Muscle-Building Nutrition Rules

If you've followed any of my mass-gain diets, you know I hang my hat on a few "tricks" that stay fairly consistent in my nutrition programs. These are tips and techniques that I've found to work best over decades of working with people to maximize muscle growth naturally. These guidelines are backed by science done in the lab, but more importantly, they're backed by real-world evidence in the gym on literally millions of people using them. Over the years I've tweaked a few of them to make them even better. These tweaks are due to the compilation of better research in both my gym and the lab, which provides a better understanding on how these techniques works best to build muscle.

Use these guidelines and you can be sure that you're netting the most lean muscle mass gains possible.

Rule #1: Eat A LOT of Protein

Muscle is made of protein, and to build muscle you need to boost muscle protein synthesis as well as decrease muscle breakdown. Research in the lab and my gym confirms that the best way to do this is with a diet that gets you between 1 and 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. (Converting to kilograms would make it a little over 2 grams and up to around 3 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight daily.) Some individuals do even better with more than this amount, taking in closer to 2 grams. This is especially true for those following my more intense training programs.

Read more on research regarding protein intake and muscle building

Rule #2: Eat Frequently

Lately, there are some experts claiming that eating more infrequently is the way to go – that waiting 5 or 6 hours before your next meal may be better than eating more frequently. This is based on the fact that waiting longer between meals spikes protein synthesis higher.

That's fine and dandy, but when you go longer between meals you also increase muscle breakdown. And that may actually be the more critical factor in muscle growth. Sure, muscle protein synthesis is important, but if it's just playing catch up after the muscle has gone through protein breakdown, then it sort of evens out and you haven't actually accrued any muscle mass. These tend to be experts that try to complicate things more than they need to.

I'm all for making our recommendations better by using the current science, but only if that current science crosses over and shows results in the gym and in real life. Decades of experience show that bodybuilders who eat more frequent meals build more muscle. In fact, I have data on thousands of real men and women showing this to be the case. And one study in particular helps to confirm this. The study showed that consuming a smaller dose of whey protein every three hours led to better net protein balance (muscle protein synthesis minus muscle protein breakdown) than a larger dose of whey every six hours.

Read more on this study as well as my thoughts on more frequent meals

The key to maximizing muscle growth is going long enough between meals to get a big enough spike in MPS, but without incurring too much MPB. The sweet spot for this appears to be about 3-4 hours between meals. That happens to be what I’ve been prescribing for over two decades, and there’s research to support the results that thousands have had using this advice.

Around workouts, however, your time between meals may be a little less than 3-4 hours. For example, if you're having a pre-workout meal right before the workout and a post-workout meal immediately after and the workout lasts only 60-90 minutes, that's one instance of where meals occur even less than 3-4 hours apart. Same with the meal that follows; I recommend getting in a whole-food meal about an hour after your post-workout supplements Post JYM, Post JYM Fast Carbs or other dextrose source like gummy bears, and Pro JYM). You could also have a similar situation before training – having a full meal only a couple hours before a pre-workout meal consisting of Pre JYM and Pro JYM.

For more on the topic of spacing out your meals to maximize protein synthesis, including how to implement BCAAs between meals, read my Intermittent Eating article. 

Rule #3: Get Ample Fats

One mistake people make when trying to keep lean is to avoid fat as much as possible. That is a bad idea for numerous reasons. For one, there are essential fats that your body needs, such as omega-3 fats from fatty fish like salmon. These fats have recently been found to be critical players in muscle recovery and growth, as well as keeping body fat off, aiding joint health, protecting against heart disease, boosting brain function and a host of other health benefits.

Then there's monounsaturated fat. This isn't an essential fat, but it's a healthy fat due to the fact that it provides numerous health benefits and is readily burned for fuel rather than being stored as body fat. On top of that, research shows that male athletes consuming appreciable amounts of monounsaturated fat maintain higher testosterone levels. Actually, the research shows that male athletes consuming more monounsaturated fat AND saturated fat maintain higher testosterone levels. Yes, you actually WANT to consume some saturated fat versus trying to avoid it at all costs. Good sources include beef, dairy (full fat or reduced fat, but not fat-free) and whole eggs.

The only fat you want to avoid without exception is trans fat.

My simple rule for fat intake is to consume half your body weight in pounds (or roughly your entire body weight in kg) in grams of fat and consume roughly equal amounts of all three types of fat: 33% monounsaturated fat, 33% polyunsaturated (mainly omega-3 fats) and 33% saturated fat. So, if you weigh 200 pounds (90kg), you would consume about 100 grams of fat per day with around 33 grams of each of the three fats. 

This is the recommendation off which I based the fat blend in Mass JYM, my lean-mass-gainer powder. The Mass JYM fat blend/creamer provides the aforementioned 1:1:1 ratio (saturated to monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fat), including 1 gram of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) – a special type of omega-6 polyunsaturated fat that studies have indicated simultaneously helps build muscle and strength while aiding fat loss. CLA provides numerous other health benefits as well, yet most people don’t get adequate amounts of it in their diets.

Rule #4: Manipulate Carbs

Since you want to make sure you're eating ample protein and fats to maximize muscle growth, the amounts of these two critical macronutrients should stay about the same regardless of your goals. That means to gain more mass or lose more body fat you should be changing up your carb intake. The body can make all the glucose (blood sugar) it needs from protein and fat, so there's no "essential" carbs you need from the diet, unlike with fat (where you have essential fats you need to consume) and protein (where essential amino acids need to come from food because your body doesn't make them).

I suggest that you start off somewhere around 1.5 - 2.0 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day to maximize mass gain while still staying lean. From here, you can increase the amount if you find you aren't gaining mass as rapidly as you'd like and aren't gaining any body fat. Similarly, you can gradually lower this amount if you find you're gaining too much body fat. Everyone's body responds to carbs differently, so you need to experiment with carb intake to determine what works best for you. If you find the right carb intake for your body, you can actually gain plenty of muscle while losing body fat.

Rule #5: Consider Calories

I'm not a huge stickler on calorie amounts. Yes, calorie intake is somewhat important, but as long as you're hitting the proper amounts of protein and fats and have your carb intake dialed in for your body, how far over or under your energy needs you are doesn't really matter – to a point.

As I said in Rule #4, you can gain muscle while losing body fat. That being said, to really maximize muscle mass gains, you should be eating more calories than you're burning each day. And to maximize fat loss, you should be burning more calories than you're consuming. However, it is possible to burn slightly more calories than you're consuming yet still gain muscle due to the fact that you're eating ample amounts of protein and fat.

We know that 1 gram of protein provides 4 calories, as does 1 gram of carbs. We also know that 1 gram of fat provides about 9 calories (8-10 calories, depending on the type of fat). If we build a diet from the macronutrients up and want to be sure to get in 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight and 0.5 grams of fat per pound, then that right there is about 11 calories per pound of body weight. If you shoot for anywhere from about 1-2 grams of carbs per pound, you should be eating at least 15-19 calories per pound of body weight to build muscle. If you find you need a good 3 grams of carbs per pound, then you need about 23 calories.

Rule #6: Use a Protein Powder Blend Like Pro JYM

For over a decade, I've recommended focusing on using whey protein powders. And that advice remains the same, just with a little tweak to it. Whey is definitely the king of protein. For one, it's rich in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). It also provides special peptides and microfractions that other protein sources or straight-up aminos can't. In fact, a recent study comparing whey protein to an amino acid mix that provided the same exact amino acids that whey provides showed that whey outperformed the amino acids.

Whey also happens to be the fastest-digesting protein you can consume, which means it delivers its critical BCAAs, peptides and microfractions to your muscles ASAP. This is important for energy during the workout as well as for muscle growth after. So yes, the first protein you want to concern yourself with is whey, especially before, after and/or during workouts as well as in the morning and at any point between meals where a protein shake will do.

However, the advice to drink JUST whey is no longer the best option.

The better option is to drink whey with a slow-digesting protein, particularly micellar casein. Research shows that adding casein to whey prolongs the anabolic window that whey creates. Whey spikes muscle protein synthesis, but casein keeps it spiked for longer. Micellar casein is casein in its natural form found in milk. It has been shown to provide a slow and steady supply of aminos for as long as seven hours. This is due to the fact that casein literally forms a clot when it's in the stomach.

To visualize this, consider when you mix a whey protein powder compared to when you mix a casein powder. The whey tends to mix very easily while the casein forms clumps in the fluid. This is similar to what happens in your stomach when you consume casein. Although casein may be bad for palatability when drinking it as a shake, it provides benefits when these clumps form in your stomach. These clumps decrease the surface area of the casein that's available to digestive enzymes. The enzymes must digest the casein clumps one layer at a time, much like peeling the layers of an onion.

Hence, as I mentioned earlier, casein provides a slow and steady supply of aminos to keep protein synthesis extended for longer and decrease muscle protein breakdown. Remember, muscle grows when protein synthesis is greater than muscle breakdown. Casein actually works on both ends to promote growth. One easy way to get micellar casein that you may not have realized is from protein powders and drinks that provide milk protein isolate or milk protein concentrate. This is why I included milk protein isolate in Pro JYM.

It's also a good idea to add in a protein source that digests at a medium rate – one that's slower than whey but faster than casein. This bridges the gap, so to speak, between whey and casein to provide a fast yet steady and long-lasting supply of amino acids to your muscles. Two of the best proteins to consider here are egg protein and soy protein. Not only do these proteins digest at a different rate than the milk proteins whey and casein, but they provide other benefits that the milk proteins don't. And no, soy does not decrease a man's testosterone levels or increase estrogen, as research confirms.

I realize that many men and women don't want to consume soy for other reasons. One issue may be the genetic modification many soy plants have undergone. Although it now appears that these genetically modified plants are safe for consumption, there's still much we don't know. So, if you're opposed to soy for whatever reason, I highly recommend using egg protein with whey and casein. Egg protein provides higher amounts of sulfur-containing and other aminos that can aid muscle growth and overall health. This is the main reason why I use egg protein instead of soy in Pro JYM.

Rule #7: Use Fast Carbs Right After Workouts

During workouts you're burning through muscle glycogen like a rap star burns through his bank account. Glycogen is the storage form of carbs. In simplified terms, when you consume carbs most are broken down into or converted into glucose, which is what blood sugar is. Glucose can either be used fairly immediately for fuel or stored, mainly in muscle fibers and the liver. It's stored in the form of glycogen, which is just long, branched chains of glucose connected together. The glycogen in your muscle cells and liver is broken down into glucose and used as one of the main fuels to fuel your workouts. At the end of a workout, your muscle glycogen levels are depleted, and if your muscle glycogen levels aren't restored, your performance in the next workout can suffer and muscle growth possibly compromised.

One way muscle growth can be impaired is due to the fact that muscle glycogen levels serve as a barometer for how much energy the body has stored. If energy levels are low, as it seems when muscle glycogen is low, the muscles may not want to expend energy building muscle. Building muscle requires energy, and bigger muscles require even more energy to maintain. If your body is unsure that you have adequate energy to fuel other more critical processes, and to maintain more mass, it may choose not to go gangbusters building muscle.

Another way that muscle growth may be compromised deals with the fact that glycogen pulls water into the muscle fibers. The more glycogen there is, the more water there will be in the muscle fibers. More water makes the muscles fuller, which makes your muscles appear significantly bigger. If your muscles are low in glycogen, they're also low in water, which makes them look flatter and smaller than they could be. Having muscles that are fuller due to more glycogen and water can also instigate muscle growth. There's evidence that shows that having more water in the muscle fibers places a stretch on the muscle membranes. That stretch instigates chemical pathways that increase muscle protein synthesis, which can lead to greater muscle growth.

The best way to fully replenish muscle glycogen is with high-glycemic or fast-digesting carbs. These carbs make it into the bloodstream and to your muscle fibers almost as quickly as you ingest them. Research confirms that the quicker you get carbs to your muscles after workouts, the faster and better the muscle glycogen replenishment. One of the best sources of fast carbs is dextrose, which is glucose. This form of sugar requires no digestion and is absorbed pretty much immediately into your blood stream. You can use straight dextrose powder like my Post JYM Fast Carbs, Wonka Pixy Stix (100% dextrose), or gummy bears, which tend to be made out of dextrose and corn syrup. Corn syrup is essentially branched glucose molecules that are immediately broken down and absorbed. Corn syrup is completely different from high-fructose corn syrup. White bread and white potatoes are also good sources since they're mainly starch, which is branched glucose molecules bound together that break apart rapidly upon ingestion.

These fast carbs also spike insulin levels. After a workout is the ONE time of day when you want to spike the anabolic hormone insulin. Research shows that insulin is critical for pushing creatine and carnitine into muscle fibers. Without a big spike in insulin, creatine and carnitine uptake are not optimal. Insulin also helps amino acids, such as beta-alanine, BCAAs and the other critical ones from your protein shake, get taken up by the muscle fibers. And let's not forget about the glucose from those fast carbs, which insulin helps to gain entry into the muscle fibers. For more info on these supplements, see Rule #8 below.

Having fast carbs after workouts is a sweet treat that doesn't damage your diet. Whether you're trying to maximize mass gain or lose fat and gain muscle, you should be following a fairly "clean" diet. Meaning, donuts, French fries and ice cream aren't major staples in your nutrition plan. When most of us stay fairly virtuous with our diets, we tend to miss such sugary treats. Having a dose of sweets in the form of dextrose, gummy bears, Pixy Stix or white bread with jelly is a great way to get your sweet fix in for the day and not only have it not ruin your diet, but actually enhance your results! Why would you ever skip that?

Some research shows that consuming a protein shake after workouts with or without fast carbs spikes muscle protein synthesis to an equivalent level. In other words, the studies concluded that adding carbs to a protein shake postworkout did not increase muscle protein synthesis any more than the protein shake did alone without carbs. This has caused some experts to claim that you don't need carbs after workouts. Well, that's a bit extreme. It's true that you can still build muscle without having carbs after workouts. But I wouldn't recommend that unless you're in a very low-carb diet and have removed carbs from every other meal of your diet. In fact, it's completely idiotic to eat carbs at other meals but avoid eating carbs postworkout. If you're eating carbs at any meal it should be the postworkout meal, when those carbs will aid recovery.

Some people worry that eating carbs postworkout will blunt growth hormone and testosterone levels after the workout. Here's what they don't understand: Growth hormone and testosterone levels rise during the training session and peak toward the end, depending on the workout. After the workout is over the levels of theses hormones begin to drop sharply so that they're back to resting levels about 60-90 minutes later. The release of these hormones have already peaked before you consume those carbs. After the workout is over it's too late for the carbs to have a negative effect on hormone levels.

Other people worry that consuming fast carbs after workouts will lead to diabetes. This is due to the media's demonization of all sugars. Yes, if you're eating sugar while sitting on your ass all day it will increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. But someone who trains regularly is already preventing the metabolic damage that leads to this. And right after a workout is when those carbs are going straight to the muscles and restocking the muscle glycogen, as well as the liver glycogen levels. So there's no risk to consuming fast carbs after workouts. It's what your body needs.

Although the amount of fast carbs you consume after a workout depends on your weight and the intensity and length of the workout, a general recommendation is to shoot for about 20-40 grams worth of fast carbs such as dextrose within 30 minutes after the workout. I would recommend limiting the fast carbs to about 60 grams for two main reasons. One is that research shows that for optimal absorption by the intestines 60-70 grams of one type of carb is the maximum before absorption becomes limited.

If you're consuming more than this I would recommend adding some fructose, such as from fruit, to your post-workout meal in addition to the dextrose or glucose; fructose uses different transporters to get absorbed by the intestines, so it helps to maximize carb uptake.

The second reason I say to limit carbs to 60 grams post-workout is that consuming too many fast carbs can make you feel like crap when taken up quickly by the liver and muscles and your blood glucose levels drop. This is known as hypoglycemia and can make you feel dizzy, lethargic and just generally crappy. If you find that this happens to you even with smaller amounts of fast carbs, I suggest you mix your post-workout carbs so you're getting some fast carbs as well as slow ones like fruit, oats, whole-wheat bread and sweet potatoes.

Rule #8: Combine BCAAs, Beta-Alanine, Betaine and Creatine Before AND After Every Workout

BCAAs

Branched chain amino acids are critical to have after workouts due to their ability to turn on muscle protein synthesis, much like a key turns on an engine. It's leucine that's the key player here. But when you take BCAAs before a workout, the real benefit is the energy they provide your muscles and their ability to blunt fatigue so you can train with greater intensity for longer. When you take a dose after workouts, the benefit is their ability to promote muscle growth.

About 30 minutes before workouts and again immediately after the workout I suggest you get in at least 5 grams of BCAAs, 2-3 grams of beta-alanine, 1.5-2 g betaine, and 2-5 grams of creatine (depending on the form you use). You can either take these four supplements together about 15-30 minutes before you consume your pre- and post-workout shakes or take them along with these shakes. Either method will work fine. On non-workout days, have one dose of each with your first shake/meal of the day.

When it comes to the most effective BCAA ratios, for pre-workout benefits I suggest you stick with a BCAA product that uses a 2:1:1 ratio of leucine to isoleucine to valine. Why? Because during workouts you also want ample amounts of valine and isoleucine for increased energy levels and decreased fatigue. After workouts, a 2:1:1 product works well, or even a 3:1:1 would be great to get a bit more leucine to bump up muscle protein synthesis yet still get enough isoleucine and valine.

Not only are the BCAAs important for energy during the workout and muscle growth after, but they increase insulin levels, which helps the other supplements taken with the BCAAs get into the muscle cells. Research shows that insulin is critical for getting creatine and carnitine into the muscle cells. Insulin also helps to increase the uptake of amino acids, like the BCAAs, beta-alanine and even betaine.

Beta-Alanine

Another amino acid that you want before and after every workout is beta-alanine. The research on this special amino acid is really piling up as more and more studies prove it's ability to promote better workouts by increasing muscle strength and power, endurance and even muscle growth and fat loss.

When it comes to beta-alanine, your best bet is to use 1.5 - 2 grams at each dose from products that supply beta-alanine. Some experts would argue that beta-alanine doesn't really need to be taken around workouts and can be taken any time of day. This is based on several studies showing positive results when athletes were taking beta-alanine at random times throughout the day. This is where I ignore the full details of the research and use common sense.

I ask those who suggest consuming beta-alanine at times other than pre- and post-workout: "Why would you not recommend taking it pre-workout?" During and after exercise the muscle cells take up nutrients, such as amino acids, at a higher rate. Plus, you're taking other ingredients, such as BCAAs and possibly dextrose, that will further help boost muscle uptake of beta-alanine.

Betaine

Research shows that the modified amino acid betaine can boost muscle strength and power and even enhance muscle growth. These benefits likely stem from its ability to increase natural creatine production in the body, increase growth hormone and IGF-I levels while decreasing cortisol levels, boost nitric oxide (NO) levels and increase muscle protein synthesis. On top of all that, it also provides a host of health benefits.

Betaine is another supplement where the research experiments done on it didn't specifically give the supplement pre and post-workout. But again, as with beta-alanine, the same common-sense approach works. Take it when it has a better chance of uptake by the muscle cells. Go with about 1.5 - 2 grams of betaine in the form of trimethylglycine, betaine anhydrous or betaine monohydrate at each dose.

Creatine

One of the most critical supplements to take before and after workouts is creatine. Creatine has literally hundreds of studies supporting its ability to promote increased muscle strength, power and size.

Again, I recommend creatine both before and after workouts. In fact, research done on creatine shows that subjects gain more muscle mass and strength when taking creatine pre- and post-workout versus other times of day. For creatine, I highly suggest using 2 grams of creatine hydrochloride. However, creatine monohydrate works well for many. If you do go with creatine monohydrate be sure to get in a full 5 grams at each dose you take. On workout days that totals 10 grams.

One More Supplement... Carnitine

In addition to taking these important four supplements before and after workouts, another supplement that you may want to consider taking at least after workouts is carnitine. Carnitine has been shown to enhance recovery following workouts by increasing blood flow to the muscles.

Most people only consider boosting blood flow before and during the workout for greater energy and bigger muscle pumps. But having more blood going to the muscles after a workout aids recovery by delivering more oxygen, nutrients, and hormones (like testosterone and growth hormone). More oxygen is important because after workouts your body is in a state known as "oxygen debt." This means it needs more oxygen to replenish ATP and phosphocreatine stores, among other key functions.

More nutrients means that more of those aminos, creatine, and glucose are getting to the muscles for better replenishment, recovery and muscle growth. More anabolic hormones, of course, can stimulate greater muscle protein synthesis for greater growth. When you have more blood flowing to muscles, you also have more blood flowing away from muscles. This aids recovery by removing more of the waste products that were produced during the workout.

Another benefit of carnitine after workouts is its ability to boost the amount of androgen receptors in the muscle cells. Androgen receptors are what testosterone binds to inside muscle cells to instigate growth. Having more of these receptors available is important because it means that more of the testosterone that's in the bloodstream can be put to work promoting muscle growth. Since testosterone levels are spiked at the end of a workout, matching the higher testosterone with increased levels of receptors means that more testosterone can be put to use to build muscle.

Research confirms that insulin is absolutely essential for carnitine uptake by the muscles. And after workouts, when you take dextrose, BCAAs and a protein shake, your insulin levels will be sky high, making it the perfect time to get in a dose of carnitine. I suggest taking 2 grams of carnitine post-workout in the form L-carnitine L-tartrate. If that's not possible, then regular L-carnitine will suffice.

Rule #9: Find What Works for You

The previous eight rules will work very well for 99% of people. However, maybe you're that 1% who doesn't respond so well to a few of these rules. Maybe your schedule doesn't allow for frequent meals. Or maybe you're a vegan and dairy-based protein powders are not in your diet. Whatever it is, use these rules as a guideline but stick only with the ones that work for you.

Take these rules and adapt them to your schedule and your body. Tweak them to make them yours, find ones that work better for you, or create your own. We all have a unique biochemistry and not all of our bodies react the same way to food or training. Be your own guinea pig and experiment on yourself. If something works for you, it doesn't matter whether or not it works for anyone else.

Sample Diet

The following diet samples are based on the rules discussed above and broken down into different examples based on when you train. Regardless of when you train, each sample diet totals: 3,700 calories, 335 g protein, 340 g carbs and 110 grams fat (for the 180-pound person, that equals about 20 cals per pound, about 1.8 grams of protein per pound, just shy of 2 grams of carbs per pound and about 0.6 grams of fat per pound of body weight)

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