How To Build Muscle for Beginners and Advanced
For the hard working weight trainer, food serves to maintain and sustain the body during and after weight training sessions.
This is vitally important as one gets stronger from a weight training program. I also think this is very misunderstood and something that most “hard gainers” fail to realize. The demands from weight training require an equally demanding food schedule. If you fail to fuel your body with the proper foods, it is only a matter of time before you stop improving with your weight training program.
The physical demands of weight training also means that extra care and attention needs to be taken with nutrition. Give your body what it needs in terms of proper foods, and watch it grow as a results. With that in mind, I’m going to provide a one day mass menu that consists of about 4,000 calories. This menu will give you an idea of what you should be eating on a daily basis in order to start growing muscle mass.
I’ll say this, if you can stick to this type of menu for a least 3 months and follow a well laid out training program you’ll pack on some serious muscle!
I will usually scramble my eggs. I will add the egg whites to my oatmeal as it cooks and mix it in. This will actually make the oatmeal “puffy”. Add the yogurt and brown sugar to the oatmeal once it's in the bowl and ready to eat.
Mix everything in a blender and have immediately after weight training.
Mix fruit almonds into cottage cheese. Spread peanut butter on toasted bagel.
I will usually have the broccoli as a side dish. Have an hour and a half after your post workout shake (post workout meal 1)
Add tomato to sandwich and spread low fat mayo on bread. To make a vinaigrette, simply mix 1 tablespoon of olive oil with 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.
Place fish on a slice of tinfoil. Lightly season cod with a bit of salt and pepper. Add onion and peppers to fish and wrap in tinfoil. Place on a baking dish and broil for about 20 minutes, or until cooked through. Cook rice according to directions and add raisins and sunflower seeds as it cooks. Steam asparagus and serve with fish and rice. (have this meal an hour and a half after post workout meal 2)
Mix milk or water with whey protein. I will usually mix the banana in with my protein drink. Have this about an hour before your workout.
There you have it, a one day mass menu designed to do one thing, build lean muscle mass. Get into the habit of following this kind of menu and you’ll be well on your way to building the body of your dreams.
Now, this menu is about 4,000 calories and will help pack on quality mass. You will have to adjust this menu to match that of your own needs and tastes. If you don’t like fish, substitute it for chicken.
For more recipes, I suggest you take a look at Dave Ruel’s cook book called “The Anabolic Cook”. It has over 200 muscle building recipes and calorie specific menus.
All the best,
Blake
Blake has been weight lifting for about 28 years now. He's 45 years of age and started seriously training when he was 18 years old.
Blake is the founder of Building-Muscle101.com, a successful fitness website that has been around for more than 15 years.
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