What to eat for strength training to build muscle

The core logic is to eat a balanced diet with a small caloric surplus, giving priority to ensuring sufficient protein, and then matching it with sufficient energy-supplying carbohydrates and an appropriate amount of fat. There are not so many fancy requirements. If you eat it right, it will be more effective than any sky-high-priced supplement.

In the first half year of training, I was obsessed with the idea of "gaining muscle during fat loss". I ate 120g of skinless chicken breasts and 2 small bowls of rice every day. The total calories were not high enough for my basal metabolic rate. I was stuck for three months after squatting 100kg, and my arm and leg circumference did not increase at all. Later, I went to a nutritionist friend of the provincial team to adjust my diet. I gained 4kg of lean body mass in two months, and I squatted directly to 120kg. Only then did I figure out the way to gain muscle.

In fact, there have been disagreements in the circles about how much protein to eat. The mainstream recommendation in the academic circle is that 1.6g per kilogram of body weight for ordinary strength enthusiasts is enough to maintain a positive nitrogen balance. Players preparing for natural competitions will recommend 2.2g. Many friends around me who compete in natural competitions will even eat 2.4g/kg. Judging from my own experience and that of people around me, ordinary strength enthusiasts do not need to be so starved, between 1.8-2.2g. There is no problem in time, as long as the kidney function is normal, there will be no extra burden, and the source does not need to be boiled chicken breasts. Beef tendon, salmon, whole eggs, sugar-free Greek yogurt, or even lightly braised beef with soy sauce will do. If you are in a hurry after training, it is perfectly fine to drink a spoonful of whey protein. Last time I was running out of time to eat after doing leg training, so I brewed a spoonful of whey isolate and added half a frozen banana. It was much more comfortable than eating cold chicken breasts, and there was no delay in protein supplementation.

The pitfall that many people fall into is that they only focus on protein intake and ignore the total calories. This is the case with a post-2000 apprentice I had a while ago. He yelled that he ate 200g of chicken breasts every day and still didn't gain muscle. I calculated that his total daily intake was only 1,600 kcal, and his basal metabolism was 1,750. He was losing calories every day. Most of the protein he ate was burned as energy. How could there be any leftover to synthesize muscles? If you really want to gain muscle, a daily surplus of 300-500 kcal is enough. Just like building a house, you must first prepare enough materials. You can't build it with bricks without cement and sand. Don't imitate some people who are eager for success and make a surplus of 1,000 kcal a day. I had a friend who did this before. He gained 10 kilograms in two months, 7 kilograms of which were fat. It took him half a year to lose fat before he returned to his previous body fat rate. It was not worth the gain.

Speaking of carbohydrates, there have been many claims about low-carb muscle building in recent years. It is true that a small number of people with special metabolisms can also grow muscles on a low-carb diet. However, for most ordinary trainers, if they have enough carbohydrates, their training status will be much better. Muscles have sufficient water storage to increase strength quickly, and the efficiency of muscle growth is naturally high. Think about it, if you lose strength on the 8th of the last set of bench presses, and if you can press 12 times with your teeth gritted, will the stimulation of muscle fibers be the same? I tried low-carb for a month before, but I couldn't get up despite deadlifting 140kg. Then I adjusted the carbohydrates to 4g per kilogram of body weight, and I was able to lift this weight in just two weeks. Of course, if you have a body type that is prone to obesity, you can also lower it appropriately. 3g per kilogram is completely enough. There is no need to compare your intake with others.

Don’t cut off fat too cleanly. We rely on dietary fat to synthesize testosterone. If you eat boiled vegetables every day without any oil, your testosterone will fall off quickly, and you won’t even have the desire to train. How can you talk about building muscles? Grab a handful of almonds every day, or eat half an avocado. Use some olive oil when frying meat to ensure that 0.8-1g of fat per kilogram of body weight is enough. You don’t need to eat more, but you can’t skip it.

In fact, speaking of it, the average muscle-building diet does not have so much metaphysics. There is no need to follow the trend and buy a bunch of sky-high price supplements claiming to "stimulate testicles" and "super recovery". First, calculate the amount of three meals a day, and eat enough.