If you’re looking to gain muscle fast, you need more than just a solid gym strategy. Muscle cannot be built with workouts alone. The building blocks of muscle come from amino acids, which is what protein is broken down into. Without a surplus of amino acids in your bloodstream, it will be impossible to gain new muscle no matter how hard you train. The best muscle building foods for your diet will include a full range of different proteins in your diet.
The best sources of protein
The best and most complete sources of protein come from fish, poultry, lean grass-fed meat, eggs, and dairy products. You’ll find all your high-quality protein sources in the outer aisles of the grocery store. If you get most of your calories from the indoor aisles, which include a lot of highly processed, high-carbohydrate foods, then you need to rethink your strategy because you won’t gain muscle fast. It’s true that grains and cereals have a few grams of protein on the label, but it’s not high-quality protein with the full range of amino acids your body needs to build new muscle. A good way to create a protein-rich side dish is to mix together brown rice and some type of pinto, black, or kidney beans. Each of these foods has a range of amino acids that complement each other to form a more complete protein. This is one of the ways that vegetarians can meet their protein requirements and should include it in their list of muscle-building foods.
how much protein
If you’re looking to gain muscle fast, you also want to make sure you’re getting enough protein in your diet. A general rule of thumb is to calculate your lean body weight first. That is what you would weigh if you removed all the fat from your body. If you know what your body fat percentage is, you can calculate that number per pound. If you don’t know what your body fat percentage is, that’s okay because you can get pretty close. Figure out what you think your ideal body weight would be, and then subtract about 10 to 15 pounds. Take this number and that is the minimum amount of protein in grams that you should be consuming daily. So if your lean body weight is 185 pounds, you need a minimum of 185 grams of protein per day to gain muscle fast. If you don’t reach this number, you’ll need to start eating more muscle-building foods. If you’re a more intermediate or advanced lifter, you may need 1.5 grams of protein per pound of lean body weight per day. So for a 185 pound lifter, you would need 277 grams of protein for optimal fast mass gains.
5-6 servings of protein spaced throughout the day
Don’t sit down for 3 meals and cram in all this protein. You should eat every 3-4 hours and include a serving of protein with that meal. Above all, be sure to get a large serving of protein immediately after your workout to take advantage of the 2-hour growth window where your body will use the nutrients for rapid muscle gain. Adding muscle-building foods to your diet is easy if you plan your day and work on your plan.