Bulking up is an essential step in increasing your basal metabolism and energy expenditure. Combined with regular physical activity, it allows you to gain lean muscle mass, lose fat, and reshape your muscles to achieve your goals. This practice is also commonly used in training or sports competitions!
What are the benefits and role of muscle gain?
Bulking is a diet that promotes muscle growth, but it also aims to refine the silhouette and increase basal metabolism (energy expended at rest).
To optimize muscle function, regular training isn't necessarily enough to achieve the ideal body. According to several studies, everything also happens on your plate, and your diet can impact up to 80% of results!
A disciplined diet always has a highly positive impact on your physical condition, as the goal is to gain lean mass and not fat mass. The key is to provide the right proportion of carbohydrates needed for intensive training, as well as optimize protein absorption to promote muscle rebuilding after the session.
What energy intake should be respected when gaining mass?
Energy intake
During our workouts, our body is in a catabolic state: it draws energy from its reserves, this breakdown process thus allows us to consume energy to make our muscle tissue work. Outside of training and thanks to the digestion of the food consumed, it is then necessary to optimize the anabolic state as much as possible, allowing muscle regeneration.
When building muscle mass, this anabolic state must be greater than catabolism to strengthen the muscle. It is then necessary to increase your nutritional energy intake for the day (gradually at first). These intakes depend on your build (height, weight, gender) but also on your physical activity. For example, a person with a usual caloric intake of 2000 calories per day can increase this intake to a total of 2500 kcal.
It all depends on your level, the goal is to create an anabolic environment favorable to gaining lean mass and maintaining muscle tissue.
However, it is important not to overindulge and therefore to limit foods that slow down lean mass gain and increase fat mass gain.
Protein intake
For good muscle development, it is recommended to consume 1.2 to 1.8g of protein per kg of body weight per day (be careful not to consume too much). This amount must be monitored: without monitoring, the protein level can be more difficult to achieve than the amount of carbohydrates and lipids consumed.
Proteins are composed of amino acids that are essential for muscle reconstruction and growth. Indeed, during exercise, muscle fibers become fragile, which is why protein supplementation after the session (30 to 40 minutes after the catabolic phase) allows for more effective reconstruction.
It's also worth noting that not all proteins are assimilated in the same way by our bodies. Animal proteins (due to their amino acid composition, which is similar to that of our muscles) are more readily bioavailable than plant proteins. This is why it's important to vary your sources; they'll thus have an interesting complementarity.
Regarding animal proteins , it is interesting to favor those present in lean and/or minimally processed meat, such as fish, chicken, eggs and beef, milk, cheese, cottage cheese, etc.
Plant-based proteins are also very interesting thanks to all the nutrients they provide alongside them. There are many sources: oilseeds (also rich in good lipids, such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, and seeds of all kinds), legumes (also very rich in fiber, such as lentils, chickpeas, and kidney beans). Tofu, seitan, and others are also perfectly suited to gaining mass.
Carbohydrate intake
Indeed, carbohydrates, often criticized in diets, are important for gaining mass. They help optimize recovery and muscle rebuilding.
Your diet must also allow the replenishment of carbohydrate reserves (glycogen) and thus provide sufficient fuel during regular and intensive exercise. 4 to 6g / kg of body weight must therefore optimize the anabolic process to ensure muscle volume gain.
Of course, slow carbohydrates are preferable to fast carbohydrates, they help limit blood sugar spikes and the storage of fat in the muscle (glycogen reserves), the liver (also glycogen) or in fat cells. Since the first two are quickly saturated, excess sugar will be stored in adipose tissue, and therefore promote weight gain.
They are found in unsweetened and high-fiber products: cereals, rice, wholemeal flour, bananas, quinoa, oat flakes and sweet potatoes, pasta and wholemeal bread, vegetables and fruits, etc. They also provide a lasting feeling of satiety compared to fast carbohydrates.
Lipid intake
Good fats are also recommended (1 to 1.5g/kg of body weight, or approximately 30% of your daily calorie intake). These good fats are composed of unsaturated fatty acids (omega 3, 6 and 9), which should not be mixed with saturated fatty acids, which have a negative impact on your vascular health.
You can therefore find these good lipids in certain vegetable oils such as olive or rapeseed oil, oily fish (such as tuna and salmon), seeds and nuts, eggs and avocado, etc.
Which dietary supplements for weight gain?
To make it easier to include protein in your menu, it is possible to supplement your 3 meals a day with certain supplements that you can buy in certain sports nutrition departments:
- Whey shakers or protein bars: most often adapted to the needs of the athlete, they contain all the amino acids necessary for muscle recovery, post-bodybuilding.
- Gainers: these are products that provide a mixture of proteins and carbohydrates to boost your bodybuilding sessions.
- BCAAs: which specifically contain the essential amino acids for the body, guaranteeing growth of muscle tissue after a session.
- Creatine: 3g of this product a day can improve your performance, especially during a weight training session. And thus stimulate muscle growth: it improves cell hydrogenation and promotes protein synthesis (it contributes to the contraction and relaxation of the fiber). It remains reserved for the most experienced in sports nutrition.
What eating habits should you follow for muscle gain?
Eat more regularly
Some of your eating habits should be eliminated to perfect your diet plan. It's also important to distribute all your meals and snacks in a balanced manner to optimize muscle synthesis within your body. Therefore, it's recommended to eat 5 to 6 times a day, preferably including a snack before and after your workout, and between each meal.
This will then allow you to increase the number of calories consumed but above all to assimilate proteins more optimally (preferably in 30g increments at each meal). All this while maintaining a constant blood sugar level, allowing for a lasting anabolic state.
- Before the session, so as to have good lasting vitality during the effort.
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- Then after the session, focus on protein intake which will allow you (within 30 to 60 minutes) to participate in muscle reconstruction.
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Hydrate yourself well
Indeed, it is important to drink at least 2 liters of water, to replenish the water released by perspiration and also to optimize recovery. This will also relieve your kidneys, which are working even harder due to the high protein content of your diet.
All means are therefore permitted to optimize hydration and increase caloric intake: drink your calories if it can help you (sweet to boost you before the session or protein for post-workout recovery)!!
Banish junk food
Often too high in sugar and saturated fat, and low in micronutrients, it's best to eliminate processed foods from your diet! They promote fat gain and will prevent you from reaching your goals.
Banish pastries, biscuits, refined products, butter, flavoured yoghurts, sodas, prepared meals, sauces, burgers and pizzas... and any other food rich in saturated fat.
Also cut out alcohol and your small daily glasses of wine; they increase cortisol levels, which stimulate the storage of visceral fat. Alcohol also has a negative impact on health, whether it's cardiovascular or cancer risks.
