Weight Gainer is a sports supplement to gain weight and increase overall body weight. A gainer usually consists of a mixture of fast-absorbing carbohydrates and proteins (most often whey isolate), in some cases, creatine, vitamins and minerals can also be added. The word gainer refers to the English verb to gain, meaning in this context a set of masses.

Gainer is recommended to receive naturally thin athletes (ectomorphs) who have difficulty with a set of muscles. The role of this supplement for muscle growth is both to increase the overall caloric intake and to more efficiently transport nutrients to the muscles by increasing the level of insulin in the blood.

Who needs a gainer?

• Ectomorphs. Long-term nutrition with complex carbohydrates is the only way to overcome the mass barrier and start growing. Almost any kind of gainer is suitable for them, since pure ectomorph is not prone to a set of fatty tissue, and therefore, invulnerable to the side effects of an overdose with sports nutrition.
• Hardgainer. These are people who cannot gain muscle mass for reasons of nutritional deficiencies or physical characteristics.
• People who have a busy day schedule. In this case, a gainer will replace a full meal, allowing you to reduce catabolic processes, while maintaining a high level of anabolism.
• People taking AAS. In view of the increased synthesis of the male sex hormone, the need for nutrition and protein increases significantly.
• Crossfitters. The peculiarity of crossfitter training implies high energy costs, incl. glycogen. For the prevention of rhabdomyliosis, it is important to maintain in the offseason a huge calorie oversupply (up to 4 servings of a gainer per day).
• Powerlifters. For them, the source of energy is not important, so the gainer is the factor that makes it possible to achieve a serious predominance of carbohydrates in the diet easily and without stress on the gastrointestinal tract.

Positive effects of a gainer

With regular and metered use of carbohydrate-protein mixture:

• Quickly provide athletes with additional energy (the key factor here is the speed and efficiency with which the gainer operates);
• A positive effect on the increase in muscle mass;
• They help with long-term aerobic exercise – exercises with low intensity (in this regard, the gainer is suitable not only for athletes, but also for footballers, basketball players, track and field athletes);
• Promote rapid rehabilitation after training or competition;
• They suppress the processes of catabolism (destruction of muscle protein);
• They help to maintain weight at the level necessary for the athlete (subject to the observance of the training regimen and sports diet food).

Do gainers harm?

Gainers, as well as other sports nutrition products do not represent harm to your body. Of course, this is my personal opinion and disputes over this will never end. We are all adults, everyone is able to make decisions. And if you, nevertheless, have decided, then the main thing is to carefully and wisely approach the choice of gainers and avoid low-quality products so as not to join the ranks of skeptics. Remember our daily food products are often much more dangerous, and we do not even suspect it.

Weight gainer: conclusion

So, gainers – a very popular, for today, food supplement, intended mainly for gaining muscle mass. They are recommended to be taken, first of all, to people who lead active lifestyles and are experiencing increased stress during training. In bodybuilding, gainers are the most popular.

People who are prone to fat, should be wary of the gainers, it makes sense to pay attention to the protein. Remember, gainer is not a substitute for good nutrition and not a magical substance that will form your muscles, this is an effective nutritional supplement that promotes the growth of your muscles, so you need to competently approach its use.