Is a Workout Meal Prior to Weight Lifting Beneficial in Boosting Muscle Building Results?

Nutrition is one of the most confusing muscle building subjects, and many bodybuilders achieve terrible results specifically due to serious diet errors. Those who wish to gain muscle mass are often wondering exactly when they should consume meals, especially in relation to the weight training workout itself, with some aiming for a complete meal prior to performing a workout, and others avoiding food before a grueling bodybuilding session, with a feeling that more fat burning will occur when food is restricted prior to an exercise period.

Obviously, these wide range of opinions create much frustration for the bodybuilder who is seeking maximum muscle gain, but there is a clear answer pertaining to eating before weight lifting, in that doing so is extremely beneficial for muscle building. In fact, intensity must remain extremely high for a workout to consistently enhance muscle mass, and this becomes difficult if not impossible for most when attempting to perform a bodybuilding session on an empty stomach. For those who plan early morning workouts, this becomes especially problematic, as energy levels are low due to the evening fast, and even though performing a weight training workout in such a scenario is clearly possible, intensity will greatly decline, which leads to disappointing muscle gain.

The best method is to fuel the body with a correctly balanced protein and carbohydrate meal prior to a bodybuilding session, as protein is always used by the body for recovery and to build new muscle mass, while carbohydrates are the chosen energy source for intense workouts, and designing a meal with ample carbohydrates preceding a bodybuilding workout will allow energy levels to significantly improve intensity, propelling muscle growth to new heights. Some tend to experience feelings of sickness when consuming a meal in proximity to weight lifting, but this does not necessitate performing a workout on an empty stomach, as the spacing between the workout meal and training can expand to the minimum necessary for a bodybuilder to train without experiencing feelings of nausea, which will greatly improve results.

There are bodybuilders who must perform their bodybuilding sessions prior to work, otherwise they will either not have sufficient time for a workout, or are likely to become busy later in the day and neglect their weight lifting obligations, therefore, in such scenarios, it's far better to perform a workout in the morning without the benefit of a meal preceding such a session than to become inconsistent, but if there is any possible way to consume a meal at minimum 30 minutes prior to a weight lifting workout (60-90 minutes is best), then doing so will greatly assist in improving long term muscle growth.

Bodybuilding is not the most enjoyable activity, but the progress achieved when following a potent training and diet plan are motivational, extremely worthwhile, but many experience a sense of negativity towards their workouts that encourages inconsistency specifically due to poor nutrition, as the absence of an energizing meal prior to a bodybuilding session can eliminate all motivation to train. Even those who seek fat loss benefit from consuming food before their workout, as a properly structured meal will not interfere with fat reduction, and in fact, avoiding food can slow metabolism and increase the risk of muscle loss, which harms physical appearance, and will adversely impact the overall speed of fat loss. Since many accept incorrect muscle gain or fat reduction diet advice found on Internet fitness sites, they believe that certain methods, such as skipping food before a bodybuilding workout, is beneficial to progress, when in fact, such methods are the very reason why numerous bodybuilders gain muscle mass at a slower than expected pace, and those seeking fat loss burn muscle at an alarming rate, or find that fat reduction is far less visible and captivating than they had hoped.

Do not allow hunger to become the barometer for whether you consume food prior to a bodybuilding session, as even those with tiny appetites are in need of nutrition before a workout, and there are a wide range of convenient, easy to consume and quick to prepare protein and carbohydrate sources that will make a feeding prior to weight lifting enjoyable to consume, and simple to digest.

Francesco Castano authors MuscleNOW.com, a workout plan for muscle gain without supplements or drugs. He also owns FatVanish.com, teaching exactly how to lose fat without supplements.