Garry Holmen garry@mda.ca

2) Mass gaining - Nutritional goals and Exercise hints
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As we can see from the overview there are two main driving forces in getting
fuel to the muscles and using that fuel to build larger muscles: insulin
and growth hormone (gH). And the good news is that we can modify our diet
and workout to produce more of these hormones and get them to work together.

There are other hormones at work as well but you can't change those amounts
in your system (besides taking them artificially). A good example of these
is testosterone.

This article will deal with nutritional/diet and exercise hints that exploit
this ability to regulate our hormones and to get the most bang for our buck.

2.1 Protein
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This is one issue that always seems to pop up when people start think about
putting on lean muscle mass : How much protein should I consume over a day
and how much should I consume in one sitting and when should I intake it?

All are very valid questions and the research in these areas point to 
answers that are fairly different than the gym lore that is passed around.

Basically, there are three things to consider when you're looking at your
protein intake : What activities you are doing, what your body weight is
and lastly what sex you are. (Yes... men and women need different amounts
of proteins for muscle synthesis.)

After you look at the above you'll determine your daily protein intake in 
grams. If you exceed this value you should realize that alot of this 'extra'
protein is probably going towards fueling the body rather than building muscle
and in some cases this excess intake might hamper your optimum muscle growth.

Sex: Male - light activity ~0.8 g per kg, medium activity ~0.9-1.2 g per kg
            and heavy activity ~1.6-2.0 g per kg.

     Female - Since women have more growth hormone than men they retain their
            muscle proteins when they exercise. Thus women don't need to
            replace this lost protein like men do. The average woman needs
            only ~0.8 g/kg because of this. This 0.8 grams is plenty to
            build more muscle. Heavy activity will boost this slightly
            (~1 g/kg) but this is such an insignificant difference that
            most experts recommend a 0.8 g /kg protein requirement for
            women.

Now most avid bodybuilders will look at these numbers and say they're too
low. Almost all will give personal accounts that they didn't gain mass
until they upped their protein requirements far beyond this. 

Nevertheless, the protein studies validate these numbers (My references 
include about 3 of them.) and most indicate that a high protein diet
(they tend to view anything above ~1g/kg regardless of activity level
 as a high protein diet.) should be required during mass building phase and
that many of the test subjects gained better mass and strength levels 
if they lowered their protein levels once they start to plateau.

How much should you consume in one sitting? The body takes about 3 hours to
digest protein. If there are carbs in your diet your body will ingest more
protein than it would if you just took it straight. The reason for this is
due to better intestinal motilty and the fact that the body tends to absorb
proteins easier with carbs. So the amount you consume really depends where
you want that protein to go... if you want it to go towards muscle building
you'll want to keep it below 20% of your carb intake, if you want it to go
towards fueling your body and muscle growth about 50% of your carb intake
and if you want to excrete it and use it for fuel anything higher will do.

This is why many people on high protein diets tend to comment about higher
gas and increased time in the bathroom. The protein goes in and it comes out,
literally.

2.2 Timing your carb and protein intakes
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As I described earlier insulin clears the blood of blood sugar and pushed
half of the aminos to the muscle to be used as fuel while gH can force all
20 aminos into the muscle at the same time. Only when gH is acting on your
system can you build muscle. So the answer is simple you want to time your
carb/protein intake so that when your gH is active you've got aminos in your
blood rather than in your gut digesting.

As well you want to time your amino peak to come after your glucose peak
(if you can.) Why? Because then insulin won't rob your gH lot's of
the amino reserve. 

So if pure protein is absorbed in 3 hours and a carb/protein mix is absorbed
in 90 min to 2 hours and a high glycemic carb is absorbed in about 30 minutes
what you want to do is eat your protein about 90-150 minutes prior to your
carbs to get your best results.

Complicated enough? Well now you have aminos and glucose hitting your muscles
but your muscles have also got to need to absorb these fuels so that you can
build with them. If you haven't worked them then all your well planned 
timing is for naught as the fuels are then directed to your adipose (fat)
tissue. Not what you really want... it's mass all right but it's not the kind
we need extra of. 8^)

So here is what your timing should look like: Eat you protein/carb food
about 30 min - 45 minutes prior to working out. Work out for about an hour
and then drink some orange juice (or intake another high glycemic fuel to
get the insulin going. I like orange juice 'cuz it's convenient to pack
as a small drink box or container.) 

Now what this does is that you blood sugar peak happens prior to you amino
acid peak. Thus as the sugar peaks your insulin clears the blood of sugar
(replenshing muscle glycogen) and signals the body to release gH. In this
time frame your aminos should be peaking in your blood and the gH can supply
plenty of them to your muscles which will rebuild/build the needed fibres.

And this is why people sometimes do better on higher protein diets. By sheer
protein ingested they always have aminos in their blood and when the gH
release is triggered sporadically during the day and at night the body can
always push some aminos into the muscle. But the facts are that if you're
eating smarter you can trigger more gH cycles and push more aminos per 
cycle into those waiting muscles.

2.3 Those other meals
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Between meals the body tends to canabalize it's muscle proteins. Muscle gets
converted to fuel for your brain and red blood cells (which rely totally on
glucose and cannot use fat nor protein as fuels.) So what you want to do
is have several smaller meals and snacks throughout the day to keep your blood
sugars present but not high (if it goes high you'll get a strong insulin
response and those blood sugars will go into the fat tissue and leave the body
to break down muscle for fuel.)

These meals should be mostly carbs with some fat (the body burns fat very
efficiently at rest) and protein. Keep the glycemic indices low if you're
worried about your fat levels. Two meals that you should always get if you're
trying to build mass are breakfast and pre-bed time snack.

Why? Well in the morning the body has been surviving off of it's internal
fuels for 8 or so hours (depending on how much you sleep) and it's 
corisol levels (the hormone that breaks down muscle and causes stress to your
system. BTW: This is why most heart attacks occur between 6am to 8am...)
are elevated. gH inhibits corisol and it's production so you want to get a gH
and glucose peak as quickly as possible in the morning to stop muscle
breakdown. Take it easy on the protein and fats for this first meal as the
gh/glucose levels will rise quicker that way.

At night the body releases a lot of gH (the reason why cortisol levels are
elevated in the morning) and thus you want proteins in the body for it to 
give to your muscles so they can rebuild and grow. But you have to get to 
sleep first and really high protein meals keep you alert so you want to eat
a carb/protein mix about an hour prior to going to bed.

2.4 Food ratios
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So if you know your total protein requirements and calorie requirements
what you want to do is eat a slightly higher protein to carb ratio prior to
working out and falling asleep and a higher carb to protein ration early in
the morning.

So here's a rough estimation of where your carbs and protein calories should 
be ingested (out of the total intake for that day.) :

Morning :  Carbs: 25% , Proteins: 10%
Pre-Workout: Carbs: 10%, Proteins: 25%
After-Workout: Carbs: 10% (higher glycemic indexed)
Pre-Sleep: Carbs: 20%, Proteins: 25%
2 other meals : Carbs: 35%, Proteins: 40%

These are only a rough guide... things shouldn't be exact. It just gives you a
rough idea of how much of your dietary intake should go when and a general
idea when you want to increase/lower your carbs and proteins.

2.5 Exercise Hints
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Without going into routine specifics I want to stress that you concentrate on
the big muscle groups first and then worry about the others. Make sure you
work the quads, hams (the big leg muscles), the spinal erectors and lats
(the big back muscles) and the pectoral and delt muscles (the large chest
muscles.) It's easier to add 5 lbs to all of these muscles than to add
5 lbs to a small muscle like the arms or anyone of them specifically.

Go to muscle failure and give yourself lots of time to recover between sets
and exercise days. 

Don't over do it... reduce your aerobic work and listen to your body for signs
of overtraining. In gaining muscle sometimes less is more....

There are various good routines out there. Just remember to get in the
gym, work out intensely for a short period of time and get out. 

2.6 Example
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Here's my (rough) diet when I'm on a mass gaining cycle:

Breakfast: Large serving (about 3 fo the box servings) of cereal, a couple
           glasses of juice and milk and some toast (with various spreads.)

Pre-Workout snack: (My partner has to work out in the AM... groan. 8^) )
           Some fruit (usually a banana)
           Milk and fat-free ice cream shake
           yoghurt or tuna sandwich

After workout: 2 glasses of fruit juice and another banana (or other fruit).

Lunch : 2 meat based sandwiches, more yoghurt, cookies (yeah it fits in my
        diet), 2 fruit and some milk or juice.

Afternoon snack: Another sandwich, fruit serving, milk , juice and usually
        3 to 6 apple newtons.

Dinner/ Pre-bed snack:
        Pasta and meat sauce, some ice cream and various servings of veggies.

(Now my diet isn't as bland as this... I substitute often and I love to cook
 but it gives a basic idea that with a little planning one can take 
 something that seems kind of complicated and make it pretty simple.)

Total Daily Carb Intake: ~4500-4800 KCal
            Protein : ~190 g
Carb/Protein/Fat ratio: Somewhere around : 60/20/20

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