Many folks new to working out and weight lifting routines are not aware that your muscles do not grow while you’re in the gym. If you’re still struggling to grow, chances are all you’re doing is hitting the gym and not paying enough attention to nutrition and recuperation. Bigger and fuller muscles could be yours if you just take the advice in this article.
First things first you have to realize that your muscles do not grow in the gym. Your muscles are being damaged and ripped when you work out in the gym with weights. Ever wonder why you get a pump in your targeted muscles… it’s your body reacting by rushing blood to the “injured” muscles. So if you don’t grow while you’re working out in the gym when do you grow?
Your muscles begin to grow when you leave the gym and you stop abusing them! Matter of fact your muscles have an opportunity to start growing right after you leave the gym if you supply them with some crucial nutrients that they’re in desperate need of.
Protein and carbohydrates are the two critical nutrients you need to consume immediately following a workout. If you’re going to consume sugar this is the best time of the day to do it. Immediately following a workout your body is literally looking for something to burn as fuel because if you worked out the way you’re supposed to then you should have burned all the food you’ve consumed throughout the day and now your body is runing on empty and your muscles desperately need to start repairing themselves.There are three nutrients you can take to not only give your body fuel to burn but also give your muscles what they need to start growing!
The three nutrients you need to take are a simple carbohydrate or any kind of sugar really. Protein because your muscles are made up of protein and that’s what they need to grow. Since simple carbohydrates are normally broken down within 30 minutes you also want to make sure to consume some type of complex carbohydrates for long term energy. Since you only have about 30 minutes to take advantage of this “post workout window of opportunity” the best way to consume all of these nutrients is usually in the form of a protein shake. There are many brands on the market that make protein shakes specifically for post workout.
If real growth is your ultimate goal then you’ll also want to eat a solid meal within two hours of your gym session. Make sure both protein and carbohydrates are both present in your meal. For complex carbohydrates I usually recommend rice or potatoes and for protein I typically recommend any red meat, chicken or fish. Once you realize that growing bigger muscles is more then just working out in the gym and going through your current bodybuilding workout program, you’ll be on the fast track to getting huge and reaping the full benefits of your workouts. This is probably the single biggest change you can make today that will have the biggest impact on your growth.
