There is no magic nutrient, hormone, drug or protein powder that will effectively increase your muscle mass without exercise. The only way you can increase your muscle size is by stimulating growth at a cellular level.

By combining diet and weight training, you can expect to increase your body mass by about 0.5kg (1lb) per week. The best and safest way of bulking up is by following an individual tailored weight training programmed, plus a diet that meets your nutrient requirements and gives you a surplus of energy to help create more muscle.

Guidelines for Bulking up - Increase Muscle Mass

- Eat a nutritious diet high in energy, and with enough carbohydrate and protein.

- Ensure your energy intake is spread evenly through the day and the week.

- Give priority to arranging meals effectively on weekends, and around training sessions.

- Make the most of low-fat, high-protein foods.

- Use nutritious snacks to help meet your high-energy needs.

- High protein drinks and Liquid Meal Supplements are extremely useful as high energy snacks.

Amino Acids

There has been increased interest in taking amino acid supplements recently, because of the suggestion that specific amino acids in large doses can stimulate the production of growth hormone and thus promote muscle growth.

The amino acids arginine and ornithine, in particular; have been implicated in the muscle building role. Current evidence is based primarily on testimonials from athletes. The few studies that have been carried out suggest that very large doses of these amino acids are required for growth hormone release - many times the amount found in most commercially available amino acid supplements.

Specific amino acid supplements, in large doses, are being tested on humans. To date, the long and short-term effects of these supplements remain inconclusive. Clearly, this is still a controversial area, and we eagerly await further scientific studies to confirm or disprove whether amino acid supplements are effective and, if so, which of the amino acids work, in what quantities, and at what risk.