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If you are like most men, on a muscle building journey, your goals will be to get that perfect beach body, bulkier biceps and chest. Strength? Does it figure in your mind? If it does, you need to have more muscle mass on your body, and here mass gainers can help.  Make the most of the gaining season, and build that muscle mass you have always wanted to but were afraid of. Yes, because you have been trained to believe that gaining muscle comes at a heavy expense, a significant amount of body fat. 

The Challenges in Muscle Gain

Building muscles require focusing on nutrition and working out hard in the gym. Still, your workout intensity in the gym will not decide how your body is going to look until you eat the right amount of macronutrients to recover and grow the muscle. Therefore, you need to find the exact calorie intake required to build the muscles over and above your daily maintenance needs and activity level. Mass gainers are handy because they provide that extra dose of calories without any fuss.

1. Get Rid Of Inadequate Calorie Intake

Building muscle is not going to happen until you go in a calorie surplus situation. In order to arrive at your calorie intake, you need to find your Basal Metabolic Ratio, the number of calories your body burns at rest in maintaining its bodily function. It is close to 70 percent of your everyday calorie spend.

Once you know, the number of calories your body needs to maintain it, you should put Harris Benedict formula to good use Multiply it by your daily activity level, the closest match from the list below and you will have the approximate number of calories required by a 25-year-old male. 

Now that you know your BMR and Daily Activity Number, you need to add an extra allowance of 300-500 calories per day to build muscle. If you have a really tough time gaining muscles, you should make sure that your calorie surplus is in the range of 400 to 500 every day. This is an ideal surplus to build muscles, yet small enough to avoid excessive gains in unnecessary fat.

2. Not Working Out Enough to Build Muscles

The most efficient way to build muscle is to challenge them by progressively increase the load factor. You have to lift heavy and heavier all the time. There is no respite from the fact. The increased calorie intake will undoubtedly provide more fuel to lift more weight. Use it to go past your previous limits. Keep lifting

• Focus on big, compound movements like the squat, bench, deadlift, and overhead press in the 1-3 rep range.
• To further push your strength and muscle size, you need to do intermediate rep work in the 4 to 6 rep range to further push strength and muscle size.
• You can periodize your training (focus on specific reps/sets/movements) for a month or two at a time.
•  You can train 3 days per week in one month, 4 in the next, and then move on to a more body part split in the next.

As long as you are trying to lift heavier weight, you’re on the right track and keeping some movements similar so you have the ability to track strength progress over each month.

Top 5 Ways in Which Mass Gainers Help Gain Muscle

Mass Gainer Supplements are supplements that can help you gain weight and add muscle. They come in different flavors are quick to make ( mix it-shake it-drink it) and help gain muscle. Whether you are a hard gainer or a pro-bodybuilder mass gainers are extremely handy if you are attempting to gain muscle

1. Mass Gainers Help Meet Calorie Needs

Without a doubt, mass gainers offer an easier route to weight gain typically for hard gainers. Unlike whey protein, mass gainers have a lot of calories. They are just perfect for anyone who is struggling to meet their calorie needs without taking recourse to junk foods.

2. Mass Gainers Offer Clean Calories to Build Muscle Mass

Calories are required to gain mass. There is no escape from the fact until you are a complete newbie. Equally important is the source of calories. You cannot expect to gain muscles by eating junk foods. Mass gainers contain a healthy mix of nutrients derived from complex carbs and proteins in a ratio of 3:1 to fuel your muscle gains. A high-quality mass gainer, like MuscleBlaze Mass Gainer XXL, will be extremely low on sugar and rely on complex carbs and high-quality proteins to meet the calorie gap.

3. Pro Level Mass Gainers Can Help You Lift Heavier

A professional like you needs a mass gainer that works as hard as you do. Mass Gainer with Creatine, the most researched supplement is just right for you. When taken as a supplement, your body converts creatine into creatine phosphate, which gets stored in the muscles and is used as energy. During weight lifting and training, creatine phosphate is converted into ATP, your body’s energy currency. Naturally, this helps delay fatigue and allows you to outdo yourself each time you hit the gym, very much needed to build muscles.  Creatine may be able to increase muscle mass within two weeks when combined with exercise.

4. Vitamins and Minerals Build Energy for Serious Training Sessions

Most high-quality mass gainers, like MuscleBlaze Mass Gainer XXL, contain a healthy mix of multivitamins that fill in the micro-nutrient needs and help improve metabolism and build energy for intense training sessions.  8 B vitamins help the body convert food into fuel to produce energy and play a role in metabolizing fats and proteins. Vitamin C builds and supports immunity, required by bodybuilders. Vitamin E, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C work as antioxidants and help scavenge free radicals, a byproduct of intense workouts. Calcium is needed for stronger bones and iron ensures a healthy level of hemoglobin in the body. 

5. Glutamine in Mass Gainers Helps in Quick Recovery

Glutamine is an important, non-essential amino acid that is found in high concentrations in your blood plasma.  ‘Non-essential’,  here implies that your body requires this amino acid, but you can synthesize glutamine in your muscle tissue. This amino acid can affect amino acid metabolism and nitrogen balance in your muscles. It is important in a number of metabolic processes related to muscle recovery and exercise, which makes it a necessary supplement for bodybuilders and athletes looking to gain muscle size and strength. Glutamine is involved in the production and regulation of human growth hormone, or HGH.

Choose your mass gainer sensibly because you want clean calories and not junk. Do remember to work out intensely because if you don’t the additional calories will find a way to land on your waistline.

For a muscle building enthusiast, whey is the mandatory protein. The ‘fast and furious’ whey protein is a ‘must-have’ immediately after your training session because it helps in recovering from the workout stress and provides necessary amino acids for the muscle repair. However, the same sentiments are not echoed in the favour of casein protein, which can hamper your goal of muscle building.

Curious? Building muscles is a two-way process: new muscle synthesis and preventing muscle breakdown. In order to transform your physique, you need to build new muscles and preserve those from the silent muscle stealer, ‘catabolism’. Casein is extremely helpful in stopping catabolism. Therefore, it is crucial in saving your hard-earned muscles. Investigate casein protein in detail to discover how it helps in the muscle-building process.

• What is casein
• Top 3 ways in which casein helps build muscles
• Who should use Micellar Casein

WHAT IS CASEIN

Casein is a milk protein and it gets produced during the making of cheese, just like whey. While whey is the watery liquid, casein is the lump of protein (cottage cheese) and they both have the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score of 1.0, the highest for any source of protein.

Both whey and casein are helpful in building muscles, but they differ from each other in the way they support the muscle-building process. 

TOP 3 WAYS IN WHICH CASEIN HELPS BUILD MUSCLES

Whether the guy gyms regularly, is a weekend warrior or has specific fitness goals, whey is his steady companion. But, the bigger picture of muscle building is incomplete without casein. Casein is one of the best high-quality sources of protein which not only meets your protein needs but most of it gets absorbed as well.  

PRESERVE MUSCLE MASS WITH CASEIN

Every night when you sleep, you risk catabolism, where your body will break down the muscles to use as energy for the metabolic activities (like breathing, digestion, and a beating heart). However, the process of muscle loss intensifies when you are on a calorie-restricted diet. Whether you like it or not, lean muscle mass loss affects dieters, which reduces the BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) for them.

Muscles are biologically active tissues and they have higher energy needs. When your calorie consumption goes down, your body will start tapping into fat and muscles for energy.

A study performed out of Boston examined the effect of whey and casein on the subjects taking the low-calorie diet and doing resistance training.

While both groups did show a fat loss, the group using the casein protein showed a greater mean fat loss and higher increases in strength for the chest, shoulders, and legs. In addition to this, it was also noted that the casein group came out of the study with a higher total body percentage of lean mass. This showcases the effectiveness of casein in retaining muscle mass.

  PREVENTS BREAKDOWN OF MUSCLES 

   Casein is your bedtime protein. It clots in the stomach. Unlike, whey casein takes longer to increase blood amino acids, but it helps the elevated level last over 300 minutes.

This makes casein an ideal nighttime protein It keeps amino acids trickling long after your supply of nutrients from the last meal has been exhausted. Interestingly, to stop your muscle protein breakdown you only need small increases in blood amino-acid levels (25-50 percent above the fasted baseline). However, these small increases must be prolonged (4-5 hours) in order to prevent the breakdown of muscles. Research shows that casein eaten late at night can improve muscle building and recovery from exercise while you sleep.

 MAXIMISE PROTEIN SYNTHESIS WITH CASEIN

Whey is a rich source of BCAAs (Branched Chain Amino Acids), three essential amino acids specifically: leucine, isoleucine and valine. Being rich in BCAAs, particularly leucine, whey helps protect against muscle damage and strength loss during intense training.  

Casein is fortified with glutamine, an amino acid that consists of more than 61 percent of skeletal muscle and it helps in protein synthesis. Glutamine is also required for healthy immunity.  A heavy-duty workout depletes your glutamine level, which negatively affects your strength, stamina and speed of recovery. It could take up to 6 days for glutamine to return to its normal level. Studies have shown that L-Glutamine supplementation can minimize the breakdown of muscle and improve protein metabolism.

If you want to build stronger and larger muscles, you need to start taking casein along with the whey.

EVIDENCE: In a 10-week long Texas study involving 36 males, it was found that heavy resistance training along with the duo of whey and casein helped build stronger and larger muscles than the combination of whey, BCAA and glutamine. Your search for the best casein ends at Micellar Casein protein, the purest and biologically intact form of casein protein.

WHO SHOULD USE MICELLAR CASEIN

Anyone who is physically active and works out regularly will benefit from micellar casein protein. In bodybuilders, micellar casein because of its long-lasting stay works as excellent nighttime and in-between meal protein. It helps to preserve lean muscle mass, particularly in the chest, shoulder and leg muscles.

Consume MuscleBlaze 100% Micellar Casein to preserve your hard-earned gains at night and in-between meals. Be sensible and use whey before and after your workout to expedite muscle synthesis and to fire your muscle gains.

A compound considered as half amino acid and half vitamin, carnitine is naturally produced by the human body from two amino acids, lysine and methionine and it serves a number of functions inside the body. There are two main forms of this compound found in the human body: L-Carnitine L-Tartrate and Acetyl-L-Carnitine. Whereas L-Carnitine  L-Tartrate is stored in just about every part of the human body, but it is mainly found in the muscle cells and heart. Meanwhile, Acetyl L-Carnitine is mainly found in the central nervous system, specifically the brain. 

The form of Carnitine, that interests muscle builders is L-Carnitine L-Tartrate and its claim to fame lies in helping you achieve your fitness goal, be it fat loss or muscle building. Know all you need to know about carnitine tartrate, like

1. Top 3 uses of carnitine supplementation
2. When is the best time to take carnitine

TOP 3 USES OF CARNITINE SUPPLEMENTATION

Your body’s preferred source of energy is carbohydrates or glycogen (the longer chain version of glucose) stored in the muscles and the liver. Your body has a limited store of glycogen and it lasts at the max 1.5 hours of exercise. As your carb/fuel store runs out, you crash, but carnitine tartrate interferes with your muscle glycogen supply and prompts it to start burning fatty acids for fuel. By sparing your muscle glycogen, carnitine increases your workout length and intensity. 

Get lean with carnitine

Each time you exercise, fatty acids are freed. This can result in weight loss, provided those fatty acids reach mitochondria, where they would be burnt for energy. However, the challenge is that there is not enough carnitine present in large enough amounts to facilitate the shuttling of freed long-chain fatty acids. Supplemental carnitine ensures that mobilized fatty acids are sent to mitochondria for getting processed as energy, as opposed to going back into adipose tissue as fat.

Carnitine is also helpful in melting belly fat, one of the most difficult fat to lose. Belly fat leads to fat gain within the organs, such as the liver, the heart or even in the muscle. Raising your carnitine level will help you fight this visceral fat by transporting triglycerides and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) to mitochondria for getting burnt for energy.

Faster recovery with carnitine

When you exercise or work out intensely, your body uses oxygen to produce energy in the body known as aerobic respiration, but if you push yourself harder during a workout, your body is not able to meet the increased energy demands. Under such situation, your body resorts to an anaerobic respiration to produce energy and lactic acid or lactate is a by-product of anaerobic energy production. A buildup of lactic acid in your muscles during a workout can create burning sensations in the muscles that can slow down or halt your athletic activity, which is true even for weekend warriors.  Many studies go on to establish the efficacy of L-Carnitine L-Tartrate in reducing lactate accumulation in muscle groups.  Preliminary studies have shown that carnitine supplementation switches the source of energy to fatty acids from glucose. For athletes, this means lowering of the respiratory quotient and the outcome manifests in the greater endurance of athletes.

A study in the Journal of Physiology showed that participants using L-Carnitine supplementation had 44% less lactate build-up than those not taking Carnitine supplements.  Other athletes and weekend warriors can also experience benefits from carnitine intake

Build muscle mass with carnitine

If you want to build bigger muscles, you need to exert them enough, causing minor wear and tear.  Following up your work out with the whey protein shake will give them protein, the necessary ingredient to repair and rebuild those muscles. Essentially, your workout length and intensity determine your muscle-building capacity. And here, you will find that supplemental carnitine is useful in keeping your energy level amped up.  Building muscles is closely linked to your workout length and intensity. For weight trainers, carnitine supplementation means lifting more weights with more reps.

Carnitine supplementation limits the production of lactic acid in your muscles, a byproduct of anaerobic respiration and responsible for the reduction in your workout performance. Hence, carnitine supplements allow you to work out more intensely, that helps you build more muscles. 

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO TAKE CARNITINE

If your main goal is fat loss, then the best time to take carnitine is with the largest meal of your day.

If your primary goal is muscle growth, performance, or recovery, then the best time for you to take carnitine is before and after your workouts.

Include carnitine in your supplement stock and make the most of your workouts, both in terms of muscle building and fat loss. 

Come winter and many bodybuilders get focused on supersizing their muscle mass. Their workout plan is focused on resistance training, which causes small tears in the muscle fibers. Ample rest and proper nutrition will lead to healing of the muscle fiber and they will grow bigger and stronger in the anticipation of another onslaught in the gym. Without a doubt, protein your in-house muscle mender has an important role to play in this muscle repair business. Equally important are complex carbs, the source of slow and steady energy required for these heavy-weight training sessions so that our fitness champion doesn’t get exhausted in between his workouts.

Between these two dietary staples, fats stay ignored bordering between villains and heroes. Well, the fact is those good fats are needed for muscle building and in order to build muscles around 20-30 percent of calories have to be consumed from fats, unlike normal people who need only 15 percent. Fat also helps build your endurance and this factor has a role to play in your muscle building.

Read about top 5 foods rich in good fats that you can’t do without on your muscle building chase, but first the essentials:

1. How good fats differ from bad fats?
2. 5 good fats for building muscles

HOW GOOD FATS DIFFER FROM BAD FATS

Dietary fat contains 9 calories in a gram, which is more than double calories per gram of carbohydrates and proteins. Because of this, dietary fat can be helpful for providing energy for strenuous exercises and it also helps your body absorb vitamins for proper growth and development. 

The American Heart Association suggests consuming between 25 and 35 percent of your daily calories from dietary fat.

Choosing the right fats and oils is extremely important to fuel your muscle growth. You also need to remember that most foods have small quantities of oil, like almonds, peanuts and fish. The trick lies in choosing the right fats.

In the world of fats, there are two kinds of fats: the good fats containing Essential Fatty Acids and the bad fats, the artery-clogging type predominantly trans fats. Trans fats are in-between man-made fats and they are mostly found in store-bought cakes, biscuits, pizza, burgers and French fries.

Good fats are unsaturated fats and are liquid at room temperature, and these fats are of two types: omega-3 and omega-6. Omega-3 is found mostly in fish, flax seed and walnuts and vegetable oils are good sources of omega-6. Ideally, your diet should have both these fats in equal amounts, but a scrutiny of your meal plan will reveal that the ratio is completely askew.

TOP 5 HEALTHY FATS IN A MASS GAIN DIET

FISH OR FISH OIL 

Each time you exercise intensely, your joints bear the load and fish oil, obtained from the tissues of the oily fish helps reduce workout induced joint inflammation.

Since high-intensity exercise and weight training cause increase in inflammation and oxidation, reducing this response may be beneficial in improving exercise recovery.  Additionally, fish oil helps correct your omega-3, omega-6 imbalance and improves your heart health. The presence of EPA and DHA in fish oil increases muscle synthesis. It’s a known fact that once your body has exhausted the limited supply of glycogen, it begins to burn protein from your muscles to fuel your training sessions. The presence of EPA and DHA decreases muscle degradation during intense workouts

Researchers at the Institute of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods said that best way to take in omega-3 fatty acids is by eating three or more servings of a variety of fish each week. 

SEEDS

Along with flaxseeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds and sunflowers seeds are also favoured by muscle building enthusiasts, but flaxseeds are certainly the heroes.  Roughly, flaxseed oil contains 50-60 percent omega-3 fatty acids in the form of alpha linoleic acid (ALA). In the human body, ALA gets processed in omega-3 fatty acid, thereby making flaxseed oil, a vegetarian’s answer to fish oil.

Heavy lifting and muscle gain go hand-in-hand and joint pain is an accepted outcome of the workout strain.

Regular use of flaxseed supports healthy joint function and movement through complex prostaglandin changes in joint tissues.  The omega-3 fatty acids are direct precursors to important anabolic hormones, which makes them good fats for mass gainers.  Most bodybuilders use flax oil for maximum muscle development and usually put a tablespoon into their protein shakes.

Approximately 30g serving of sesame seeds offers 162 calories and 14g of fats. These seeds are also rich in manganese and copper.  Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of vitamin E. They provide protection against free-radical damage.

NUTS

Almonds, cashews, walnuts are one of the best sources of vitamin and are healthy fats for muscle gain. This vitamin form is super-critical for workout warriors. Compared to other nuts, almonds offer more protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin E and they even have a prebiotic effect, which is good for digestion. Vitamin E found in nuts matters for your muscles, because it is a super antioxidant and it helps prevent free radical damage after a heavy workout. Free radicals slow your pace of recovery after a heavy workout. Almonds are also good source of riboflavin or vitamin B2, an essential nutrient for producing energy in the body.  Cashews are actually a nutritional powerhouse, providing more iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, selenium, and vitamin K than any other tree nut.  These micro-nutrients cast a positive effect on muscle building enthusiasts.

OLIVE OIL

If you look at the first Olympic Games, olive wreaths were given as prizes of victory. Olive oil has a special role in the lives of muscle builders and athletes. Monounsaturated fats in olive oil are especially useful in muscle tissue repair and enable a fast recovery. Moreover, the monounsaturated fat in olive oil acts like an anti-catabolic nutrient, which means that it prevents muscle breakdown by lowering harmful cellular protein, liked with muscle wasting and weakness.

When you are using olive oil go for the extra-virgin type, as it has higher content of vitamin E, a free-radical fighter that will keep the inflammation down due to intense training sessions.

GHEE

Before, Indians were introduced to the world of whey proteins, ghee or clarified butter was a must have for anyone who was trying to supersize his gains.  Research studies go on to prove that arachidonic acid, a key inflammatory intermediate present during hardening of arteries was decreased by 65 percent in serum lipids when ghee was used as the sole source of fat at a  10 percent level. Moreover, ghee is rich in butyric acid, a short-chain fatty acid that nourishes the cells of the intestines, and a healthy digestion is particularly important for you because eating healthy is just half of the story.

Shying away from good fats, will not help muscle building enthusiast because fats also have a role in the production of testosterone, that anabolic hormone, you want in ample dose to transform your physique.