Firstly, a quick reminder to distinguish between weight gain and muscle gain. Weight gain involves increasing muscle mass and body weight.
The motivations for gaining mass can be: a more muscular physical appearance, a change in weight category for athletes in weight-class sports (judo, boxing, weightlifting…) or even an increase in strength.
To achieve this, you need to implement appropriate training and increase your daily caloric intake to develop muscle mass and increase body weight.
The problem with weight gain is that it is often associated with fat gain and a bulkier appearance. Then, there’s the desire to become more defined and naturally undergo a cut.
Muscle gain aims solely at increasing muscle mass. Unlike weight gain, the goal is to gain “lean” muscle, without increasing fat mass.
Weight gain is therefore slower, but the physical appearance achieved is more athletic. This muscle gain can be pursued for visual goals or to enhance athletic performance (explosiveness, strength, speed, endurance…).
My opinion on gainers
An advantageous source of proteins and carbohydrates
A gainer is a mix of various ingredients: one or more sources of powdered proteins, simple and/or complex carbohydrates (cereals, sugars…).
Read also | How to choose the best whey?
They may also contain vitamins, minerals, and active ingredients such as creatine, taurine… The primary goal of a gainer is to increase your body weight, and this supplement proves particularly effective for that purpose.
The gainer also helps to promote good recovery as proteins and carbohydrates are the two essential elements for muscle and energy recovery.
Notable disadvantages
The gainer is a highly processed food product. It is a massive mix of ingredients that are themselves highly processed, and each brand offers its own formula. Indeed, you won’t find two identical gainer formulas on the market, so how do you choose the right one?
The results also vary greatly from person to person. If the gainer is taken outside of a suitable diet and training regimen, then you will simply increase your body fat percentage.
From an aesthetic, performance, and health perspective, the results can be completely opposite to your goals.
Simple formulas… to the worst cocktails
After analyzing numerous gainer references, I found that the market offers simple and rational formulas composed of proteins, instant oats, flavoring, and emulsifiers.
But it turns out that many formulas are quite absurd:
- 4 or 5 different sources of protein
- As many sources of sugars and carbohydrates
- Dozens of vitamins and minerals in enormous quantities
- Useless active ingredients whose interests are unrelated to mass gain: iodine, chlorine, zinc, taurine…
- Extensive lists of additives, preservatives, colorings, synthetic flavorings, preservatives, sweeteners, texturizers…
You get the idea, before taking a gainer, you should thoroughly analyze the product and ask yourself if the present ingredients are useful or not.
My advice: choose the gainer with the shortest list of ingredients, balance your diet, and significantly increase your training volume to avoid increasing your fat mass.
Listen to our podcast | Who’s afraid of ultra-processed foods?
Consuming your gainer properly
Since each brand offers its own recipe, usage recommendations are also highly variable. From vague advice like “use the gainer when you need it” to “1 to 3 shakes a day whenever you need a caloric intake”.
The gainer is generally consumed as a snack before and/or after training. Ideally, and to properly assimilate the provided nutrients, I recommend using it outside of meals.
Gainer or whey
The difference between a gainer and whey
Whey is composed solely of whey proteins. As I mentioned in my article on how to use whey to lose weight, it can be of varying quality, but its purpose is recovery and muscle mass development.
You can easily turn your whey into a gainer by adding, for example, instant oats.
To sum up:
| Whey | Gainer |
| Whey proteins | Various proteins, carbohydrates |
Make your own healthy gainer using whey
Here is my simple healthy gainer recipe for 1 shaker (320 calories) to mix in 400ml of water. You will need three ingredients:
- 30g of lactose-free native whey isolate based on French milk, neutral flavor
- 50g of instant oats
- 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder
Mix the dry ingredients in a large airtight container. If you want to prepare gainer for several shakers in advance, multiply the quantities.
Benefits: your gainer will be effective, balanced, economical, less processed, and without unnecessary ingredients.
Also read | The opinion of a sports dietitian coach on whey and mass gain
My advice as a dietitian and sports coach
Gainer yes, but healthy
The gainer is a very good solution to increase your muscle mass. It is, of course, to be consumed as part of an appropriate diet and training to achieve the best results.
Opt for simple gainer formulas or the recipe I propose above, you will limit mistakes as well as the gain of body fat and intolerance risks.
Because the longer the list of ingredients in a food product, the more the risks of intolerances increase.
If you are ready to gain muscle and fat
Before consuming gainer, analyze your body type carefully. If your physique is rather lean, then the gainer will help you gain muscle and body fat.
If on the contrary, food makes you gain weight quite quickly and you easily store extra calories, then be aware that the gainer will mostly make you gain body fat.
So be cautious before starting to consume gainer and begin by balancing your overall diet accurately.
In harmony with your training program
Of course, consuming gainer without training is not recommended. Your body will transform the calories into body fat only, and you won’t feel cold in winter!
If your training program is well adapted, a well-balanced gainer can then give you extra support in terms of recovery and muscle development.
It can therefore be quite legitimate to use it during periods of intensive training or during specific physical preparation.
The training volume must be substantial, more than 12 hours of training per week, to justify the significant daily caloric increase linked to the gainer.
