


Vegetables such as spinach, kale, lettuce, broccoli and white mushrooms have very little calories so it may be wise to choose other vegetables to make up the bulk of your vegetable intake, especially if you’re already struggling to hit your calories. However, eating mainly low-calorie vegetables when you’re trying to build muscle, can make it harder for you to achieve the calorie surplus necessary to do so. Yes, vegetables are so important for your health, despite what fitness goal you’re trying to achieve. This was illustrated as the cyclists who were given chocolate milk as a recovery drink had significantly shorter times than the other two groups. There were positive effects for those drinking the chocolate milk as it can aid in restoring muscle glycogen which in turn helps prevent muscle catabolism. After this time, they each performed a subsequent 40km time trial. In this study published in the International Journal of Exercise Science, 5 men and 5 female cyclists were given chocolate milk, an isocaloric carbohydrate only supplement, or a placebo drink immediately after performing exercise and during their 4 hour recovery window. If you want something other than water, then you may be pleasantly surprised that chocolate milk is a great alternative to drink post-workout. It also will replenish all the fluid you lost during your workout. Staying hydrated is important for muscle growth as it gives you optimal health and performance conditions to get the best out of your workout. Related Article: Is Beer Good or Bad For Bodybuilding (Science-Backed) What to have instead: While it’s okay in small quantities, drinking it in large quantities after your training will have the opposite effect of what you want so it’s best to steer clear. So, if you want to build muscle, then be careful when it comes to consuming alcohol, especially if you’ve had a tough workout. It illustrated that consuming alcohol after exercising reduces the rate of Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis (MPS), which is the process in which protein is used to repair damaged muscles due to exercise. This study tested the effects of alcohol consumption following training. While it doesn’t mean that you should never have a beer or a glass of wine, be aware of the effects that alcohol can have on the body and how it can slow down your process in building muscle. Avoid AlcoholĪlcohol is an obvious choice for what to avoid when trying to build muscle (or cut, for that matter). While everything is great in moderation, there are certain food categories that should be avoided or at least minimized in your diet, to fuel your goal of building muscle even further.įrom these three categories below, we’ve curated our food list and explained why they don’t help you build muscle. What we’ve done is taken the food list above and broken them into 4 categories of foods to avoid: The Worst Foods For Building Muscle (And What to Eat Instead)
