To build more muscle, you need to stimulate muscle growth.  

Simply put, your muscle and skeletal system can tolerate reasonable loads of weight. The muscle tissue you have reflects how strong you are and the weight you are able to carry. A helpful fact to know is that your muscle tissue constantly adapts to the external environment. So if you expose muscles to heavierweights that aren’t comfortable to lift, your muscles will eventually be able to support that load more easily. If you’re familiar with weight training, this is the overloading principle. Say you’re at the gym and you challenge yourself with a new training load. Even though your initial response will be fatigue, your body will adapt by triggering muscle growth. This happens during recovery, and you will achieve a higher level of strength and fitness. Ideally, to build up muscle mass, the weights that you lift must always increase, as your body is very adaptable.

Giving your body nutrients for muscle growth

Research shows that a high intake of protein combined with the training method above, encourages muscle growth. Dietary protein provides the building blocks (amino acids) that are used to build up new muscle tissue during recovery.   Consuming a high quality source of protein will offset the breakdown of lean muscle mass brought about by exercising. The breakdown of internal energy stores (i.e., muscle mass) happens when there aren’t enough amino acids available to build up the required proteins to create energy. When this happens, your body breaks down existing muscle tissue, which frees up amino acids for your body to use. When you take a protein supplement prior to training, this will help delay the use of your own muscle tissue as an amino acid source, and encourage a net gain in muscle mass.  

The protein your body needs to have muscle growth

If you weight train, it is recommended that your daily protein intake fall between 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight, and up to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight for adolescent & adult athletes. Depending on your training level, this will vary. During early training, when your body is adapting to an increased workload, it will require more protein.  As you become accustomed to training, protein requirements will decline. Supplementary proteins come from many sources. We are big fans of protein powder that can be used as a daily snack to increase protein intake or to complement your training. For best results take protein powder 1-2 hours prior to training to offset the breakdown of lean muscle mass or take it immediately after training to reestablish optimal nutrients for growth.

Mr Vitamins recommends

Balance Sports Nutrition’s Pure Product Range Here at Mr Vitamins we have a whole department dedicated to Sports Nutrition, with expert staff, who train themselves, always available to answer whatever questions or concerns you have regarding your health and fitness program. They can give you specific advise on the best supplements to take for your fitness needs.  All you have to do is drop by Mr Vitamins and ‘Ask a Sports Specialist’.