The ONLY 7 Foods & Supplements You Need to Build Muscle
& Don't Waste Your Money on These 11 Supplements
1. High Protein Foods
The 2 most important steps to build muscle fast are…
- Get stronger or break down your muscles every time you workout using the progressive overload trick and then…
- Eat enough protein so your body can synthesize or use protein to rebuild your muscles that are made up of protein into bigger & stronger muscles.
Protein is the ONLY thing you can take that is going to actually build muscle.
- Even Steroids ONLY work because they help your body use more protein.
- Other foods & supplements ONLY give you more energy to lift heavier weights, do more reps or make your muscles look bigger and they don't directly build muscle like protein does.
- See 79 High protein foods but any animal food sources, nuts, seeds & beans are high in protein.
- There are no superior protein foods or shakes. Protein is Protein. Just get enough protein along with progressive overload to build muscle.
Bonus: You'll actually burn more fat when protein is at least 30% of your diet.
2. Protein Supplements
Protein supplements are only needed if you're having a hard time getting all the protein you need in your diet to build muscle fromhigh protein foods but supplement companies will do whatever they can to make you spend more money than you have to on protein - for example…
- They'll try to make you buy separate pre-workout, post-workout & nighttime protein products when studies show there is no magic time to take protein for better results.
- They'll say you need over 1 gram of protein per lb. in an attempt to make you buy too much protein when studies show you can build muscle with only .64-to-.82 grams per lb.
- They'll say their brand or type of protein is superior when studies like this & this show that PROTEIN is PROTEIN and as long as get enough of it in your diet you'll build muscle.
Recommend protein supplements
- Whey Protein shakes, Soy or Hemp Protein Shakes for vegetarians, Protein bars & Protein Chips
- Meal Replacement supplements like Labrada Lean Body For Men are ONLY needed if you have a tough time getting enough protein, carbs & fats in your diet to build muscle
3. Water
- Water makes up 80% of your muscle mass so if you became dehydrated by only 2.9% you'll lose a lot of muscle size & strength. (See how to make your muscles look bigger without lifting weights)
- Not drinking enough water makes it harder for your body to use or synthesize protein to make your muscles bigger even when you're doing everything right to build muscle
4. Carbs (carbohydrates)
Your muscles mainly use carbs for energy so if you're not getting a lot of carbs in your diet you may get to a point where it becomes tougher to build muscle because you wont have the energy to lift enough weight, do enough reps and/or sets to build more muscle with the progressive overload trick
- Carbs also force more water into your muscles making them look bigger.
- It doesn't matter how you get carbs but getting the majority of your carbs from sugary processed foods may cause you to gain belly fat.
- See how many carbs you need to build muscle but the amount of carbs you eat will mainly depend on your workout performance and/or how much fat you're trying to lose.
5. Creatine
Creatine gives your muscles extra energy to lift heavier and do more reps than you normally would to help you build muscle faster because of the progressive overload trick and Creatine like carbs also draws more water into your muscles to make them look bigger.
How to use creatine
- Start with a 5-to-7 day loading phase where you take about 15-to-30 grams of creatine per day to quickly pump your muscles up with the maximum amount of creatine it can store.
- Expect to gain 5+ pounds of muscle mass during your first 5-to-7 days mainly because all the creatine you're taking will cause your muscles to absorb a lot of water making them swell up.
- You can maintain the extra muscle mass & strength you gain after the loading phase by taking 3-to-6 grams of creatine per day at least 3 days a week but…
- Don't stay on a loading phase for longer than 5-to-7 days because once your muscles are fully pumped up with creatine the excess creatine you take isn't used by your muscles and is literally pissed away.
- If you stop taking creatine You won't lose any of the muscle creatine helped you build but after a month of not taking creatine your muscles will look a bit smaller because your muscles are no longer pumped up with excess creatine & water.
Recommended creatine supplements
- Creatine monohydrate found in Optimum Nutrition Creatine is the best simply because Creatine monohydrate was used in almost every study proving creatine works.
- Other forms of creatine like ethyl ester, citrate, serum, & malate haven't been studied as much or not at all plus creatine monohydrate is less expensive.
- During your maintenance phase you may want to consider getting a protein supplement having creatine in them like Carnivor
If you're unable to get creatine then make your own poor man's creatine by getting enough water & carbs in your diet to get nearly the same energy boosting & muscle swelling benefits.
6. Fats
At least 15% of your diet needs to be fat (mostly from saturated & monounsaturated fats) in order keep your testosterone levels high enough to build muscle.
You can get enough fat in your diet eating foods high in healthy fat like fish, nuts or using Omega-3 or CLA supplements.
7. Caffeine
Caffeine taken 30-to-60 minutes before your workout will give you an energy boost that'll help you lift heavier weights & do more reps like these guys who bench pressed more in studies like this
Caffeine Tips
- Don't use caffeine everyday because you may develop a tolerance or your body will get used to caffeine within 1-to-4 days where you'll no longer get an energy boost.
- Only use caffeine about 1-to-3 days per week or only before your toughest workouts to avoid developing a tolerance to almost guarantee you'll always get a caffeine energy boost.
- If you do develop a tolerance then you'll have to stop taking caffeine for at least 2 days (maybe even weeks or months) before you're able to get rid of your caffeine tolerance.
Recommend caffeine supplements
- Caffeine tablets like ProLab Caffeine 200mg Tablets or any fat burners containing caffeine like Lipo-6 or Hydroxycut are best.
- Energy drinks like Red Bull are okay but with only 100mg of caffeine it may not be enough to give you an energy boost.
BONUS: Caffeine is 1 of the very few supplements that you can actually take to burn fat faster (see why)
It's ALL About Protein!
Again, Protein is the ONLY thing you can take that will actually build more muscle AFTER you've worked out using the progressive overload trick
Even steroids only work because they force your body to use or synthesize more protein to build muscle faster &…
Everything else on this list helps you build muscle by giving you more energy to lift heavier weights, do more reps and/or sets (water, carbs, creatine and caffeine), makes your muscles look bigger (water, carbs, creatine) or makes it easier to get all the protein, carbs & fats you need (MRPs, protein supplements) so…
Do I Really Need Supplements to Build Muscle?
NO! Absolutely Not! You can build plenty of muscle with enough protein, carbs, fats & water in your diet just like Steve Reeves pictured above who gained lots of muscle mass before muscle building supplements even existed.
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