Maybe you've had sand kicked in your face. Maybe you've lost one too
many attainable women to beefier guys. Or maybe you've read so much
about weight loss that actually admitting you want to gain weight is a
societal taboo. Whatever the reason, you want to bulk up. Now.
But
forget about your alleged high-revving metabolism, says Doug Kalman,
R.D., director of nutrition at Miami Research Associates. "Most lean men
who can't gain muscle weight are simply eating and exercising the wrong
way," he says.
Here's your fix: Follow these 10 principles to pack on as much as a pound of muscle each week.
1. Maximize muscle building. The more protein your body stores
—in a process called protein synthesis
—the larger your muscles grow. But your body is constantly draining its protein reserves for other uses
—making
hormones, for instance. The result is less protein available for muscle
building. To counteract that, you need to "build and store new proteins
faster than your body breaks down old proteins," says Michael Houston,
Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at Virginia Tech University.
2. Eat meat.
Shoot for about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, which is
roughly the maximum amount your body can use in a day, according to a
landmark study in the
Journal of Applied Physiology. (For example, a 160-pound man should consume 160 grams of protein a day
—the
amount he'd get from an 8-ounce chicken breast, 1 cup of cottage
cheese, a roast-beef sandwich, two eggs, a glass of milk, and 2 ounces
of peanuts.) Split the rest of your daily calories equally between
carbohydrates and fats.
3. Eat more. In addition
to adequate protein, you need more calories. Use the following formula
to calculate the number you need to take in daily to gain 1 pound a
week. (Give yourself 2 weeks for results to show up on the bathroom
scale. If you haven't gained by then, increase your calories by 500 a
day.)
A. Your weight in pounds: _____
B. Multiply A by 12 to get your basic calorie needs: _____
C. Multiply B by 1.6 to estimate your resting metabolic rate (calorie burn without factoring in exercise): _____
D. Strength training: Multiply the number of minutes you lift weights per week by 5: _____
E. Aerobic training: Multiply the number of minutes per week that you run, cycle, and play sports by 8: _____
F. Add D and E, and divide by 7: _____
G. Add C and F to get your daily calorie needs: _____
H. Add 500 to G: _____. This is your estimated daily calorie needs to gain 1 pound a week.
4. Work your biggest muscles.
If you're a beginner, just about any workout will be intense enough to
increase protein synthesis. But if you've been lifting for a while,
you'll build the most muscle quickest if you focus on the large muscle
groups, like the chest, back, and legs. Add squats, deadlifts, pullups,
bent-over rows, bench presses, dips, and military presses to your
workout. Do two or three sets of eight to 12 repetitions, with about 60
seconds' rest between sets.
5. But first, have a stiff drink.
A 2001 study at the University of Texas found that lifters who drank a
shake containing amino acids and carbohydrates before working out
increased their protein synthesis more than lifters who drank the same
shake after exercising. The shake contained 6 grams of essential amino
acids
—the muscle-building blocks of protein
—and
35 grams of carbohydrates. "Since exercise increases bloodflow to your
working tissues, drinking a carbohydrate-protein mixture before your
workout may lead to greater uptake of the amino acids in your muscles,"
says Kevin Tipton, Ph.D., an exercise and nutrition researcher at the
University of Texas in Galveston.
For your shake, you'll need about 10 to 20 grams of protein
—usually
about one scoop of a whey-protein powder. Can't stomach protein
drinks? You can get the same nutrients from a sandwich made with 4
ounces of deli turkey and a slice of American cheese on whole wheat
bread. But a drink is better. "Liquid meals are absorbed faster," says
Kalman. So tough it out. Drink one 30 to 60 minutes before your workout.
6. Lift every other day. Do a full-body workout
followed by a day of rest. Studies show that a challenging weight
workout increases protein synthesis for up to 48 hours immediately after
your exercise session. "Your muscles grow when you're resting, not when
you're working out," says Michael Mejia, C.S.C.S.,
Men's Health exercise advisor and a former skinny guy who packed on 40 pounds of muscle using this very program.
7. Down the carbs after your workout.
Research shows that you'll rebuild muscle faster on your rest days if
you feed your body carbohydrates. "Post-workout meals with carbs
increase your insulin levels," which, in turn, slows the rate of protein
breakdown, says Kalman. Have a banana, a sports drink, a peanut-butter
sandwich.
8. Eat something every 3 hours. "If
you don't eat often enough, you can limit the rate at which your body
builds new proteins," says Houston. Take the number of calories you need
in a day and divide by six. That's roughly the number you should eat at
each meal. Make sure you consume some protein
—around 20 grams
—every 3 hours.
9. Make one snack ice cream. Have a bowl of ice cream (any kind) 2 hours after your workout. According to a study in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , this snack triggers a surge of insulin better than most foods do. And that'll put a damper on post-workout protein breakdown.
10. Have some milk before bed.
Eat a combination of carbohydrates and protein 30 minutes before you go
to bed. The calories are more likely to stick with you during sleep and
reduce protein breakdown in your muscles, says Kalman. Try a cup of
raisin bran with a cup of skim milk or a cup of cottage cheese and a
small bowl of fruit. Eat again as soon as you wake up. "The more
diligent you are, the better results you'll get," says Kalman.
The Whey To Go
Drink this protein power shake before every workout
Weight-gain
powders seem like an easy solution to a skinny guy's problems. After
all, they pack as many as 2,200 calories into one serving. But you're
not getting what you pay for. "High-calorie weight-gain drinks usually
get more than 80 percent of their calories from sugar," says Doug
Kalman, R.D. And downing that much sugar can give you an upset stomach
and diarrhea. So, in a sense, you're flushing good money down the
toilet. "You'll get much better results by spreading your calories
throughout the day," says Kalman.
And by using protein shakes.
Look for whey-protein powders, such as Nitro-Tech by MuscleTech or Mega
Whey by GNC, at nutrition stores. Combine one scoop of the powder with
the following ingredients and blend for a homemade muscle-building
pre-workout shake:
1 tsp olive or flaxseed oil
1/2 c fat-free yogurt
1 c grape or apple juice
Per shake: 335 calories, 27 grams (g) protein, 45 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat
Wash your hands frequently and try not to touch your face too often.
because of this, not very enjoyable? Are you getting sick and tired of
the same packed lunch day after day?…… If you have answered yes to any
of the above questions then I can only suggest that you may well want
some help in looking for some alternative lunch suggestions that are not
only nutritious but also look appetizing.
Spring
rolls – I don’t mean the fried kind, Instead I am talking about the
ones made with spring roll rice wrappers. Again you can be really
creative with these. You can add things like avocado, sliced duck,
prawns, griddled peppers. In fact whatever takes your fancy. They are
quick and easy to make and will keep in the fridge overnight.
