Are you desperately trying to add muscle mass to your frame? If you’ve been training hard in the gym for some time and yet you’re not seeing the results your efforts deserve, it’s probably time to seriously address your eating habits. After all, your body can only work with the fuel in the form of nutrients that you provide it with. In this article, we provide you with four key mass gaining tips to allow you to start making some real traction on your muscle building ambitions.

Create a Caloric Surplus

When you work out in the gym you are not building your body up; you’re actually breaking it down. How, or if, you build it back up depends on the food that goes into your mouth before and after your workout. It’s a little ironic, that the majority of people trying to build muscle spend so much time on getting their training right and so little time controlling what they eat. You see, it doesn’t matter how hard you train; unless you create a caloric surplus, you will not build muscle.

So, how do you figure out how many calories you need? The simplest way is to multiply your bodyweight by 20. So, a 180 pound guy needs to be taking in 3600 calories in order to give his muscle cells the building blocks for creating new mass.

Space the Calories Out

To benefit maximally with these mass gaining tips, those 3600 calories should be divided into six evenly sized meals, spaced about 3 hours apart. You should aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. So, our 180 pound man would be taking in about 180 grams of protein per day, split between six meals. That would average to about 30 grams of protein per meal.

Whey Protein Powder

Getting in six protein rich meals per day is a challenge for anyone. Fortunately, taking a couple of those meals in the form of liquid protein makes it a lot more achievable. Blending up a delicious protein shake and throwing in a banana or some strawberries can be done in just a few minutes. It will provide you with the 30 grams of protein that you need, along with extra branch chain amino acids (bcaas) and other key muscle building aminos.

The best form of powder to use for your shake is whey protein powder. This type of protein is derived from milk whey and is a very absorbing protein that also has a high level of bioavailability. Make two of your six daily meals whey protein shakes, with one of those meals being within an hour of your workout. This will fast track amino acids to the broken down muscle tissue and initiate the rebuilding and repair process.

Balance Your Macros

Even though protein is essential to muscle gain, that doesn’t mean that you should neglect the other two macronutrients for your mass gaining tips. Carbs and fats are also an important part of the whole resistance training / muscle building equation. The macronutrient make-up of each meal should be 50% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 20% healthy fats.

These are the best healthy protein sources to include in your mass gain diet are:

  •  Eggs
  •  Dairy products
  •  Lean beef
  •  Chicken breast
  •  Lean pork
  •  Fish

You should also be consuming generous servings of these starchy and fibrous carbohydrates:

  • Potatoes
  • Yams
  • Brown rice
  • Corn
  • Pumpkin
  • Broccoli
  • Asparagus
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Cauliflower

In terms of health fats, choose the following:

  • Fatty Fish
  • Nuts
  • Avocado
  • Coconut Oil
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Wrap Up

The key to mass gain is consistency. Focus on training hard, providing your body with sufficient rest (we recommend training a body part every 5 days), getting your six meals averaging 30 grams of protein each day and being sure to get 7-9 hours of sleep day in and day out and your body will have no choice but to respond with new muscle growth using the above mentioned mass gaining tips.