What is weight gainer and who should use it?

We’ve all been there. Lifting weights regularly, working hard and crushing every session, yet our muscles just don’t seem to grow.

Of course, muscle gain isn’t the only way to measure success in the gym: PBs, improved technique and mental health perks are among the other welcome benefits. But if it is your goal, it’s important to support your exercise regime with appropriate nutrition. That’s where weight gainer shakes can come in handy.

Like a regular protein shake, these supplements come in a practical powdered form, so all you need to do is add milk or water then mix it up to create a tasty, flavoured drink. Another similarity to protein shakes is the healthy serving of protein weight gainers provide. But, unlike their more commonplace counterparts, they balance this with a decent dose of carbohydrates and calories to provide your body with the fuel it needs to recover from hard workouts and support muscle growth.

As the name suggests, weight gainers (also called mass gainers) are a type of supplement designed to support muscle growth and weight gain. They do this by providing high amounts of protein, carbs and calories – for example, the Myprotein impact weight gainer (£22.99, Myprotein.com) contains upwards of 29g of protein, as well as up to 52g of carbs and 412 calories.

The main benefit of weight gainer shake lies in its name: it can help you build muscle and gain weight.

Three of the most important criteria to meet for muscle growth are progressive strength training, adequate protein intake and a calorie surplus (consuming more calories than you burn).

Strength training causes damage in your muscle fibres, which your body then repairs larger and stronger than before. But to do this, it needs protein, which provides the building blocks (in the form of amino acids) needed to fix the damage.

Carbohydrates, on the other hand, are your body’s preferred energy source. By upping your carb intake, you’ll have ample energy supplies so can free up more protein for muscle protein synthesis (in English: the process of building muscle). This also applies to calories, with a calorie surplus optimal for muscle growth.

The extra energy from increased carb and calorie intake can also support your training, allowing you to raise the intensity and quality of your workouts for (you guessed it) more muscle growth, according to an article by Anglia Ruskin University.

Two main camps benefit from using weight gainers: people looking to build muscle who have historically struggled to put on weight, and people who have higher nutritional targets due to their intense training routines.

A calorie surplus is the pivotal principle behind putting on weight. Anyone who has tried and failed to put on weight in the past won’t have achieved this consistently, so the higher calorie content of a weight gainer shake could make all the difference. When a calorie surplus is achieved, the weight gainer’s hefty protein provision is there to support muscle growth.

Read more: What are creatine supplements and what do they do?

Intense exercisers can benefit from weight gainer shakes for similar reasons. Due to the length and intensity of their training commitments, their total daily energy expenditure (the number of calories they burn per day) will be higher than the average person. They need enough fuel to feel energised, perform at their best and support this rigorous training schedule, which means achieving maintenance calories or a calorie surplus. So, again, the extra carbs and calories from a weight gainer shake can play some part in providing this, while protein supports cell and tissue (including muscle) growth.

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The Myprotein impact weight gainer strikes a Goldilocks-esque balance between offering a useful nutritional profile and an affordable price tag.

The serving sizes of weight gainers need to be larger than your average protein shake to squeeze in the extra carbs and calories. But many are so large that each tub or pouch only contains enough powder to make as little as five drinks. And, given they rarely come cheap to start with, committing to regular shakes can be a costly endeavour.

The Myprotein option comes in 1kg or 2.5kg (£54.99, Myprotein.com) bags, and has a smaller serving size than most at 100g. It also benefits from regular special offers, so if you can find a decent discount on the 2.5kg pouch you can set yourself up for a month at a snip.

The Myprotein impact weight gainer also offers 29g of protein, as well as up to 52g of carbs and 412 calories. Each figure represents a decent chunk of your RDA, while still allowing you to get most of your nutrition from whole foods – unlike some gainer shakes, which contain more than 1,000 calories per serving.

Looking to increase protein intake? Read our review of the best protein powders