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

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

by | Oct 16, 2022 | Blog, Diet, Exercises, Functional Fitness, menopause-featured, Pain Relief

“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​

by | Oct 9, 2022 | Blog, Diet

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)

by | Oct 2, 2022 | Blog, Diet

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

10 Kettlebell Exercises For A Total Body Workout

10 Kettlebell Exercises For A Total Body Workout

by | Sep 25, 2022 | Blog, Exercises, Kettlebells

There are so many ways to create progression in our workouts that aren’t just about increasing loads.

One simple way to create a new challenge may be by mixing up the tools you use for the same basic moves.

Another could be by making slight changes to the postures and loading placements during those basic movements like rows or squats or presses.

So if you’ve been looking to vary those basics exercises to keep challenging yourself, try using kettlebells with these amazing moves!

Exercise #1: Push Up To Dip

This is a super challenging push up variation that really targets those triceps as well as your abs.

And if you do struggle with wrist pain during push ups, you may find the neutral wrist positioning of these push ups off the kettlebells helpful.

Just be conscious of the dip if you do have previous shoulder injuries and make sure you can truly control the range of motion before progressing.

To do this move, you’ll perform two push ups off the kettlebells, dropping your chest to the handles. Focus on driving back through your heels while making sure your hands are just outside your chest.

After two push ups, push up to the top and press down into the kettlebells to lift your legs and swing them through and forward.

With your legs straight in front of you and your butt back right in front or between the kettlebells, perform two full dips. Drop your butt straight down toward the ground. Just make sure you don’t swing too far forward or you’ll put more strain on your shoulder.

Do two dips then swing back through and repeat.

To modify, you can go down to your knees for the push ups and bend your knees on the dips. You still want that full range of motion though on the push up, dropping your chest to the kettlebells and bending your elbows to 90 degrees on the dips.

You can also modify by walking through and starting with even 1 of each over two of both.

Exercise #2: Figure 8s

This rotational move is a great way to challenge your core and strengthen those glutes while getting your blood pumping.

It can be great to include in more of a metabolic conditioning workout and used during interval circuits.

It is also a variation on that basic kettlebell swing.

To do this move, you will hold a kettlebell handle in one hand and swing the kb across your chest so that the bottom of the kb is resting on your other hand up at your opposite shoulder.

The weight should be right in against your body.

You will then hinge over, slightly squatting as you do, to be able to swing the weight down in front and under your thigh to grab it with your other hand behind your leg.

You will rotate your torso as you do. You’ll switch hands, grabbing the kettlebell with the other hand behind your leg to then bring it up and around and across your body toward your other shoulder.

Make sure to squeeze your glutes at the top.

You will feel even your biceps working as you perform that curl across your chest, but you don’t want it to just be an arm move. Focus on those glutes propelling the weight weight up and across.

Start light and make sure you are truly controlling the rotation of your torso to reach under your leg so you don’t overload your lower back or start to round.

Exercise #3: Bottoms Up Carry

Carries are a great way to build functional full body strength whether you do farmers carries, racked carries or overhead carries.

You can do them as bilateral movements, carrying a weight on both sides, or as unilateral carries to work each side independently and even strengthen your core to fight rotation.

And a great way to vary your carries and improve your grip strength and shoulder stability, using the slightly awkward weight of the kettlebell, is by including a bottoms up variation.

You can perform the bottoms up carry as a unilateral or bilateral movement.

And you can start with the carry at your shoulder or even progress overhead as you feel ready and want to increase the instability.

This move though is deceptively hard.

Make sure you start light and really focus on all of your fingers gripping the kettlebell handle hard!

If you haven’t done a bottoms up carry before, definitely start with the weight at your shoulder and really engage your upper back, unshrugging that shoulder so it feels locked into place and stabilized.

If you move to the overhead variation, walk slowly to start and make sure to brace your abs!

Exercise #4: Lunge with Pass Under

While adding loads to lunges can for sure progress the movement, also having to hold and stabilize as you change your loading placement can provide a new stability challenge and force you to spend more time under tension. And that’s why the Lunge with Pass Under can be a great option. Not only does this move challenge your legs, but it also is a great way to improve that core stability.

To do this move you will start by holding a kettlebell in one hand. I usually like to start with it on the side I plan to lunge forward on.

Sink into that front lunge and holding with your knee hovering about an inch off the ground, pass the kettlebell under that front leg into your other hand.

Then drive back up to standing in one solid push back.

Lunge forward on the other side to then pass the kettlebell back under.

This move is a great way to really help you focus on keeping your weight centered even as you lunge forward.

Too often all of our weight ends up going forward in front lunges which prevents us from using that front glute as efficiently as possible and can also be why we end up with knee aches and pains.

To vary this move, you can also perform reverse lunges instead of front lunges.

And to modify, you can always perform a split squat with pass under or even start by not sinking as low in the lunge.

Exercise #5: Renegade Rows

If you’re looking to work your entire core and your back and really build your anti-rotational core strength and shoulder stability, Renegade Rows are a must-do move.

By staying focused on preventing rotation, you’ll even really feel your glutes working which will only also improve your hip stability.

With the Renegade Rows, just note the kettlebells do create a bit more instability than dumbbells so make sure to move slowly as you perform this exercise.

You don’t want to rush if you feel yourself losing balance. And you want to make sure you aren’t rushing and rotating.

Really fight to keep everything square to the ground as you alternate rows from that plank position.

Think about engaging your upper back to unshrug your shoulders and press hard down into the kettlebell to stabilize as you row the weight up.

Focus on your back powering that row.

And don’t forget to drive back through your heels so your weight isn’t all shifted forward as you squeeze your glutes.

Spreading your feet wider apart will help you stabilize to fight that rotation.

To modify, you can even perform an incline variation, rowing just on one side so you don’t have the added challenge as you stabilize while alternating rows.

Exercise #6: KB Swings

I honestly feel no kettlebell exercise list is complete without the swing as it is such a staple movement.

I think this explosive hip hinge movement is so key I even push clients who don’t have kettlebells to do it with a dumbbell or pair of dumbbells as the skier swing.

When I use the swing with clients the focus is on the hinge hinge and not performing an overhead swing as I want to train that quick hip hinge movement pattern and proper loading.

Being able to hip hinge correctly is key to help us avoid lower back injuries especially.

When you do the kettlebell swing, focus on pushing your butt back as if trying to touch a wall behind you. You aren’t squatting with this movement although your knees will soften so you can hinge correctly.

And then really push the ground away as you use those glutes to propel the kettlebell up to come up to standing.

Squeeze your glutes hard as you stand tall and don’t lean back, arching your lower back.

Do not worry or focus on how high the kettlebell goes. Too often this focus on the height of the swing leads to us pulling with our arms.

And then do not hinge back over until the kettlebell descends and your forearms connect with your hips. You don’t want to hinge before “catching” the weight to push your hips back. Hinging over while the weight is still far away from you can cause your weight to shift forward and lead to you overloading your lower back.

Almost think of it as you waiting for the kettlebell to open the “door” and your hinge as the door opening.

To vary this move, you may perform a single arm swing or even skier swing with the weights outside.

If you’re struggling with the hip hinge movement, consider a band hinge to help you learn to properly load those glutes and not just lean or round forward.

Exercise #7: Unilateral Chest Press

When we think about the bench press, we think most often about using dumbbells and barbells.

But the kettlebell can actually be a great way to work our chest, shoulders and triceps while adding a level of instability.

And I love even using the kettlebell during a unilateral chest press to even challenge your core more.

To do this move, you’ll have the kettlebell resting on your forearm and hand at your chest. Make sure your feet are firmly planted on the ground and you’re bracing your abs to fight the rotation.

Press the kettlebell up and toward the ceiling even coming slightly toward the center of your chest as you press to get a little extra pec focused work.

The lower back down. Move slowly because the kettlebell adds more instability than you realize.

And if you don’t have a bench, you can always do this move as a floor press. You’ll be surprised by how unstable just using the kettlebell can make you feel with such a traditional movement.

Exercise #8: Squat, Catch And Press

If you’re looking for a great variation of the squat to press, try the Squat, Catch and Press.

This is a great full-body exercise to include even during your conditioning work as it will really get your blood pumping.

You may even see different versions of this movement done based on whether you want it to be a bit more leg intensive or cardio.

Start with the weight held in both hands hanging toward the ground.

Squat down sinking the weight to touch the ground. Then quickly drive up to standing and, as you do, pull the weight up toward your chest, allowing your hands to slide down the horns of the kettlebell toward where the handle connects to the base.

From here press the weight overhead.

Do this all quickly without really pausing in any position.

Then lower the weight to your chest before allowing your hands to slide to the top of the handle as you sink back into that squat.

You may also find you like to perform this move with more a squat or leg emphasis, sinking into a deeper squat while holding the kettlebell in that goblet position at your chest before coming out of that deeper squat to press overhead.

Exercise #9: Rotational Row

You really can work your entire body using kettlebells. And if you want to vary up your back rows, you can always include a rotational kettlebell row.

This is not only a great unilateral back exercise to work each side independently but also a great core move, working those obliques as well.

This rotational row works your back through protraction to full retraction. Just make sure you can actually control the row with your back and don’t end up shrugging as you go from the shoulder blade being pulled forward to pulled toward your spine.

Start in a staggered stance with the weight in the opposite hand from the foot that is forward. Hold the weight in that opposite hand hanging down toward your heel of your front foot.

While you want to allow your shoulder blade to protract or come forward around your ribs as you allow the weight to hang, almost as if you are slightly reaching for the ground, you don’t want to lose tension on your core or round over.

Then drive the elbow back toward the ceiling as you slightly rotate open, pulling the handle up toward your chest.

Do not shrug your shoulder or let your shoulder round forward to make the movement bigger. Focus on a slight rotation through your torso as you pull your shoulder blade toward your spine.

If you struggle with bracing your core as you focus on the row, consider trying a variation off a bench so your hand and knee are on the bench to help you stabilize and brace.

Exercise #10: Halos

Halos are another must do move to improve your shoulder mobility and stability.

And while they can be done with a plate weight or dumbbell, the instability of the kettlebell is a great way to really progress this exercise, especially when the focus is on improve your stability and range of motion.

You can do this movement from a variety of postures as well.

I love the kneeling or even seated variation of this exercise to not only really focus on that shoulder mobility but take out the capacity to really cheat and seek out mobility from other areas. These variations are also more core intensive which can help prevent you from getting ego in adding weight.

It is key with halos, no matter which posture you select, that you focus on not moving your head but instead circling the weight around your head through the fullest range of motion you can. You want to keep the weight in tight though and not just make a circle over your head.

As you pull the weight around each time and back forward, focus on even feeling the side of your back powering that pull forward.

If you do this move kneeling, focus on really squeezing your glutes. You can also vary your stance with, bringing your knees together to make it harder to stabilize.

SUMMARY:

You can combine these moves to match your needs and goals, whether you want an upper body, lower body or full body routine. You may find you use multiple in the same workout or just even use one, swapping it in for a current move in your routine.

Just remember to pick moves based on your needs and goals! We want to include exercises with a purpose!

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How To Build Muscle ( 5 HABIT CHANGES)

How To Build Muscle ( 5 HABIT CHANGES)

by | Sep 18, 2022 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

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

Why Can’t I lose Weight? 8 Common Weight Loss Mistakes To Avoid

Why Can’t I lose Weight? 8 Common Weight Loss Mistakes To Avoid

by | Sep 11, 2022 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

We can be our own worst enemies when it comes to achieving the weight loss results we want.

Often we keep ourselves stuck. We end up working super hard to ultimately derail our own consistency.

We think, “Do more,” and often overhaul our entire lifestyle for some new popular program. When really we should be focusing on small, realistic changes to create the healthiest version of our personal lifestyle.

Too often we don’t actually recognize our priorities in life and then they become the excuses that derail us.

I don’t have time to train because of my job.

I can’t track macros because of family meals.

When really we should shape our new routines and habits AROUND what truly matters most to us.

But we don’t do this because we fall prey to the fad diet out there promising overnight results.

Because of these fad diet, overnight transformations we see online, most of us do tend to overestimate what we can accomplish short term while even underestimating what we can accomplish with long-term consistency which allows those results to snowball.

But I want to save you the heart ache of starting another program, working super hard, to only ultimately end up worse off than where you started.

That’s why I wanted to share 8 common weight loss mistakes I see people making and how to avoid them.

#1: Setting unrealistic short-term goals and expectations that cause us to give up in frustration.

Think about the last time you were actually at your goal weight. Was it 10 years ago? Or 6 weeks ago?

Or was it maybe NEVER?!

Because this timeframe WILL impact how fast you see results.

If you just gained the weight, your body will be more responsive and be more comfortable getting back to what it still may see as normal.

If you just gained the weight, your body will fight the loss of it less.

Whereas if you haven’t been at your goal for years, or maybe even EVER, your body won’t want to change from where it is now – what it sees as a normal balance.

It’s why we can’t just expect to even reverse years of damage in months – despite those months feeling long and like we’ve really been working hard.

We need to realize that progress is never linear and there will be periods where we even feel like we’re taking a step backward before we move forward.

It’s why it is key we find multiple ways to measure progress, celebrate the daily habits and the repetition of them consistently as wins themselves AND take time to step back and watch overall trends.

Remember that results take time to snowball!

#2: Eating too little.

You need a calorie deficit to lose weight.

Whether you create this through eating less or working out more or maybe a little bit of both, you need to eat less then you expend to lose.

However, this doesn’t mean a great deficit will mean better and faster results.

Often eating too little, or even training too much, will sabotage our results, especially long term.

And eating too little in the past may actually be making your current attempts at weight loss even harder.

Our body puts survival as its top priority. And when we eat too little, our body fears for our survival and will regulate what it can to conserve energy.

This is why our metabolic rate can drop and we can even lose muscle mass over controlling as much as possible for fat loss when we drop our calories too low.

This is why we need to focus first on macros and second on that smaller calorie deficit when trying to lose weight.

It may even be why we need to NOT focus on weight loss for a period even if that is our ultimate goal.

Sometimes we first need to do a period where we’re rebuilding our maintenance calories, retraining our body to eat more and properly fuel before we can even consider then creating a small deficit to lose weight.

Otherwise we may find ourselves in the situation of eating 800 calories but still not losing while training for hours each and every day!

#3: You fear heavy weights.

Let’s get one things straight…lifting heavy will NOT make you bulky. It isn’t easy to gain muscle, especially the more advanced a trainee you are.

And especially when you’re trying to lose weight because you’re eating in a deficit NOT the surplus often required to build more muscle.

We need that surplus often to build lean muscle because muscle is metabolically costly. More muscle means more calories burned at rest which means more calories needed to KEEP that lean muscle.

This is why we want to be conscious not to cut our calories too low and also focus on protein in our diet. This helps us retain our lean muscle mass. And the higher protein macro ratios can even help us potentially gain muscle while in a deficit.

But to gain muscle and keep our metabolic rate higher, we need to lift heavy. To build muscle, we must force our muscles to be challenged so they have to rebuild stronger!

As you train to lose weight, do not skip those weight training sessions. Do not cut our rest. Focus on heavy weights that really challenge you to get close to failure and eek out those last couple of reps.

Don’t just use a weight you kind of “feel” or could easily do more reps with or don’t really need rest to recover between rounds to maintain the loads.

Challenge yourself. It should feel heavy no matter the rep range you use so you don’t want to have to do all the reps you’re going to perform.

If the range says 6-12, you don’t want to be able to do 15 reps. 12 should be a struggle and you may find as you increase loads, you even hit a weight where you just barely hit 6. Then maybe you stay there for a few weeks as you build up to being able to do 12 reps with that load before increasing.

But you don’t want to just stop with a weight because you hit the top of a rep range or like the number you’ve performed.

#4: You cut out foods you love.

Here’s a question we all need to ask ourselves – Will I be able to cut this out long term?

Now, achieving a new and better results always means sacrifice. And the faster we want the results, the more we may be willing to sacrifice at least to start.

But we can’t do this at the expensive of creating something sustainable. We can’t do this with no plan as to how to add in the things we love when we are ready.

Because the simple fact is, you can’t do one set of habits to lose the weight then simply go back to what you were doing prior.

Your habits have to have changed even though you won’t be doing exactly the same weight loss habits as you maintain your results.

It’s why it’s key we learn how to balance in the foods we love and maybe even start by tweaking AROUND those foods.

I’m 100% pro macros and tracking. This is truly the best way to see what you’re currently eating and learn how to adjust YOUR lifestyle.

You can also plan in the thing you want first and adjust your other meals around that snack or dessert or meal to then hit your overall macros for the day.

And you can even learn how to eventually make swaps to strike your balance.

But too often we simply cut out the things we enjoy even though we will eat them long term and never learn to strike that balance.

A healthy diet has to be one you’re going to stick with if you want to lose weight and KEEP it off.

#5: You estimate portions. You eat intuitively.

If you’re looking to lose weight, I’m sorry but you don’t yet intuitively know what you need. You can’t just fully listen to your body and fuel.

You don’t truly know the portions you need to see results.

You need to LEARN what your proper portions are and truly relearn how to listen to those natural hunger cues.

We have to remember that there are so many things that fight against us actually being able to tell what our body needs – from hyper palatable foods that don’t cause us to feel full when we should, to stress and lack of sleep making us feel hungry when we aren’t to even distorted portions we are just used to eating and consuming that now feel normal!

Learning what you need to reach the weight you want, means tracking and measuring. It means giving yourself an accurate picture of what you’re consuming to adjust.

We are really bad at estimating our portions until we’ve truly seen what the correct portion sizes are.

So while your ultimate goal should be to learn what you need to do, you first need to start by tracking and measuring everything.

That is the only way to have that objective outside look at what you’re doing.

What we measure gets managed!

Don’t deceive yourself by not giving yourself that clear picture. Don’t let yourself feel frustrated that nothing is working when you can’t truly know what you’re doing.

Track and measure to learn what your body needs and be able to adjust even as your needs and goals change over time!

#6: You don’t focus on sleep.

We often focus on our workout and diet routine when we want to lose weight. And part of that is because it truly is easier to “control.”

It’s hard to be like I need sleep and then get more sleep!

But we can’t ignore the importance of getting adequate rest.

Not only is sleep key to recovering and rebuilding from our workout session, and even making us want to push hard during our training because we are energized, but getting enough sleep is also key to helping us avoid overeating!

A lack of sleep can basically make you feel hungrier!

This isn’t your imagination.

It is due to the fact that a lack of sleep can raise ghrelin levels while lowering leptin levels. Ghrelin increases your appetite while leptin surpresses your appetite.

So you can see how increasing ghrelin and decreasing leptin can literally cause you to feel hungrier during the day so you feel like you need to eat more. This is also why tracking and not just eating intuitively to start can be so key!

The hard part is…how can you focus on getting more sleep?

Creating a pre-bed routine to help you wind-down can be key. And even getting in the habit of going to sleep and waking up at the same time can help you build that pattern to get better quality of sleep.

And as weird as it sounds, you may even want to adjust your workout design and schedule so you aren’t always sacrificing sleep for training if you do train early in the morning.

While working out is essential to our overall health, we can design for the time we have while caring about the quality of our sleep to get more out of every training session!

#7: You don’t focus on a proper warm up.

Ever notice if you don’t do a warm up that you feel like you’re not as able to squat as deep or perform that bench press as well for the first few rounds?

Like it takes you time to WARM UP and fully get the most out of moves?

It’s because you’re basically wasting rounds of your workout warming up and you’re potentially putting yourself at greater risk for injury with improper recruitment patterns, which could lead to you actually having to take time off of training.

Time off from working out won’t make losing weight easier.

And by not warming up and not necessarily using the correct muscles as efficiently, you may not really be getting the full benefit of moves.

This can mean subpar muscle growth and even fewer calories burned simply because you aren’t getting the most out of moves.

Your warm up doesn’t have to be long, but with a combination of foam rolling, stretching and activation for 5-10 minutes you can help yourself get so much more out of each second of your workout.

You may be surprised by how much more efficiently you are able to run or lift and how much more you feel the correct muscles working to truly benefit!

Because if the correct muscles aren’t working, we aren’t only putting ourselves at risk for injury but potentially not even building the muscle we want to build to improve our resting metabolic rate and make losing weight even easier!

#8: You force yourself to skip meals or to eat 6 small meals a day.

Starving yourself with Intermittent Fasting only to find yourself so hungry you overeat later?

Forcing in 6 small meals a day so that you never really feel satisfied or full but instead constantly feel hungry and overwhelmed by the meal prep?

There is no one magic meal timing that is guaranteed to work.

You need to adjust your fueling to match your schedule and lifestyle. And no matter how you feel best breaking up your meals, you need to track your macros.

If you hit those macros, you will see results.

So don’t try to force a meal timing that leaves you stuffed or starving or overwhelmed with the meal prep.

Find a sustainable schedule for you even experimenting to see what makes you feel best.

But eating before a certain time of day or after a certain time of night isn’t going to magically make you gain fat.

If you need the calories, you need the calories. If you overeat, you’ll store the excess energy.

SUMMARY:

If you’re looking to lose weight, avoid these 8 common mistakes.

And focus on meeting yourself where you are at.

Ultimately small changes based on YOUR needs and lifestyle will be best. Don’t just get caught up in doing more.

Stay focused on doing these basics to see amazing results!

Ready to map out what YOU need to succeed? Ready to get your leanest, strongest body at any and EVERY age?

–> Book Your Coaching Consultation Today!