In order to gain muscle mass, you need to maintain a strict diet. Why? Because if you don’t provide the right nutrients, your muscles will not develop as they should.
What is the single most important nutrient that your muscles absolutely crave? The answer is protein. Protein is the major building block of muscles. You have to supply your muscles with high quality proteins in order for them to develop and grow.
Even a person who never trains needs protein in order to keep going. But when we train, out body is literally desperate for high-quality protein. A person who trains actively needs one gram of protein for every pound he or she weighs. If you want to add muscle mass, you need to increase that to 1.5 grams per pound each day.
Where can you find high quality proteins? Here is a short list of food items with the amount of protein they contain:
- Egg white – 6 grams of protein
- Chicken breast – 6 grams of protein per ounce
- Turkey breast – 6.5 grams of protein per ounce
- Tuna – 6.5 grams of protein per ounce
- Ground turkey – 6.5 grams of protein per ounce
- Salmon – 7 grams of protein per ounce (also a source of healthy fats)
- Almonds 6 grams of protein per ounce (also a source of healthy fats)
- Sirloin steak – 8 grams of protein per ounce
- Cottage Cheese – 6 grams per ounce
Make sure to spread your protein intake throughout the day so that you eat no more than 30 grams of protein every 2.5 hours. This is because our body can handle only that amount of protein in a given time. All the extra protein is turned to fat.
I intentionally refrained from including protein supplements in the list since I believe that you can achieve fabulous results with proper nutrition. Most people can get the body they dream of by eating naturally. If you do decide on taking a protein supplement, Whey powder has about 22-25 grams of protein per scoop.
Make sure to diversify your source of high quality protein. After a workout you need to eat a 25-30 grams of high quality proteing with one hour of training.
