What Supplements Should I Take to Build Muscle?
Spring’s on its way and it’s the best time to start thinking about your summer body. Maybe you already exercise on a regular basis but are looking to get more out of it. One of the main reasons why anyone exercises is to gain strength and build muscles. With a healthy amount of muscle, your daily routine becomes easier, movement becomes less of a chore, and you can spare your joints from strain which eliminates a large amount of joint pain as you get older.
A lot of people who exercise and don’t get the right nutrition suffer from muscle loss, which is not healthy for the body. Losing a certain amount of fat is recommendable, and it’s definitely not healthy to be overweight, but losing weight by simply starving yourself or not getting enough nutrition will end up harming your body more than helping it. So it’s not just for aesthetic reasons that you should watch out for your diet alongside exercise, but for your general well-being, health, happiness and functionality.
There are three basic rules to gaining muscle healthily:
- Make sure to take in more calories than you’re burning.
- Eat more protein than your body break down.
- Follow a sturdy exercise routine that challenges your muscles.
It is possible to achieve these goals without using dietary supplements, but the use of certain supplements makes these goals a lot easier to reach.
When it really comes down to it, if you’re trying to build serious muscle then you’ve got to get serious about your exercise and nutrition. Supplements are like an extra boost to add on top of that, but supplements themselves without a good diet and discipline in your workout routine won’t build muscles for you. It’s a combination, and you can’t leave any of the steps out if you want to see those results.
How to Decide What the Best Supplements for Muscle Growth Are
You may have browsed through all kinds of workout supplements and are confused as to what the best options are for building muscles. Well in this article we’re going to cover that as clearly as possible, and once done reading this it should be all clear to you what you should look for and what will benefit your workouts the most and bring the best results.
The first supplement you should look into getting is creatine. Creatine is actually an energy providing molecule that the body produces naturally. When taken in supplement form it can boost muscle mass by up to 40 percent. The use of creatine in combination with exercise will help boost performance and encourage muscle gain. This will all lead to greater progress and an increase in strength overall as you continue to use it alongside your workouts.
Another supplement that’s beneficial for muscle growth are weight gainers. These are made specifically to help your body absorb more protein and calories. Weight gainer supplements often have over 1,000 calories per serving, although that’s not a uniform number and the amount does vary from supplement to supplement. Most people assume that these muscle building calories come from protein, since protein is commonly known to build muscles, but most of these calories are actually derived from carbohydrates. There are generally between 20 and 60 grams of protein and between 75 and 300 grams of carbs in each serving of weight gainer supplement.
Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are another good body building supplement. They’re made up of the separate amino acids: leucine, isoleucine and valine. They are derived from protein sources like poultry, meat, fish, dairy and eggs. Using BCAAs gives a great boost to muscle growth, making up almost 14 percent of your muscles’ amino acids.
Once again, these supplements are most effective when put together with a healthy diet and rigorous exercise.
Protein for Muscle Gain
One of the most important components of building healthy muscles is your protein intake. Your body needs to get more protein than it’s breaking down for muscles to grow and strengthen, and when you have a regular rigorous exercise routine that you stick to, your body breaks down proteins at an accelerated speed. This is why it’s important for people who work out and are trying to build muscles to get more protein than others.
You can get all the proteins you need from food, but this requires a lot of preparation and planning so you can keep up with the necessary amounts you need to progress. That’s where protein supplements come in to the picture. Using protein supplements alongside a healthy diet is one of the surest ways to build big, strong muscles. There will be a marked difference in muscle growth when working out and taking protein supplements.
Protein supplements come in many different forms, but the majority of them are whey, soy and casein protein. There are some protein supplements made of protein isolated from beef, chicken, eggs or other strong protein sources.
It’s important to be aware of how much protein you’re getting through your diet. If you’re already getting sufficient protein from the food you eat then it’s likely that the use of protein supplements will not make any difference in your muscle growth.
Most people are not aware of how much protein they need to get on a daily basis for proper muscle growth, so we’re going to lay it out for you here so you can calculate how much protein you need to get daily. For people who are actively exercising and trying to put on more muscle, the ideal amount of protein is between 0.5 and 0.9 grams of protein for each pound of body weight, or between 1.2 and 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Getting more than this is not necessary and won’t be beneficial for muscle growth.
Weight Loss and Muscle Gain Pills
A lot of people equate weight loss with muscle gain, and turn to weight loss pills (like garcinia cambogia extract or hydroxycut) to help them reach their goals. However, weight loss and gaining muscle don’t always necessarily go hand in hand. Weight loss pills aren’t a bad solution if you’re primary goal is to lose unhealthy weight. But if your main focus is building muscle, you might want to hold off on the weight loss pills.
Taking weight loss pills will often reduce your appetite with the goal of helping you reduce the amount of calories you intake. If you’re trying to build muscle, then calories are an important part of that process. It’s more important that you eat quality food than actually decrease the amounts you eat. Once again, it really depends on what you main focus is. But if that focus is primarily on putting on healthy muscle mass, weight loss pills may not be for you.
The bottom line is this; find a solid workout plan and stick to it, make sure you’re eating fruits and vegetables and healthy carbs (rice, oats, whole grain pasta or whole grain bread), get the right amount of protein either from your diet or dietary supplements, and stick to it! The results will come with time, all you have to do is stick to it.
