Build Muscle: The 7 Worst Foods For Building Muscle

The 7 Worst Foods For Building Muscle

You’ve been hitting the gym five days a week. Your plan is solid. You feel like you’re working hard—but you still can’t seem to build your biceps, lats, and calves to Batman or, frankly, even Robin proportions.

Well, what are you eating?

You know that certain foods (like chicken breasts and protein shakes) help build muscle, but some foods can also hinder muscle development.

(Building your best body requires drive, sweat, and the right food. Fuel Your Fat-Burners With 101 Muscle Meals from Men’s Health.)

By pumping your body with the foods that follow, you may be depriving your muscles of the nutrients they need to grow bigger and stronger.

Commercials crow about the electrolytes in sports drinks, but Stuart Phillips, Ph.D., a protein researcher at McMaster University, says they’re energy-dense and nutrient-poor.

Sports drinks are fine after multiple hours of high-intensity cardio, such as marathon training, but for everything else, stick with water. (Here’s How Much Water You Should Drink Before, During, and After a Workout.)

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

Flood your bloodstream with too much protein and your body will convert it into fat, not muscle, Phillips says.

Alcohol not only screws with how your body produces protein, but it can also prevent proper muscle recovery, Phillips says.

Plus, all those extra carbohydrates make it more difficult to get the other kind of six-pack.

Maybe you think that the fake sugar won’t matter. There aren’t any calories in it, right?

But those empty calories add up in other ways: Recent research shows that when people consume fake sugar, they end up eating more calories throughout their day overall. And when excess calories lead to weight gain, it usually doesn’t show up in your biceps.

But it has peanuts! And protein! Nuts and nougat might feel filling after a workout, but candy’s sugary calories promptly convert to fat, Phillips says.

That means you’ll be bulking out, not up.

(Here’s how you can Make a Sugar Craving Disappear Instantly.)