if you are training a lot.
But there are ways to get enough creatine through your diet as well. Creatine is especially prominent in foods like fish and beef. You should include these foods in your diet at least a couple of times each week. A sirloin steak is best when it comes to getting creatine from beef products, and eating salmon is your best choice when you want to have some fish.
Creatine can come up big for you in the weight room. It can help you to get in those extra reps that you usually can’t get in, and pushing your body to new limits is what it’s all about.
6. Drink Loads Of Water
We all know that drinking plenty of water is essential for good health, for detoxification, proper functioning of organs, but did you know that water also helps you build muscle? Here is how.
The formation of protein and glycogen would be impossible without water. More water means more of these two, of course. Water also improves the way in which important nutrients are transported to the muscle cells. In addition, water carries electrolytes to the muscles, causing them to contract more during workout. If the muscles don’t get enough water, i.e. if they dehydrate, they will start to cramp, and it will directly slow down muscle gain.
The synovial fluid is directly dependent on water. This fluid serves as a cushion that protects the muscle-bearing joints during heavy lifts. Finally, proper hydration is crucial for protein metabolism and synthesis, and we know that protein is crucial for good muscle tone.
7. Lean Beef
Introducing some dietary changes is the basic step towards greater muscle gain. People who are into fitness and working out are probably already well aware of that, and also of the fact that lean beef is their most valuable friend when it comes to building muscle. Still, there’s no harm in reminding everyone of this amazing muscle-building food.
A three-ounce of good lean beef usually contains up to 155 calories, which is great as it provides you with guilt-free protein. Unlike its calorie count, the number of nutrients in lean beef is anything but low. Beef is rich in iron, zinc and the B-complex vitamins, all of which are important for good muscle tone.
Most importantly, beef gives you high-quality protein. As you know, not all protein is the same – some proteins are better. There is also a high level of amino acids that team up with insulin to boost muscle growth.
8. Eat 6x A Day
Eating frequent, but smaller meals is essential part of any healthy diet plan. It makes sense for losing weight and it also makes sense in trying to gain muscle. The logic behind it is quite simple – if you only eat a light breakfast or, what’s worse, just have a cup of coffee instead of actual food, your body will starve until lunch. The body will have to use muscles to get the energy it needs, instead of burning calories. The same thing continues throughout the day, as you eat a late dinner and a bedtime snack.
Instead of having three big meals a day, switch to six smaller ones, with breakfast, lunch and dinner remaining abundant enough. Don’t allow yourself to starve, or else your muscles will suffer and tone down. Eat every three hours, starting with a good, hearty breakfast with plenty of protein. If you eat 3000kcal per day on average, try 600kcal for main meals and 400kcal for snacks.
9. Prepare Food In Advance
Those who actually have time to prepare three proper meals a day, meal for meal, should consider themselves lucky. No one really has time for that, or at least not every day, and consistency is vital in any diet plan, including the plan to gain muscle.
It’s very easy to give up on preparing your own nutritious meals. Then we end up eating out, and you never know the quality of food unless you prepare it yourself. For someone who wants to gain muscles, this is very important.
If you don’t have time to cook three times a day, and chances are you don’t, why not try preparing your meals ahead? For instance, you can wake up some 45 minutes earlier in the morning and fix your lunch and dinner along with your breakfast. You can make lunch and dinner before bedtime, if you’re not a morning person.
10. The Skinny To Muscular Diet
Two types of people are looking for a good muscle-gaining plan: skinny ones who want to bulk up, and the chubby ones who want to replace fat with lean muscle. In case you’re in the former group, you’ll need a diet that might be a bit intensive and maybe even hard to follow through, but if you are really dedicated to your goal, you’ll make it without a hitch.
You can use the body weight x 20kcal rule to figure out just how much food you need and try something like this – for breakfast, eat scrambled eggs, oatmeal with raisins and milk or granola and milk. For snack, have some cottage cheese with apples, or peanuts, or simply a protein shake. Lunch can be tuna with rice, a turkey sandwich or pasta Bolognese, while for dinner you can have lean meat with rice and beans or lentils and fruits for desert. A bedtime snack can consist of cottage cheese with flax and berries and a glass of milk.
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