Whether you’re a first-time gym goer, a hardcore bodybuilder, an athlete, or anyone in between – we hope this guide can help provide you fundamentals for achieving a more healthy body & fit physique.

Protein supplementation within your diet

To gain muscle, take about 20g of protein in the form of a snack or shake (such as whey) 30 minutes prior to workouts, and about 40g of protein as whey isolate immediately after workouts. On rest days, reach at least 1g protein per pound of bodyweight.

Take a protein supplement at least once a day on rest days and twice a day on workout days. This practice can give you an extra 40-80 g of protein per day, and it will help bring you into the standard protein recommendation (at least 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight daily). It’s often enough to cause acceleration in muscle growth, usually noticeable within four months. It’s especially important to follow this formula when dieting. Higher protein needs and restricted caloric intake make a protein supplement essential.

Eat carbs for energy when burning high amounts of calories

Your body can use protein, carbs or fats for energy, but when you’re training hard, it preferentially uses carbs. Taking in ample carbs makes it easy for your body to fuel itself, sparing protein and fats for their more specific nutritional uses.

• Emphasize Slow-Digesting Carbs – Complex carbs are constructed of long chains of sugars. Most, but not all complex carbs are slow digesting. Stress whole-grain products (whole-wheat bread and pastas, oatmeal, brown rice, etc.) and sweet potatoes, which are all slow digesting, as opposed to white breads and white potatoes, as well as sugars, which are all fast digesting. Slow-digesting carbs provide longer-lasting energy and there’s less chance they’ll be stored as bodyfat. When building muscle, during a mass-building phase, strive to take in a minimum of 2g and up to about 3g of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight per day. During cutting phases, reduce total carbohydrate consumption to 1g per pound of bodyweight.
• De-Emphasize Simple Carbs – Except after workouts, a muscle builder or bodybuilder should minimize calorie consumption from simple carbohydrates (sugar). Simple carbs can be rapidly absorbed, especially in liquids with little or no fats or solid foods to slow down their passage through the gastrointestinal tract. Significant quantities of simple carbs provide the release of insulin, which is highly beneficial after a workout, but not at other times, because it can encourage the body to store these sugars as bodyfat. Foods that are high in sugar are among the worst for muscle builders or bodybuilders seeking to keep bodyfat low.

Post-workout protein & carbs

It is important to take a protein shake after your workout to promote growth & recovery within your body.  If one isn’t available, a meal or bar will work as a temporary replacement.

Typically in a post workout shake fast-digesting protein is preferable to a slow-digesting one.  Shakes contain whey protein for fast digestion & a complex protein blend for slow digestion.  It’s debated whether complex or simple carbohydrates are the most effective post-workout.  Many bodybuilding routines suggest simple carbs only for the purpose of rapid absorption post-workout.  Example non-food simple carb sources include dextrose or waxy maize, and for food sources fruit and various other sources are available.  Ingesting isolate protein, or protein with rapid absorption from natural sources may be most beneficial to muscle recovery.  High amounts of protein beyond 40g in one serving are generally not recommended because the human body is limited in its capacity to utilize high amounts of protein in one serving.