Muscle Building Foods - The Best Protein Eating Strategy to Gain Muscle Fast

If you are looking to gain muscle fast then you need more than just a solid strategy in the gym. Muscle can't be built with workouts alone. The building blocks of muscle come from amino acids which is the what protein breaks down into. Without a surplus of amino acids going into your bloodstream it will be impossible to gain any new muscle no matter how hard you workout. The best muscle building foods for your diet will include a full range of different proteins in your diet.

Best Protein Sources

The best and most complete sources of protein will come from fish, poultry, lean grass fed beef, eggs, and dairy. You'll find all of your high quality protein sources on the outer aisles of the grocery store. If you are getting a majority of your calories from the inner aisles which include many highly processed foods rich in carbohydrates then you need to rethink your strategy because you will not gain muscle fast. It's true that grains and cereals have a few grams of protein on the label but it's not a high quality protein with a full range of amino acids that your body needs to create new muscle. A good way to create a full protein side dish is by mixing brown rice and some type of bean like pinto, black, or kidney. Each of these foods has a range of amino acids that compliment each other forming a more complete protein. This is one of the ways that vegetarians are able to meet their protein requirements and they must include this in their list of muscle building foods.

If you are looking to gain muscle fast then you also need to make sure you are getting enough protein in your diet. A general rule of thumb is to first figure out your lean body weight. That is how much you would weigh if you stripped all of the fat off of your body. If you know what your body fat percent is then you can figure out that number to the pound. If you don't know what your body fat percentage is that is o.k. because you can come very close. Figure out what you think your ideal body weight would be and then subtract about 10-15 pounds. Take this number and that is the minimum of amount of protein in grams that you should be taking in on a daily basis. So if your lean body weight is 185 pounds you need a minimum of 185 grams of protein per day to gain muscle fast. If you are falling short of this number then you will need to start eating more muscle building foods. If you are a more intermediate or advanced lifter you may need 1.5 grams of protein per pound of lean body weight per day. So for a 185 pound lifter you would need 277 grams of protein for optimal rapid mass gains.

Don't sit down in 3 meals and cram all of this protein in. You should be eating every 3-4 hours and including a serving of protein in that meal. Above all make sure you are getting a big serving of protein immediately after your workout to take advantage of the 2 hour window of growth where your body will use nutrients to gain muscle fast. Adding muscle building foods to your diet is easy if you plan your day and work your plan.

Click here to downloadmy free 47 page ebook at Lifestyle Fitness Solutions. Make immediate changes in your life by creating a personal fitness solution that is based on you!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rick_Porter
http://EzineArticles.com/?Muscle-Building-Foods---The-Best-Protein-Eating-Strategy-to-Gain-Muscle-Fast&id=2872474