How to make the most of weight gainers

When your goal is optimal muscle gain, you are training and eating well, but do you know how to select your weight gainers?

Remember that three main criteria must be met to achieve maximum muscle gain:

• Consume more calories than you burn,
• Consume more protein than you break down through food and weight gainers,
• In addition to having a bulking training program that challenges your muscles

Although it is possible to meet all these criteria without taking a dietary supplement, some supplements can help you achieve your goals.

What does “weight gainers” mean?

Unlike conventional protein supplements, weight gainers are not only rich in proteins, but also in carbohydrates and, sometimes, other ingredients such as amino acids, vitamins and minerals, among other specific compounds.

However, during the bulking phase (muscle growth), depending on your body type, you should select weight gainers with at least 1,000 calories per serving, although depending on the brands and your needs, they can range from around 300 calories to more than 1,200 calories.

Like all types of supplements, the purpose of these fantastic nutritional aids is to meet daily calorie requirements, in combination with calorie-dense foods, which should preferably be “clean,” alternating with a few “cheat” meals each week.

What are its properties?

A large number of studies cite that, especially in physically active athletes, it produces a dramatic increase in lean mass, provided that basic nutritional and training principles are followed (1).

Among bodybuilders, digestion and difficulty consuming enough food are both physiological and psychological problems; therefore, a shake with any weight gainer (with digestive enzymes) solves these issues, especially the irritating digestive stress of dieting.

In general, they contain 10–25% protein, 70–85% carbohydrates (various sugars and other carbohydrates with different absorption rates), and about 5% fat, serving several purposes:

• Weight gainers are useful for many athletes who do not eat enough food or meals in a day and imagine that they are eating a lot. Therefore, they do not gain muscle.
• On the other hand, some people play sports and consume enough protein in their diet, but lack muscle tone and that extra help to gain weight.
• They are also useful for some people who have a very fast metabolism and cannot consume enough calories in their diet through whole foods.

How to take them as part of a diet

There is a simple logic behind a person's body weight: excess calories accumulate as body weight.

In general, each serving of any good-quality weight gainer provides around 300 powerful calories.

During a hypertrophy training program, in addition to burning calories, you should know how much weight you want to gain with the help of your weight gainers.

• To gain up to 1.5 kilograms of muscle per month, some experts recommend 2 portions each day (1 portion at breakfast and 1 portion after training or at least 4 hours after the first intake).
• To gain up to 2.2 kilograms of muscle per month: 3 portions of weight gainer each day (1 portion at breakfast, 1 after training, and 1 before bed).
• If you gain more than 3 kilograms of muscle per month: 4 portions each day (2 portions at breakfast, 1 after training, and the last one before bed)

Then, if you are a high-performance bodybuilder, you can even use more portions divided throughout the day.

When choosing milk or water, the only difference is that when you take the supplement with water, you will add 120 fewer calories and 8 fewer grams of protein.

Take these supplements when your body has a higher rate of nutrient absorption, such as after training or when you wake up.

In any case, there is no problem taking them throughout the day, but the times mentioned above are best.

• Use a good shaker or blender so it mixes well with the solvent (milk or water).
• Consume your shake immediately, as the powder sometimes tends to settle and form colloids, basically because the external environment acts on it.

The proteins in weight gainers

In addition to carbohydrates, weight gainers also add proteins such as whey in various formats, although many contain blends that include casein, egg white, beef or chicken, protein isolate from certain sources, and other forms, such as those specifically intended for vegans or vegetarians.

• The main function of amino acids is to enhance protein synthesis.
• On the other hand, branched-chain amino acids serve both to reduce fatigue and speed up recovery.

Beyond these aspects and the protein benefits, the absorption rate of the proteins is also taken into account when designing this type of supplement.

The goal is for amino acids to enter the bloodstream over a longer period, thereby promoting the perfect anabolic environment for muscle growth and increased muscle mass.

The better the blend obtained from a formula, the more effectively it achieves the goal of continuously maintaining that environment, which promotes processes related to protein synthesis.

The carbohydrates in weight gainers

In the case of weight gain, there is a reason to use carbohydrates as the main source of energy: it is the best way to store glycogen in the muscles.

• More glycogen in your muscles will help you remain insulin-sensitive and be less likely to accumulate body fat while consuming all these calories.
• More carbohydrates also mean that you can train more effectively with the intensity and volume needed to maximize potential muscle gain.

Carbohydrates, meanwhile, are often obtained from maltodextrin derived from wheat, rice, corn, or occasionally tapioca.

This generally helps keep sugar relatively low and, in the case of rice and tapioca, they are gluten-free.

The fats in weight gainers

For you, following a clean diet could mean eliminating or reducing fats as much as possible, including saturated fats and essential fatty acids.

However, to keep your blood vessels, organs, and nutrient transporters functioning perfectly, you need fats, and in this respect, weight gainers also use a blend of fats with specific purposes in the body.

Many of these supplements, for example, use fantastic and efficient MCTs, which are medium-chain triglycerides, that:

• They provide massive amounts of calories to athletes who have difficulty gaining mass or want to break through strength plateaus.
• Healthy fats do not tend to accumulate in fat tissue cells.
• They provide the necessary energy and increase endurance during training.

Similarly, saturated fats, which certain products may or may not contain, stimulate hormones to function properly, since cholesterol can be beneficial to bodybuilders in certain circumstances.

Weight gainers and other nutrients

Some add fiber, creatine, fats, or other ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, and even probiotics. However, generally speaking, mass gainers should not be viewed as a source of vital micronutrients, but as a source of calories.

Creatine provides energy for your muscles and other tissues, so taking it would increase its content in the muscles, as well as:

• It affects physical performance, promoting strength gains and consequently greater muscle mass.
• It may also increase the water content of muscle cells, causing them to swell slightly and producing signals for muscle growth.
• It may also increase levels of hormones involved in muscle growth, such as IGF-1.

Beta-alanine is an amino acid that reduces fatigue and may improve performance during training; it can be consumed as part of any weight gainer or as a supplement to help add muscle mass during the bulking phase.

• Provides a greater capacity to use other nutrients, improving muscle contractions.
• Reduces acidity as carnosine levels increase during training.
• Accelerates muscle recovery.

You can also use or add HMB to your bulking stack, as this supplement may help prevent muscle catabolism.

• The body naturally produces HMB, but taking it increases HMB levels and may benefit the muscles.
• Helps increase workout intensity, especially for beginners, depending on the training.
• It is especially useful for compound movements such as deadlifts, squats, and bench presses, reducing the factors that cause damage to muscle cells.
• It improves recovery time and even reduces cholesterol, which is beneficial during a bulking phase.

The PROS of weight gainers

First, there are no surprises here, but it is worth emphasizing that weight gainers do their job when used sensibly.

“Drinking calories is completely reasonable,” because muscle growth comes down to “protein plus calories plus progressive overload,” and on paper there are no drawbacks.

In reality, very few people measure their calories accurately; if they did, they would not waste their calories drinking lots of high-calorie supplements.

On the other hand, the supplemental ingredients in weight gainers probably do not matter much. Why?

Although they may contain added sugars or certain fats, this does not necessarily mean they are harmful to the heart or body composition.

The advantage is that as long as your macros and calories are in order, a large pile of powdered calories should not translate into the wrong kind of gains.

The point is that you need these compounds to add muscle and keep your anabolic hormones functioning.

The CONS of weight gainers

In a way, many athletes may end up overdoing it with their weight gainers, so they should ask themselves: are they really necessary?

Although one major advantage is that they generally aren't very filling and therefore make it easier to reach high calorie goals, some or many athletes overestimate the number of calories they need.

It is important to realize that muscle gains do not happen overnight, and if you force yourself to consume tons of calories at every meal in an effort to gain muscle quickly, you may actually gain fat.

If you don't know how to calculate your calories, when you get caught up in these fantastic supplements, instead of satisfying your appetite with whole foods, a few extra calories can easily become too many calories.

References:

• JAMA – 2012: Effect of dietary protein content on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition during overeating: a randomized controlled trial