Proper nutrition is crucial if you're involved in muscle building like weight training and body building. Your body needs a supply of nutrients coming from protein, carbohydrates and fats. Some people tend to focus mostly on protein and carbohydrates but this is a big mistake. If you really want to grow your muscles to their maximum potential, you definitely need some fats.

But not all type of fats are equal. For instance, saturated fats and trans fats are some of the bad fats which you should avoid in your diet while the good dietary fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated are the ones to focus on. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are also known as omega 3 essential fatty acids(EFA's) and they are the healthy fats rich in alpha-linolenic acid which are essential for your bodily functions including building muscles and lubricating joints. During weight training, your joints are subdued by stress and healthy fats play an important role in assisting them to avoid injury. Omega 3 essential fatty acids offer several benefits for muscle building including:

Making real gains - relying on protein and carbohydrates alone isn't complete for your muscle building goals. You need healthy fats like EFA's to grow your body. In other words, you'll need to increase your calorie intake from good fats. But don't worry, you're not gaining fats. This is a misconception. Fat accumulation has to do mostly with a surplus of calories. If you plan to gain some weight with muscles, bypassing healthy fats will only impede your efforts. Say you want to go from 170 pounds to 180 pounds of lean muscles, it will be more difficult without EFA's.

Fostering and maintaining metabolism - your body's basal metabolic rate(BMR) is important if you want to build muscles. BMR is the speed at which your body processes foods to provide energy even when at rest. The faster your BMR, the more muscles you can gain and maintain but also the more fat you can potentially burn making your body more anabolic. If you lift weights regularly to build muscle mass and add EFA's in your diet, your metabolism will shoot up and so will your muscle gains and fat loss.

Promoting lean muscle mass - there are different types of muscle mass. Muscles along with fats and lean muscles with little to no fat. Most people will prefer gaining lean muscle mass and definition. In other words, they want to get more ripped or shredded. Usually people with high muscle definition have a low body fat percentage. A great benefit of omega 3 essential fatty acids is it will kick your fat burning furnace into high gear and allow your body to burn more fat. The end result is you'll get your coveted lean and muscular body frame faster.

Stimulating protein synthesis - protein is the building block of muscles. Muscles are made of protein. Protein contains amino acids which are vital for muscle repair and rebuild. After an intense exercise routine, your muscles are exhausted and depleted and you'll need protein for recovery. Sustaining your muscle mass is also fundamental. You don't want all your hard work to go to waste. This is why muscle builders follow a protein-rich diet. But if your body doesn't utilize the protein fully for building muscles, you're not getting the most from your protein intake. Here is why. After a consumption of protein and amino acids, a process called protein synthesis occurs in your body. This is the process where protein is metabolized and your body's cells build protein to grow muscles. EFA's can actually boost protein synthesis and enable better amino acids absoption to your cells. Consequently, this will lead to more muscle mass. Having a deficiency in EFA's will have an adverse effect as this state will trigger a decrease in protein synthesis instead.

Now that you know the multiple benefits of omega 3 essential fatty acids for muscle building, start including them in your diet and reap the benefits. Here are a few sources of EFA's which contain monounsaturated fats or polyunsaturated fats or both. These are usually abundant in nuts, seeds, certain oils and fruits plus fish notably oily ones.

Olives, extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, avocado, macadamia nut oil, cashew nuts, walnuts, peanut butter, almonds, sunflower seeds, wild salmon, herring, sardines, anchovies, mackerel, trout, fish oils etc…

Consuming foods is a sure-fire way to get your intake of EFA's but sometimes you can be out of stock and this is where omega 3 supplements can become convenient and handy. Some of the popular omega 3 supplements include NOW Ultra Omega-3 which is basically a fish oil supplement available in softgels. There is no need to chew, you can just swallow it. As compared to other fish oil supplements, this one has a higher amount of Eicosapentaenoic(EPA) and Docosahexaenoic(DHA) which are both omega-3 fatty acids. This is definitely a great supplement and I recommend it in your diet. Click here to check it out.

Regular intake of EFA's is vital if you want to maximize your muscle gains but don't abuse it just because they are healthy. As with everything in life, moderation is key. Too much of anything is usually not good.