Q & A: Muscle and Strength Gain
Q: Gday guys,
Hey im looking at really bulking up this summer! iv tryed the weight gainers and the protein shakes and stuck to them but no results. I work out 5 times a week and run 3 times a week. I really want something that is really going to work! I thing creatine is what im looking at, but what one is truely going to give me the best results???
Cheers
Matt
Hey im looking at really bulking up this summer! iv tryed the weight gainers and the protein shakes and stuck to them but no results. I work out 5 times a week and run 3 times a week. I really want something that is really going to work! I thing creatine is what im looking at, but what one is truely going to give me the best results???
Cheers
Matt
A: Hi Matt,
Thankyou for your enquiry.
Normally if you're training regularly and not gaining weight the first thing to look at is your diet. The main questions to ask are:
Are you eating at least 6 meals a day - a meal every 2 -3 hours?
Are you eating at least 2g of protein per kg bodyweight each day?
Are you having a high carb and high protein post workout shake?
Are you keeping a food diary and training journal?
Have you worked out your maintenance calorie intake and hence the calories required to gain weight?
Are you training and eating consistantly - eating right 7 days a week?
Protein powders and mass gainers can make things easier but if your diet is inadequate results may not be that noticable. Protein powders probably offer the least noticable shortterm effects however are good for lean mass gain over the long term. You can use a pure whey protein for mass gain as long as you combine it with a high intake of carbs and essential fats - eg blend up 1 or 2 serves of whey with 2 banana's / 5 or 6 weetbix / cup of rolled oats / peanut butter / flaxseed oil etc
Mass gainers take a lot of the guess work out of the diet as you know you are getting a good hit of calories - protein for muscle gain, and carbs for energy. Some users will gain weight quite rapidly with these as long as you use them properly - normally at least 2 to 3 serves a day, plus 3 or 4 high calorie whole food meals.
Personally if you are serious about weight gain, I would ditch the running (for a few months at least) as it's going to make it harder to gain decent weight and train at the right intensity if you are burning calories through running.
Creatine is goiing to help give you more power in the gym whoch should lead to longterm lean muscle gain however it all comes down to how good your diet is. If you're still not eating right and not eating enough calories and protein you won't get good results.
If you could let me know about more about your personal details I should be able to help advise you a bit better - age, training history, training goals, any sports played, current body weight and body fat%, weight you've gained over the last 12 months or since you've been training, supplements used or currently using etc
I've also included a bit of basic mass gain information that you'll need to follow below. Have a read through it and let me know if you have any questions about it.
Weight and Mass Gain Tips
So you want to gain mass?
If you are a hard gainer and can’t gain any weight or size, if you are just new to training and wanting to add some muscle mass and strength, or simply looking to mass up so you’re bigger than your mates, here are 7 surefire ways that you can to guarantee mass and muscle gain.
1) EAT!
You must consume more food/calories than you use for energy.
This means you need to eat as much as possible, and as often as possible. You may think you eat a lot - but if you’re not gaining any weight you need to eat even more. And this means everyday - not just on your training days or when you remember. No amount of training is going to help you gain mass unless you are eating enough food, and eating consistently. This may sound simple but is one of the most common mistakes that “hardgainers” make. Truth is - there are no hardgainers - just people who don’t eat enough, often enough, on a consistent basis.
2) GET TO LOVE MATH!
Calculate your required daily calorie requirements and stick to it
An easy way to calculate your required daily calorie intake is to multiply your bodyweight in kilo’s by 2.2 x 16
i.e. 80kg x 2.2 x 16 = 2816 calories per day
For mass gain, add an extra 20% to this
2816 x 0.20 = 563 extra calories per day
Add these together - 2816 + 563 = 3379 - this is how many calories are required for mass gain at 80kg bodyweight (activity level also effects this - if you do a labour intensive job you may need to add extra calories to this - if you still find that you aren’t gaining any mass, add an extra 10% calories per week until you start gaining)
3) EAT PROTEIN -
Use a quality Whey protein or mass gaining protein formula. Muscle tissue is made up of proteins. Each time you train you break down muscle tissue (protein). Your body then repairs this damage using protein from your diet. This results in increased muscle size, density and strength. If you don’t eat enough protein, your body can’t repair this damage and so you won’t grow. And make sure to eat with 45 minutes of finished training - an easy to digest Whey protein shake or Mass gainer is your best bet to help aid muscle repair and growth.
For best results eat at least 1.5g to 2g of protein per kilo of bodyweight per day (everyday - not just om your training days) -
i.e. 80kg bodyweight x 1.5 to 2 = at least 120g to 160g of protein per day, 7 days per week
Good protein sources include - Chicken Breast, Turkey, Lean red meat, Fish, Tuna, Salmon, Whey Protein, Eggs (Egg white and whole eggs), Cottage Cheese, Milk.
Some good mass gainers are Cytosport Cytogainer, Pharmasports GROWTH, Leppin BulkPro4, Leppin Muscle Pro4, Horleys Awesome MASS
4) MORE MATH
Now you know how much protein you should eat you need to calculate how much fat and carbs you need to eat.
You should aim for approx 20-25% calories from fat. Take you daily calorie count - 3379 x 0.25 = 844 calories from fat. Each gram of fat contains 9 calories so divide this figure by 9 to get grams of fat - 844/9 = 94g of fat per day
So at 80kg you are eating 160g or protein. Each gram of protein equals 4 calories, so you are getting 640 calories from protein, plus 844 calories from Fat. Take this all away from your total calorie intake and you have you total required carb intake, then divide by 4 again (each gram of carbs contains 4 calories) to get the grams of carbs per day
3379 - (640+844) = 1895 cals from carbs/4 = 474grams of carbs per day
So for an 80kg male this is how your daily diet should break down
Protein - 160g (640 calories)
carbs - 474 (1895 calories)
Fat - 94g (846 calories)
5) TRAIN REGULARLY - regular and consistent weight training is required for you to gain quality muscle mass without adding excessive amounts of bodyfat. You should be weight training at least 3 or 4 days per week, for around 45 to 60 mins each session.
6) USE SUPPLEMENTS FOR IMPROVED MUSCLE GAINS and RECOVERY
CREATINE - Most suitable for enhancing explosive power for increased muscle strength, speed, and power
HMB - Helps to suppress protein/muslce tissue breakdown for enhanced recovery and faster muscle and strength gains
GLUTAMINE - the most abundant amino acid in the body this is depleted through heavy training. Usage of glutamine can enhance the immunce system, improve recovery, reduce muscle soreness, and also aid with increasing muscle cell volume for enhanced strength and muscle gains.
7) SLEEP - Allowing your body to recover is vital If you spend your weekends partying, or are up all night watch TV and not getting a minimum of 8 hours sleep each night, your mass gain will be impaired. Aim for at least 8 hours of quality sleep each night and watch your body grow.
3 Extra tips for even better MASS gain results
Keep a food diary and record all your food, snacks and meals, drinks, water etc
Keep a Training Diary - this is a standard tool for any successful program whether you’re wanting to gain mass or lose weight
Set Goals - make sure to set yourself realistic goals and constantly assess them. These should be short term and long-term.
The main points to take out of this are:
Eat at least six meals per day - eating every 2-3 hours. It is especially important to have a meal 30-60 minutes following training sessions. It is preferable to use whey protein for this meal as opposed to a whole food protein source as it is more rapidly digested and absorbed and of a higher quality than whole food protein. This should be combined with some form of easily digested carbs.
Each meal should be both protein and carbs and 2 or 3 should have some form of essential fat in them as well - from both naturally occurring fat like that found in salmon and cold water fish, and from sources like flax seed oil/hemp oil, olive oil etc.
Each meal will therefore contain the following:
Protein 25-30g
Carbs: 60 -80g
Fat: 3 or 4 meals approx 15-20 g (not in post training out meals as this will slow absorption of the protein)
Vegatables should be consumed with 2-3 meals
Post training you should aim for a higher carb intake than your normal meals - this should be made up of simple carbs (dextrose) and complex carbs (maltodextrin). The mix should be 1 to 1 i.e. 30g maltodextrin to 30g dextrose. How much protein and carbs to use depends on your bodyweight - aim for 0.80g of carbs per kilo of bodyweight and 0.4g of protein per kilo of bodyweight - i.e. 81kg b/w = 64 grams carbs (32g Dextrose/32g maltodextrin) + 32g protein preferably hydrolysed whey, whey isolate or at the very least a decent whey concentrate.
For the ultimate shake chuck in 5g of L-glutamine and 3g to 5g of bcaa's, as well as a small amount of sodium (about 500mg per litre of solution) to help improve absorption further.
As far as supplements go you should look at using Creatine, HMB and Glutamine.
To get a better reponse from creatine it is best to combine it with approx. 30 grams of high glycemic carbohydrates (glucose). High glycemic simple sugars result in an insulin spike/release within the body. This helps with the uptake of creatine as the creatine is pushed through the muscle cell membrane by the insulin. This can be acheived either by consuming 5 grams of creatine with grape juice (approx 250-300ml provides 30 grams carbs) or using dextrose monohydrate. Dextrose monohydrate is sold as “Brewing Sugar” in home brew stores and supermarkets (around$3-$5 per kg) and is very effective for increasing the uptake of creatine. Or using a formula like Phosphagen HP, or Gaspari SizeOn.
A good post training combination is - 1 serving Pharmasports Growth + 1 serving Creatine + 30g dextrose or waxy maize starch + 5g L-Glutamine +1g HMB = 31g protein, 79 grams of carbs (49g maltodextrin/30g dextrose) approx 480calories
Carbohydrate sources should include:
Rice - wholegrain, basmati or wild rice
Pasta, Potatoes, Kumara, Quinoa, Pumpkin, Fat free Yoghurt, Wholemeal bread (not white bread), Oatmeal/Porridge, Fruit - banana’s apples
Plus Vegetables - brocolli, asparagus, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, muschrroms, spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, peas, onions etc - these aren’t counted in the grams of carbs so are in addition to
Protein Sources:
Tuna, Salmon, Lean red meat with fat trimmed off, Chicken Breast, Turkey Breast, Eggs (mainly egg whites with some whole eggs thrown in), Low fat cottage cheese, Low fat milk, Whey Protein, Chick peas, Lentils
Good fats:
Avocado, Almonds, Olive oil, Flaxseed oil, Sunflower oil, Seeds, Fatty coldwater fish - Salmon, Sardines, Tuna
What not to eat
Icecream, Peanuts, Alcohol (beer, wine, spirits), Fizzy drinks (Coke, Pepsi etc), Energy Drinks (red bull, V etc), Cheese, Takeaways (Burgers, Chips, Pizza, KFC, Fried chicken etc) Full fat milk, Refined carbs (Donuts, White Bread, Bread rolls), High sugar breakfast cereals (coco pops, crunchy nut, honey puffs etc), Muesli, Chocolate, Snack bars (moro, snickers etc),
You should use 3x 5g serves of L-glutamine per day
3g of HMb per day
Creatine - first 5 days loading - 20g per day - 4x 5gram serves, spaced evenly throughout day
After 5 days loading go on maintenance phase use 1 or 2x 5gram serves per day
Water intake should be atleast 3 to 4 litres per day
Keep a food diary of all food and drink conusmed and the time eaten. This can also be used to plan your diet in advance
I hope this helps you out. Let me know if you have any further questions.
Regards
Andrew @ Endorphin Systems
Thankyou for your enquiry.
Normally if you're training regularly and not gaining weight the first thing to look at is your diet. The main questions to ask are:
Are you eating at least 6 meals a day - a meal every 2 -3 hours?
Are you eating at least 2g of protein per kg bodyweight each day?
Are you having a high carb and high protein post workout shake?
Are you keeping a food diary and training journal?
Have you worked out your maintenance calorie intake and hence the calories required to gain weight?
Are you training and eating consistantly - eating right 7 days a week?
Protein powders and mass gainers can make things easier but if your diet is inadequate results may not be that noticable. Protein powders probably offer the least noticable shortterm effects however are good for lean mass gain over the long term. You can use a pure whey protein for mass gain as long as you combine it with a high intake of carbs and essential fats - eg blend up 1 or 2 serves of whey with 2 banana's / 5 or 6 weetbix / cup of rolled oats / peanut butter / flaxseed oil etc
Mass gainers take a lot of the guess work out of the diet as you know you are getting a good hit of calories - protein for muscle gain, and carbs for energy. Some users will gain weight quite rapidly with these as long as you use them properly - normally at least 2 to 3 serves a day, plus 3 or 4 high calorie whole food meals.
Personally if you are serious about weight gain, I would ditch the running (for a few months at least) as it's going to make it harder to gain decent weight and train at the right intensity if you are burning calories through running.
Creatine is goiing to help give you more power in the gym whoch should lead to longterm lean muscle gain however it all comes down to how good your diet is. If you're still not eating right and not eating enough calories and protein you won't get good results.
If you could let me know about more about your personal details I should be able to help advise you a bit better - age, training history, training goals, any sports played, current body weight and body fat%, weight you've gained over the last 12 months or since you've been training, supplements used or currently using etc
I've also included a bit of basic mass gain information that you'll need to follow below. Have a read through it and let me know if you have any questions about it.
Weight and Mass Gain Tips
So you want to gain mass?
If you are a hard gainer and can’t gain any weight or size, if you are just new to training and wanting to add some muscle mass and strength, or simply looking to mass up so you’re bigger than your mates, here are 7 surefire ways that you can to guarantee mass and muscle gain.
1) EAT!
You must consume more food/calories than you use for energy.
This means you need to eat as much as possible, and as often as possible. You may think you eat a lot - but if you’re not gaining any weight you need to eat even more. And this means everyday - not just on your training days or when you remember. No amount of training is going to help you gain mass unless you are eating enough food, and eating consistently. This may sound simple but is one of the most common mistakes that “hardgainers” make. Truth is - there are no hardgainers - just people who don’t eat enough, often enough, on a consistent basis.
2) GET TO LOVE MATH!
Calculate your required daily calorie requirements and stick to it
An easy way to calculate your required daily calorie intake is to multiply your bodyweight in kilo’s by 2.2 x 16
i.e. 80kg x 2.2 x 16 = 2816 calories per day
For mass gain, add an extra 20% to this
2816 x 0.20 = 563 extra calories per day
Add these together - 2816 + 563 = 3379 - this is how many calories are required for mass gain at 80kg bodyweight (activity level also effects this - if you do a labour intensive job you may need to add extra calories to this - if you still find that you aren’t gaining any mass, add an extra 10% calories per week until you start gaining)
3) EAT PROTEIN -
Use a quality Whey protein or mass gaining protein formula. Muscle tissue is made up of proteins. Each time you train you break down muscle tissue (protein). Your body then repairs this damage using protein from your diet. This results in increased muscle size, density and strength. If you don’t eat enough protein, your body can’t repair this damage and so you won’t grow. And make sure to eat with 45 minutes of finished training - an easy to digest Whey protein shake or Mass gainer is your best bet to help aid muscle repair and growth.
For best results eat at least 1.5g to 2g of protein per kilo of bodyweight per day (everyday - not just om your training days) -
i.e. 80kg bodyweight x 1.5 to 2 = at least 120g to 160g of protein per day, 7 days per week
Good protein sources include - Chicken Breast, Turkey, Lean red meat, Fish, Tuna, Salmon, Whey Protein, Eggs (Egg white and whole eggs), Cottage Cheese, Milk.
Some good mass gainers are Cytosport Cytogainer, Pharmasports GROWTH, Leppin BulkPro4, Leppin Muscle Pro4, Horleys Awesome MASS
4) MORE MATH
Now you know how much protein you should eat you need to calculate how much fat and carbs you need to eat.
You should aim for approx 20-25% calories from fat. Take you daily calorie count - 3379 x 0.25 = 844 calories from fat. Each gram of fat contains 9 calories so divide this figure by 9 to get grams of fat - 844/9 = 94g of fat per day
So at 80kg you are eating 160g or protein. Each gram of protein equals 4 calories, so you are getting 640 calories from protein, plus 844 calories from Fat. Take this all away from your total calorie intake and you have you total required carb intake, then divide by 4 again (each gram of carbs contains 4 calories) to get the grams of carbs per day
3379 - (640+844) = 1895 cals from carbs/4 = 474grams of carbs per day
So for an 80kg male this is how your daily diet should break down
Protein - 160g (640 calories)
carbs - 474 (1895 calories)
Fat - 94g (846 calories)
5) TRAIN REGULARLY - regular and consistent weight training is required for you to gain quality muscle mass without adding excessive amounts of bodyfat. You should be weight training at least 3 or 4 days per week, for around 45 to 60 mins each session.
6) USE SUPPLEMENTS FOR IMPROVED MUSCLE GAINS and RECOVERY
CREATINE - Most suitable for enhancing explosive power for increased muscle strength, speed, and power
HMB - Helps to suppress protein/muslce tissue breakdown for enhanced recovery and faster muscle and strength gains
GLUTAMINE - the most abundant amino acid in the body this is depleted through heavy training. Usage of glutamine can enhance the immunce system, improve recovery, reduce muscle soreness, and also aid with increasing muscle cell volume for enhanced strength and muscle gains.
7) SLEEP - Allowing your body to recover is vital If you spend your weekends partying, or are up all night watch TV and not getting a minimum of 8 hours sleep each night, your mass gain will be impaired. Aim for at least 8 hours of quality sleep each night and watch your body grow.
3 Extra tips for even better MASS gain results
Keep a food diary and record all your food, snacks and meals, drinks, water etc
Keep a Training Diary - this is a standard tool for any successful program whether you’re wanting to gain mass or lose weight
Set Goals - make sure to set yourself realistic goals and constantly assess them. These should be short term and long-term.
The main points to take out of this are:
Eat at least six meals per day - eating every 2-3 hours. It is especially important to have a meal 30-60 minutes following training sessions. It is preferable to use whey protein for this meal as opposed to a whole food protein source as it is more rapidly digested and absorbed and of a higher quality than whole food protein. This should be combined with some form of easily digested carbs.
Each meal should be both protein and carbs and 2 or 3 should have some form of essential fat in them as well - from both naturally occurring fat like that found in salmon and cold water fish, and from sources like flax seed oil/hemp oil, olive oil etc.
Each meal will therefore contain the following:
Protein 25-30g
Carbs: 60 -80g
Fat: 3 or 4 meals approx 15-20 g (not in post training out meals as this will slow absorption of the protein)
Vegatables should be consumed with 2-3 meals
Post training you should aim for a higher carb intake than your normal meals - this should be made up of simple carbs (dextrose) and complex carbs (maltodextrin). The mix should be 1 to 1 i.e. 30g maltodextrin to 30g dextrose. How much protein and carbs to use depends on your bodyweight - aim for 0.80g of carbs per kilo of bodyweight and 0.4g of protein per kilo of bodyweight - i.e. 81kg b/w = 64 grams carbs (32g Dextrose/32g maltodextrin) + 32g protein preferably hydrolysed whey, whey isolate or at the very least a decent whey concentrate.
For the ultimate shake chuck in 5g of L-glutamine and 3g to 5g of bcaa's, as well as a small amount of sodium (about 500mg per litre of solution) to help improve absorption further.
As far as supplements go you should look at using Creatine, HMB and Glutamine.
To get a better reponse from creatine it is best to combine it with approx. 30 grams of high glycemic carbohydrates (glucose). High glycemic simple sugars result in an insulin spike/release within the body. This helps with the uptake of creatine as the creatine is pushed through the muscle cell membrane by the insulin. This can be acheived either by consuming 5 grams of creatine with grape juice (approx 250-300ml provides 30 grams carbs) or using dextrose monohydrate. Dextrose monohydrate is sold as “Brewing Sugar” in home brew stores and supermarkets (around$3-$5 per kg) and is very effective for increasing the uptake of creatine. Or using a formula like Phosphagen HP, or Gaspari SizeOn.
A good post training combination is - 1 serving Pharmasports Growth + 1 serving Creatine + 30g dextrose or waxy maize starch + 5g L-Glutamine +1g HMB = 31g protein, 79 grams of carbs (49g maltodextrin/30g dextrose) approx 480calories
Carbohydrate sources should include:
Rice - wholegrain, basmati or wild rice
Pasta, Potatoes, Kumara, Quinoa, Pumpkin, Fat free Yoghurt, Wholemeal bread (not white bread), Oatmeal/Porridge, Fruit - banana’s apples
Plus Vegetables - brocolli, asparagus, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, muschrroms, spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, peas, onions etc - these aren’t counted in the grams of carbs so are in addition to
Protein Sources:
Tuna, Salmon, Lean red meat with fat trimmed off, Chicken Breast, Turkey Breast, Eggs (mainly egg whites with some whole eggs thrown in), Low fat cottage cheese, Low fat milk, Whey Protein, Chick peas, Lentils
Good fats:
Avocado, Almonds, Olive oil, Flaxseed oil, Sunflower oil, Seeds, Fatty coldwater fish - Salmon, Sardines, Tuna
What not to eat
Icecream, Peanuts, Alcohol (beer, wine, spirits), Fizzy drinks (Coke, Pepsi etc), Energy Drinks (red bull, V etc), Cheese, Takeaways (Burgers, Chips, Pizza, KFC, Fried chicken etc) Full fat milk, Refined carbs (Donuts, White Bread, Bread rolls), High sugar breakfast cereals (coco pops, crunchy nut, honey puffs etc), Muesli, Chocolate, Snack bars (moro, snickers etc),
You should use 3x 5g serves of L-glutamine per day
3g of HMb per day
Creatine - first 5 days loading - 20g per day - 4x 5gram serves, spaced evenly throughout day
After 5 days loading go on maintenance phase use 1 or 2x 5gram serves per day
Water intake should be atleast 3 to 4 litres per day
Keep a food diary of all food and drink conusmed and the time eaten. This can also be used to plan your diet in advance
I hope this helps you out. Let me know if you have any further questions.
Regards
Andrew @ Endorphin Systems
