A fit body is perhaps the first observable sign of good
health. But fitness is not just about being physically healthy. Along with all
the benefits of exercising(1), a lean body has numerous
psychosocial benefits like confidence & personality building, social
admiration, increase in self-esteem, and significant improvement in depression,
anxiety, stress and other mood disorders, & help us improve our health in
all aspects. (2) For achieving all these, there are
numerous ways, one of them is work out or muscle building. But, there are many
limitations in this way, such as fatigue due to strenuous exercise, boringness
of routine life, difficulty in time management, lack of immediate results etc.
to name few. But the solution to all these problems is motivation. And the best
motivation is a good looking body in shortest possible time and in a healthier
way, as “it’s not about doing it more
but is all about doing it right.” What’s that “right”, lets discuss.
There are
many literatures and websites explaining schedules, routines, regimens, diet
plans etc. But I didn’t found any systematic and wholesome approach as most of
them are patchy and biased. As a well-known fact, any fitness regimen depends
mostly on two determinants, nutrition
& exercise. But there are other
small yet vital factors too, which are largely ignored although having
significant impact on the outcome. Let’s talk one by one
1. Nutrition:
Protein: It’s obvious that protein is the
most important nutrition for muscle building. The dietary recommendations in a
nutshell are
·
Protein
supplementation of around 1.3 to 1.8 or 2 g/kg/day & 20-40g per serving
appears to be best for most people.(3,4)
·
Few
studies suggest, protein intake more than 1.6g/kg/day does not contribute
further to resistance exercise training (RET) induced gain in fat-free mass
(FFM), however higher amount(2-3g/kg/day).(5,6)
Selection
of proteins:
·
Digestible
Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS) & protein digestibility-corrected amino acid scores
(PDCAAS) are a couple of scientific methods for calculating protein quality.(7)
·
Between
‘whey’ and other proteins, ‘whey’ has advantage of rapid digestibility &
greater postprandial response
in muscle protein synthesis with higher content of leucine (12.5% of total
protein). Hence whey is considered superior to casein, soy & rice proteins.(8)
·
Overall
the best benefit of protein can be extracted by adding other vital nutrients
like creatine, multi vitamins with vitamin D, calcium, Ω-3 PUFA with DHA & ARA etc.(9)
·
Consuming
total daily protein in 3-4 similarly divided doses or 3-4 hours apart throughout
the day along with regular resistant exercise gives best results &
beneficial effect of maximum protein intake in or around a training session
appears to be a myth.(4,10,11)
Carbohydrates: carbs are usually considered to be
bad for fitness, but against the common beliefs, a high carb diet is a must for
any person involved in rigorous physical activities like bodybuilding.
·
Carbohydrate
loading aims to maximize an athlete’s muscle glycogen stores prior to endurance
exercise resulting in delayed onset of fatigue (approximately 20%) and
improvement in performance of 2%–3%.(12)
·
carbohydrate
intakes for strength sports, including bodybuilding, should be between 4–7 g/kg
depending on the phase of training.(13)
·
but
fat loss is improved with low carb and relatively high protein diet.(13)
·
in
simple words: person with normal health aiming at increasing lean body mass
like muscles should take high carb with other nutrients & people aiming at
reducing body fat along with maintaining muscle mass should take low carb high
protein diet.
·
Carbohydrate
intake during exercise maintains high levels of carbohydrate oxidation,
prevents hypoglycemia, and has a positive effect on the central nervous system.
(14)
Fat: fat is most misunderstood and
underrated nutrition for fitness although having significant contribution for
good health & wellbeing.
·
Excess
dietary saturated fat can exacerbate coronary artery disease while low-fat
diets result in a reduction in circulating testosterone which has got high
influence for muscle building. Hence optimizing fat intake is essential to get
good results (15)
·
Usual
recommended dietary allowance of fat for muscle builders is 15-20% of their
total calorie requirement and for normal people it should be 20-30%. (13)
Other nutrients: for proper utilization of these
nutrients along with optimization of body muscle building machinery, numerous supplements
and micronutrients are recommended. Few are briefed here with recommendations
& references.
·
Creatine:
2-3 g/day supplement of pure form of Creatine monohydrate (CM) can increase
muscle creatine store by about 20% and results in increase in stamina and
muscle gain without significant side effects.(16,17)
·
Beta-alanine(BA):
a short term(1-4wks) course of around 5-7g of BA may be effective in exercise performance
improvement. As the long term safety profile is not yet established, a long
term use is not recommended at this stage.(18)
·
Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate(HMB):
although the allowance recommendation is yet to be worked out, it has proven to
be a potentially effective supplement with no adverse effects yet found. Rather
HMB may actually decrease blood pressure, total and LDL cholesterol.(19–22)
·
Branched
chain amino acids (BCAA’s):
leucine(max 550mg/kg/day), valine and isoleucine supplementation have proven to increases skeletal
muscle protein synthesis, decreases muscle protein degradation, or both. (23–25)
·
Caffeine:
5–6 mg/kg caffeine taken prior to exercise is effective in improving exercise
performance. But, as 6mg/kg caffeine is considered as the upper limit for
safety, the use of it should be cycled with intermittent gaps or avoided
mostly.(26–29)
·
Micronutrients:
vitamin D, calcium, zinc, magnesium, iron, DHA, ARA etc appear to be beneficial
in muscle building and further studies are needed for establishing their
effects and recommendations and safety profile.(13)
Although muscle building needs a multi-dimensional
approach, nutrition remains the back-bone for achieving proper goals. In the
present era of evidence based living, it appears to be most logical to
determine every lifestyle intervention based on scientific facts for more
productive outcomes. Take care, be healthy & keep smiling……..
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