Nutrition For Body Building

Body building is basically the result of tearing muscles through exercise and weightlifting and then having them grow even bigger when they repair themselves. The high levels of tissue repair required by body builders requires a special diet that is high in complex carbohydrates and protein.

For one thing body builders require a lot more calories then most people in order to grow bigger. In general their intake is from 500 to 1000 more calories above the recommended maintenance level for their weight. However this increased intake is combined with cardiovascular exercise which helps the bodybuilder build lean muscle mass.

One of the keys to body building is to split your food intake for the day from five to seven meals. Timing of meals is also a component with most meals being spaced out between two and three hours. This provides the body with the ability to assimilate more nutrition. Also, eating several small meals a day instead of three big square meals a day is thought to increase the metabolic rate so that fat is lost and replaced with lean muscle more quickly. Yet another perk to eating frequent meals throughout the day is that it helps the person control their blood sugar levels while exercising so they don’t get too hunger.

When body building it is also important to intake enough carbohydrates. This gives the body enough energy to go through a rigorous weightlifting and cardio routine as well as helps the tissues repair themselves between exercise sessions. The best types of carbohydrates for bodybuilders are low glycemic polysaccharides and slow digesting carbohydrates. Fast digesting and high glycemic carbohydrates often end up as fat rather than muscle.

However, despite the fact they need plenty of good carbohydrates, bodybuilders still ingest sugar in their diet (often in form of pure dextrose or maltodextrin) after a workout. This may help to replenish glycogen stores within the muscles and prevent soreness.

You can’t grow muscles without protein so it is recommended that body-building individuals receive one to two grams of protein per pound per day of body weight. This is the ratio of protein to body weight that is thought to make tissue and muscle grow.  This protein should be consumed throughout the day but the two most important times during a bodybuilding schedule to take protein are within 45 minutes after a workout and just before retiring to bed. There is some debate about what the best type of protein is for body building but the most often recommended sources of protein are meat, fish, eggs, dairy foods nuts, seeds, beans and lentils. Soy is often avoided because it has a high estrogen level that can prevent the building of lean muscle (especially in men.)

It is also very common for body builders to include powdered or liquid protein and vitamin supplements to make sure that they are getting every thing that they need to grow big beautiful muscles that are worthy to show off in a contest.