How To Build Muscle Faster Without Weights

How To Build Muscle Faster Without Weights

You need weights to build muscle.

False.

You don’t.

While adding heavier loads can make it easy to create that progression and challenge your muscles to improve your muscle hypertrophy or muscle gains, you don’t need weights to build some killer functional strength and get lean and strong.

As long as you create that challenge in your workouts so your muscles have to adapt and grow to conquer what you’re asking them to do, you’re going to see results – whether that challenge involves adding weight or not.

I bring this up because I got a number of questions on my Weight Training For Fat Loss video about whether or not it was possible to see amazing results from your training using just bodyweight moves.

And the answer is yes!

You can see amazing results and build muscle using only your own bodyweight.

Whether you want to gain muscle just to gain muscle and strength or you want to gain muscle to help with the fat loss process, increasing your metabolic rate, you can adjust other training variables and strategically design your bodyweight workouts to create progression.

That’s why I wanted to share some amazing ways to design your bodyweight workouts and use bodyweight moves to help you build muscle efficiently whether you’re training at home, training while on the road traveling or even just looking for a way to stay on track with your workouts and goals during the holidays!

Just remember with all of these you want to design a clear progression you repeat for a few weeks in a row.

Randomly stringing things together won’t help you create that clear progression and build you need to see results.

While you may get sore from constantly doing new things, and I know that can make you FEEL like you’re getting results, you aren’t creating that challenge that builds upon previous weeks to truly create that muscle growth!

Soreness truly isn’t an indicator that we worked hard enough or that we are going to get better results faster.

Honestly seeking to constantly be sore may be holding you back from actually achieving the muscle gains you want…and may actually mean that something is off in your recovery and nutrition.

Once we start focusing instead on tracking our progress in our workout routines to see increases in our performance each session, we ultimately will see better muscle gains, be sore less and even see our body composition improve overall.

So if you are training with just bodyweight and want to gain more muscle, one great way to start improving your results is to increase your training density.

(Want a workout program designed for the tools you have and goals you want to hit? Check out my Dynamic Strength App!)

Using Density Training Workout Designs can help you get better results and actually spend less time training to fit your busy schedule.

#1: Use Density Training Workout Designs.

Now you may be thinking what is training density even?

Training density is the volume of work in a specific time frame.

You can change training density by adding in more volume (so more reps and sets of moves) or by adjusting the time frame for the work you have planned out.

Too often though, especially when we don’t have weights to challenge us, we simply do MORE. We add in more moves, more reps and sets.

But this can lead to wasted volume and very inefficient and long workouts.

Because it isn’t just the volume, but the quality of that volume that matters.

Instead of doing more, we can adjust the timeframe we have to complete a certain amount of work, even trying to increase volume within those time limits so it doesn’t just get out of control.

That’s where Density Intervals and Density Sets can be great designs to use for bodyweight training.

Both of these have time limits where your goal is to increase volume within those boundaries, doing more reps and sets, while also using more challenging movements.

Density Intervals are work intervals under 1 minute that can be laid out as compound sets, so moves back to back for a single muscle group or area, trisets (3 moves done back to back before any rest) or circuits.

With Density intervals, especially when using bodyweight, you often want to work the same area in back to back intervals either adjusting tempos, types of movements or even ranges of motion, before moving on to a different muscle group.

You may do something like a bodyweight squat followed by squat pulses. Or a wall sit followed by bodyweight squats. Or bodyweight squats followed by front lunges.

But you are creating more training density by increasing the amount of work you’re doing for an area in a set amount of time while even using other training variables to create that challenge.

Density Sets also are about increasing the volume of work done in a set amount of time while progressing moves in other ways.

With this design, you may set a timeframe of work from 5-25 minutes and cycle through different moves in that time, either focusing in on one area of the body or even alternating upper and lower or anterior/posterior movements based on your progression and specific goals for the workout.

When using 5-15 minutes, often 1-3 moves works best per set. With 20+ timed sets, you can consider even 4-5 done back to back.

When you do moves that work the same area back to back, you will find that area will become more fatigued more quickly and cause you to have to modify as you go through over resting.

If you alternate areas worked, you will find that allows you to rest without actually resting. Pairing a push up with a single leg deadlift, allows your chest, shoulders and triceps to rest as your hamstring and glutes work.

With Density Sets, you want to think fewer reps per round but increasing the amount of work done by performing more rounds in the time.

The reason you want to think even just 5 reps per move before moving to the next exercise is so that you can use harder variations while making sure each rep is quality.

You can actually end up doing more reps with the harder variation during your workout this way than if you tried to do more reps in a row!

And that training volume with a harder variation means you’re challenging your muscles even more!

We have to remember that as much as increasing our training density can be a great way to create the challenge we need, and volume we need to build muscle, we want each rep to be quality to also get better results faster!

#2: Consider Other Training Variables.

Then whether you use a Density Training Design or even strategically use circuits or compound sets or any other workout design, you don’t want to ignore the importance of adjusting other training variables to make moves challenging.

Adding weights is such an easy training variable to adjust, which is so often why we default back to it.

But when you have your own bodyweight, you can be creative with how you design progression.

You can play with tempos of moves, slowing down moves, speeding them up or even performing isometrics or holds. You can even use more than one tempo with a single move.

You can slow down the lower down of a push up, add in a push up hold at the mid-point of a push up, speed up the movement making it explosive even leaving the ground. Or you could combine a slow lower down, hold and then quick press back up!

You can change your base of support or the stability of a move, trying a unilateral variation, or single sided variation, of a basic bilateral, or two-sided, move – like a single arm plank over a basic high plank.

You could even take this a step further and instead of staying on one side in the unilateral move, alternate sides. You could take that single arm plank hold and turn it into a plank with punch so you’re having to avoid rotation now with movement!

Even slight adjustments in that base of support can impact things, going from a basic bodyweight squat to a split squat.

And from there you can adjust the challenge by adding in even more movement going to that full front lunge.

You could even vary the range of motion on that, limiting the range of motion with pulses in that split squat position or placing that back foot up on a bench for a balance lunge. You can even change how you increase the range of motion by instead putting your front foot up on a step over raising the back leg.

And there are more training variables you can adjust on top of adjusting how you include these in your workouts.

Even going back to those density intervals, you could do an interval of split squats followed by split squat pulses.

Or do a fast split squat followed by a slow split squat with a hold.

The great part is all of these can change how you’re challenging your body to build that lean muscle!

Because progression can be even implementing the same but different at times!

To get those creative juices flowing so you get out of only thinking about challenging yourself by adding weight, it can be fun to play a game where you take one basic move, say a squat, and run through all of the options available.

You can then select the movement variation that matches your needs and goals for that workout and progression, saving the others to even use in your next workout series to keep creating a challenge for your body in new ways…

But you’ll be amazed by how many ways you can actually challenge yourself with those basic bodyweight exercises and even have fun and keep your training fresh while doing so!

And with playing this game with movements to see how you can manipulate training variables to create that progression, you not only want to consider compound and hybrid exercises you can include that work more muscle groups at once, but also how you can better use isolation exercises in your training routines.

#3: Use Isolation Moves Strategically.

Studies have shown that, especially for stubborn muscles, isolation exercises or exercises that really focus in on one specific muscle, can be so key.

With compound moves, you are only as strong as your weakest link, which may prevent you from fully working an area as much as needed.

With isolation moves, there is really only one link working so you can make sure it is working to the max.

But, especially when we don’t have loads to progress things, or target those muscles, it can be hard to find a way to use isolation moves that is also time efficient.

Yet also because we don’t have loads, isolation moves can be even more key to include.

They can help us fully fatigue areas, and create more time under tension even for those muscles during our training, to make sure we’re challenging our body in ways that our muscles are forced to adapt.

That is why pairing an isolation move right AFTER a compound exercise can be super helpful when training with only bodyweight.

While you’ve targeted those large muscle groups and more muscles with a more challenging compound move first, you can then hone in on any stubborn areas right after to fully fatigue the muscle with that more isolated exercise.

Try a get up lunge to work your legs then further target your quads and isolate them with a lean back.

Or do a regular push up followed by a Tricep Push Up or dip off a bench to then isolate and further fatigue those triceps.

You will even find doing this changes how you feel that more compound exercise in subsequent rounds of your workout!

But instead of just putting a burner at the end or some isolation work set out in your workout like you may do with weights, use those isolation moves as almost a way to post-exhaust an area.

Or potentially for a larger, stronger muscle like your glutes, even consider some pre-fatigue work, including isolation exercises before the compound move so you better feel that muscle engaging and fully working.

The more we feel a muscle activate and work, the more we are truly able to improve the muscle gains for that muscle!

These 3 tips are a great place to start adjusting your bodyweight training to see results. And while we need to challenge our muscles if we want to create adaptation and growth, we can’t ignore the importance of also adjusting our diet to match!

Don’t forget the importance of your nutrition!

Especially if we want to avoid gaining a ton of unwanted fat in the process of gaining muscle, we need to dial in our macros and calories to complement our training. Check out my video about building muscle and losing fat at the same time. I’ve included the link in the video description as a great next video to watch.

Because, while many of us have been told it isn’t possible, we can achieve amazing body recomp if we dial in our macros to match our workouts and embrace that results take time!

–> Gain Muscle Without Gaining Fat

Can’t Lose Fat? 4 Tips To Boost Your METABOLISM

Can’t Lose Fat? 4 Tips To Boost Your METABOLISM

Are you slashing your calories super low, training harder and longer only to ultimately see your weight INCREASE?

Are you worried your previous dieting efforts have damaged your metabolism?

Are you ready to give up because you feel like nothing is going to work, you’ve tried everything and just end up working hard to go backward?

You’re not alone in your frustration. It sucks when we’re working hard to not see the results we feel we deserve!

But the good part is your metabolism isn’t broken.

The bad part is, everything you’ve done in the past, all those quick fixes and restrictive diets and marathon gym sessions, are now sabotaging your results.

I know it can feel like if we just look at a cookie we gain weight.

But the metabolic adaptations you’re now suffering from aren’t permanent!

And as much as it feels like nothing will work, you can make some small changes that will truly help you lose the weight.

But you’ve got to embrace the hard but simple truth…

Change requires change.

You’re going to need to flip your thinking on how you approach your diet and exercise routine if you want to get your leanest, strongest body as you get older.

You’re going to have to go against what you’ve always done.

Because our body wants to fight the weight loss process.

This is because our body sees a calorie deficit as a threat to survival.

And this is why we see our metabolic rate decrease as we cut our calories lower, try to train longer and harder and even give ourselves less recovery time.

Our body tries to survive based on what we are giving it. This means burning fewer calories at rest to conserve energy. It may mean we see decreases in our performance or even want to move and fidget less.

It is even why we can lose more muscle mass during more extreme diets because our body will utilize what it can for fuel. And muscle is metabolically costly.

We want to keep on muscle for this exact reason. It keeps our metabolic rate higher so we burn more calories at rest.

But when your body feels threatened, and worries you won’t have enough fuel, it is going to catabolize your muscle so you aren’t expending as much energy.

All of this is what can make you feel like your metabolism is broken.

It can lead to you gaining weight as you do more and eat less!

But your metabolism is NOT broken.

It’s just adapted.

So STOP doing more.

Here are 4 tips to help you improve your metabolic health and stop the weight gain frustration as well as where to start today!

4 Tips To Improve Your Metabolic Health:

#1:AVOID Fat Burners.

Trust me, if there was a magic fat burning food or supplement that truly worked…I’d be sharing it with you right now. Because then my clients would love me forever and I’d be able to guarantee a quick fix for fat results!

But there isn’t.

And not only is there no magic food or supplement, but most fat burning supplements on the market are…well..dangerous.

I personally will NEVER use one nor ever recommend them to a client.

And even those fat burning foods and supplements that do work initially work will hit a point of diminishing returns.

Take for instance anything with caffeine.

While it can potentially have an impact on our metabolism to start, and studies have even shown an elevation in fat burning and fat oxidation in leaner individuals more so than obese individuals, our body adapts, and adapts very quickly.

We build up a caffeine tolerance.

So unless you keep guzzling down more and more, you won’t see the same benefits you did initially.

Not to mention as we get older the impact seems to decrease as well.

And often the more you start to rely on these things, the more you sabotage your recovery which can lead to hormonal imbalances that end up holding you back.

We become dependent on it even to maintain our current weight.

And often our sleep suffers, which can be detrimental to your metabolic health.

So STOP searching for a fat burning food to boost your metabolic rate.

Instead focus on whole natural foods and a balanced diet high in protein with a diversity of foods included. This can help you promote optimal hormone levels and metabolic health.

Plus, the thermic effect of protein will boost your metabolic rate as your body has to expend more energy to process and digest protein to use.

Same goes for more quality, whole natural foods. They have a higher thermic effect than more processed, less nutrient dense foods.

So the best way to boost your metabolic rate from foods is to dial in your macros and micronutrients.

By even tracking our food and including that diversity we can make sure to get plenty of vitamins and minerals which will ultimately lead to a healthy metabolism.

Focusing on making sure your levels of Magnesium, Calcium, Vitamin D and B complex and Iron, especially for women and those going through menopause, are optimal will help you improve your metabolic health. So including foods high in these things, or even the occasional supplement, is the best “fat burner” you can get.

#2: Avoid Extended Large Deficits.

Our body fights the weight loss process. It also doesn’t like change.

Our body wants to maintain balance and what it believes to be normal and safe – which is generally where you’ve been maintaining for awhile.

So if you dramatically slash your calories lower, while even increasing your deficit through training harder and longer, your body feels threatened and does what it can to not use up your stored energy, your fat, faster than it needs to.

It doesn’t know when the next meal is coming!

Like everything, we get good at and adapt to what we consistently do. Consistently eat very little and your body gets good at functioning off less!

To avoid creating quick and extreme metabolic adaptations so your body gets used to surviving off of a super low calorie intake, don’t slash your calories super low.

Instead create a deficit of only 100-200 calories.

And at times, give yourself a dieting break especially if you’ve been in a deficit for longer or you’re within 10lbs of your ultimate goal.

This diet break may be one day a week of higher calories. Or it may be a 10-14 day stretch even of eating at maintenance.

Especially if your calories are super low currently and your gaining, this break may be even more essential.

I know the idea of eating more can be scary when we’re already gaining eating so little, BUT eating more can help increase your metabolic rate, help you gain muscle to burn more calories at rest AND restore proper hormonal balance.

You’ll also often find you sleep better, want to move more and even see your performance in your training improve.

All of these things are what ultimately lead to better fat loss results and your ability to have a healthy metabolic rate to MAINTAIN your results long-term!

#3: Challenge Yourself Don’t Slaughter Yourself.

If it challenges you, it will change you.

Whether you use loads, tempos, volume, instability or adjust so many other training variables, results happen because we’ve challenged our body to adapt and grow stronger.

HOWEVER, challenging yourself doesn’t mean causing yourself to feel like death after each and every workout.

It doesn’t mean dying on the ground feeling like you’re going to vomit.

It doesn’t mean being so sore you can’t move the next day.

Too often destroying ourselves with each and every session, doing wasted volume and constantly including new moves that makes us sore, actually leads to us NOT seeing the results we want while working really hard.

Challenging yourself is about clear and consistent progression.

It is about designing a weekly workout schedule you repeat for a few weeks to see growth in moves.

It is about doing one more rep, adding a bit more weight slowly even just on one round, doing a slightly more advanced variation of a move.

Even FEELING muscles better engage in a movement as you increase the range of motion can be the challenge you need.

But challenging yourself in a productive way means having that clear plan in place to make those incremental adjustments and see growth.

Stop focusing on just feeling super worked and start really tracking your workouts to push a bit more each and every week.

This will also ensure you’re truly doing enough over leaving more than you should in the tank!

#4: Don’t Ignore The Importance Of Sleep.

Most of us know how important sleep is…

But it’s a harder one to change and control.

So we often acknowledge it but then never really change it.

We simply feel we don’t have time to sleep more or we can’t fall asleep or stay asleep.

And while, yes, you can’t “force” yourself to sleep like you can to eat a certain way or train, you can create different habits and routines to make getting quality sleep easier.

Which often starts with first noticing what your current habits are that aren’t leading to results.

Are you consuming caffeine later in the day?

Are you doing a workout right before bed?

Are you giving yourself time to actually unwind and relax before going to sleep?

Note the habits you are currently doing and then make small adjustments creating a set pre-bed routine.

Often having this set pre-bed routine can help us mentally relax and be prepared to sleep.

It makes that connection so we are ready and relaxed before bed vs our body and mind not really knowing that it is time to go to bed.

I love including a little mobility work right before bed to even do some deep breathing and allow both my body and mind to unwind before bed! I also take my Immunity for the zinc and magnesium sleep benefits.

But more than what I’m doing is the fact that I know I’m doing this to sleep!

Puts my in a relaxed state to sleep better!

Now…Where Do You Start With All Of This?

The most sustainable changes are based off our current lifestyle.

We need to meet ourselves where we are at.

And one off the hardest, but most essential first changes to often make if we do feel we need to fix our metabolism is to EAT MORE!

But embracing eating more to lose fat can be hard.

That’s why I want you to check out my Eat More To Lose Fat video next. These tips will help you start fueling to increase your metabolic rate and ultimately lose fat faster!

–> Eat More To Lose Fat

STUDIES:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7485480/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7611396/

How to Build Muscle At Any Age (7 TIPS!)

How to Build Muscle At Any Age (7 TIPS!)

“I’m too old to gain muscle.”

Stop lying to yourself. Stop giving yourself an excuse to not work hard and move forward.

Because while our body, needs and goals do change as we get older, and yes it 100% becomes harder to build and retain lean muscle, we can achieve fabulous results and build muscle at any and every age.

And honestly, often the reason we don’t see the results we want as we get older is because we cling to improper dieting and workout practices that we may have “gotten away with” when we were younger.

But at every stage of life, we need to be adjusting our training and fueling. Nothing works forever.

Our body and lifestyle are constantly evolving and so should our diet and training habits to meet us where we are at currently so we can always move forward and be functional strong till our final day on this planet!

That’s why I want to share 7 tips to help you not only maintain your muscle mass but gain muscle as you get older.

Tip #1: Use It Or Lose It.

So often the reason we see more dramatic shifts in body composition and lose more muscle mass as we get older is because we’ve STOPPED doing what makes us fitter and stronger.

We accept decline and use age as an excuse instead of finding ways to really challenge ourselves.

Things do get harder. We may feel more awkward with balance moves. We may feel like we recover slower.

We may even dislike coordination moves because they are uncomfortable.

Even mainstream media tells people to stop doing what once kept them strong.

But if you don’t use it, you lose it.

If you want to maintain your muscle, you’ve got to challenge your body.

If you want to keep your mind-body connection strong, which can lead to better muscle hypertrophy as well, you’ve got to do moves that challenge your coordination.

And if you not only want to gain muscle but stay functionally strong and avoid falls, you’ve got to do those awkward balance moves.

Use it or lose it. Keep challenging yourself and training those movement patterns in the gym so you move better in every day life!

Tip #2: Stop Dieting.

Muscle helps keep our metabolic rate higher. It helps us burn more calories at rest and stay leaner.

And we get older we become less able to utilize protein as efficiently making it even harder to build and retain lean muscle mass.

But this is why it is even more key we stop the dieting and extreme deficits.

While it can feel harder and harder to lose any weight we’ve gained so we feel we need to turn to larger and larger calorie deficits, this ultimately sabotages our results.

It leads to more muscle being lost in the process of us trying to lose weight which only leads to metabolic adaptations and worse body composition.

It leads to us actually making it harder on ourselves to lose the weight and keep it off. Plus the metabolic adaptations mean we burn fewer calories at rest.

This leads to us then slashing our calories lower and lower to try to keep losing, perpetuating the horrible weight gaining cycle as we get older.

Instead we need to FUEL that lean muscle.

We need to focus on macros first and a very slight calorie deficit so we can help ourselves retain that lean muscle even as we want to lose fat.

Or we maybe even need to first retrain our body to eat more so we can build lean muscle with a small calorie surplus before we consider a slight deficit to lose!

Tip #3: Do Moves That Challenge You.

Many of us have heard that strength training is key to gaining muscle especially as we get older.

And it is.

By challenging our muscles, we force them to rebuild and grow stronger.

It’s why we don’t want to fear lifting heavy as we get older.

The key is recognizing what lifting heavy is for us.

It may mean bodyweight training starting out, especially if you haven’t trained before or trained consistently in awhile.

Or it may be using resistance bands or dumbbells over barbells.

The key is not fearing loads and truly challenging yourself instead of going lighter just because you’ve hit a certain age.

Fitness is about ability PERIOD.

We always have to meet ourselves where we are at.

This also means we can’t avoid awkward and uncomfortable moves that challenge our mind-body connection.

Neuromuscular efficiency, or the ability to recruit muscles quickly and in the right sequences to perform movements properly, is key to us moving well and even improving our reaction times and coordination in every day life.

Not to mention that ability to recruit muscles quickly, that muscle activation, will also IMPROVE our muscle hypertrophy.

So if you want to be able to gain more muscle, you want to improve that mind-body connection with moves that challenge your balance and your coordination while also challenging yourself with loads!

Tip #4: Increase Protein Portions Per Meal.

As we get older we can develop anabolic resistance and we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently.

This means we actually need to increase our protein intake, especially when we’re training hard and lifting to build muscle.

Because our muscles don’t respond by increasing muscle protein synthesis in the same way as when we were younger, increasing a portion of 20 grams of protein to 30 may be super key.

And if we’re training harder, you may see an even better benefit from 40 grams, especially after a hard training session.

However, the reason I don’t just say increase protein intake overall is because, as we get older, we can also often see a decline in our appetite.

This decline can be purely age related but also based on how we’ve trained our body to fuel when trying to lose weight in a more extreme deficit, which can make it hard to eat a ton of protein in one sitting, especially because it is so satiating and can make us feel fuller.

By increasing each meal over trying to get in a ton extra at one meal, and even adding in a pre and post workout snack that is protein-centric, we can break up our protein intake to see results.

You may even find that you can see added benefits from a BCAA supplement consumed DURING your workout as Leucine especially is so critical to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.

There can also be some benefits of breaking up your protein to keep a positive protein balance at multiple times a day to promote better muscle growth!

Tip #5: Do Your Mobility Work.

We can see changes in our recovery and aches and pains can feel like they’re adding up as we get older.

Too often we simply blame our age over recognizing the movement compensations, imbalances, overuse and overload that have been occurring for years that we haven’t addressed.

But whatever the reason, we can’t ignore these issues if we want to be able to train hard consistently to see results.

It’s why mobility work is so key.

It can help us move better and recover faster, even helping us better manage chronic inflammatory conditions that could fight our muscle gains, so we can train consistently and challenge ourselves to build that lean muscle.

Without proper recovery, we end up training to a point of diminishing returns where we are just constantly beating our body down over allowing for proper recovery and growth.

When we rest, we rebuild!

Here is a full body mobility routine with the complete 3-step prehab process to address common aches and pains.

But it is key we do this mobility work in every warm up so we can train to build that lean muscle more efficiently!

You’ll be surprised by how much even just 5-10 minutes of mobility work a day helps you train harder without needing extra days off to recover!

Tip #6: Be Strategic In Your Meal Timing.

I say this as a person who personally loves intermittent fasting as a meal timing…

Fasting can backfire when gaining muscle is your goal – especially if you are a hardgainer.

And as we get older, we have to realize that fasting and fasted training may hinder us from gaining muscle, as in a fasted state, your muscle protein balance is negative.

Basically you break down more muscle than you build.

So we put ourselves at greater risk for losing muscle the more we put ourselves in this negative protein balance.

Not to mention, when you train fasted, you don’t necessarily have the readily available stored fuel you need to truly push through a hard session or rebuild from the damage you’ve created.

So consider including a pre-workout meal with protein to have amino acids readily available in your system and even a carb source for immediate fuel to allow you to push harder in your session without fatigue.

This meal will help create a positive protein balance even before your session.

Then post workout, consider consuming another 40grams even of protein.

Studies have found that resistance exercise combined with amino acid ingestion elicits the greatest anabolic response and may assist the “elderly” in producing a ‘youthful’ muscle protein synthetic response provided sufficient protein is ingested following exercise.

This post workout protein consumption can also even help you improve your recovery so you can include more hard training sessions over the week.

Tip #7: Stay Active On Days Off.

Recovery and rest days don’t have to be “do nothing days.”

And the more we can actually use these days to prep our body to move better during our training sessions, the better off we will be.

Include 5-10 minute mobility routines.

Go for a long walk.

Honestly, walking is one of the most underutilized tools we have to stay functionally stronger and improve our body composition even as we get older.

Walking can help us avoid unwanted fat gain, keep our aerobic base strong and even recover from previous training sessions without being catabolic to our muscle mass unlike more intense forms of steady state cardio.

Walking can also be a great way to destress and help our body, and mind, rest!

So as much as it can be hard to take a day off, your body needs it. Your muscles repair and rebuild when you give them time to recover.

But to stay active, don’t be afraid to include light movement and mobility work on those days off!

You may be surprised by how much even this light activity helps you sleep better!

SUMMARY:

We can, and should, focus on building muscle at any and every age.

We are NEVER too old to see results.

And our workout routine and diet should always be based on our needs and goals, meeting us where we are at. But our age, that simple number, should never determine what we can or can’t do.

We have to remember that if we want to stay strong, it really is a case of use it or lose it.

So use these 7 tips to help you feel lean, strong and fabulous till your final day on this planet!

And for even more motivation to never say you’re too old, check out the Fitness Hacks Podcasts I’ve linked to below.

FHP S2:E7 – Can You Gain Muscle As You Get Older? If So, How!?

FHP S2: E46 – I’m too OLD!

MORE STUDIES:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22313809/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6582369/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15438627.2020.1770251
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.2000.88.2.386
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.00488.2005

5 Ways To Easily​ Add Protein Everyday​

5 Ways To Easily​ Add Protein Everyday​

If you want the best and fastest possible weight loss and fat loss results, you need to focus on two things when it comes to your nutrition…

1. Creating that small calorie deficit
2. Increasing your protein

Often creating that deficit is the easier part of the equation for most of us. We simple cut something out or shrink one of our portions a bit.

Increasing protein on the other hand can feel oddly overwhelming, especially when it requires us to adjust other things as well to create that calorie deficit.

But increasing protein is more key than we realize.

Studies have shown that when it comes to fat loss, this macro really is essential, leading to not only faster results but more muscle mass retention and fewer metabolic adaptation, which also ultimately makes it easier to not only lose fat but keep it off.

How many carbs and how much fat you consume can even vary and fluctuate and still work for weight loss if protein is kept higher. Although you may find that you have macro ratios that work better for you based on a variety of factors from activity level to genetics and age.

But studies have even shown that the macro ratio used for weight loss with higher protein, regardless of where carbs and fats fall, always leads to better fat loss and body recomposition results!

And while we may want to strategically adjust carbs and fats to match our activity levels and lifestyle, if tracking macros and tweaking them all at once is overwhelming, the key is just to start with a protein target.

So if you’re starting to adjust your diet and struggling to increase your protein, think about just small changes of even 10 grams a day.

And here are 5 tips to help you increase your protein without feeling like you’re having to fully overhaul your diet.

Because small changes add up!

 

5 Tips To Increase Your Protein:

#1: Tweak your current portions.

Often we think dramatic changes over small adjustments.

We feel like we have to create completely different meals. Or we just turn only to supplements.

Or we even focus on trying to find ways to force protein into meals we don’t generally eat a lot at – like making super protein packed snacks or desserts.

But instead of trying to make big changes, think about how you can adjust what you’re currently doing with as small a change as possible.

If you’re eating 3 ounces of a protein at a meal, try just increasing that portion to 4.

That little adjustment can add up!

And it doesn’t even have to be adding an ounce more ground beef to your burrito bowl or chicken to your salad.

It could be another ounce of any other type of protein as well that you add on!

#2: Find quick go-to options out.

Often if we are constantly on the go, it can feel hard to get in protein quickly.

It’s why planning ahead to start can be key and it can be helpful to look at the options you do have out at restaurants or easy to grab and go from a grocery store.

These quick protein-centric meals and snacks can help us stay consistent and bump our daily protein intake so it doesn’t feel like we are trying to play “catch up” at dinner.

Take a look around your grocery store and log in a few options to see how they can impact your day.

Things like jerky, hard boiled eggs, shrimp cocktail, and Greek yogurt are all great go-to options.

You can often even find pre-cooked, very simple chicken that you can even re-heat or eat cold…whether you chow it down on it’s on or add it to a wrap or salad packet you pick up.

There are even great options at many fast food restaurants. While maybe not our ideal because of the food “quality,” they can help us maintain a balance overall and stay on track.

Places like Chick-fil-a with their grilled chicken nuggets are a great option.

And often even restaurants like Chipotle allow you to adjust the portion size to match your needs and goals.

Take some time though, as annoying as it may be, to research a few dining out options close to you. It can help you during those times you’re in a pinch or even don’t feel like cooking!

#3: Think swaps! Use those “complementary proteins.”

So not only do we often just need to swap the cut of meat to adjust for the amount of protein vs fat that we are consuming, but we can make even little swaps to the veggies and other carbs we include that can really boost our protein intake over the course of a day.

Often we don’t know how to cut down on the fat in our diet while bumping protein when it can be as simple as eating a chicken breast over a chicken thigh.

And if we want to include red meat, maybe we just change the cut of steak, or even go with 90% lean ground beef over 85%.

Or maybe you don’t like leaner ground beef or chicken breast. Maybe instead you keep that same cut of meat and swap half the portion for shrimp or a white fish with less fat.

Maybe doing that surf and turf combo is all you need to bump the protein while lowering the fat you’re consuming.

Or maybe in your morning omelet you cut back on the full eggs and include some egg whites.

Or we choose to include low fat or fat free greek yogurt over full fat.

Small changes like that can pay off.

So can potentially adjusting the types of carbs or veggies we use to get more amino acids over the day, including more spinach in our salads or mushrooms in our casseroles or broccoli in our stir fries.

Maybe you focus your carb sources more on quinoa over rice or buckwheat pasta over regular pasta.

Maybe we even swap in plant based sources of protein like tofu or tempeh or seitan instead of adding more meat. Or add in edamame to a seafood poke bowl.

We can even include nutritional yeast in a smoothie, sprinkled on salad or added into a sauce to add a cheesy flavor!

Small little swaps add up and can even help us find meals we enjoy more, make us feel fueled and full as we work toward our weight loss goals!

#4: Don’t fear supplements.

While supplements are supplemental and we want to focus our diet on whole, natural foods, we also have to recognize that we make changes when the PAIN of staying stuck outweighs the PAIN of change.

So even if we want to lose weight and fat, if it feels too overwhelming to get started adjusting our diet, there is a good chance, we will never make the changes we need.

Starting out, to make things easier, you may find you do add in a whey or other protein supplement as a snack to quickly and easily bump your protein 20-30 grams per day.

You can include protein powders in baked goods, oatmeals, smoothies or a simple shake.

It can even be good as something to keep in your purse, desk or backpack to mix quickly with a milk or water when you’re on the go!

You could even stir it into a quick microwaved oatmeal to add a protein boost and even some extra flavor!

#5: Mix and match!

Often we get stuck thinking more of the single protein source we already have in a meal, instead of mixing and matching protein sources to increase our protein without it feeling like we’re just eating pounds of the same thing.

For fried rice with chicken, try adding in egg whites for a little texture and a protein boost.

For a little extra protein in a pasta or enchilada bake, think some cottage cheese or greek yogurt with your ground beef.

Even swap the type of pasta you’re using. There are some great edamame, chickpea or even buckwheat options that could give you a boost.

For a stir fry, think shrimp and chicken. Or add in edamame. Diversify those protein sources in your dishes to make things tasty while helping you achieve results.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match protein sources and even try and include more than one in meals! It can be a great way to reduce your fat or carbs while increasing your protein to create the calorie intake you need.

SUMMARY:

Small changes really add up. Think about how you can use these 5 tips to make small changes to your daily meals and even weekly averages.

You can then choose even just one small swap to start with.

Planning ahead and even experimenting with how these things can make an impact can help you when you are pressed for time and on the go.

So list out some ways you can use these 5 tips in your daily life to see results!

Ready to dial in your macros and see the results you deserve?

Learn more about my Metabolic Shred!

 

The Muscle Gaining Mistake EVERYONE Makes (And What To Do Instead)

The Muscle Gaining Mistake EVERYONE Makes (And What To Do Instead)

You’ve lost the weight you wanted to lose. But now, you want to gain a bit more muscle while maintaining your fat loss.

You’ve got your workouts all set, you’ve adjusted your macros, you’ve increased your calories…

You’re feeling good.

You’ve felt yourself even starting to get stronger this first week.

Then…you step on the scale.

DUN DUN DUUUUUN…

You’ve gained weight!

You feel yourself starting to freak out and you want to instantly slash your calories and change everything.

But DON’T!

You’ll only sabotage yourself.

This is why it may be key you STOP weighing yourself if you want to focus on building muscle.

 

Back Away From The Scale:

When you’ve worked hard to get leaner, to lose weight, it can be a mental battle to see that scale start to go the other direction.

But it most likely will.

This isn’t even due to pounds of muscle piling on OR fat immediately being gained.

Changes simply don’t happen overnight.

And especially the more training experience you have, the slower you’re going to pack on those muscle pounds!

Often this scale fluctuation up at the start of your muscle gaining phase is simply due to you coming out of a deficit and even increasing your carb intake.

Full glycogen stores mean also water weight being gained.

And this will cause a quick increase on the scale.

With every gram of glycogen stored comes 3-4grams of water weight.

Basically this means when you CUT carbs, you can deplete your glycogen stores to lose up to 6.6lbs or about 3kg pretty instantly.

And you can also GAIN as much just as quickly.

Not to mention with the hard training sessions, you may find that inflammation within your body increases – again leading to weight gain.

So if you want to truly focus on building muscle, you need to put away your scale for a bit.

Not to mention, you may want to even consider a slight diet break after a fat loss phase to really create that new set point and have your body fully adapt to your new leanness level so you feel more confident in maintaining your results before you move into that muscle building phase.

So…If You Can’t Use The Scale, How Can You Make Sure It’s Muscle And Not Fat?

When your focus shifts to building muscle, you want to have ways of actually measuring how much muscle you’re building.

The hard part about measuring body comp is, many more accurate tests aren’t easily available and are super expensive making it harder to do consistently OR they are less accurate home handheld devices super impacted by hydration levels even.

Every tool has its downsides. And while you can make things work by using tools repeatedly to at least see progress from previous measurements even if the measurement isn’t the same as a reading by another tool, two very simple ways to also track at home are…

– Progress Pictures
– Measurements

Progress pictures are a great way to see changes in body recomp over time. Just make sure to take them from multiple angles as you may be making strides, but in areas you don’t see or care about first.

And when you do take pictures, take them first thing in the morning, ideally in the exact same place. This way lighting is consistent so you can’t feel like you look worse or better just because the light has changed. And you haven’t consumed anything to impact how you look.

Note that even pictures will change at times DAILY due to muscle tissue damage and inflammation. After a hard arm workout, you may find your arms aren’t as defined the next day.

It’s key with EVERY measurement we watch trends.

Another great way to track progress is with measurements.

I recommend taking measurements of the areas you want to grow BUT also the areas that are lean that you want to stay lean.

By comparing lean area measurements over time, you can watch for fat being gained, while you can also track growth in the areas you are working to build muscle.

Just make sure you’re consistent in where you are measuring and when you are measuring.

Just like the scale, how we look in our photos and even our measurements can change over the course of the day with food consumption and training!

Whatever tools you do decide to use to measure, make sure to use them consistently and track trends over time, not getting discouraged with slow results or ups and downs.

Slow results are truly REAL results.

SUMMARY:

It’s key we realize that the scale doesn’t show the full picture.

And even seeing a gain over time on the scale can mean better body composition.

If you gain two pounds of muscle and even lose a pound of fat, you’ll see that scale increase despite a fantastic improvement in your body recomp and even fat being lost while you’ve gained muscle.

So if you want to truly focus on building muscle, it may be time to ditch the scale and really stay focused on those daily habits, progress pictures and measurements.

Remember if you’re tracking what you’re doing, you should be able to trust in the process as you have a clear picture of what you’re doing to adjust over time!

If you’re looking to learn how to fuel according to YOUR needs and goals, check out my Macro Hacks!

–> Learn More About The Macro Hacks

How To Build Muscle ( 5 HABIT CHANGES)

How To Build Muscle ( 5 HABIT CHANGES)

Often when we want to achieve a new goal, a new result, we look for a new program, a new set of routines or habits to implement.

But too often we don’t assess habits we may currently have that we actually need to STOP doing.

And many of these old habits even sneak into our new programming ultimately holding us back from our new goal.

Many of these habits we hold on to because they worked for our previous goals – say for weight loss or fat loss.

But when our focus changes, our habits need to shift as well.

And to gain muscle we can’t repeat the same habits that worked for weight loss. Gaining muscle means embracing habit changes.

We have to remember that what worked for one goal may not work for another and could even hinder us from seeing results.

That’s why I wanted to share 5 habits many of us excuse that we actually need to STOP doing if we want to gain more muscle.

 

5 Habits To Stop Doing If You Want To Gain More Muscle FASTER:

It’s hard at times to let go of habits that “worked” or that we enjoyed even when we logically know they no longer fit our goals.

But it’s key we do make sure our lifestyle is evolving to match our changing needs and goals.

Habit #1: Working Out Every Day

“But I love working out!”

“I feel guilty if I don’t do something every day.”

Many of us have said these statements as an excuse to train every day.

And while we may “get away with it” more in a fat loss phase, even then this mindset backfires.

Our body rebuilds and functions optimally when it has time to rest and rebuild.

You need quality recovery. You need proper fueling. You need quality sleep.

You need days where your body and mind can relax and repair so you are prepped to push hard in the following training sessions.

Make sure that you are designing your workouts progressions to give areas rest over the course of the week and even cycling your training intensity.

Getting results doesn’t have to mean, and shouldn’t mean, destroying ourselves every session.

Especially as we get older, our recovery times can increase. This means designing programs strategically to account for this. While it doesn’t mean we can’t still train 5-6 days a week, the way we break up our sessions and the volume we create may vary!

And remember it isn’t just your body but also your MIND that actually needs the recovery time.

It is fatiguing really trying to mentally push yourself every workout to create that progression you need to see results.

You want to be focused and intentional every training session – not just go through the motions.

So we have to recognize how taxing mentally that is, especially combined with a stressful day.

Give yourself time to rest and recover so every session is quality!

We rebuild when we rest and that’s how we see those muscle gains!

Habit #2: Changing your workouts up constantly

While it can be fun to do different things often, we need to design a clear progression to follow if we want to see results.

Changing up our workouts doesn’t allow us to strategically push and get the full benefit of each move.

It can also make us constantly sore, which can negatively impact muscle activation and subsequent training sessions.

Include a variety of movements to work muscles in different ways over the course of the week, but clearly lay out a progression you repeat for a few weeks.

How long you repeat a progression may depend on:

  • How much room for growth you have with moves
  • How much you find ego starts to get in the way when you are hitting your upper limit with an exercise (encouraging you to lift more than you probably should with form that isn’t ideal)
  • How much you do even find your mental focus drifting as you get “bored”

Progressions don’t have to be done for months upon months.

Just remember too that being able to push and see how far you can go with an exercise can be exciting!

Over time you can test out different workout designs and movements. But without repeating a set progression for a bit, you can’t know what does and doesn’t work. It allows you to actually see yourself progressing with one extra rep, 5lbs more or even that full pull up when you couldn’t do one prior!

But that progression is needed if you want to dial in those muscle gains efficiently so you actually are truly progressing moves and not just making yourself sore with different and new!

Because soreness really isn’t an indicator that you’re building more muscle, especially not more muscle faster!

Habit #3: Staying in your comfort zone

It can honestly be hard to push every training session.

While fun in a torturous way, it is at times mentally and physical hard and uncomfortable to push for another rep. Use a bit more weight we aren’t sure will go up for that final rep.

Do that new variation that really challenges us.

It is easy to keep repeating the same exercise variations, with the same loads for the same reps or sets at times.

But muscle growth is the result of challenging our body to have to adapt and repair to become stronger.

That means we need to focus on that progression in our loads, tempos, variations, training density…

Sometimes it may be one more rep in one set.

Sometimes it may be just 5lbs more.

Sometimes it may be moving on to a different tempo or posture or position for a move to use progression through the same but different.

This though is also why a clear workout progression and schedule is key.

It allows us to make those incremental adjustments to push ourselves outside our comfort zone each week.

And over those progressions, we also can’t fear testing out new workout designs and training methods.

Especially the more advanced a trainee we are, the slower our results will be so the more some advanced strategies, training techniques and workout designs may need to be used at times. Not only to challenge our body but also keep us wanting to push mentally with something new in our workouts.

You may experiment with things like rest-pause technique, drop sets, density training…It isn’t just loads we can use to challenge our body and push ourselves outside what is comfortable to create that muscle growth and change!

Habit #4: Going Low Carb

So I’ve talked a ton about training so far, and it’s because you can’t build muscle without a proper training routine and resistance to create growth.

While weight loss and fat loss are so much about diet, building muscle requires you to train in a way that forces your body to adapt and build back stronger.

However, our diet can’t be ignored if we want the best results from those intensive training sessions! We don’t want our hard work in the gym to be wasted!

That’s why it is key we give our body the fuel it needs to rebuild and repair and have the energy to train hard.

And carbs are truly a key part of having that readily available energy to not only push hard during our sessions but rebuild post workout.

They create that anabolic environment optimal for muscle growth.

Carbs are not only that immediate energy to be able to push at our full intensity during training and create that progressive overload but they are also protein sparring.

They protect your lean muscle from being catabolized or used as fuel and they can help make sure that the protein you consume is used to actually rebuild.

This is extra key if you are an endurance athlete or enjoy steady state cardio and refuse to fully cut back on mileage. Cardio already makes it harder to build and retain lean muscle, so carbs are even more key to serve as that immediate energy source and aid in our recovery.

So while you may have dropped your carbs during your weight loss cycle, you may now find boosting them to be extremely key.

Too often we keep ourselves in that energy deficit and then wonder why we aren’t gaining muscle. But growth can’t truly happen when we don’t have the fuel to repair or even optimize hormone levels.

So increase those carbs.

Even if you start by just timing more carbs around your training sessions, you can’t fear carbs if you want the most efficient muscle gains.

Habit #5: Staying In A Deficit

Just like we may have cut carbs during a fat loss phase, we often focus on that calorie deficit to see results. You do need to consume less than you expend to see that fat loss because you need to tap into that stored energy.

But to gain muscle as efficiently as possible, you now need to make sure your body always has the fuel it needs. So you can’t fear eating more.

Eating too little will keep you training hard and not seeing any gains. It can also lead to burn out, constant fatigue, constant soreness and an inability to recover.

Basically you could feel like you’re working so hard to literally not see any gains.

If you are transitioning out of a fat loss phase, you may simply start by increasing your calories to more of a maintenance level while increasing carbs. From there you may enter a small surplus.

Eating more doesn’t give you the excuse to go crazy. If you do a dirty bulk and skyrocket your calories, you’re going to gain fat and ultimately not really see better results.

A surplus as little as 100 calories may be enough although you may find you need to increase up to 400 above maintenance, which is why it may be helpful to do a maintenance phase prior to learn what you need to maintain your current body comp.

By focusing on protein and not ignoring this essential macro, you can even gain muscle while in a deficit so a slower transition, increasing calories can help you avoid gaining fat.

But we have to remember that the leaner we get, and the more we aren’t eating sufficiently to fuel our training, the more we put ourselves at risk for losing muscle even with higher protein ratios.

You need that fuel to grow those muscles!

And making sure that you’re eating enough is essential even as we enter menopause!

Often under fueling and extreme dieting habits can create metabolic adaptations which hold us back from not only losing fat, but gaining muscle as we enter menopause.

So focusing on increasing your calorie intake and building muscle is KEY as we get older to keep our metabolic rate higher!

Just remember because you can “get away with” something when you’re younger doesn’t mean that dieting practice won’t catch up with you later!

If you are peri-menopausal or nearing that age, really focus on making sure you’re building that lean muscle and not under eating or you could be setting yourself up for unwanted fat gain and muscle loss as you get older!

SUMMARY:

So if you’re looking to build muscle as quickly as possible it is key you change your habits, especially from the habits you used to lose weight or fat.

Focus on challenging yourself with your training and eating enough to support that muscle growth.

For accountability and support to see better results FASTER, apply to my 1:1 Coaching.

–> 1:1 Online Coaching