The whole truth about gainers
What is a gainer? What are the gainers? Who should drink, when to drink, and is it worth it to drink a gainer? You will find the answers to all these questions in this article.
Many manufacturers of weight gainers claim that they provide a rapid increase in body weight and the development of lean muscle mass, I would argue with the second statement. Gainer- This is a dietary supplement for sports nutrition, the carbohydrate content of which can reach up to 90%. Then someone may ask why carbohydrates are needed because you need to build muscle with protein, and carbohydrates do not seem to be needed for this? If we need proteins for muscle building, then carbohydrates – for energy for their growth and to compensate for the rest of the work that we do. Let me explain: You did a great job but ate poorly. Walk down the street. Your body needs the energy to build muscle and to move your body. If there is less energy than is needed to provide these two processes, where will it go? To ensure movement. And muscle growth will wait. And thanks to the fact that it contains carbohydrates, proteins are absorbed better and faster. This is due to
Which athletes are recommended to use weight gainers?
The work of a gainer is that if you can’t consume as much food as you need to consume a certain amount of calories, it gives you these necessary calories.
It is mainly used by professionals (especially in chemistry, when the metabolism is like that of a bull and training is very intense), or teenagers and people who are not prone to overweight, who have problems with weight gain due to excessively fast metabolism, but still thirsty to gain this weight. For such people, a gainer is a good choice, as it contains many calories, making it the easiest way to increase the daily calorie intake and gain weight. And after 23 years, even for such people, gaining a gainer is a dangerous occupation, because there is a big chance to gain excess fat.
What are the gainers?
Weight gainers differ in the content of proteins and carbohydrates, by types of carbohydrates.
As already mentioned, in the percentage ratio, the carbohydrate content in the gainer can reach 90%. But there are gainers, the proportion of protein in which reaches 40% or more. Which gainer to buy is up to you, depending on your goals and your genetics. If you have a certain amount of body fat, then you need to very carefully take a gainer for weight gain and preferably with a small number of carbohydrates, that is, with a protein content of about ¾ part of the composition of the protein-carbohydrate mixture.
By type of carbohydrate, there are two main types of this product: complex (low glycemic index) and simple carbohydrates (high glycemic index). The glycemic index (GI or GI) is an indicator of the effect of a product on blood sugar; the lower it is, the better. Complex ones break down longer and more gradually, while simple ones give an “energy boom” in a short period of time.
Gainers also differ in their content of macro- and microelements, energy additives (creatine) and healthy fats (unsaturated). Consequently, a high-quality gainer is characterized by a high proportion of complex carbohydrates in the composition in combination with high-quality proteins, vitamins, and trace elements.
When to take a gainer?
Accordingly, based on the types of gainers, let’s figure out when it is better to take gainers.
Before training
It all depends on how many minutes before training you use a gainer. If before the workout itself, about an hour before it, then you can drink ginger on simple (fast) carbohydrates. This product is characterized by high GI and this will give you the necessary energy for physical activity. If a few hours before training, it is better to gain a complex carbohydrate gainer so that your energy level is stored for a long time.
After workout
Gainers, which include fast carbohydrates, should be taken. After training, the main task of the body is to restore energy. After training, the carbohydrate and protein window opens, which must be closed. This is the time during which the body most actively assimilates both protein and carbohydrates. In fact, to think that taking something protein after a workout, something will grow out of it is not quite right, since normal muscle growth begins only after the body recovers all the energy spent. And for this, simple carbohydrates are needed that will quickly restore glycogen stores.
During the day
Here it is better to give preference to gainers on complex carbohydrates, as an additional meal between the main receptions (if this is permissible for you). As a rule, gainers during the day “whip” either professionals or adolescents and people, with their powerful metabolism. But remember, if you are overweight or inclined to be overweight and you do not want to increase the amount of your subcutaneous fat – be extremely careful with the gainer. At night, a weight gainer is better not to use even for athletes who are not inclined to accumulate excess fat – the body simply does not need an excess of calories at night.
Conclusion
Every athlete knows that to develop and gain muscle mass per day, you need to get more calories (at least more than you consume). But not all people can get so many calories from regular food, it is in these cases that the gainer helps. Moreover, this biological supplement is a convenient form for you to take, it is a cocktail.
If a gainer is consumed during the day, then it is likely that some of these carbohydrates will be deposited in the form of fat. Another thing is gaining a gainer after training. Here, all glucose goes to recovery (naturally, if you do not exceed the dose and do not drink it in buckets). So, make a conclusion. You drink a gainer after training, it turns into glucose, and then it is spent on energy needs. So maybe if you want to gain mass, give the body almost ready glucose, in the form of sugar? Honestly, the result will be the same. After training, you can drink water with honey or sugar, in extreme cases. Therefore, a gainer is a good topic, but easily replaced by the same honey, trace elements in which a bunch of heap. And, most importantly, fast carbohydrates.
If you still decide to take a gainer, you should take care of the high quality of the product. Choose a gainer that contains complex carbohydrates, and not just simple sugars and a fairly large percentage of protein, which will be the main building material for building and recovering muscles. The whey protein in the gainer is a very good option in this case. Even better, when a gainer or other protein-carbon mixture has several types of protein and carbohydrates.
And most importantly, remember that sports nutrition is just a supplement. The basis should be a normal food rich in protein, carbohydrates, micro and macro elements, antioxidants and healthy fats.