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The #1 Way To Get Lean (And Strong) At Any Age

The #1 Way To Get Lean (And Strong) At Any Age

by | Nov 9, 2023 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

Muscle is the secret to longevity.

If you want to be lean and strong till your final day on this planet, you need to focus on building muscle.

But if you want to build muscle, you’ve got to work at it.

We lose muscle, and strength, as we get older, but part of that is OUR fault.

Because it is partly our fault, this also gives us the power to CHANGE and reverse this muscle loss.

So while it may get harder as we get older, that isn’t an excuse.

It just makes it all that more important we do everything we can to build it.

That’s why I want to share not only 5 essential tips to build and retain lean muscle as you get older but also just give you this warning…

Even if you want to lose fat, or achieve body recomp, you can’t keep doing what you’ve always done!

What used to work in your 20s and 30s, won’t work in your 40s, 50s and 60s…

Especially as you go through menopause.

That’s why it’s key you focus on building that lean muscle NOW, not tomorrow or the day after and embrace the changes needed!

Before I dive into these tips, I do want to highlight why it is so key we do what we can in terms of lifestyle changes to avoid not only muscle loss, but promote optimal muscle hypertrophy….

Because as we get older, there are numerous factors working against our muscle retention and gains.

Research has shown we can start to lose 3-5% per decade starting after 30, especially if we aren’t active.

When we were younger, our body was primed from a hormonal perspective to build muscle basically without us trying.

It’s why it’s also so dangerous for us to get stuck on protein intakes and training techniques from research done on 20 year olds.

Their bodies are primed to grow muscle…basically they can think about growing muscle and it grows.

Now this isn’t an excuse to just accept decline as we get older.

Accepting muscle loss or belly fat or injury because of your age, is the fastest way to get old quick and feel and look horrible.

But it is key we are aware of not only how our body changes, but that these recommendations don’t take into account the decades where our body isn’t working with us, but instead slightly against our strength and muscle gains!

Our body isn’t as efficient at utilizing protein for repair as we get older.

We are slower to recover. And injuries may have added up.

During menopause, inflammation and sleep and energy issues can also negatively impact not only our workouts but also our ability to gain muscle.

And while you may have bounced back after inconsistent workouts or injury in your 20s and 30s, all of these factors make it harder to rebuild lost muscle as you enter your 40s, 50s and 60s.

But even more essential you do what you can to be consistent with your training.

On top of all of this, our busy lifestyles and improper dieting practices to lose fat earlier on, may have also lead to muscle loss.

And this will only compound if we don’t now take action.

So stop waiting to address it…

Address it now!

And realize that, even if you want to lose fat and achieve amazing body recomp,you’ve got to stop the starvation and overtraining cycle!

Which brings me to tip #1…You may have to ditch the scale.

Stop freaking out at scale fluctuations.

The scale is going to increase.

Sure if you’re losing fat as you gain muscle, you may not see a change.

One pound lost of fat as you gain one pound of muscle leads to no change, although you’ll look a whole heck of a lot leaner.

BUT if you want to focus building lean muscle, you need to embrace GAINING weight on the scale.

I can tell you personally earlier on in my body recomp journey, this was a hard thing to accept.

Especially if you’re coming off a phase where you worked so hard to lose that stubborn fat.

The last thing you want to do is see it creep back on.

So you may find that using only measurements and progress photos for a while is key otherwise you may sabotage yourself.

Because you can see that scale increase and look leaner!

And if you get upset by every scale fluctuation up, you will never let that body recomp happen!

So often, when we want that body recomp, we get focused on fat loss, when to truly get the definition we want, we actually need to increase our lean muscle mass!

To increase your lean muscle, get ready to ditch the scale or accept daily fluctuations where often there will be big jumps up.

These jumps will happen for a number of reasons all of which are part of the process and even helpful to see gains as fast as possible.

You may see the scale increase as you work to build muscle because of water weight and glycogen storage as well as muscle tissue damage from hard training sessions.

So often water weight gain is demonized.

But this storage of water in your muscles is key to help your muscles repair and rebuild.

Not to mention, you may store more water if you up your carb intake.

This glycogen storage can help you stay energized, push through hard training sessions and create that anabolic environment to make it easier for you to build lean muscle!

Too often carbs are demonized, but especially if we are training hard, we need carbs to optimize hormone levels and create that environment for growth.

So we can’t fear the scale going up or water weight being gained.

And after a hard training session, especially if you feel sore, don’t be surprised if the scale jumps up because of inflammation from muscle tissue damage!

Not to mention, as you gain muscle, even if you lose fat, that scale may increase.

Freaking out at those increases is going to make you do the opposite of what you need to see results!

Tip #2: Truly PUSH and challenge yourself in your workouts.

Often we do a round that FEELS hard and hit that top number in the rep range or the single number on a lift we are supposed to complete and accept that we pushed hard enough.

Yet often, there is MORE we can give even though we were already uncomfortable.

This doesn’t mean cutting out rest though to feel more out of breath. Limiting rest can actually prevent you from lifting at your true 100% intensity.

And if we want to build muscle, we truly have to create that progressive overload and challenge so muscles have to rebuild stronger, especially the more advanced we are.

This is why you need to use forms of progression like tempo, range of motion, different types of tools over just adding loads.

You also need to focus on working DOWN in the rep range over just staying at the top of it.

If you can do 12 reps when 8-12 reps are assigned, next round go up to push yourself with a weight you think you can only do for 8-10.

If you can, still do the 12.

If you can’t, stay with that weight for another round, till you can do the 12.

Even push yourself to find something that you max out at 8 with to “grow into” that weight for 12 reps.

And depending on your training experience, you may even do those 8 reps, use rest pause techniques and pause for 15 seconds, then do a couple of more to try to get out 10-12 with a weight you could only technically do 8 with!

This makes your body think it did 12 reps with a load it can only complete 8 with which can help you ultimately lift more quality reps without doing wasted volume or trying to use a weight you can’t truly handle!

You may even find that if you are able to do a weight for 8 reps until that last round, you use rest pause technique to still complete 8 reps over going down in weight because you would only be able to do 6!

But don’t go through the motions just doing a weight for the reps listed, really work to use this double form of progression and don’t fear slightly lower reps and heavier weights!

Tip #3: Focus on eating more. 

Muscle is metabolically costly. It requires calories to be maintained.

If you don’t eat enough to build it, you won’t see your hard work in the gym paying off.

And the more muscle you build, the more calories you need to keep consuming to keep building.

More muscle equals more calories burned at rest.

Which means you need to consume more calories on a daily basis to maintain the muscle you have….

And even more if you want to KEEP building.

It’s part of why you need to ditch the scale at times when focusing on those muscle gains.

When building muscle, as your weight increases, you may also need to increase your calories.

This often goes against what we are conditioned to want to do, especially if we want to lose weight or have just lost weight.

Generally when we see the scale go up, we want to cut our calories.

But this can prevent us from building the lean muscle we are working hard to build.

This is why you need to focus on other forms of measurement to see body recomp.

But is is also why TRACKING your diet is so key.

I know personally when I can SEE I’m doing the right habits, it makes it so much easier to trust in the process.

It can help you see you’re fueling properly and implementing those daily habits.

It can also allow you to accurately adjust!

Too often we only see tracking as something we do when we cut out things to lose…when we restrict.

But it can also be a tool to help us add in the fuel we need in a way to perform our best!

While you don’t need an extreme surplus to gain, you do want to start with even just your maintenance calories and increase from there!

So if you’ve been in a deficit, focus on slow increases of 100-200 calories per week over time, staying focused too on the quality of your fuel and even your macros!

And if you do see more fat being gained as you build, you can then always do a mini cut after a set muscle building phase.

But you have the power to adjust those macros as needed because you are tracking!

Tip #4: Increase Protein Portions PER MEAL. 

Eating only 10 grams of protein at a meal isn’t going to cut it if you want to build muscle as you get older.

That small amount won’t optimally stimulate muscle protein synthesis.

And as we get older we can develop anabolic resistance, meaning we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently.

This means we need to increase our protein intake.

But it isn’t just increasing our daily protein intake that can help, it is actually increasing our intake per meal.

You’ll hear the myth you can only utilize 20-30 grams at a time, but this isn’t true.

But studies have shown you can actually utilize up to 70 grams easily in a meal, especially a meal of mixed macros.

Not to mention 20-30 grams is what is directly utilized for muscle repair and growth.

We have to remember that not all of the amino acids we consume will only go to that.

We are made up of protein and what we eat is utilized in so many different ways.

So it is key we get MORE for all of those functions as well as muscle repair, especially since as we get older we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently.

To best stimulate muscle growth and repair, focus on increasing your protein intake to 30-40 grams per meal.

Really shoot for 40 grams in a pre or post workout meal especially!

Just even increasing protein around your workout by 5-10 grams can be a great place to start if you’re struggling to increase your protein currently.

Tip #5: Lift heavier than ever.

Too often as we get older we STOP lifting heavy.

I’ve had clients start training with me telling me they even SHOULDN’T lift heavy or do certain compound moves because they are over (insert age here).

But you use it or lose it.

Part of why we lose strength and muscle is because we don’t push ourselves in the ways we did when we were younger.

We need to keep challenging our bodies.

Which is why we need to include some lower rep, heavier compound lift work in our workouts weekly.

This doesn’t mean you have to become a powerlifter if you don’t enjoy it.

But sometimes you do have to include things you don’t like to be able to do more of what you love…and feel and look the way you want.

So consider including a single heavy lift at the start of your workouts before you get into supersets or circuits, performing a compound exercises with weights that really max you out in that 4-6 rep range even!

If you want to feel and look your most fabulous till your final day on this planet, you need to focus on building and retaining lean muscle.

And while this can get harder as we get older, these 5 tips will help you fight against muscle loss and even build lean muscle no matter your age.

Don’t just accept that getting older has to mean decline. Because it doesn’t.

Join my fabulous free Facebook Community of women building their leanest, strongest bodies at any and EVERY age…

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Build Muscle and Increase Strength With This Training Technique

Build Muscle and Increase Strength With This Training Technique

by | Aug 29, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Workouts

We all want something that helps us get better results faster.

It’s why, no matter how much we know, fad diets and extreme workout routines have an allure.

But often, it is really small 1% improvements and tweaks to what we are currently doing that make the difference.

That’s why I want to share this simple training technique that can accelerate your results.

And you can implement it today without really making any changes to your schedule or workout designs.

It’s adding in an Eccentric Focus to exercises!

In this video I’ll discuss what focusing on the eccentric means, how it can lead to better results faster and how you can include it in your current training routine to accelerate your strength and muscle gains!

And this technique can help you build muscle and strength whether you’re training in a full gym or using only bodyweight exercises!

So First…What Does Focusing On The Eccentric Mean?

Let’s get a little nerdy here…

The eccentric is one of 3 muscle contractions – concentric, isometric and eccentric.

Concentric is the shortening of the muscle-tendon complex. 

Isometric is where length remains constant with tension (or a hold). S

And eccentric is the lengthening of the muscle-tendon complex. 

To focus on the eccentric portion of the movement means to slow down the part of an exercise where the prime mover or main muscle group being worked is being lengthened.

This may mean slowing down the lower down on a bench press or balance lunge. Although it applies to when the muscle is being lengthened in ANY movement. 

Now How Does The Eccentric Lead To Strength And Muscle Gains? 

There are 3 big reasons that it’s believed focusing on and slowing down the eccentric can lead to better muscle hypertrophy and strength…

Reason #1: You spend more time under tension which can result in better gains. 

When you slow down the tempo of that lower down, your muscles spend more time in a working state. 

The longer work time, the more time under tension for the muscle.

And this can lead to more mechanical tension and muscle tissue damage, driving better muscle gains.

This time under tension results in more muscle protein synthesis and faster onset of this increased synthesis.

And while you can slow down any component of the lift, there is a specific benefit to emphasizing the eccentric. 

And part of this benefit comes from the fact that we are actually stronger in that eccentric phase!

Which is Reason #2: You’re spending time under tension during a portion of a movement where you’re the strongest. 

This can allow you to do a more challenging variation of a move, especially if you do an eccentric only variation. 

By doing a more challenging variation, you are creating more progressive overload. 

Sometimes we aren’t able to lift more weight for a full movement or progress an exercise yet to a harder variation.

This is where slowing down and focusing on that eccentric can help.

It can help us push to a new level to challenge our muscles and promote better growth and strength gains. 

It can help us do a harder movement for at least a portion of the exercise.

If you can’t yet do a full pull up, but want to progress this move to build strength and muscle, and even be able to rock a full one, you may do an assisted variation up to the top of the pull up, then do a slow lower back down taking on your full bodyweight. 

You’ll find you’re able to control that lower down slowly to challenge your muscles, even if you can’t yet pull up!

And Reason #3: While muscle tissue damage isn’t the only driver of muscle growth, a slow eccentric does lead to more muscle tissue damage, which does force the muscle to repair and rebuild stronger.

Loading muscle fibers when stretched creates a type of stress and muscle tissue damage that requires your body to build new muscle cells.

This leads to both strength and muscle gains.

Eccentric training is a great way to create greater stress and strain on the muscle compared to other muscle actions! 

And bonus, because we are stronger during this phase of the movement, not only can we lift more or do a harder variation of a move, we can often more easily do a higher volume of work which can also lead to faster gains!

Now a WARNING to using this technique before I go over more on how to include this in your workouts… 

Focusing on the eccentric portion of a lift can make you VERY VERY SORE.

Because of the muscle tissue damage and loading under stretch, slowing down the eccentric can cause delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS.

Be conscious of this fact to make sure you give the muscle group enough time between training sessions to rest and recover.

Also, don’t do a workout loaded down with eccentrics for every single move!

Use different tempos and rep ranges to your advantage. 

And be conscious of the types of moves you use for eccentric focused work.

Especially moves like deadlifts, it is harder to control the eccentric, so you may not want to focus on a slow lower down when you’re doing a 5 rep max, but instead use it during more accessory hip hinge work for 8-12 reps.

It’s also key you create a consistent schedule so you can slowly progress and repeat workouts so constantly doing something “new” doesn’t add to your soreness!

And then don’t ignore the importance of your fueling and recovery work!

So now that you’ve been warned…

How Can You Include Eccentrics In Your Training For Better Results?

Focus on using a slow eccentric for only a main exercise or two in your workouts. 

Even just a 3-5 count lengthening is an amazing slow tempo to use. 

Especially for stubborn areas you’re struggling to build.

You can both use slow eccentric reps at the start of your workout on a single compound lift with heavy weights, like the barbell squat, or even a bodyweight skill you want to progress, like the push up. 

You can also choose to use slow eccentrics for higher rep isolation exercises, like on the bicep curl, at the end of your workout to really target a muscle group and work it to failure.

This time under tension for volume can yield amazing results for those especially stubborn areas. 

And when you do a slow eccentric, you can either:

A. Do A Full Move With A Slow Eccentric Tempo

Or B 2: Do An Eccentric ONLY Variation. 

Any move you’re currently doing, you can make one little tweak to it today by just taking a 3-5 count to lengthen.

This would be a slow eccentric tempo.

But you can also do an eccentric only variation of a move you can’t yet fully perform.

While you can do this with weights by setting up at the top of a move, this technique is especially good to progress bodyweight skills like the push up or pull up. 

For the push up, you would set up at the top of the push up for a variation you can’t yet fully do and do a slow 3-5 count lower down. Then instead of losing form to push back up, you’d simply modify or release and reset at the top! 

Both can work and help you create that progression you need to see better results!

And which you may use may also depend on other limitations you have for progressing your workouts.

Eccentrics are a great way to create progression in your training regardless of their unique benefits. 

So while focusing on the eccentric portion has benefit even when you have other ways to advance exercises, like weights or equipment or harder variations, it can be a great way to progress moves if we DON’T have other tools available. 

It can be a great way to create progression to help you see better results if…

  • You Can’t add heavier weights yet to a move.
  • Can’t yet do another rep with the current weight.
  • Can’t progress to that next harder variation of the movement.
  • Or don’t have other tools to change range of motion or create progression. 

A slow eccentric tempo can be the way we make what we have on hand work for us to meet us where we are at. 

It can be a great way with even bodyweight training to see great muscle growth and strength gains! 

Bonus Tip:

And one last thing I wanted to touch on if you’re wondering if eccentric training is right for you as you rebuild muscle after injury…

YES…IT IS!

Focusing on a slow eccentric can really help you strengthen a muscle through a full range of motion and improve your mobility, flexibility and stability.

Using lighter loads and a focus on that slow controlled eccentric can even be a great way to start back to training to make sure you keep all of the mobility you built up during rehab. 

Just make sure you progress slowly and don’t do too much volume to make yourself so sore you can’t stay consistent with your training!

So if you’re looking to accelerate your strength and muscle gains, try using slow eccentrics with one of the exercises you’re already doing, especially one that targets a stubborn area you want to build! 

For amazing workouts to help you build strength and muscle, check out my Dynamic Strength program!

How To Build Muscle (Using The 6-12-25 Protocol)

How To Build Muscle (Using The 6-12-25 Protocol)

by | Aug 6, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Workouts

You want to see some serious strength gains, build lean muscle and improve your body composition? 

Then this workout design is something you’ll want to consider for your next training progression…

It’s the 6-12-25 training technique. 

In this video, I’ll break down what this method is, how to use this workout design, why it works so well and even share a workout you can try implementing the technique!

First…What Is The 6-12-25 Method? 

The 6-12-25 is shorthand for the reps you will perform for three different movements.

You will design a set with 3 exercises for the same area of the body.

For example, you may do all 3 moves for your lower body with a glute and hamstring focus.
The first move should be a super heavy compound lift that you can only do 6 reps for. 

The second move should be another compound, but more accessory lift for the same area of the body that you can only perform 12 reps of with the weights you select. 

Then the third move will be done for 25 reps and should be an isolation exercise that really creates that pump and burn, fully fatiguing a muscle group worked with the first two compound moves. 

After completing all three moves basically back to back, you will rest 2-3 minutes before repeating the series.

You do not want to rest between moves so that you’re fully fatiguing the area you’re targeting but you do want enough rest between rounds so you can lift heavy to start the series over again! 

You will want to include no more than two 6-12-25 series in a workout. And you will want to perform about 3-4 rounds through each.

You can design either more full body workouts using this, focusing on one area in each series or you can do an hemisphere split, targeting just your lower body or upper body in a workout. 

But make sure each series, and all 3 moves, are working only one area of the body, instead of alternating areas worked!

So Why Does The 6-12-25 Design Work So Well?

This training method was popularized by Charles Poliquin but isn’t just for bodybuilders. 

It’s actually a great training technique for any experienced exerciser looking to build strength and muscle while losing fat. 

This method is so effective because of the combination of 3 different traditional rep ranges, compound and isolation movements and the fact that we hone in and target specific muscle groups to create full fatigue in an area. 

The combination of so many training techniques into one design, and the training density this method creates, leads to massive lactate spikes, increasing growth hormone production, which is why it is thought to work so well!

It’s why this method can not only lead to amazing muscle gains but even better fat loss results! 

Each rep number is included for a specific purpose and done back to back without rest.

With the heavy compound exercise done for 6 reps, you are really working in that maximal strength range. Consider as you progress with this design even selecting a move you have to PAUSE at 5 reps for a few seconds to complete the final one over being able to do more reps with that weight. 

You never just want to stop at a rep number because it’s what the workout said. You want to feel that is all you can do.

Then with the exercise done for 12 reps, you are selecting a compound move that is a great accessory exercise to target the same muscle groups. This will allow you to really utilize that hypertrophy rep range and continue to fatigue the muscles you worked in the first move.

The higher reps and slightly lower, albeit challenging loads, allow you to recruit more muscle fibers as you fatigue. 

Then with the final move you are going to fully isolate a muscle group to work it fully to fatigue. This helps build that strength endurance which will ultimately help you recover faster and do more quality of work in future workouts and progressions.

This isolation move is a great way to help you build muscle in those stubborn muscle groups, increasing your volume of work. Make sure this move really isolates the muscle you want to target. You even want to feel that pump or burn add up at 15-20 reps so you have to pause for a second to complete all 25! 

This combination of different movements and drivers of muscle growth while working an area to fatigue is what makes this series so challenging and leads to such amazing muscle and strength gains.

It makes it a super efficient training design as well when we are short on time. 

And can be especially key if you are struggling with toning up stubborn areas!

Next I wanted to share some – Tips To Use This Effectively:

It’s key we remember that we need to challenge ourselves no matter the reps listed. No weight should feel light, no move should feel easy.

You want each exercise to challenge you while you push through to the next. 

And make sure when you design the series that all 3 moves target the same area.

If you’re doing lower body with a quad focus, you want to hone in more and more on those quads. 

If it is a chest, triceps and shoulders workout, you may hone in more and more on any of those three muscles, especially if one is more stubborn than the others. 

But make sure you are choosing one area to target and fatigue over the moves.

Then do NOT cut out rest between rounds. You want to be able to push through all three moves while kind of feeling like you don’t fully want to do the next so that you’ve earned that rest. 

But if you aren’t resting those 2-3 minutes, consider going heavier and advancing the movements. That rest should help you keep lifting heavier or maintaining the loads over the rounds to push at a true 100% intensity.

That ability to push hard and create a quality volume of work is what makes this design work so well! 

Do not be afraid to also use rest-pause technique to make sure you’re feeling like you’ve really pushed those loads while performing quality reps. 

If you, you need to pause to complete the rep range, even resting for 10-15 seconds, do it! That little pause can help you ultimately move more weight over the course of your training and push past that initial fatigue to see amazing results!

I do want to give you one WARNING before implement this:

This is an advanced training technique and you’ll be surprised by even how out of breath during the 3 moves you can get. And mentally it can be taxing to do another move for an area when it is already tired. 

Be ready to really push yourself and not just lower loads to make it easier to make it through all three moves.

Make yourself CRAVE that rest. 

And make sure all 3 moves are done back to back targeting only ONE muscle group! Although remember you have flexibility to choose the exact stubborn area to target with that isolation move.

Like you may choose to target your biceps with an isolation exercise on a bicep and back series in one workout while doing more for your lats on another day!

So How Could You Design A Workout Using This Method?

Let’s look at an anterior split workout, you would create one 6-12-25 set for the lower body, more of a quad focus, and one set for the upper body, more of a chest focused series.

You will do 3-4 rounds per series with 2-3 minutes of rest between rounds and even series.

ANTERIOR CHAIN 6-12-25 WORKOUT

SERIES #1:
6 reps Front Squats
12 reps per side Front Lunges
25 reps per side Seated Quad Flexes

SERIES #2:
6 reps Barbell Bench
12 reps Dumbbell Overhead Press
25 reps Cable Tricep Pushdown

One final note…

I do show this using more gym tools as that is honestly ideal for this set up. However, if you are training at home, as long as you use tempo changes or exercise variations that challenge you for each rep number, you can utilize this technique. 

I often even slightly adjust the reps for more bodyweight based workouts, knowing a bit more volume can be helpful using more of a 10-15-25 layout.

But if you’re looking to build strength, gain muscle and lose fat, try this amazing workout design in your next progression! 

For more amazing workouts to help you rock those results, check out my Dynamic Strength Program!

Can’t Build Muscle? Try These 5 Strength Training Techniques

Can’t Build Muscle? Try These 5 Strength Training Techniques

by | Jun 25, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness

So often we focus on progression only through adding loads or doing another rep with a weight.

But at some point, you can’t just keep adding 5lbs every week.

You can’t do another rep.

That’s why creating progression through the same but different is so key.

You don’t need a crazy fancy new device or some new secret exercise.

You can make small tweaks to the moves you’re doing to see those strength and muscle improvements.

So stop getting caught up in only lifting more.

Here are 5 training techniques to help you create that progression through the same but different and see those better muscle gains!

The first way to use the same moves you love and create a new stimulus for growth is to…

Mix Up Equipment

Barbells vs. dumbbells vs. cables vs. bands can all be used to apply tension and create instability and resistance in different ways.

They often even require you to use a different loading placement which can help you change which muscles get more emphasis during a move.

While dumbbells are a great way to load down a step up and challenge your legs, you can emphasize your glutes more during this move by using cables instead.

The cable being anchored down low and the consistent tension as you drive up and then control the lower back down, can help you really feel those glutes more than even your quads.

It can help you keep progressing that step up if you feel yourself starting to cheat with the dumbbells while allowing you to shift how you use the move in your progression because of the shift in muscle emphasis.

You may even find you combine two types of resistances to get the different benefits each provide when you feel you aren’t able to just add more weight.

If you find you can’t really keep progressing loads with a dumbbell chest fly, try lowering the dumbbell weight you’re using while adding in a band for the movement.

The band applies resistance in a new way and even applies more resistance throughout the arc of the movement while forcing you to really control the fly open.

Just by adding in the band, you may be surprised how much lighter your dumbbell weights have to get, allowing you new room for progression.

Not to mention you can even increase the band tension over time as well.

The second tweak you can make to the exercises you’re already including to create progression is to Adjust Your Posture.

Good form isn’t a simply good or bad as we often act like it is.

There are slight changes in our form we can make to emphasize muscles involved in the movement to different extents while also even hitting different aspects of the same muscle.

You could take the same walking lungeand make it more glute intensive by adding in a more vertical shin angle and slightly angled out wide stride or more quad intensive by keeping it more narrow and allowing your knee to travel further forward over the ball of your foot.

Just like you can change your hand placement on push ups to make them more tricep intensive while requiring less scapular control with a narrow grip or slightly less tricep intensive while requiring more scapular control with a standard grip.

Even super small adjustments like slightly different degrees of hip flexion during seated abduction can help you better establish that mind-body connection and engage different aspects of the glute medius.

So often it isn’t even that we need a crazy new move to work an area, we just need to adjust our form slightly to change how it is working!

The third technique is one most of us often avoid because it can really force us to lighten loads and it can be a bit frustrating since it can make moves awkward…

It’s To Change Our Base Of Support.

If you’ve maxed out on a bilateral or two-limbed move, make it a unilateral or one-sided move.

This can create instability, challenge your core more and requires you to even change how you recruit muscles to improve your mind-body connection.

It can also help you address weak links or a weaker side, which may then allow you to lift more when you thought you’d hit your cap with the bilateral variation.

And even when you’re doing a unilateral variation, you can easily mix things up, because many unilateral moves are more challenging than we give them credit for even with lighter loads.

With something like the single leg deadlift, you may find that starting out you don’t have the balance to do the fully unilateral variation. Or you don’t like how much you really have to drop down in weight.

So instead, maybe you try an 80/20 option, or a bench supported option.

This can help you target each side independently while still going a bit heavier than you may be able to with the fully single leg variation.

And changing your base of support doesn’t always have to mean just creating instability or a new challenge for the exact muscle you want to target.

It doesn’t even always mean making that base of support one sided…

It can even be something as simple as doing a chest supported row over a bent over row so that you can’t bounce the weights or use any momentum.

This can be key if you are finding yourself starting to cheat as you’re getting up in weights to try to eek out more.

Sometimes we want to limit what other muscles can be used to get up more weight to help us better hone in on the areas worked.

This can force us often to even go down in loads to start.

With the chest supported row, you may find that having your core locked into the bench allows you to even better focus on that scapular movement!

The 4th way to create progression and even improve your mobility and flexibility in the process is to…Adjust The Range Of Motion

The best way to make sure your flexibility and mobility work sticks is to then strengthen in your workouts through that full range of motion you’ve worked hard to build.

It’s why progressing from a split squat to a deficit split squat may help you improve your hip range of motion while also giving you a new challenge.

That bigger range of motion will make the move more challenging and create extra stretch on muscles under load to help you drive muscle growth.

However, changing the range of motion to drive muscle growth or hypertrophy doesn’t always mean increasing it.

Because metabolic stress is another driver of muscle growth, shrinking the range of motion at times to keep a muscle under tension can also be helpful.

So instead of just doing dumbbell bicep curls, you can combine that move with a resistance band top only curl where you never release tension and only go halfway down in the movement.

This will create fatigue and push you to failure in a new way and help you get more out of your original basic curl without having to progress the weights past the point you’re able to!

With this curl option you’re also using a new tool to help drive growth as well!

Another way to adjust the range of motion to create a new challenge is to actually change the direction or plane of motion you are moving in.

If you’ve been including a single arm suspension trainer row, you may try a rotational row instead.

This changes the range of motion and plane of motion you are working in to not only target the same muscles in different ways but even get new muscles involved to make sure you’re building functional strength in every direction.

The 5th and final technique that can help you drive that muscle growth even using the same moves and weights you are currently is to….

Emphasize the Eccentric.

Small tweaks to what we are currently doing can really add up! Too often we make massive changes over seeing the 1% opportunities.

And emphasizing the eccentric portion of an exercise is a great way to even use your current workouts while pushing growth.

To emphasize the eccentric, you’re going to focus on the portion of the move that is stretching the prime mover or main muscle driving the exercise.

With a pull up, you will want to focus on slowing down the lower down from the bar.

On the squat, you want to slow down the lower down to the bottom of the squat.

This focus on slowing down the stretch of the muscle to spend more time under tension has been shown to be a great way to drive muscle growth.

And it can be used with so many moves.

Just realize you may find that this can make you VERY sore, especially starting out.

Focusing on the eccentric can also help you tackle movements or weights you can’t yet fully use, especially if you change the move to eccentric only with a reset at the start.

With the push up, if you’re including those to build muscle, but can only currently do them off an incline, you may find you can do an eccentric only version from your toes off the ground.

We are often stronger in that eccentric portion of the move.

And that progression to that full version, plus the time under tension, could help you progress a move you are stuck on to build muscle!

We have to remember there are so many ways to create progression that aren’t just about adding more weight or doing another rep.

And the more advanced we are, the more we need to see opportunity in creating progression through the same but different.

So even using your current workout progression, see how you can use these techniques to make small tweaks and see those muscle gains improve!

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How to Force Muscle Growth (4 Tips)

How to Force Muscle Growth (4 Tips)

by | Jan 8, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, muscle-featured

Are you ready to improve your workouts and dial in your muscle gains?

Then you’ll love these 4 tips to help you design your workouts to build muscle faster.

In this video I’m going to share 4 training tips to help you design more efficient workouts for better muscle gains. Be open to the opportunity in these options over writing off what doesn’t fit what you’ve always done. 

Change requires change.

And because many of us realize that the best results happen when our diet and workouts work together, I’m going to share a bonus nutritional tip that will make some of you very mad…

Hey guys it’s Cori from Redefining Strength where we help you feel, look and move your best at any and every age.

Gaining muscle can be a slow process. And the more advanced a trainee you are, the slower the process will be. 

That’s why it is key we dial in our training, progressing it with these 4 key training tips. And not only do we need to adjust our diet, but making sure to fuel to create that anabolic environment is key. 

Tip #1: Use Two Types Of Resistances.

Which are better….bands, dumbbells, cables, barbells or kettlebells? 

The answer is all of them. And it depends.

But so often we get caught up in finding a single BEST tool over realizing that we can create progression by even combining them. 

Each of these types of resistances have different benefits. And when we combine them, we can utilize their unique benefits to our advantage. 

Especially because we need to really push that progression each workout to build muscle and get better results faster. BUT it can be mentally taxing to constantly be pushing.

And ego can start to get in the way, pushing us to do more weight than maybe we can truly control optimal just to do “more” this week and progress. 

That’s why varying up how you apply resistance can help from not only a physical standpoint, but also a mental one.

Consider combining tools like the barbell and bands. 

When you combine these two tools, you can not only more easily add loads with the barbell, but you can also benefit from the different resistance arc of the bands.

Bands can help apply more tension where the muscle is strongest and can help you apply more resistance not just dependent on the pull of gravity like free weights. 

And the two tools combined can allow you to use lighter barbell loads while making the move more challenging in a new way.

A great example of a way to combine two types of resistances is the Landmine Band Deadlift.

You can not only get the benefit of the loaded barbell in the landmine, but the band will also apply more resistance as you lift and really make you fight to control the eccentric or lower down. 

This is a great way to focus even more on that eccentric portion of the lift, or when those hamstrings are stretched, to create better muscle hypertrophy. Studies have shown that by emphasizing the eccentric portion of a move, you may be able to get more efficient muscle gains.

Tip #2: Use Training Density To Move More Weight.

What leads to more strength and muscle growth? Lifting heavier weight more times.

But the heavier the weight, the fewer the reps you can do in a row. 

The lighter the weight, the more reps in a row you can complete. 

You need to find that sweet spot to move more weight over the course of your individual sessions but also over time.

That is why advanced training techniques like density sets can be so key to include, especially if you are a hard gainer, have been training for longer or even just want to build muscle while being really conscious to avoid gaining unwanted fat.

A great density training design is 3 10 minute supersets, using heavy compound lifts, especially in the first two series. 

To use this design, you’ll pick two moves working different areas and repeat them for 10 minutes, pausing only briefly to rest as needed. 

You will use one move as a chance to rest the muscles worked in the other exercise.

You will also pick a load you can do about 8-10 reps with at max and then perform about 5-6 reps per set on it. 

This allows you to actually use heavier loads and build up volume over the time through completing multiple rounds. 

It also often allows for higher quality reps with heavier weights. 

You’ll be amazed at how much more weight you can actually move over the course of each workout with this design!

It is killer though so be prepared to cycle out of this design every 3-4 weeks.

Tip #3: Use Partial Reps.

Now before you get mad about this tip, let me break down the opportunity in changing up the range of motion at times, specifically for movements meant to isolate those stubborn areas.

I’m all for strengthening through the fullest range of motion possible as often as possible. This helps us maintain amazing mobility and stability even as we get older and see great muscle growth.

BUT more time under tension for a muscle has also been shown to truly lead to better results faster. 

This is why including some partial reps for those stubborn areas, reducing the range of motion can be helpful. 

And it can help in 2 ways….

1. It can allow more time under tension to emphasize the eccentric, like on Pulse RDLs where you are spending more time under tension when the muscle is stretched.

2. It can allow you to create more metabolic stress to also drive muscle growth by keeping the muscle in a consistently shortened state and apply more resistance at the end range of motion when the muscle is contracted. With this you’ll often feel that pump or burn building up, like top range of motion bicep curls. 

Another benefit is that it can help you overcome stick points in lifts, which can ultimately help you lift more weight, leading to better muscle gains as well.

Tip #4: Putting it all together. Create your progression.

I’ve heard people say they get “bored” by repeating workouts.

But your desire to be “entertained” and constantly do something new may be holding you back from seeing the results you want. 

If you want to build muscle, you need clear progression and the ability to recover between sessions.

Randomly stringing workouts and new moves together all of the time may make you super sore, feel hard and ultimately get you nowhere.

Create that clear progression based on those “boring” fundamentals.

And realize that by creating this clear progression, implementing the 3 prior training techniques here, you’re going to see better muscle gains faster.

This allows you to move, feel and look your best…which isn’t boring at all. 

Sometimes we have to remember that we are training to do more of what we love even outside the gym. 

Plus, find ways to enjoy the challenge of small weekly progressions and include a diversity of movements over the weeks to keep things interesting.

Then every 3-4 weeks assess where you’re at to then make some swaps and keep things from getting too stale!

Now…DUN DUN DUN…the tip some of you will hate….

Don’t Fear Carbs!

What you did to lose weight is NOT what you’ll need to do to build muscle.

If you loved low carb to trim down, you need to let go of any “carbphobia” if you want the best muscle building results. 

Carbs create that anabolic environment optimal for muscle growth, not only helping create the hormonal environment for growth but also by being that readily available energy to help muscles rebuild and grow.

If you don’t have enough fuel to allow your muscles to grow, you’re going to spend a lot of hard work and time lifting to not see the results you want. 

The more advanced and experienced an exerciser you are, the more you can’t ignore your diet and the importance of not only protein but CARBS.

Muscles need extra energy to grow!

If you are just starting out with your muscle gaining journey, consider even just bumping up your carb intake right post workout to refuel and replenish those depleted glycogen stores. 

And if you’re looking for even more nutrition and workout tips to help you build muscle faster, check out my 9 Tips For Faster Muscle Growth video to help you continue making those gains…

–> Watch The Video

And if you’re looking for someone to put together the full system you need to see results, adjusting your diet and your workouts to work together, click HERE to learn more about my fabulous 1:1 Online Coaching!