How To Mix The Best Ingredients For The Ultimate Muscle Building Shake

When people think of muscle building, they usually imagine barbells, dumbbells, and workouts but give little thought to the role nutrition plays in muscle building. This has led many an aspiring muscle building enthusiast to give up in frustration when he or she sees little or no result after months of hard work at the gym.
In contrast, professional body builders know the value of proper nutrition and almost as a whole pay as much attention to what they consume as they do to their workouts. They not only eat a well-balanced diet but also augment it with protein-rich shakes and powders that their aching muscles need after workouts. If you want to develop strong and well-developed muscles, you should the same. All types of ready-made preparations are available at places like wholefoods but you will not get a fraction of what you can get if you prepare muscle shakes yourself. Fortunately, it is quite easy if you know what ingredients you need as we show you below.

• Whey Protein Powder - the undisputed king among protein sources, whey protein is loaded with protein. No serious muscle building fan should be without it. Period!
• Greek Yogurt - also high in protein but low in sugar, this is a nice addition to a shake that will enhance the overall taste of the shake.
• Frozen berries - known for their high antioxidant content, berries also blend beautifully in a shake and give it a thicker milk-shake like texture.
• Ground flaxseeds - high in healthy omega fats, they provide an easy and fast way of consuming the healthy fats your body needs and craves.
• Dried coconut - known for its tasty flavor and energy enhancing qualities, this is another source of healthy fats you don't want to be without.
• Natural nut butter - nothing beats nut butter as a source of healthy fat and as an easy way to give your shake a creamy tasty flavor. Make sure you choose almond or peanut butter variety.
• Cottage Cheese - this is another fine ingredient that can serve as an alternative to or as a substitute for Greek Yogurt.
• Dry Ground Up Oats - a great source of energy releasing carbohydrates, they lower cholesterol level among other health benefits. Best of all, you will not notice any difference in the taste.
• Bananas - are such a rich source of potassium that they should always be included in all shakes. They also improve the taste significantly and keep your muscles healthy.
• Xanthan gum - a tiny amount of this is all you need to turn the mix into a very thick muscle building milk shake. It is an essential component to any shake.
• Milk - finally, milk will supply your muscles with calcium and protein while also helping to make the shake thinner.

The above ingredients are all you need to prepare a muscle shake high in protein and other essential nutrients that your muscles and body desperately need. If you regularly consume a shake using the above set of ingredients while also maintaining a regular workout routine you will soon wake up one fine morning to stare at yourself in the mirror wondering if that impressive physique with lean and well-defined muscles is really you. It is really within your reach if you regularly exercise and nourish yourself with foods high in proteins and other essential nutrients.

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The Best Exercises to Include In Your Muscle Building Routine

As you go about you workout routine, it is important to discover the best muscle building exercises that you can be doing. This will point you in the right direction by eliminating wasted time, and mobilizing you to spend your energy on exercises that are proven to provide excellent results. Fortunately, there are a number of time-tested, basic exercises that have consistently provided outstanding muscle and strength gains for professional athletes, bodybuilders, powerlifters, and for anyone willing to put in the required level of work.
The benefits of muscle building exercises are well documented. Incorporating them into your workout routine will build lean muscle mass, which will increase your body's metabolism, allowing you to burn fat more efficiently. It will also lead to significant strength gains. An added benefit to doing these exercises is that they work more than one muscle group in your body at once, providing you with greater payoff for your effort. Given these benefits, lets take a look at some of the top muscle building exercises that you should consider incorporating into your daily workout routine.
The Details - Let These Exercises Take Your Muscle Development To New Levels:

• Squats: Often referred to as the king of strength and muscle building movements, the effectiveness of squats is unrivaled in terms of building mass and strength in the hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, muscles of the lower back and spinal column, and your core. Assuming you back will allow it, this exercise should be a staple of your regular workout routine.


• Lunges: This is a great movement for building muscle in your thighs and hips. They can be done with a set of dumbbells or a barbell across your back. If you are new to lunges, you will quickly discover their effectiveness as your legs will feel incredibly worked within just a few repetitions.


• Deadlifts: This power-lifting movement will strengthen and build the muscle in your upper legs, glutes, and lower back very effectively. Along with squats, they are proven effective at significantly increasing muscle mass.


• Bench Press: Another power-lifting exercise, the bench press has long been lauded for building thick muscle mass in the chest, shoulders, and triceps. The strength gains that can be achieved are unrivaled as well. There also are several variations of this exercise that can be performed to enhance results. Close grip, wide grip, and incline bench press exercises are all very effective. Given its incredible muscle and strength building benefits, the bench press should also be a staple in your workout routine.


• Dips: A professional body builder was once asked what exercises he would do if he could only choose three, and dips was one of the exercises he selected! Little wonder, because dips are exceptionally effective at working the chest, shoulders, and triceps. To super-charge your dip routine, once you can do a high number of repetitions without stopping, you can begin to increase the weight using a dumbbell attached to your lifting belt.


• Overhead shoulder press: Nothing beats this movement for increasing muscle mass in the shoulders. It also provides a significant workout for the triceps. Shoulder presses can be done seated or standing, with a barbell or using dumbbells. Two huge favorites are seated dumbbell presses and seated behind the neck barbell presses. Any of these variations is a highly effective workout for your deltoid muscles.


• Push-ups: One of the things that makes push-ups such a great option is that you can basically do them anytime, anywhere. They can be done in combination with other upper body exercises, or as a stand-alone upper body exercise if you are away on vacation or can't get to a gym. Push-ups are great for building lean muscle in the chest, shoulders, triceps, and upper back.


• Rows: The ultimate exercise for working the lat muscles of the upper back, there is no substitute for rows. Bent-over dumbbell rows are immensely popular for building mass and strength. T-bar rows and seated cable rows are also an excellent option.


• Pull-ups: This is a hard one, but very effective! While you may only be able to do a couple of them if you are just starting out, pull-ups are an excellent way to work the upper back and the biceps.

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How To Make A Healthy And Tasty Muscle-Building Protein Shake

One of the main challenges for a lean muscle building regiment and to lose fat is to get sufficient protein in the diet and only the good fats. Sometimes the volume of food needed can leave a person feeling bloated and it can be cumbersome to eat all the required food making the process significantly harder. As a result, people often miss the calorie and protein intake mark leading to subpar results and discouragement.
To alleviate that problem a protein shake is recommended. It is simple a drink full of protein, healthy nutrients, good fats and a pleasant taste that helps to meet the daily requirements and significantly helps to build muscle. However, the proper ingredients are important to ensure the protein shake does provide the necessary benefits. Here is a list of some of the best ingredients for a proper protein shake:

• Milk or Fruit Juice- As a base for the shake, milk is strongly recommended due to Calcium, protein and a low sugar content. This also makes the shake more easily drinkable and less thick. Some people may use fruit juice but that is too high in simple sugars and empty calories and as such something to avoid.


• Whey Protein Powder- This is the core of the shake and will provide the bulk of the protein for the muscle building. Buying a large wholesale-sized container would not be a bad decision for this particular ingredient. This will go into every shake. Fortunately, this itself comes in a large variety of flavors so that alone helps to vary up the flavor of the shakes.


• Greek Yogurt or Cottage Cheese- For adding a creamier texture to the shake either Greek Yogurt or Cottage Cheese can be used. They both have low sugar and high protein. Avoid regular yogurt as that has a much higher sugar content which is as mentioned above something to avoid.


• Fruits- Bananas and Berries are a great addition to the shake. Both provide a lot of texture and flavor to the shake making more than just a drink one has to drink. Beyond that the Bananas provide a lot of potassium which helps to build muscles, while the berries are full of many different vitamins and antioxidants. For the berries simply use a frozen bag of berries from a local supermarket to reduce the amount of unnecessary extra work.


• Dry Ground-up Oats- To prep for the next work out add some dry ground-up oats to the shake for the carbohydrate content. They will work well in the blend and not really be noticeable.


• Natural Nut Butter- A quick way to add some healthy fats to the shake is through natural nut butters like peanut butter or almond butter. However, avoid the cheap ones and go of the nut butters that only list ingredients like "peanuts" or "almonds". Avoid anything with "hydrogenated oils" in them, as those are the bad fats.


• Dried Coconut- For some variation in flavor and an extra energy boost dried coconut is an excellent ingredient. It is very calorie dense as well.


• Xantham Gum- To adjust the texture of the shake add Xantham gum which is something also used in ice cream. This is purely to change the thickness of the shake to suit the palette.

Having muscle-building shakes like this post-workout should be looked upon as a reward. Not only do they taste good they are a tremendous benefit as well and a crucial addition on the journey to lose fat, build muscle and feel energetic. Drinking one or two shakes per day is the goal so ensuring the protein shake is both well-balanced and delicious is an important component.

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