If you’re a serious bodybuilder who wants to go beyond the basic healthy toning of many people, and you really want to seriously bulk up, then eventually you will need to look for a quality weight gainer. Weight gainers are often used by competitive body builders and professional athletes. You need to consume more calories than you naturally burn in order to build extra muscle mass onto your frame.
Weight gainers can help, since people in exceptional shape who have a lot of muscle already are going to have a naturally high metabolism and thus might need some extra quality calories and protein in order to bulk up even more. There are several things that you will need to consider when searching around for the best quality weight gainer. When looking at all the ingredients and nutritional information on the majority of weight gainers, you’ll find a lot of the same traits: high number of calories, a small bit of fat, high doses of protein, and large amounts of carbs.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because the best and easiest way to build muscle is increasing calories, protein, and carbs. That being said, there are certain weight gainers that are better than others, and often times you can figure one from the other by making a closer inspection. Some of the most important things to look for are protein quality, carb breakdown, and sugars.
“Protein Quality”
Not all proteins are considered equal, and the same is true with the types of proteins that you can find in a weight gainer. When looking for the perfect weight gainer to take your bodybuilding to the next level, consider the quality of proteins that the weight gainers have in their make up. Look for whey powder, which is generally the greatest of the proteins and is far better than soy. Casein is a high quality protein, but it digests slowly, which usually doesn’t work for most people’s goals.
“Carb Breakdown”
The carb breakdown of any given weight gainer is very important, as well. There are many different places where carbs can come from, but the different sources of carbs can be vastly different. Some weight gainers get most of their carbs from sugars (not a good idea-and not at all healthy).
A good weight gainer is one whose main source for carbohydrates comes from maltodextrin. This is the carb base that will refill muscle glycogen stores most quickly, which is what you want in a quality weight gainer that is being used in conjunction with a bodybuilding regiment. Sugars are bad because this leads to a very high spike in your body’s insulin, which is followed by the type of crash that can cause migraines, fatigue, shakes, and upset stomach.
Stay away from the sugar heavy weight gainers and you will definitely be healthier in general, as well as happier with the results that you can achieve with a quality weight gainer that relies on better carbs and proteins.