Did you know that skeletal muscle makes up 40% of one’s total body weight? Skeletal muscle, as the name suggests, is the type of muscle that connects to bones and allows us to move our body whenever we want. All muscles have a certain level of tone, but by working out and eating the right diet, you can start building muscle in no time.
But for some, how to get big muscles fast isn’t always so easy. Some people might spend hours working out without much progress when it comes to getting bigger and stronger muscles. So, what can you do to make sure you bulk up the way you want to?
Keep reading and learn more with the muscle-building tips down below.
Never Skip Breakfast
Many people mistakenly believe that all they have to do to get big muscles is work out as much as possible. This is not the case at all because exercise alone can only do so much. Many people also believe that by skipping breakfast, they can cut out unnecessary calories and focus on building muscle instead.
But in reality, skipping breakfast may actually be pretty harmful to your muscle-building journey. This is because eating breakfast can add a much-needed boost to your metabolism. By putting food in your stomach first thing in the morning, you can get the gears of your gut turning and, as long as you keep eating throughout the day, those gears will only keep turning and metabolizing important nutrients.
However, this doesn’t mean that you’re free to eat whatever kind of breakfast you want and you shouldn’t eat a whole stack of bready pancakes. Instead, you will want to choose food that will be beneficial for building muscles and gaining weight. That’s right, gaining a bit of weight is important if you want to bulk up.
If you aren’t eating enough calories, you will end up with lean muscles instead of big muscles. If you want lean muscles, then that’s fine, but since you’re reading this article, you obviously want big muscles instead. For your breakfast, try to eat a lot of protein and fat while, for the most part, avoiding carbs.
Cheese such as cottage cheese would be good for your breakfast menu. And, of course, you should eat plenty of eggs. Adding some extra nutrition in the form of vegetables or protein would be beneficial to your omelet and your health.
Avoid too much greasy protein like bacon. Bacon might taste good, but it won’t do much to help you build muscle.
Eat More Often
Most people are used to eating three times every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But if you want to know how to build muscle, you’re going to have to switch up your eating habits. That’s because, in order to build serious muscle, you are going to need a lot of calories to fuel your body.
Think about how many calories you’re burning when you exercise. The longer and more intensely you exercise, the more calories you are going to burn. And, as you exercise, you are breaking down your muscles in order to build them up.
But your muscles aren’t going to be able to build back up bigger and stronger if they don’t have the right nutrients. If you deprive yourself of important nutrients, you will notice that your muscles are going to stay relatively small. So, ditch eating three times per day.
Instead, you will need to eat once every three hours. This may seem like a challenge, and it can be, but if you want to strengthen muscles, this is what you’ll have to do. This does not mean that you’re free to snack on junk food every day.
To make eating every three hours easier, you will find it beneficial to make a meal plan for the day or even the week. This way, you will have all the right ingredients in the fridge to make your healthy meals. As with breakfast, you will need a lot of protein, fat, but not many carb-rich foods.
Eating so frequently is important because, as mentioned before, your metabolism will constantly be working to digest food and absorb nutrients. As long as you exercise and eat the right foods, you should notice that you should start losing body fat and start gaining muscle fast.
Drink More Water
Everyone knows that drinking water is important, but if you’re trying to build muscle, then drinking water is especially important. After all, every time you exercise, you are going to start sweating. Even if you don’t sweat very much, you are losing much more water than you might expect.
When you lose water, your body will start to dehydrate. When your body dehydrates, it’s going to have a hard time maintaining energy for your workout. You might feel yourself tiring more easily and your muscles might start to hurt because they don’t have enough hydration.
For that reason, you need to remember to drink water as often as possible, especially when working out. More than that, water is important after your workout. Keep in mind that every time you exercise, you are damaging your muscles on a cellular level.
While food can help build those muscles back up, the muscles also need water to recover. Otherwise, they will still stay somewhat small in size. After every workout, you shouldn’t hesitate to chug a tall bottle of water.
Water can also make your stomach feel full so you don’t eat before you’re supposed to. If you don’t like drinking so much water, you can always add some electrolytes to it to give it some extra flavor and nutrition. The best thing you can add to your water is actually a pinch of salt.
Salt is one of the best electrolytes around and it is very affordable. Salt can help your body maintain its electrolyte balance. It can also prevent overhydration which is a problem in itself.
Try to avoid sports drinks since they are often not as healthy as they appear. Rather, they are full of dyes and sugars that won’t help you to build muscle.
Eat Carbs in Moderation
Just because you’re trying to build muscle doesn’t mean you have to give up carbs completely. However, you should consume them in moderation and at certain times to get the most benefits from them. You might be wondering why carbs are such a big issue in the first place.
Aren’t carbs full of energy? While it’s true that carbs can provide people with a lot of energy, most people eat more than they need. When you eat more carbs than you need, those extra carbs will turn into fat instead of muscle.
Obviously, this is the opposite result of what you want. So, what’s the right way to eat carbs so you can keep building muscle without fat getting in the way? The best time to eat carbs is after your workout.
After your workout, you need to give your body all the right nutrients to recover and build back bigger and stronger. Carbs can help your body accomplish that because they can offer so much energy. But keep in mind there are different types of carbs.
Most people think of carbs like bread, pasta, and potatoes. However, there are also carbs in some fruits and vegetables. The carbs you should eat after working out will be in the bread and potatoes category.
Those foods have many more carbs than fruits and vegetables. But always be sure to avoid white carbs that you might find in white bread. Instead, always opt for whole-grain alternatives.
While the switch might not seem very important, it can help you with your goals more than you might expect. Whole-grain carbs are much more natural while white carbs are far more processed and may interrupt the efficiency of your digestive system. Remember this before you buy carbs from the grocery store.
Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
Ideally, you should eat fruits and vegetables with every meal throughout the day. But what happened to only eating carbs after working out? Since fruits and vegetables don’t contain many carbs, you don’t need to worry too much about that.
The reason why it’s important to eat fruits and vegetables with every meal is that they can offer important nutrients to your body that you can’t get from any other foods. If you don’t really like fruits and vegetables, you’re going to have to suck it up and eat them anyway because they will play a big part when it comes to good nutrition and building muscle.
Fruits and vegetables are full of fiber and antioxidants along with vitamins and minerals. Without eating these foods, you might end up deficient in some important vitamins. When you have a vitamin deficiency, you not only will have a hard time building muscle but your overall health will be at risk as well.
Vegetables come in all different forms from broccoli and carrots to beets and celery. You should not count potatoes as vegetables since they are loaded with carbs. Instead, focus on more colorful vegetables such as carrots and dark leafy greens like spinach.
These vegetables are full of nutrients like vitamin K and iron that you will need to bulk up. Fruits are also full of nutrients like fiber and vitamin C. However, you will need to keep an eye on your sugar intake since fruits can have a lot of sugar.
You should stay away from fruit juices as much as possible. That’s because fruit juices lack the fiber you need while containing huge amounts of sugar. Instead of fruit juice, you should always opt for the real thing, and you should preferably get organic fruit.
Eat More Fat
There are many things you can consume to help build muscle: protein, SARMs for sale, fruits, vegetables, and so on. But you might not think that eating fat is actually one of the best things you can do to progress on your muscle-building journey. That’s because fats break down in your stomach very slowly compared to other nutrients like protein.
This is beneficial because the longer your stomach takes to break down the fat, the less fat you will gain. But keep in mind that this doesn’t mean you should be downing sticks of butter to get your fat intake in. Instead, you should only consume healthy fats.
Unsaturated fats are the healthiest fats you can eat. Unsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature such as olive oil, although this is not always the case. Avocado is made mostly of unsaturated fats and it is one of the healthiest foods you can eat.
Not only will it give you energy, but it will provide you with plenty of nutrients as well. Many kinds of cheese also contain healthy fats such as cottage cheese. However, there are some fats you should stay away from at all costs.
Trans fats are very unhealthy and they are actually man-made. You can find trans fats in many processed foods such as cookies, donuts, pizzas, and so on. Trans fats not only are bad for building muscle but are also unhealthy for your body in general.
You should also avoid saturated fats like butter and lard. These fats are very greasy and can actually be bad for your cardiovascular system in the long run.
How to Get Big Muscles Fast
How to get big muscles fast doesn’t have to be a challenge as long as you know the right steps to follow. By eating more frequently, eating the right foods, and exercising regularly, you will find that you’ll be able to build big muscles in no time.
To learn more, don’t hesitate to explore the health section on our website.