Do you dream to become a body builder, but not sure how to proceed? No worries. This article explains in detail the dos and don’ts of body building, including what bodybuilding is, what it includes, importance of nutrients for bodybuilding and the best diet plan for bodybuilders Bodybuilding is the act of developing muscle mass which may be done for personal betterment, as a competitive sport or for recreation.
What do you mean by Body building?
Bodybuilding is the process of developing one’s musculature through the combination of specific calorie intake and exercise. If a person engages in this activity, he is referred to as a bodybuilder. There is even a sport called competitive bodybuilding where the body builders show their physiques to the judges, and based on their aesthetic appearance the judges rank the competitors.
What does body building include?
To maximize their muscle hypertrophy, the bodybuilders use three strategies mainly. They are strength training, specialized nutrition and adequate rest. Both in the competitive and personal sphere, a number of techniques are used to gain and sculpt the muscle mass. The most common technique is to gain as much muscle mass as possible for some extended period. If the competition nears, the competitive bodybuilders shift their focus to sculpting their existing muscle mass.
Dos and Don’ts of body building:
Building muscle mass is a slow process that should be done with smart training and proper nutrition. Most of the bodybuilding competitors make their diet plan more complicated than they need to be actually. You will gain fat if you add calories too fast, and you would burn muscle tissues if you cut your calories too fast. Do not feel low if you don’t see an increase in your weight every day. In fact, if you gain weight every single day, it means that you are gaining fat, which is not your aim to be. Many bodybuilders follow a food chart for bodybuilding.
Foods to eat:
One of the keys elements to build a perfect body is the diet. So it is very important to chalk out the best diet for bodybuilding. Food not only gives the nutrition to lift the weight, but also gives energy to the body for necessary growth and repair. One of the important meals to a bodybuilder is the pre-workout meal. They can take carbohydrates in the pre-workout meal to get the bulk of calories and can also even include some protein. It is very important to increase one’s intake of protein, vitamins and minerals while bodybuilding. A suitable workout combined with a high-protein diet, and a good rest will ensure pleasing results for a bodybuilder.
- Protein: Some of the good choices for protein are fish, chicken, turkey and low-fat dairy. You can check out the protein diet chart online.
- Carbohydrates: Some of the good choices of carbohydrates are oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes and whole grains.
- Saturated fat: You can find this type of fat in animal and dairy products, and also in some oils. This fat is used by the liver to make cholesterol, which is involved in hormone production.
- Polyunsaturated fat: This type of fat includes good cholesterol and so intake should be limited. Soybeans, corn and some fish oils contain this fat.
- Monounsaturated fat: This type of fat can help to lower bad cholesterol without lowering good cholesterol. Found in things like vegetable and nut oils.
Foods to Avoid:
Let us see some of the foods that a bodybuilder should avoid.
- Sugars: If you eat foods that are high in sugar, it can spike your insulin levels and lead to fat gain. You can still stick to natural sugars rather than added varieties.
- Processed meat: Meat may be a good source of protein, but bodybuilders must avoid processed meats at all costs.
- Weight gain shakes: Weight-gain shakes are packed with full of sugars, artificial sweeteners and additives. So better avoid it.
Significance of Nutrients for Body building
Proper nutrition is very important if you want to see the best results from training program. Proper nutrition means proper intake of calories. Many bodybuilders do not understand how important good nutrition is for bodybuilding.
The nutrients in our food are broken down into protein, carbohydrates and fats, which are three types of macronutrients. Macronutrients are the nutrition which need in large amounts. And micronutrients are the nutrients which we need in small amounts, which are- vitamins and minerals.
- Protein: Protein is probably one of the important parts of bodybuilding nutrition. Our body uses the protein to build, repair and maintain the muscle tissue. If we do not intake adequate protein, then our body will break down the tissue to meet its daily protein needs. One of the important elements in protein is nitrogen, which is essential to animal life for tissue building. Whey protein is the best as far as protein powders are concerned.
- Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates play an important role for bodybuilders. They are the fuel source for our body’s and brain’s energy needs. They are the bodies’ preferred energy source. But many people think that they are responsible for fat gain and should avoid them, especially bodybuilders, which is wrong. There are two types of carbohydrates. They are simple or sugary carbohydrates and slower burning, complex carbohydrates. Not only carbohydrates, too much intake of any calories will lead to fat gain. A bodybuilder should have a better understanding about carbohydrates than an average person.
- Fats: Among the three macronutrients, fats are the most energy dense. They are composed of fatty acids that fall into three categories such as saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. Many bodybuilders keep fat at low levels by eating lean meat and dairy products. To insure a source of healthy fat, they even add omega 3 fatty acid supplements to their diet chart.
Best Diet Plan for Bodybuilding:
Bodybuilders require a specialized bodybuilders diet to achieve higher levels of muscle growth and repair. As a bodybuilder, you should be very concerned about your calorie needs. Also, it is essential for you to keep a diet log of what you eat every day. All the great performance diet are built upon basic principles and simple foods. Eat the right food and follow the diet chart to gain weight, then your body will respond to that accordingly. Given below are the rules to be followed for the best bodybuilding diet plan.
- Take smaller and frequent feeding throughout the day.
- Every meal should include proper ratio of 40% proteins, 40% carbohydrates and 20% fats.
Let us see a sample diet for bodybuilding below:
- The perfect breakfast: You can take 4-6 egg whites with one serving cream of wheat cereal and a cup of strawberries.
- The perfect lunch: You can make 1 cup of brown rice or baked potato with 2 cups of broccoli and 6-9ounces of extra lean ground beef.
- The perfect dinner: You can have 1 chicken breast with 1 cup of peas and carrots, and also 1 yam.
- Pre-training snack: a cup of fat-free cottage cheese and 4 slices of rye toast will be an excellent pre-training snack.
- Post-training snack: Two scoops of whey protein mixed with water and a cup of rice with 4 tablespoons of raisins will be a good choice for post-training snack.
- Anytime snack: You can have a turkey sandwich, which has a balanced combination of protein, fat and carbohydrates ideal for bodybuilding.
Eggs are the universal bodybuilding staple. Almost every bodybuilder will have egg whites in their diet plan. You can start your day by pairing egg-white omelette with oatmeal. To keep fat and calories as low as possible, go for egg whites. Lean cuts or red meat is loaded with full of protein. Try to purchase a London broil that is bright red in color. You can get 138 calories from a 4 ounce lean top round steak. Beef contains creatine, B vitamins and all necessary amino acids. If you are a vegetarian, you can check out online for vegetarian diet chart for bodybuilding.
It is crucial for body builders to understand that the essential components that determine how successful who are at body building are a good bodybuilding diet plan and nutrition.
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