If your primary health goal is to build muscle, chances are, you walk into the gym with a plan. You prioritize moves like deadlifts, loaded squats, and presses. Youâve read up on doing as many reps possible versus going as heavy as you can. But if you really want to fill out your shirtsleeves, what you do outside the gym matters tooâspecifically in the kitchen.
When youâre building muscle, you need to up your protein and make sure youâre getting a good mix of other nutrients too. That can be hard to do if you wing it, not knowing what youâre going to eat until right before mealtime. Meal prep is already the not-so secret weapon of health-minded folks; itâs even more important when you have a specific health goal like building muscle. If youâve never meal prepped before, itâs time to get organized. Not only will it eliminate the dreaded daily question of what to eat, it will help you meet your fitness goals faster.
General Meal Prepping Tips
Maybe youâve tried and given up on meal prepping before because you got bored of whatever you prepped that week after a few days. Instead of meal prepping for the entire week, do what Fit Men Cook author Kevin Curry does and meal prep three days at a time. âMeal prep for three days and then halfway through the week, switch up your protein or other ingredients so your meals taste fresher and are more exciting. Meal prepping twice a week sounds daunting, but it really only takes 30 minutes to meal prep for three days,â he once told GQ.
Regardless of whether you decide to meal prep once for the whole week or every three days, Michael Reavis Jr., MS, RD, CSSD, the lead sports dietitian at Fit With Food, recommends prepping your core foods without sauces or seasoning. That way, theyâre more versatile. If you pre-season your chicken with taco seasoning, it isnât going to work as well in an Asian-inspired stir fry later in the week, for example.
Scott Baptie, MSc, a sports nutritionist and founder of Food for Fitness, also recommends using a slow cooker or Instant Pot for foods like lean chicken, lean turkey, beans, or lentils. That way, you donât have to actively be in the kitchen cooking itâa major timesaver. Similarly, a rice cooker can come in handy for grains so you arenât chained to the stove while it cooks.
The Best High-Protein Foods to Meal Prep With
Thereâs a reason why protein dominates the muscle gain nutritional conversation: You really do need to up your intake for gains. Jordan Mazur, MS, RD, the Director of Nutrition for the San Francisco 49ers, says that the reason why upping your protein is so important for building muscle is because protein provides the amino acids muscles need to repair and grow after training. How much do you need? The general rule is to aim for between 1.6 and 2.4 grams per kilogram, which is two to three times as much as the normal recommendations.
