Support Muscle Growth By Creating An Anabolic State

By Jennifer Bowers

Your body needs to be in the correct anabolic balance in order to allow growth to take place and this is the only way to build muscle. Clearly an important part of the muscle building process is intensive exercise but to achieve the maximum muscle mass, this would depend on putting the building blocks. This is achieved through sound nutritional practices so you need to be aware of the following anabolic enhancing principles:

The basic raw material that is required to build muscle is protein. The amino acids that the body uses to repair and build muscle following intensive exercise is protein. Your goal is consume at least 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day and you can get this from fish, poultry, eggs, beef, whey, and milk. You need to spread the load at least 6 meals so that you can avoid overloading the liver and derive the optimum benefit.

2 Carbohydrates are needed to energize the muscle building process. In order to start the process of repair, carbohydrates would stimulate the release of insulin which pushes the amino acids into the muscle cells. Because the body uses carbohydrates as a source of energy, you can't consume too little otherwise the protein will be stolen by the body which could otherwise be used in building and repairing muscle. Instead, your goal is to consume about 1.5-2 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight each day from foods like rice, potatoes, pasta, vegetables, and whole wheat bread.

Boosting your calories. Unless your main aim is to reduce fat you need a positive caloric balance if you want to build muscle. For daily maintenance, make sure that your daily calorie intake is 10% higher than your energy expenditure and that you acquire the calories from a diet that is characterized by a ratio of 50% carbohydrates, 10% fat, and 40% proteins.

Adequate rest days between training sessions and sufficient sleep is what it means to get plenty of rest. Unless you give your muscles adequate recovery time into your training program, then your muscles won't grow. Similarly, you can only optimize your body's levels of testosterone and growth hormone if you spend enough time sleeping.

Consume quality supplements to support a sound nutritious diet. For most people it should be enough to add whey protein, creatine and l-glutamine to your daily diet.

Overdoing your aerobic exercise is a bad idea. You don't want to burn excessive calories that could be utilized for bulking up because your aim is to increase muscle mass.

You need to consume plenty of water. Failure to drink sufficient quantities of water will lead to dehydration and adversely affect your muscle mass. A generous intake will maintain muscle volume and help growth because the truth is, the muscle is 70% water.

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