How many carbohydrates per mass. Carbohydrates for gaining muscle mass. Not all carbs are created equal

In this article, we will analyze the correct carbohydrate consumption strategy for the goal of a set. muscle mass.

Rule #1 - Complex (slow) carbohydrates are the basis

The diet during the period of gaining muscle mass should be 60% (of total calories) composed of carbohydrates. At the same time, slow carbohydrates should form the basis, and fast ones must either be completely excluded or left in a minimum amount in the morning. Abuse of fast carbohydrates will lead to an excess of calories (as a result - an increase in fat mass), a drop in the effectiveness of training (due to a rapid decrease in blood sugar levels) and a deterioration in well-being.

The main sources of fast and slow carbohydrates can be found in the article -.

Rule #2 - Keeping Your Carbohydrate Consumption

The daily intake of carbohydrates depends on your level of physical activity and body weight. To calculate, I suggest using a calculator:

Your physical activity:
Medium (active physical work, active lifestyle) High (regular strength training in the gym, active lifestyle) Very high (professional competitive sports)
Your weight (kg):

The optimal amount of carbohydrates (per day): 0 gr.

I draw your attention to the fact that the value obtained is approximate. If the calculated amount of carbohydrates is not enough for you (you feel a drop in strength, a decrease in the effectiveness of training and mental activity), increase this value by 25-50 grams. If, on the contrary, you feel an excess of calories consumed, reduce them by 25-50 grams.

Rule #3 - Control Your Total Calories

Calorie control can be carried out not only by counting the calories of food consumed, but also by condition and body weight. If your weight increases, and the relief of the muscles remains the same (does not worsen) or improves, then you accurately maintain the balance of consumed and expended calories. If you feel that subcutaneous fat has begun to increase, and the muscles, although they increase in size, but "swim", then you have an excess of calories consumed - in this case, you should cut the amount of carbohydrates.

Thus, from month to month, you should monitor the weight and condition of your body. Only by following the rules described above can you effectively build muscle mass, train effectively in the gym and at the same time practically not increase the level of subcutaneous fat.

For many athletes, gaining muscle mass is one of the most important tasks that is not so easy to solve if you do not know the basics of proper nutrition.

It is necessary to clearly understand that without building a strategy, diet, there will be no performance, and it is worth starting with studying the role of carbohydrates in the framework of gaining muscle mass.

Organic matter, which is the main source of calories for the nutrition of the body. They provide the necessary energy and contribute to the growth of muscle mass.

There are 3 types of carbohydrates:

• Fast (simple), easily digestible, necessary for athletes immediately after training, for recovery. They are also classified as sugars. Simple carbohydrates, in turn, are divided into disaccharides and monosaccharides.
• Slow (complex) carbohydrates (this is a complex of 3 or more simple carbohydrates) are needed for intense and heavy physical exertion. Reception of such carbohydrates is carried out 1.5 - 2 hours before training.
• Indigestible (fibrous / slow) - this type includes dietary fiber (starch, dextrin, glycogen and cellulose).

Where to get carbohydrates

So, the primary task is to create such a diet in which a sufficient amount of carbohydrates will be gained. We recommend that you memorize the main sources.

Simple carbohydrates are found in:

• Sahara
• glucose
• Raisins
• Watermelons
• Mashed potatoes
• white rice and so on

Sources of complex carbohydrates:

• legumes (beans, peas, lentils, beans, etc.);
• cereals, cereals - cereals and cereals;
• pasta from whole grains of wheat, barley;
• fruits (grapefruit, pear, orange, apple, peach);
• berries (cherry, plum);
• vegetables (all types of cabbage, tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, onions, leeks, green beans);
• greens (spinach, leaf lettuce); mushrooms.
• Dried apricots

Thanks to a diverse list of products, you can diversify the menu without giving up the pleasure of eating delicious food.

Why do athletes need carbohydrates?

Gaining muscle mass means a tough and intense training program. At the same time, the energy expenditure in each workout is colossal. Energy is the calories that a person consumes, and the main source of calories is all groups of carbohydrates.

By increasing the amount of carbohydrates consumed, you will achieve an increase in the daily supply of glycogen in the muscles. It is necessary to turn this process of replenishing glycogen into a continuous one. It is worth remembering that the use of fast carbohydrates leads to their deposition on the stomach, hence it is important to increase the consumption of long carbohydrates.

The more intense the workout, the more mass you will gain, and the level of training intensity without proper carbohydrate intake is impossible, which will lead to overwork and weight loss.

The ratio of carbohydrates consumed to weight gain

By increasing the number of calories consumed per week by 2500, you will gain 0.5 kg in weight. That is, by adding just 400 calories per day, you can achieve significant results, but this condition works in the presence of super-intense training.

It is important to monitor the appearance of body fat within the framework of mass sets. If this process has begun, it is better to reduce the number of calories consumed, since you simply do not produce them.

Also, in addition to food, you can raise the level of calorie intake by taking special carbohydrate supplements. Increasing the calorie content of food consumed, it is not necessary to eat more.

The calculation of carbohydrate intake with little or no mass gain should begin with checking the intake of proteins and fats, is it enough?

Carbohydrate intake must be carried out in conjunction with a balanced diet rich in proteins and natural fats. Drinking carbohydrate drinks is a real way to load your muscles with carbohydrates if there is no way to increase the amount of food consumed. However, sports nutrition in the form of carbohydrate drinks, it is not consumed during the day, but exclusively as part of the training process.

Carbohydrate Calculator

The correct calculation of the daily intake of carbohydrates will improve the quality of intense training and give an increase in muscle mass. The daily carbohydrate intake of an athlete engaged in an intensive training program is 7 grams per kilogram of body weight.

Consumption of carbohydrate supplements and shakes helps to harmonize the absorption of nutrients. Also, carbohydrate-rich sports nutrition helps to eliminate “caloric” starvation after super-intense workouts that can cause loss of appetite.

Our body more efficiently and quickly "absorbs" carbohydrates in liquid form from sports supplements which improves muscle recovery and growth.

You should know that when calculating carbohydrate intake, the weight of the athlete should be taken as a basis. 50% of the total calories should come from carbohydrates, and from this amount - most of it comes from complex carbohydrates, to avoid the appearance of fat.

Any carbohydrate, whether complex or simple, has an end product of breakdown - glucose. The latter is the fuel for the work of the whole organism and the brain.

Thus, if now you have set yourself the goal of gaining muscle mass, then you should start with nutrition control and analysis of carbohydrates consumed. The result will not keep you waiting.

5 important facts about carbohydrates, knowing which you can gain high-quality muscle mass with a minimum percentage of fat.

It's no secret that carbohydrates provide the body with the fuel it needs for a hard workout, while proteins help build muscle. Indeed, this information can be considered basic. However, if you want to gain quality muscle mass without fat deposits or lose weight with minimal muscle loss, there are a few more rules you should follow.

5 things you need to know about carbs

Energy

To build muscle mass, nutrition alone is not enough - you need powerful strength training. In turn, training requires enormous energy reserves, the lion's share of which is precisely carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are a source of glucose, which gives the body energy for muscle contraction.

A significant lack of carbohydrates in the diet jeopardizes the ability to fully train.

Therefore, if you want to gain muscle mass, you should eat high-carb foods before and after your workout. In the first case, this is required to obtain the energy needed for heavy exercise, and in the second case, to restore the body after high loads.

Read also:

Insulin

Insulin is a transport hormone produced by the pancreas. Its task is to reduce the concentration of glucose in the blood and deliver nutrients to the cells of the body.

Insulin is released when digestive system breaks down carbohydrates. The glucose is then transported to the muscles for storage and later use as glycogen. Insulin also speeds up the process of muscle recovery after an intense workout, triggering the growth process.

Acting as an incredibly powerful anabolic hormone, insulin stimulates the synthesis of glycogen from glucose, and also promotes the production of proteins and fats. Muscle cells begin to intensively absorb amino acids, which leads to muscle growth.

That is why it is believed that carbohydrates have an anabolic effect and contribute to weight gain. They give you energy and build the foundation for growth by stimulating amino acid transport and muscle building.

Fat

You should be aware that carbohydrates also have disadvantages. When glycogen levels fill up, excess carbohydrates are converted into useless fat.

And insulin plays an important role in this. If you constantly consume a huge amount of carbohydrates, it continues to supply your fat reserves with new portions. Moreover, insulin is able to slow down the process of burning fat, thus preserving existing fat deposits.

So, carbohydrates are indispensable helpers in gaining muscle mass, but in order to avoid uncontrolled accumulation of fat, be sure to monitor their amount in the diet!

Carbohydrates play an essential role in natural body building. Due to the lack of carbohydrates, a considerable part of the visitors to fitness clubs, and even just rocking chairs, deprive themselves of visible progress. The fact is that the body needs a lot of energy to assimilate protein foods, and, as we have already found out, we need to eat more protein than a simple layman. And carbohydrates are just the main source of energy for humans. It is easy to draw an analogy with fuel or electricity. And if the fuel Bad quality or its quantity is small, then you will not go far in your car.

Carbohydrates are the easiest way to get kilocalories. Everyone has heard about them, but not everyone knows what it is. Calories - it's just a unit of measure for the amount of heat (1 Calorie = 4.18 J). The calorie content of food refers to the amount of energy that the body receives when it is fully absorbed. Usually calories are associated with something bad, like being overweight, but not in bodybuilding. When doing bodybuilding, in order to gain muscle mass, it is vital to receive more energy from the outside than this energy is spent in the process of life. In other words, you must getting more calories from food than you expend. Without following this rule, the growth of muscle tissue is impossible!

If you wish, you can do calorie calculation your diet, based on the data indicated on food labels. The problem will arise in the calculation of calorie consumption. This is quite problematic to do, so in this matter, you may need to rely on intuition and data on your progress or lack thereof in terms of changes in body weight, workloads, measurements, etc. By the way, one gram of carbohydrates contains about 4 kilocalories, regardless of the type of carbohydrates. The same amount is contained in a gram of protein.

Types of carbohydrates

We get most of our carbohydrates from plant food. animal food contains mostly proteins and fats. An exception is lactose, the milk sugar found in dairy products. Based on their structure, carbohydrates are divided into simple (monosaccharides and disaccharides) and complex (polysaccharides).

Everything! The boring theory is over! Yes, biologists will forgive me ... I think the reader has long been asking the question - "What to eat then ?!"

When mass gaining, it is necessary to eat both simple and complex carbohydrates, but in a certain proportion. On average, this is approximately 20% simple carbohydrates and 80% complex. Complex digestible carbohydrates are given untouchable priority. They provide maximum energy supply to the body, while the likelihood of fat deposition is small. But simple carbohydrates are also important for muscle recovery after a hard workout and providing them with energy. It is also important that the fewer processing steps a product had, the more useful its energy value is for us.

The most desirable sources of simple carbohydrates are fruits, berries, black bread. Less desirable fast carbohydrates - most baked goods, chocolate, sugary drinks.

The best carriers of fiber are oatmeal and vegetables.

For clarity, let's write down the intake of carbohydrates during the day by analogy with proteins:

Timing of carb intake

• Awakening time. A good option for eating carbohydrates for our weakened body would be combination of fiber and simple carbohydrates, or one of this short list. Loading with complex digestible carbohydrates during this period is unlikely to lead to anything other than disgust for them.
• Further waking hours. Shock loaded complex digestible carbohydrates. Don't overuse simple ones.
• Time after workout. Replacing lost energy with useful simple carbohydrates, or by analogy with proteins - we don’t eat anything, and after 30-90 minutes we have a full meal with complex digestible carbohydrates.
• Time before bed. No carbs. Your priority is muscle mass, not fat. Dot.

But we will not attempt to summarize the above information. Each organism is individual, we all have a different metabolic rate, genetic predispositions, the state of the gastrointestinal tract, etc. But we have a common goal - to increase the level of calorie content of food to a level that exceeds energy costs. And just at the expense of carbohydrates, it is easiest to regulate caloric content!

If you understand that you are unable to cover energy expenditure due to complex carbohydrates (in short, the mass is not rushing), then feel free to add more simple ones to the diet. And, conversely, at the beginning of a large deposition of adipose tissue, increase the emphasis on complex carbohydrates. It's never too late to experiment. But just before you buy mountains of chocolate, check all the other components of the mass gain - proper workouts, sleep, protein intake... Are they in line with Hardmeat's recommendations? After all, success is a combination of many factors. If everything is in order, then the shops are waiting for you. Or maybe you eat a lot of fat? Speaking of

To increase muscle without harm to the body, you need to follow the diet and consolidate the effect with regular exercise. Nutrition is a key factor in building muscle. Properly selected products for gaining muscle mass will help you get the desired results faster.

To achieve visible results as quickly as possible, it is necessary to adhere to several principles at the same time: eat right, exercise and rest regularly. Before we tell you what foods to eat for gaining muscle mass, we will lay out the basics of compiling proper diet during workouts.

Balanced Diet

Weight gain largely depends on the harmonious balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. These may be cheap foods, but they must include vitamins and nutrients to meet the needs of the body from food. Below it is indicated what is there for gaining muscle mass, only the best sources of BJU are divided into groups into the list. Food for muscle growth should be varied so that you get all the micro and macro elements with food that increase the body's regenerative abilities.

It's important to know! When gaining muscle, you need to increase not the amount of food consumed, but its calorie content.

This means you don't have to constantly expand your top foods or eat more and more. chicken breasts, it may well be that it is enough to add a couple of tablespoons of healthy fats.

To determine the amount of energy needed for muscle growth, you should:

1. Calculate daily calories for basic metabolism (work of internal organs, heat transfer, digestion). For men: 88.362 + (13.397 x weight, kg) + (4.799 x height, cm) - (5.677 x age, years). For women: 593 + (9.247 x weight, kg) + (3.098 x height, cm) - (4.330 x age, years).
2. Assess the level of physical activity. The number of kilocalories of basal metabolism is multiplied by the activity factor of a person. For people with a sedentary lifestyle, the indicator is 1.2, doing 2-3 workouts per week raises it to 1.375. For those who go in for sports every other day, the coefficient is 1.55, with daily loads -1.725, and for hard physical work throughout the day - 1.9.
3. Increase the result obtained by 10-20%. Such a calorie surplus will ensure gradual weight gain without harm to the body.
4. Repeat calculations according to the increase in muscle mass.

Systematic training

Thanks to physical activity metabolism is accelerated, excess calories are not sent to fat, but to muscle tissue. Classes are recommended to be carried out under the supervision of a trainer - he will put correct technique exercises and will give individual recommendations about nutrition.

To build mass, three classes per week lasting 1 hour are enough. Muscle growth is ensured by a gradual increase in working weights on simulators. In order for the body to become embossed and proportional, you need to work out all muscle groups.

During exercise, the body needs a lot of energy. A few hours before the start of the lesson, you need to eat food from complex carbohydrates: cereals, vegetables, cereals, legumes. Such products maintain muscle tone and maintain normal glucose levels. Just before the workout, you can drink a protein-carbohydrate shake or BCAA amino acids.

Note! Immediately after the workout, the "carbohydrate window" period begins. At this time, the energy from the food consumed is used to restore and increase muscle mass. Foods with fast carbohydrates are most suitable - fruits, honey.

Recuperation

Muscle tissue grows during rest within 48 hours after training. In order not to harm the body, for each muscle group you need to ensure complete rest. Sleep should last at least 8 hours a day.

List of foods for muscle growth

In order to increase muscle mass, you should consume a total of 500 kilocalories more proteins, fats and carbohydrates than the body spends during the day. The key to effective mass gain is to increase the calorie content of the diet, the right balance of nutrients and the best foods for gaining body weight.

Protein products

Proteins are the main building material of the body, responsible for the growth of muscle tissue and its restoration. The lack of protein in the body causes muscle wasting, weakened immunity, and swelling. The daily norm of protein for weight gain is 2-2.5 g / kg of body weight. It should be taken in small portions throughout the day, since no more than 40 g is absorbed at one meal.

Proteins are made up of many amino acids involved in the formation of hormones, complex enzymes and other cellular structures. The following foods contain the largest amount of protein:

• Meat. Red beef, lean pork, lamb, chicken, turkey are high protein foods (up to 24 g per 100 g). Meat contains 8 essential amino acids that the body cannot synthesize on its own.
• Dairy products. The protein content in hard cheese is very high - 23-30 g. In combination with lipids and calcium, the protein is easily absorbed by cells. Depending on the fat content, milk has 2.8-3 g of protein, cottage cheese - 14-16 g.
• Eggs. One medium-sized chicken egg contains 6-8 g of pure protein. The egg yolk contains a large amount of cholesterol and fat, so its abundant consumption is harmful to health.
• Seafood. For 100 g of fish fillet, there are 17-25 g of protein, which is absorbed in full. Protein content in seafood: red caviar - 29-31 g, mussels - 20 g, shrimp, crab - 19 g, squid - 18 g. Such food is considered dietary - the level of fat in its composition is minimal.
• beans. Vegetarians replenish their protein reserves precisely at the expense of plants of the legume family. There are 36 g of protein per 100 g of soybeans, chickpeas include 19 g of protein, beans - 19-24 g, lentils - 21-24 g, peas - 20 g. To facilitate the digestion process, legumes are combined with vegetables.
• Nuts. Among the nuts, the most valuable are: peanuts and cashews (26-27 g of protein), pistachios (20 g), almonds (18 g), hazelnuts and walnuts (15 g).
• Cereals. The leader in the amount of protein in the composition is buckwheat (10-12 g per 100 g of cereal). Semolina, oatmeal and millet cereals contain about 10-11 g of protein.
• Mushrooms. The protein content in mushrooms is as follows: champignons - 4.3 g; porcini mushrooms, boletus, morels - 3-3.3 g; mushrooms, russula, honey agarics, butterfish - 1.7-2.5 g.
• Vegetables. Among vegetables, garlic (6.5 g), Brussels sprouts (4.8 g), spinach (2.9 g) are the most protein-rich.

Foods with healthy fats

Fats are one of essential elements nutrition. Their absence in the diet causes metabolic disorders, hormonal imbalance, and a decrease in overall immunity. Certain unsaturated fatty acids are not produced in cells, they are supplied exclusively through food.

The body's need for fat is 1 g/kg dry body weight. The source of useful lipids should mainly be plant foods (80%). Animal products make up a small portion of a healthy diet.

• Nuts. The fattest nuts - macadamia and pecans - contain 72-76 g of lipids per 100 g of product. Walnut- 65 g, hazelnuts and pine nuts - 61 g; pistachios, almonds, cashews - 50-54 g, peanuts - 45 g. You can not fill the entire daily diet with nuts - an excess of calories will lead to an increase in body fat.
• Seeds. Sunflower seeds contain 53 g of fat, sesame seeds - 49 g, poppy seeds - 47.5 g, flax seeds contain 42 g of lipids, chia - 31 g, pumpkin seeds - 24.5 g.
• Oils. Sunflower oil is a high-calorie product, which mainly consists of polyunsaturated fats, which adversely affect human health. Healthy monounsaturated fats are found in olive, flaxseed, and corn oils.
• Avocado. A fruit that is 80% monounsaturated fatty acids. 100 g of avocado contains 15-20 g of fat.
• Milk products. A large number of fats can be obtained from hard cheeses (26-30 g), cottage cheese (9-18 g), fatty sour cream (20 g).
• Oily fish. Mackerel, salmon, salmon, tuna - a fish that, in addition to lipids (12-15 g), contains vitamins of groups B and D, essential Omega-3 acids.

Sources of carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the main energy resource, most important during training. For an athlete, the consumption rate is 4-5 g per 1 kg of body weight. 60-70% of the total amount of the substance should be complex (slow) carbohydrates, the rest - fast.

• Cereals. This is a source of slow carbohydrates, which provides the main energy reserves for the body. Semolina and pearl barley have 73.5 g of carbohydrates per 100 g, corn - 75 g, rice - 74 g, barley - 72 g, wheat - 70 g, oatmeal - 66 g, buckwheat - 62 g.
• Legumes. Peas contain 53-57 g of complex carbohydrates, beans - 54.5 g, lentils - 48-55 g. Legumes are rich in iron, vitamins A, C, B6, magnesium.
• Pasta from durum wheat. Starch in flour premium does not collapse during cooking and saturates the body for a long time. There are 65-75 g of carbohydrates per 100 g of the product.
• Vegetables. Corn - 22.5 g, garlic - 21.2 g, potatoes - 20 g, olives - 12.7 g, beets and parsley root - 11 g.
• Fruit. Fruit fruits and berries consist mainly of fast carbohydrates: bananas - 22.4 g, grapes - 17.5 g, persimmons - 16 g, figs and mangoes - 14 g, pomegranate - 12 g, apples - 11.5 g, peaches - 10.5 g
• Dried fruits. Convenient option for the cold season. Due to the small amount of water in the composition, dried fruits have a high calorie content and high content carbohydrates: dates - 75 g, raisins - 72 g, dried apricots - 61 g, figs - 58 g, prunes - 57.5 g

Water

Body tissues are 60-80% water. Active physical exercises increase the metabolic rate, stimulate sweating, as a result of which the cells require more liquids. Dehydrated blood slowly passes through the vessels, the organs experience oxygen starvation, the endurance and performance of the body decrease.

During the day, it is necessary to consume water at the rate of 4% of the total body weight. During sports, cells intensively consume fluid for thermoregulation and metabolism. To reduce the load on the heart and brain, you should drink water in small portions throughout the entire workout.

It's important to know! Dehydration reduces efficiency exercise. To protect the body from a stressful state, it is necessary to replenish fluids in a timely manner.

Body Types

There is no universal diet plan that could satisfy the requirements of any person. Sports mode largely depends on body composition. Body types are as follows:

1. Ectomorph- short upper body, long limbs, narrow shoulders. Ectomorphs are energetic and mobile due to a fast metabolism and minimal body fat. Mass gain is difficult and is possible only in the case of high consumption of protein foods and other high-calorie foods.
2. mesomorphic- the body is proportional, the muscles are naturally voluminous and quite hardy, there is practically no fat. Mesomorphs have the greatest tendency to build muscle mass.
3. Endomorph- rounded shapes large stocks adipose tissue, poorly developed muscles. Endomorph can quickly gain muscle mass after eliminating excess weight. Body fat is reduced with a balanced diet and regular exercise.

Note! Each person is characterized by individual physiology, endurance and speed of recovery after exercise. To select the optimal diet, you need to build on your own capabilities and well-being.

In the process of gaining muscle mass, the body is constantly changing, and every day the usual menu becomes more and more annoying. You should combine different products, satisfying the needs of the body. Regardless of the number of muscles in the body, it is appropriate to observe the following rules:

1. Divide the daily menu into several basic techniques (up to 6 times). The body will be able to gradually assimilate all the necessary substances without stress and overload.
2. Refuse destructive food processing and use only gentle cooking methods - boiling, baking, stewing. Fruits, vegetables and herbs are consumed raw.
3. Do not exceed your fat intake. In addition to the total calorie content of foods, the balance of all nutrients is also important.
4. Control the amount of muscle gain - body weight should not increase by more than 0.6-0.8 kg per week. Excess weight the body will use for the growth of adipose tissue.
5. Maintain mental balance. Stressful situations stimulate an increase in cortisol in the blood. It can break down muscle fibers and cause fat accumulation.

Healthy and high-calorie foods make it easier to gain muscle mass. To achieve the desired effect, you need to take a responsible attitude to the preparation of the menu and regularly perform physical exercises.