What are gainers and will they really help build muscle?
Miscellaneous / / August 13, 2021
A sports supplement with which it is important not to overdo it.
What are gainers
A mass gainer is a weight gain sports nutrition product. Like protein, it comes in powder form and is mixed with water or milk. Only there are much more calories in it, and in addition to protein, it contains fats and quite a lot of carbohydrates.
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There is no one weight gainer formula, so the calorie content and percentage of macronutrients in different foods can vary greatly. As a rule, 100 g of a weight gainer contains 350-450 kcal, 45-60 g of protein, 50-80 g of carbohydrates and 1-18 g of fat. The serving size is indicated on the package - from 50 to 360 g, but no one bothers you to eat more or less.
What can be a part of gainers
In addition to macronutrients, the following components can also be included in the composition of gainers:
Creatine monohydrate
This amino acid helps 1. Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance / The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
2. R V T Santos, R A Bassit, E C Caperuto, L F B P Costa Rosa. The effect of creatine supplementation upon inflammatory and muscle soreness markers after a 30km race / Life sciences withstand a greater volume of training, has a positive effect on power, strength and the speed of recovery.
Also creatine can provide P.J. Cribb, A. D. Williams, A. Hayes. A creatine ‑ protein ‑ carbohydrate supplement enhances responses to resistance training / Medicine and science in sports and exercise gain in muscle mass without excess fat, even if consumed in conjunction with carbohydrates.
If the weight gainer contains about 3-5 grams of creatine, it will most likely help increase your performance in training and improve body composition. True, for the effect, the sports supplement will have to be drunk constantly.
Vitamins of group B
Almost any gainer includes riboflavin and vitamin B6, which are needed for energy production, as well as folate and vitamin B12, which are involved in the synthesis of new cells and the repair of damaged cells.
Lack of riboflavin and B6 canK. Woolf, M. M. Manore. B-vitamins and exercise: does exercise alter requirements? / International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism decrease exercise performance, so an extra source of these vitamins is useful for those who exercise a lot and eat little.
True, if you are in order with your nutrition, additional intake of vitamins will not provideVitamin B ‑ 12 / Mayo Clinic no benefits.
Antioxidants
Most weight gainers include vitamins C and E, antioxidants that help fight oxidative stress.
ResearchDietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance / The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) do not confirm the benefits of such supplements for building muscle and increasing performance. Quite the opposite: additional doses antioxidants can weaken the body's signaling pathways, reducing the stimulus for muscle growth.
True, there are much less vitamins C and E in gainers than are needed for any effect.
Vitamin D
If vitamin D is lacking, taking it additionally as part of a supplement mayS. Pilz, S. Frisch, H. Koertke. Effect of vitamin D supplementation on testosterone levels in men / Hormone and metabolic research have a positive effect on the level of testosterone - an anabolic hormone. True, the dose of this vitamin in a portion of the gainer is many times less than what is needed to fill the deficit.
If everything is fine and there is no vitamin deficiency, the additional intake will not be reflected in any way. S. D. Scholten, I. N. Sergeev, Q. Song. Effects of vitamin D and quercetin, alone and in combination, on cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle function in physically active male adults / Open access journal of sports medicine on performance.
Trace elements
Often, the composition of gainers includes a full set of macro- and microelements: calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, iodine, magnesium, zinc and others.
A deficiency in any of the essential elements can negatively affect performance and well-being. But if you get enough of them from your diet, supplementation will not have any impact on body composition and athletic performance.
Probiotics and fiber
Some gainers add fiber and a complex of probiotics - a set of lactobacilli that work wellM. L. Ritchie, T. N. Romanuk. A meta ‑ analysis of probiotic efficacy for gastrointestinal diseases / PloS one on the intestinal microflora.
However, these microorganisms do not live very long, and it is impossible to say for sure how many of them are left in the product. In general, it is doubtful whether the lactobacilli in the gainer have any gut benefit.
Do gainers really help build muscle?
Since no one studies specific brands of gainers, it remains to judge by the general information about protein-carbohydrate mixtures with various additives.
In meta-analysisF. Naclerio, E. Larumbe ‑ Zabala. Effects of Whey Protein Alone or as Part of a Multi ‑ ingredient Formulation on Strength, Fat ‑ Free Mass, or Lean Body Mass in Resistance ‑ Trained Individuals: A Meta ‑ analysis / Sports medicine Eleven studies have found that whey protein, when combined with other ingredients like carbohydrates and creatine, accelerates muscle building (hypertrophy) and increases maximum leg strength. Moreover, supplements that contain creatine give the best results.
In another meta-analysisS. M. Pasiakos, T. M. McLellan, H. R. Lieberman. The effects of protein supplements on muscle mass, strength, and aerobic and anaerobic power in healthy adults: a systematic review / Sports medicine 38 scientific papers have also concluded that protein supplementation is effective in accelerating hypertrophy and developing strength.
Fresh K. R. O'Bryan, T. M. Doering, R. W. Morton. Do multi-ingredient protein supplements augment resistance training-induced gains in skeletal muscle mass and strength? A systematic review and meta-analysis of 35 trials / British journal of sports medicine a review of 35 studies confirmed previous findings: multicomponent protein supplementation, especially with creatine and vitamin D, significantly increase muscle mass and maximum upper and lower strength limbs. Although in the end, the scientists noted that when compared to pure protein, there is not much difference.
A reasonable question arises: why then add carbohydrates at all, and is it not better to buy simple protein?
Can a gainer accelerate muscle growth better than protein?
On the one hand, carbohydrates can have a positive effect on the balance of protein synthesis and breakdown. So, in one experimentM. Wilk, M. Michalczyk, A. Gołas. Endocrine responses following exhaustive strength exercise with and without the use of protein and protein ‑ carbohydrate supplements / Biology of sport found that 40 g of a protein-carbohydrate supplement after exercise significantly raised the level of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), which reduces protein breakdown and promotes hypertrophy.
In other scientific workJ. Baty, H. Hwang, Z. Ding. The effect of a carbohydrate and protein supplement on resistance exercise performance, hormonal response, and muscle damage / Journal of strength and conditioning research found out that a protein-carbohydrate mixture before, during and immediately after strength workout can protect muscles from damage, lower levels of the catabolic hormone cortisol, and increase the production of the "anabolic" insulin.
Another experiment comparedP.J. Cribb, A. D. Williams, A. Hayes. A creatine ‑ protein ‑ carbohydrate supplement enhances responses to resistance training / Medicine and science in sports and exercise the effect of pure protein and its mixture with carbohydrates and found out that protein wins.
The protein supplement combined with strength training helped the participants build muscle and shed some fat. Muscle grew in the protein-carbohydrate cocktail group, but in addition to muscle, the participants gained about 2 kg of fat.
Interestingly, the best results in the experiment were in the third group, which consumed a supplement with protein, carbohydrates and creatine. With this mixture, the athletes built muscle better than the other two groups, and at the same time did not increase the body fat, despite the carbohydrates.
This suggests that creatine gainers may have advantages over regular protein.
Who should try gainers
Given the high calorie content, this sports nutrition is useful for people with an asthenic physique who cannot cram into themselves the amount of food that is needed for weight gain.
A gainer will provide a calorie surplus, and together with strength training can have a positive effect on the growth of muscle mass and strength, especially if the composition contains 3-5 g of creatine monohydrate per serving.
At the same time, you should not buy gainers if you strive not only to pump up, but also to dry out: the high calorie content of the product will increase the risk of gaining excess fat.
As for the rest of the gainer ingredients - vitamins, trace elements and fiber - you shouldn't rely on them and skip full meals.
If you can't have a normal lunch, it is better to drink a gainer, rather than eat a chocolate bar. But try not to replace normal food with sports food. Remember that this is a nutritional supplement, not a complete replacement for regular foods.
How to drink gainers correctly
The size and composition of one serving of the product must be indicated on the label. So you can independently calculate how much powder you need to drink in order to collect your daily need for calories, protein and other nutrients.
Dissolve a scoop of gainer in water or milk and drink the resulting shake. It is better to do this at least 30 minutes before training so that the fats are absorbed and the heaviness in the stomach disappears.
Is it possible to make a gainer from conventional products
Considering that the main active component of a gainer is proteins and carbohydrates, which are also found in regular food, you can easily prepare such a drink at home.
Protein can be found in Greek yogurt, soft cottage cheese, egg whites, and milk. Carbohydrates are honey, bananas, berries. Try peanut butter shakes for more fat, or oatmeal and seeds for fiber.
For flavor, you can add cocoa, vanilla and various syrups. Since a gainer is a high-calorie thing, there is no need to be afraid of sugar in the syrup.
See cocktail recipes🧐
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