There are seemingly two main camps that disagree about the relationship between muscle and metabolism. On one side, some people believe that build more muscle means your metabolism works at a much higher rate and burns more. On the other side, you have people who suggest muscle does not burn that many calories, so its impact on your daily calorie burn is minimal.

As it turns out, technically, both sides are correct. 

Before you lose your mind, research paints a clear picture of what’s likely best for your body if you want to improve your metabolism and support fat loss or a healthy weight. 

How Many Calories Does Muscle Burn? (Be Prepared to Be Disappointed)

For as long as I can remember, people have stated that for every 1-pound of muscle you gain, your body burns an additional 50 calories. On paper, this sounds awesome. Add 5 pounds of muscle, and you’ll burn an extra 250 calories per day, or about a pound every 2 weeks. 

The philosophy has led to plenty of people rationalizing increasing how much they eat with the belief that their muscle mass will prevent additional weight gain.

Unfortunately, it’s not true.

Research suggests that every pound of muscle is more likely to burn about 6 calories per day. 

You’re probably thinking, “Just 6 calories?”

Comparatively, a pound of fat will burn approximately 2 calories per day. 

This isn’t exactly the best campaign for weight training. But, focusing on how many calories muscle burns is only a small piece of the metabolism picture. 

If you really want to understand the impact on your metabolism, you have to look at what it takes to build muscle. 

Better Question: Does Building Muscle Improve Your Metabolism?

It’s important to differentiate the metabolic benefits of having muscle and building muscle. 

While adding 10 pounds of muscle could take years and only burn about 60 extra calories per day when all is said done, the work you’d need to put in to build (and maintain) that muscle would still positive changes for your body and metabolism.

In fact, research has shown that weight training burns more calories than we originally thought — and the act of resistance training can keep your metabolism elevated for up to 48 hours after you finish your workout. 

Some research suggests that 90% of the total calories you burn from weight training might occur after you finish your workout because of the “afterburn” effect. 

That’s not to say that weight training doesn’t burn a lot of calories while you’re training. Research from Christopher Scott suggests that an 8-minute high-intensity circuit can burn up to 250 calories. And that’s just 8 minutes, which shows you how many calories you might be burning if you can potentially double that amount from the afterburn. 

Research also suggests that building muscle improves your insulin sensitivity, which means you process carbs more efficiently and you lessen the likelihood of diabetes. 

That’s a fancy way of saying more muscle changes the way that your body reacts to food. That’s because your muscles need the energy to repair, maintain, or grow.

So, the more muscle you add, the more your body processes food and calories differently and makes it less likely that what you eat will be stored as fat. 

Is Exercise Necessary for Fat Loss?

There are many ways to burn calories. And, if you’re trying to lose weight, research suggests that you’re going to need to make dietary changes. 

However, just because your earned muscle won’t burn calories all day doesn’t mean that earning that muscle isn’t a key part of your ideal fat-loss plan. 

Research has compared people who exercised 3 times per week doing cardio (aerobic exercise), aerobic exercise and weight training, or no exercise at all.

The exercise groups lost a similar amount of weight, but the people who were lifting weights lost about 40 percent more fat. (The total amount of exercise time was the same between cardio-only and the cardio and weights conditions.)

In general, research examining people who diet compared to those who weight train find that weight training helps you preserve (or gain) muscle and lose more weight from fat. The benefits change how you look and feel after you’ve lost weight, and increase the likelihood that you’ll keep the weight off. 

What’s the Best Metabolism Boost?

Your metabolism is very complex and, oftentimes, misunderstood. The biggest impact on your daily calorie burn has nothing to do with exercise. About 50 to 70 percent of your daily calorie burn (AKA energy expenditure) is used for the basic function of staying alive, such as powering your heart, lungs, and brain. 

The basic functioning of your metabolism is also partially dependent on your body size. The bigger you are and the more you weigh, the more calories you burn. The idea that thin people have faster metabolisms is actually a myth because body weight is directly tied to the most significant impact on your daily calorie burn. 

Another 10 percent of your metabolism is influenced by what you eat. Also known as the “thermic effect of food” (or TEF), it’s the rate at which your body burns proteins, carbs, and fats. And, it’s the reason the number of meals you eat doesn’t matter and why protein is helpful when trying to lose fat. 

The rest of your metabolism — anywhere from 20 to 40 percent — is then influenced by physical activity. This is a combination of walking, daily movements (like fidgeting or standing up and sitting down), and your traditional exercise. 

The more muscle you have, the more likely you are to earn it from workouts. And, the more you work out, the more intensity you can apply to those workouts to improve your metabolism. 

While exercise will never be the primary mover of metabolism, science does suggest that the process of building or maintaining muscle can have a significant impact on your metabolism and help with fat loss. 

Read More:

How Much Fat Should I Eat?

Is Sugar Bad For You? (You’ll Be Surprised)

Understanding Proteins, Carbs and Fats

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Does Having More Muscle Really Increase Your Metabolism? appeared first on Born Fitness.

The reasons range from explanations that suggest big meals harm your digestion or not eating frequently enough slows your metabolism. In most scenarios, it’s recommended that you have 2 to 3 small meals and 2 to 3 snacks, which means you’re eating every 2-3 hours for a total of 4 to 6 meals per day.

The problem? Research doesn’t back up all of the claims of grazing throughout the day.

Before you get frustrated, there’s plenty of information that can help you figure out how many meals are best for your body. It’s a mix of science, understanding your goals, and lifestyle preferences.

Once you consider all three variables, it becomes easy to decide if you want to eat big meals or small snacks (or both), or if you want to eat more frequently or just have 2 to 3 larger meals each day.

The Science: Does Eating More Often Burn More Fat?

Every time you put food in your mouth, you burn calories. When you eat, your inner machinery (AKA metabolism) works to break down the food you eat.

This process, known as the thermic effect of food (or TEF) requires energy, explains why you burn some calories when you eat. It’s the main reason why people have suggested eating more often.

The premise is simple: if you burn calories when you eat, then eating more often should burn more calories.

But, almost every time researchers have compared more frequent meals and snacks to fewer meals, subjects don’t burn more fat.

The reason is pretty simple: it’s not how often you eat that influences your metabolism, it’s what you eat and how much.

Each type of food you eat (proteins, carbs, and fats) uses different amounts of energy. Protein is the most metabolically expensive—it needs more energy to break down, digest, and put to use than either carbohydrates or fat. In fact, up to 30 percent of the calories you eat from protein are burned during the digestion and processing of those foods.

That’s one of the main reasons why diets with protein are so great; the more protein you eat, the more calories you burn. Carbohydrates are less metabolically active (about 6 to 8 percent burned), and fats are the least metabolically active (about 3 to 5 percent burned).

Using that framework, it’s easier to understand how the number of calories you burn is directly proportional to caloric intake and the foods you eat. In other words, if you eat the same foods and balance calories, there’s no metabolic difference between eating three meals or six.

And it’s not just your metabolism. In a review of all meal frequency studies published in the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, research suggests that meal frequency does not play a role in changing your body composition.

There are reasons why eating less frequently could be a better choice for your weight loss goals. Researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center found that eating more frequently is less beneficial for feeling full.

This isn’t a hard rule, but it does suggest that the act of eating could make you feel hungrier more often, which could mean you’ll take in more calories.

Does Eating More Often Build More Muscle?

There are two primary factors that will influence muscle building from a dietary perspective: total calories and protein.

Total calories are the most important factor in adding weight or building muscle. Just as you need to reduce energy to lose weight, you need to increase energy (calories to gain weight).

Recent research compared 3 meals per day with 6 meals per day during an 8-week weight gain plan. The scientists discovered that — as long as calories were equal — eating more frequent meals did not lead to more weight or muscle gain.

Even more interesting is that the difference in meals didn’t affect hunger, either. So, calories and total protein are still the North Star for muscle gain. But, there’s one reason you might want to increase how often you eat.

Research that looked at how much protein your body can use per meal for muscle building suggests that spreading out your meals might have a benefit. Specifically, the research found:

Based on the current evidence, we conclude that to maximize anabolism one should consume protein at a target intake of 0.4 g/kg/meal across a minimum of four meals in order to reach a minimum of 1.6 g/kg/day. Using the upper daily intake of 2.2 g/kg/day reported in the literature spread out over the same four meals would necessitate a maximum of 0.55 g/kg/meal.

Translation: if muscle building is your primary goal, and you don’t want to overthink how much protein you need, it’s might be easiest to have 4 meals per day, each with similar or equal amounts of protein to help you maximize your natural muscle-building ability.

That said, if you prefer to eat 3 meals per day instead of 4, as the other research has shown, you can still effectively add size.

Are There Health Benefits of Frequent Meals?

Much like weight loss and muscle gain, how many calories you eat and the composition of those calories (getting enough protein, carbs, and fats to support your needs) will have the biggest impact on your health.

But, some research suggests your meal frequency could influence other considerations such as your gut health and inflammation.

A review published in Nutrients suggests that eating less frequently could improve gut health and reduce inflammation. But, that research considered many other factors, such as having consistent eating patterns (eating around the same time and the same number of meals) and eating more calories earlier in the day.

So, while it’s hard to say at this point if fewer means better health, it does suggest that there could be some value with how you eat and sticking to a consistent routine, whether that’s more or fewer meals per day.

What Is The Best Meal Plan Approach?

The best approach to your diet is the one that is sustainable for you and fits your lifestyle. Given that most research shows equal benefits of eating more or less frequently, it’s better to consider lifestyle factors that will make it easier for you to follow healthy habits.

If you’re not someone who loves to cook, eating more often could be problematic because you might be more prone to eating packaged foods that contain more calories.

If eating large meals “opens the flood gates” and turns you into a bottomless pit, then small, frequent meals could limit the extreme hunger.

No matter what, just remember you can eat as many meals—or as few—as you want.

And, as we’ve discussed before, your habits will determine your success much more than any specific diet or meal plan.

Many diets work, and your body primarily functions and responds to how much you eat, what you eat, and the sources of food you select.

Bottom line: If eating more frequently works best for you and your schedule, then you should cater to your preferences. But, if you prefer fewer, larger meals, then you can confidently eat that way without worrying that it’s harming your metabolism or limiting your results.

Struggling with Your Diet?

Get your questions answered. Sign up for Born Fitness online coaching. To learn more, click here.

READ MORE: 

Do Carbs Actually Make You Fat?

Breakfast is Not the Most Important Meal of the Day

Winning the War on Hunger: Practical Solutions to Overeating

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Big Meals vs. Small Snacks: What’s Best for You? appeared first on Born Fitness.

Before you counter with claims about almond butter, cashew butter, or any nut butter, they all fall into the same category along with many other popular “protein snacks.”

As the unofficial President of the Peanut Butter Fan Club, I don’t like to discredit peanut butter in any way. But, knowing my love of peanut butter (it’s still perfectly fine to include in your diet) will help you understand why it’s important to know about high-quality proteins.

That’s because what is marketed as good protein is rarely accurate.

You can blame the food industry, but don’t expect them to change any time soon. The good news: learning to differentiate high-quality protein from “regular” (scientist will call it incomplete) protein is pretty easy.

Even better: there are simple ways to turn incomplete proteins into complete proteins (think of it as a way to upgrade your favorite nut butter of choice).

The best news: once you add more high-quality protein to your diet, you start to see the benefits you want, ranging from fat loss and muscle gain to better hair, skin, and nails.

You don’t have to ditch your peanut butter. But, if you’ve been focusing on getting a lot of your daily protein from nuts (or other incomplete sources), you’re about to realize all the ways you’ve been missing out. -AB

Why Is Protein Important?

Before we get to quality, let’s make something clear: you’ve probably heard that you need more protein in your diet, and for a good reason.

Protein is the building block for muscle, but it’s also so much more.

Protein is also essential for maintaining a strong immune system, bones, tendons, and is responsible for many metabolic reactions. There is also a clear relationship between protein and weight loss.

Here’s the thing:

Not all proteins are created equal.

Quality counts. But what’s the difference between protein and “high-quality protein?” It’s locked in the amino acids of each type of protein.

As much as protein all looks the same on a nutrition label, it’s not. 

If you’re confused, don’t worry. As we mentioned, distinguishing high-quality protein from lesser-quality protein is easier than you might think. And, once you learn to recognize the difference, you’ll be able to adjust how you eat without much stress. 

Why Amino Acids Are Important

Every source of protein has a different amino acid profile. These amino acids — or the component parts that a protein will become when you digest it — are a big determinant of whether or not a protein is high-quality.    

Your body can produce many amino acids on its own. But there are some it can’t make. They are:

• histidine
• isoleucine
• leucine
• lysine
• methionine
• phenylalanine
• threonine
• tryptophan
• valine

These are the “essential amino acids,” and you must get them through your diet.

Any food that contains all nine essential amino acids is known as a “complete protein.”

High-quality proteins contain all of the essential amino acids (amino acids are the building blocks of protein).

When you eat all of the essential amino acids (AKA a complete protein), that’s when your body can put protein to work and unlock all of the benefits.

On the flip side, if you don’t have the essential amino acids, even if you’re eating protein, your body might not be able to use all of the other amino acids to help out.

Now that you know why essential amino acids make a complete protein, you’ll better understand why high-quality protein matters.

What Makes a Protein High-Quality?

A high-quality protein really is a function of three things:

• protein digestibility (i.e. “Can your body break it down?”)  
• amino acid content (i.e. “What’s really inside the protein?”)
• the resulting amino acid availability to support metabolic function (i.e. “Will your body be able to use those amino acids the way you want it to?”).  

The process of digesting any food begins when you chew. But, protein is unique among the three major macronutrients in that your body’s digestion of it truly begins in the stomach and continues into the small intestine.

Technically speaking, enzymes work to fully break down the protein you eat into smaller chains of amino acids. This is very important because, as we mentioned above, it’s actually all the amino acids that your body puts to work. (For example, leucine is an amino acid that is a key figure in building muscle. But, as you’ll find out, amino acids don’t work alone.)

Before a chain can be absorbed into your bloodstream, it must be shortened into individual amino acids. Only then, when these amino acids hit the bloodstream, can they be transported to help whatever your body needs.

They may also be held for a short time with other amino acids in what’s referred to as an amino acid pool. The body can turn to this pool and take the exact amino acids it needs to create a larger protein molecule required for one function or another and leave behind what it doesn’t require at the moment.

• Need to build muscle? Dip into the amino acid pool.
• Trying to recover from a hard workout? Amino acid pool, please.
• Searching for collagen for your skin? Yep, amino acid pool

While the process might appear cut-and-dry, it’s not that simple. First of all, if you want to get the amino acids out of the pool, all of the essential amino acids must be present. 

So, it’s easy to see why incomplete proteins, which don’t have all of the amino acids, can become a barrier to experiencing the benefits of protein.

Also, not all protein is 100 percent digested. And, if it’s not all digested and broken down, then that means you don’t have as many amino acids present in your bloodstream. 

Scientists can measure a protein’s digestibility in the lab is by monitoring nitrogen absorption and excretion. (Protein is the only macronutrient that contains nitrogen, which is why this works.)  The outcome of this test typically produces a digestibility score.

Proteins that are highly digestible receive scores close to 100% (digestible). Lower scores are less digestible. If you were to consume a protein with a digestibility score of 90%, then for every 10g you consumed, you would absorb 9g and excrete 1g.

What helps the protein digestibility score? Having more essential amino acids.

In general, animal proteins — such as dairy, eggs, and meat — score highly. Vegetarian proteins typically score lower because they’re lower in essential amino acids.

What Are High-Quality Protein Sources?

If you just want a list of high-quality protein sources, we have you covered. The top sources are:

• Dairy products: including milk, whey protein powder, casein protein powder, hard cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt
• Eggs
• Seafood and fish
• Beef and bison
• Game meats (such as venison and elk)
• Chicken
• Pork
• Pea Protein
• Soybeans
• Vegan protein powders (primarily consisting of pea protein, potato protein, and corn protein)

You might notice that the majority of the high-quality options are from animal sources. 

That doesn’t mean you can’t get high-quality protein on a plant-based diet. You can still fill your diet with the protein you need even if you never want to put any animals in your mouth. But, it requires you to combine vegan- or plant-based sources of protein to create a complete amino acid profile. 

Why Animal-Based Protein is the “Easy Button”

Animal protein sources mimic the protein composition of human tissue. This is why meat naturally offers a highly usable blend of amino acids—including all nine essential amino acids (with some exceptions, which we’ll get to in a second).

As a result, we humans can use protein from an animal source in a very efficient manner.

Animal proteins range from the obvious—beef, pork, chicken, eggs, and fish—to fluid sources such as milk. All of these are high-quality protein sources that are highly bioavailable (your body can put them to use easily).

Nearly all animal proteins are highly bioavailable — meaning your body can put them to use more easily.

This includes dairy, which supplies a wealth of amino acids, including a high amount of leucine. So, perhaps, it’s not surprising that studies involving chronic exercisers have found that consuming milk-based protein after resistance exercise promotes muscle protein synthesis, more muscle, and less flab.

While collagen and bone broths are popular for their potential to support joint health and other tissue function within the body, collagen protein is high in only 3 amino acids (glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline) while being fairly low in the other essential amino acids.

Bone broths may deliver health benefits, but they alone won’t help with muscle building or fat loss (or satisfy your body’s amino acid requirements, unless you add chicken or beef to the broth, in which case, you’re all set.)

What About High-Quality Plant Protein?

Conversely, most plant sources (but not all) have an amino acid profile that differs drastically from that of humans.

Many (but not all) plant proteins are low in various essential amino acids, especially leucine. This is important to note, because leucine plays a critical role in turning on muscle protein synthesis (MPS), which is key for building and repairing muscle tissue.

The big exceptions are soy, potato protein, corn protein, and pea protein. In fact, pea protein has been tested as a favorable vegan alternative to whey. These vegetarian sources contain all of the essential amino acids you require.

Outside of those sources, most plant-based proteins are not complete. All this means is that consuming one lone source of plant protein cannot support body growth and maintenance.

But there’s a simple fix. If you combine different plant protein sources, then you can receive adequate amounts of all nine essential amino acids.

Examples of complementary proteins include combining legumes and grains, such as red beans and rice, or vegetables and legumes, such as what you’d find in a 9-bean vegetable soup.

When you eat complementary proteins, the combined sources equal a complete protein source.

You don’t have to do this at the same meal. Your body will store the amino acids for about 4 to 6 hours as they come in, and then re-synthesize proteins as it needs by pulling from body cells and blood supplies later.

Often you need to eat more plant-based protein to get the equivalent amount of amino acids that you would from a smaller amount of animal protein.

So really, your main takeaways here are:

1. The exact amount of protein you need will depend on the quality of the protein you eat.
2. If you consume a lot of plant-based protein or are exclusively plant-based, you may need to increase your total daily protein intake, even more, to compensate for the lower protein quality.
3. If you are vegetarian or vegan, eat a diverse mix of foods, and you may want to research the amino acid profiles of the foods you eat.

READ MORE:

What is the Best Protein Powder?

The Curious Case of Why People Fear Protein

No Carbs Diet: The Flaw in Fat Loss

Pamela Nisevich Bede, MS, RD, CSSD, LD is a 21-time marathoner, Ironman triathlete, and mom who counsels athletes and wellness enthusiasts towards optimal performance at Swim, Bike, Run, Eat!, LLC, and is the resident endurance sports nutrition expert at EAS Sports Nutrition. She has contributed to multiple books and is regularly sought to provide insight to numerous publications. Connect with her @PamBedeRD

The post What is a High-Quality Protein? appeared first on Born Fitness.

It’s not great genetics.

(Good genes help, but plenty of people have gotten huge without having been blessed with it at birth.)

It’s not that they all just live at the gym and do nothing else, or follow some magical workout. (When it comes to building muscle, many different approaches — low rep/high weight, high rep/low weight, straight sets, supersets, and on and on — can work. There is no one that’s “best.”)

And it’s not that they’re on performance-enhancing drugs. (You can pack on plenty of muscle naturally — look no further than any drug-free bodybuilding competition for proof.)

The thing they all have in common is this:

Patience.

Not the answer you expected? Here’s why being patient is so important.

The Problem with Bulking and Cutting

First, when most people set out to build muscle, they go through a phase where they eat a lot and train a lot. You’ve probably heard it called “bulking.”

Then, after a few weeks or months, they switch. Maybe they get self-conscious about the size the gained. Or maybe they think they’re starting to look fat. So they trim back on calories and change their training to try and burn the fat off. This phase is called “cutting.”

Most people bounce back and forth between these two phases — bulking and cutting, bulking and cutting — without making any real progress. Why? Because each new phase undoes the success of the last.

On our website, we’ve talked about Set Point Theory. It’s the idea that the body identifies with a certain weight and then becomes resistant to change. In our previous article, we discussed how it applied to weight loss. It’s one of the reasons why losing weight — and keeping it off — can be so hard.

But the concept also applies to muscle gain. Your body is used to being a certain weight. When you change that through strength training, it will take measures to go back to how it was — unless you teach it that this more muscular weight is it’s new normal.

You teach your body that through what’s called a maintenance phase. In a lecture on his site Renaissance Periodization, Dr. Mike Israetel discusses how people hold themselves back if they do not include this phase in their training. (The content itself is paywalled, but totally worth buying if you like to nerd out on the science of muscle-building.)

I don’t want to give too much away or do violence to the quality and depth of his explanation. So I’ll summarize it like this: During a maintenance phase, you ease up on training a little bit. And you aim to eat what’s called an isocaloric diet, meaning you try to eat as many calories as you’d need, but not more.

Sample Muscle-Building Macronutrient Formula

This formula from Adam’s Great Abs Experiment will help:

For Total Calories Per Day:

Take the body weight you wish to maintain and multiply it by 10 if you are training 1 hour or less per week. For each additional hour you train per week, add 1 to the multiplier. So if you’d muscled up to 200 pounds, and trained 4 hours per week, you’d multiply 13 by 200 and get 2,600 calories per day as your mark. You can split that total across however many meals per day you prefer to eat (two, three, four, five, whatever).

Protein:

Eat at least 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. So if you were 200 pounds, you’d aim for 200 grams of protein (800 calories total) per day.

Fat:

Eat half a gram of fat per pound of bodyweight. So at 200 pounds, you’d target 100 grams of fat (900 calories) per day.

Carbohydrates:

Determine how many carbohydrates to eat by subtracting the protein and fat calories from your daily total, and then dividing the remainder by 4. To continue the example we’ve been using here, it would be 2,600 calories total minus 800 calories (protein) and 900 calories (fat), leaving you with 900 calories for carbs. Divide that by 4 and you get 225 calories of carbs per day.

While the length of your maintenance phase can vary, you’d want to approach it as if it were something you could do for several months or even years. Why? Because — again — you want this to be your new normal.

You want to think of building muscle not in terms of days and weeks, but months and years. The biggest, most muscular people in the world are the ones who show up for training, again and again, for years on end.

READ MORE: 

Adding Muscle At Any Age: Defying Genetics And Designing The Muscle Building Workout

The New Rules Of Specialization: How To Add Muscle Mass

How To Master The Art Of “Old School” Muscle Building

5 Muscle Building Mistakes (And How To Make Gains)

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post How To Look More Muscular appeared first on Born Fitness.

Following a vegetarian diet is a common approach for most people looking to follow a healthier lifestyle. The catch? It can feel difficult to fill the gaps on a meatless diet, especially when it comes to protein, which is a key to building muscle and losing fat.

So we turned to Eric Helms, Ph.D. Not only does Dr. Helms have a master’s in sports nutrition and a doctorate in exercise science, but he’s also been following a plant-based diet since 2011. Here is his advice on following a plant-based diet, and how to build muscle on a vegetarian diet.

Ok, you reflected on what you want and decided to follow a vegetarian lifestyle. But you’re also interested in building muscle (or making sure you don’t lose the muscle you’ve already earned). How do you do it?

You might be surprised that building muscle on a vegetarian diet isn’t that different from a meat-filled plan. In fact, no matter what eating style you follow, if you want to build muscle then you need to eat slightly more calories than you burn in a day (called a “caloric surplus”), and make sure you emphasize protein. All that changes is the source of protein you need when following a vegetarian diet. Do that while training consistently and voila! You will add muscle.

Vegetarian Diet Muscle: Start with Calories

Your first step is to figure out your “maintenance level,” or the number of calories you must eat to keep your weight consistent. To do that:

1. Identify your goal weight. Think “where you want to be,” not “where you are.”
2. 
Use that figure to calculate an estimate of your daily intake using this equation: goal weight x (workout hours per week + 9.5) = daily number of calories
3. Track how much you eat. Online logs like MyFitnessPal can be helpful.
4. Monitor your intake and your scale weight for a couple of weeks. (Weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after you’ve went to the bathroom but before you eat or drink anything.)

If your body weight holds steady, you’ll know that you’ve accurately hit your maintenance number.

If you’re losing weight, you can bump up calories. Add about 100 per day across a week — so, if you were eating 2000 calories per day last week, you’d bump up to 2100 calories per day this week.

If you find you’re gaining weight, do the opposite. Drop a hundred calories per day.

When you reach a number that keeps your weight consistent, voila! You’re at the maintenance level.

But if your goal is to add muscle, you can’t just stop there. To gain muscle, you need to eat more calories than you burn. How many more?

Let’s say you are an intermediate level lifter, meaning that you have been training for a few years.

• If you are a woman or a smaller guy, you’re probably going to want to eat an extra 100 to 200 calories above your maintenance amount.
• If you are a larger, taller guy, you’ll want to focus on an extra 200 to 300 calories.

This should result in you gaining one to two pounds per month. It’s a rough guideline, but one that will cover most people (although not everybody).

[Ed. note: Could you gain more muscle than this? Sure. But this is a realistic rate of growth. Don’t buy into promises that sound great on paper but will only leave you frustrated and want to quit.]

From there, you’ll want to monitor your weight and ask yourself: Am I gaining at the rate of weight that I want? If the answer is “yes,” then great. But if “no,” then continue to bump up your intake incrementally.

How Much Protein, Fat, and Carbs Do Vegetarians Need?

Let’s imagine that you’ve determined how many calories you need to gain muscle. For the sake of keeping the math easy, let’s say you need 3,000 calories per day.

From there you can budget your macronutrients, or how many grams of protein, fat, and carbs you should aim for in a day. Do it in this order:

1. Start with protein. Note that your protein intake will not actually be based on your total energy intake. Your target protein number should be based on how much lean body mass you have. [Ed. note: “Lean body mass” is the weight of everything in your body that isn’t fat — muscle tissue, bone, etc.]

Most people don’t have an easy way to calculate that accurately. So, instead, a good surrogate number to use for calculating protein is your goal body weight (If you are 180 pounds and want to weigh 200 pounds, then that is your goal weight). Multiply that weight by .8 to 1.0, and you’ll have your target protein intake in grams.

You can eat more than that, but you don’t need to. The times when you might want to consume more protein would be if you are gaining weight too quickly because you are hungry all the time. Protein is pretty filling, and going above your bodyweight-based target may help you feel fuller longer.

2. Next up, calculate fat. Let’s go back to the example of 3,000 calories per day with a goal weight of 200 pounds. That means you want 200 grams of protein per day. That equals 800 calories from protein (since protein is 4 calories per gram). You have 2,200 calories remaining for fat and carbohydrates.

A good range for fat in your diet is anywhere between 20% and 40% of total calories from fat (Note: exceptions do exist, such as if you choose to follow a ketogenic diet.). For the 3,000 calories-per-day example, here’s what it would look like:

• Goal weight: 200 pounds
• 
Protein: 200 grams
• Fat calculation: 20-40%
• If 20% of 3,000 calories = 600 calories from fat (or 600/9* = 67 grams of fat/day)
• 
If 40% of 3,000 calories = 1,200 calories from fat (or 1,200/9 = 133 grams of fat/day)

[*Ed. note: fat is 9 calories per gram]

3. Carbohydrates take up whatever calories are remaining. Divide that remainder by four and you’ll find the number of carbohydrates you want to eat in grams. So for each of our examples above:

What Are the Best Protein Sources for Vegetarians?

When you go on a vegetarian diet, it’s hard to find many foods that are pure protein. That’s because many vegetarian protein sources have a lot of crossover – i.e. a grain like quinoa will be high in protein but also high in carbs, or nuts will have protein but also a lot of fat.

That’s especially true as you move toward a strict vegan diet. Picture all plant-based diet on a spectrum, with flexitarians or pescatarians (people who’ll eat fish, eggs and dairy) on the left and strict vegans on the right. The closer you go to veganism, the more difficult things will be.

If you are a lacto-ovo vegetarian, eggs and dairy alone provide you with ample opportunity to get sufficient protein. If you have a few protein servings from one of those sources at each meal, you should be set.

For a lacto-vegetarian, again, it’s not hard to keep your protein up. You can consume whey protein or non-fat Greek yogurt, and both are high in protein while being low in carbs and fat. They might as well be meat in terms of their macronutrient breakdowns (although with some extra carbs in there).

For an ovo-vegetarian, egg whites provide basically the same thing: a food that’s high in protein and low in everything else. You could stick with just those if you were trying to control calories. Or you could mix in as many yolks as you want to hit your fat target for the day.

Best of all: In both cases (lacto and ovo), you’re getting a high-quality protein source. What I mean by that, from the perspective of someone who wants to gain muscle, is that they are high in essential amino-acids like leucine, which is one of the triggers for muscle protein synthesis (the process of building of new muscle).

If you’re a vegan, you have to worry to some degree about complementary proteins. Basically, many plant-based protein sources don’t have all nine essential amino acids. [Ed. note: if you don’t have all the essential aminos, then you can’t put those aminos to use for building muscle.] So you’ll have to mix different sources of plant-based protein together in order to get a complete set of amino acids.

A common example is rice and beans. Together, those two foods provide a complete protein source.

You don’t need to worry about complementary proteins on a meal-to-meal basis. You just want to look globally at your diet. Are you consuming multiple sources of proteins — rice, beans, quinoa, tofu to some degree — that are complementary in nature? Eating a variety of protein sources as a vegan ensures that you’re getting all of the essential amino acids.

Here are some of the vegetarian diet protein sources:

High Protein

• Edamame (1 cup, cooked) = 16g of protein
• Tempeh (3 oz.) = 16g
• Seitan (6 oz.) = 15g
• Textured Vegetable Protein (¼ cup, dry) = 12g
• 
Hemp Hearts (3 tbsp.) = 10g
• Spelt (1 cup) = 10g

Moderate Protein

• Red lentils (½ cup) = 9g
• Peas (1 cup) = 8g
• Red Beans (½ cup) = 8g
• Kidney Beans (½ cup) = 8g
• Quinoa (1 cup) = 8g
• Tofu (3 oz.) = 8g
• Black Beans (½ cup) = 7g
• Great Northern Beans (½ cup) = 7g
• Almonds (1 oz.) = 6g
• Garbanzo Beans  (½ cup) = 6g
• Pumpkin seeds (1oz.) = 5g
• Collard greens (1 cup, raw) = 5 g
• Hubbard Squash (1 cup, cooked) = 5g

Lower Protein

• Asparagus (1 cup) = 4 g per cup
• 
Spinach (1 cup) = 4g per cup
• 
Sweet potatoes (1 cup, roasted with skins)= 4g
• Beet Greens (1 cup) = 4g
• Brussel sprouts (1 cup) = 3.9g
• 
Mushrooms (1 cup) = 3g
• Broccoli (1 cup) = 3g
• Broccoli Rabe (1 cup, cooked) = 3g
• Mung Bean Sprouts (1 cup, cooked) = 2.5g
• 
Kale (1 cup, raw) = 2.5g
• 
Zucchini (1 cup, sliced) = 2g
• Cauliflower (1 cup, chopped) = 2g

Vegetarian Diet Protein Powder: A Primer

If you are a vegan, it’s likely that you’ll want to invest in a pea protein (or pea protein blend).

Why pea and not soy, the most common one?

There’s some research showing that soy protein, in large amounts, could potentially affect sperm quality and quantity in men. There’s other research indicating that soy could potentially affect estrogen levels, but that’s less consistent. Some studies show it, some don’t.

Women probably don’t have to worry about this stuff because even if estrogen changes, you’d still be within normal, acceptable ranges compared to how much estrogen you’re normally producing. But, I’m not comfortable enough with the ambivalence of the research, and the potential consequences, to advise having soy as a large part of your diet, as a vegan or a vegetarian.

Notice I said “large part.” Having a serving of soy per day is not a big deal. So if you want to have tofu once a day, that’s all good. If you have a scoop of soy protein once a day, that’s totally fine. You just wouldn’t want to have 40-50% of your protein intake come from soy. That’s probably not a good idea.

Instead, you probably want to invest in a protein blend that is high quality, complete, and doesn’t have those issues. Pea protein or a rice-pea blend is what you want.

In fact, pea protein performs really well in research. It’s comparable to whey protein in terms of its leucine content. A term that I’ve seen thrown around is “vegan’s whey,” which is roughly a 70/30 blend of pea protein and rice protein. You actually get a very similar essential amino acid profile to whey.

Outside of just the amino acid profile, we’ve actually seen studies where people perform just as well in terms of body competition change (ratio of muscle to body fat) and performance when they eat pea protein after a workout, compared to whey.

The one thing to note about pea/rice blends is that they bulk up a lot. No matter how much water you add to it, it will have an earthy flavor. The mix is pretty filling, I’ve found, but drinking it can feel a little bit tiresome due to that mouthfeel. If you are accustomed to whey protein, which is very thin, this will be different than what you are used to.

A way to work around that is to mix small amounts of vegan protein powder into things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You can’t put a huge amount in there or it can start to get a little gritty and weird, but sneaking in a little bit will help you up the protein count of your meals – and save you from having to drink shake after shake.

How to Tell if a Vegetarian Diet is Working for You

When your goal is building muscle, start by tracking your weight. You’ll also want to track your workout performance. Whether or not the weights you are using, or the reps you can perform, are going upward or downward can tell you a lot about how well your lifestyle is supporting your goals.

But remember: external goals aren’t the only thing that matters. You also have to live in the body you’re building every day. So create a rating scale for yourself, say, from 1 to 5. Each day, rate how you feel on the qualitative aspects of your life. This includes:

• sleep
• energy
• hunger
• mood
• 
mental clarity
• 
workout quality or enjoyment

Those subjective ratings are important. Also, while it’s a little bit uncomfortable to talk about, you may even want to monitor whether it’s easier or harder to use the toilet. If you’re eating appropriately and drinking sufficient water, it should get easier.

While we’re on the subject, here’s another thing to note: When you increase your vegetable consumption, you may experience an increase in gas. Really, that’s true whenever you make a large-scale change to your diet. Two things to note:

1. Try Gas-X (it’s a lifesaver).
2. Typically, things should start to normalize as your gut microbiome gets more accustomed to what you’re taking in. You’ll likely notice an improvement over a few weeks to a month.

Your energy levels shouldn’t fluctuate that much if you’re doing it right. If you feel really off, even though your macronutrients and your total calories are the same, that can indicate some type of micronutrient problem. That’s not always the case, but it’s worth watching. If the issue is persistent, try a blood test.

For Long-Term Success, Be Clear About Why You Want to Be a Vegetarian

Whenever I first start talking to someone who wants to make a shift over to a vegetarian or vegan diet, but who is also interested in athletic performance, the first thing I ask is: Why do you want to do this?

A common response is, “Well, we know vegetarian diets are better for health and performance.” That’s where we have to stop and take an objective look at what we really know about vegetarian diets.

There are two things that often skew people’s viewpoints:

1. The “rose-colored glasses” problem. It’s natural for people to see only the positives in data, especially when their ethical beliefs are driving it. Someone who promotes vegetarian diet, or who believes it is unethical to not eat vegetarian, may only highlight or acknowledge research showing that vegetarian diets are healthier.

2. The confounding variables problem. When you look at the broad spectrum of quality research, you see that, yes, vegetarians are healthier and live longer compared to the general population. The thing is, a person from the general population is not someone who really thinks about what they are eating, other than perhaps to ask, “Do I want more salt on this?”

So in these studies, as soon as you look at a vegetarian, you are bringing in someone who has made a serious decision about their nutrition. Which usually means they are more attentive to their health in general. They’re typically more active. They drink and smoke less. They are more conscious of calorie intake. They usually have a lower BMI. All of these things predict a longer life and better health. So yes, compared to the general population, vegetarians typically do better.

Here’s the “but.” But, when researchers get comparable controls to vegetarians (i.e. people who tick those other boxes about less drinking/smoking, lower BMI higher activity levels, and so on), it starts to wash out those differences. You don’t see such drastic health benefits.

That’s not to say a vegetarian diet can’t be healthy. Fruit and vegetable intake are highly important for health. But you can eat meat, fruit and vegetables, and likewise be healthy.

I would say that the only “evidence based argument” to do a plant-based diet would probably be for ethics – and even then, it’s going to be subjective, and specific to your personal ethics.

I encourage you to assess your own beliefs. Figure out what you feel the most ethically comfortable with. Instead of just rigidly trying to follow someone else’s plan, ask yourself, “What am I trying to accomplish?”

Vegetarian Diet for Muscle Building: Quick Notes

• • Building muscle on a vegetarian diet is very possible. The basic rules are the same: Eat a little more, prioritize protein, get sufficient rest and sleep, and then kick ass in the gym.
  • If you’re a flexitarian, pescetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian, you have plenty of options for getting sufficient protein. Whey protein is your friend. So is Greek yogurt and eggs.

READ MORE:

The Best Protein Sources

The Myth of the Best Diet Plan (And How to Find What Works for You)

Winning the War on Hunger: Practical Solutions to Overeating

The post How to Build Muscle on a Vegetarian Diet appeared first on Born Fitness.

If you’ve ever thought about adding resistance band exercises to your routine — or are limited to working out at home and don’t have much equipment — you might be surprised by how much you can accomplish without any iron.

How Can You Use Resistance Bands in Your Workout?

Resistance bands can be used for at least four different types of exercises:

• Stretching and mobility
• Warm ups and muscle activation
• Resistance training and “getting a pump”
• Developing the “mind-muscle” connection (learning to better “feel” your muscles working)

Each of these goals require you to use the bands slightly differently, but with each example, you can accomplish quite a bit with just a few bands.

Resistance Band Stretches and Mobility Work

Resistance band stretches can help you overcome the hardest part of stretching — feeling like you are limited by the range of motion in your muscles. You know this as “feeling tight.” (A.K.A. “I’m not flexible!”). Funny as it might sound, the limitation might really be in your head, or in another part of your body.

Think about a simple hamstring stretch, where you lie on your back with one leg on the floor and raise the other leg to the sky. Most of the time you use your hands to provide resistance. Simply looping a resistance band around your ankle can create a different movement pattern (because the pressure of pulling comes at a different angle — from your ankle instead of behind your knee), which might allow you to generate more range of motion.

It’s not magic, but most people will find they can get a better stretch with the resistance band variation. That’s because a resistance band can help you go deeper into a stretch, provide support, or help reduce the load of your bodyweight when you perform a move. That’s why many trainers consider bands to be a “must” for maximizing your mobility.

There are limitless ways you can use resistance bands to assist you when you stretch. Here are two examples—one for your upper body, one for your lower body.

Banded Lat Stretch

https://youtu.be/gjRMe2Bcbu4

Loop a band around something at least 6 inches over your head, such as a pull up bar. Grab the band with one arm and step back, so that you band forms a 45- to -60 degree angle to the floor. Get into a staggered stance and put one knee on the floor. Your arm should be in a straight line and aligned with the band.

Lean forward slightly so that your torso is perfectly aligned with your arm. (It will look like the band is an extension of your arm. You could draw a straight line from your hips all the way up to the top of the band where it’s attached to the pull up bar). Hold this position so you feel a stretch in your back.

Do 5 deep breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth, and then switch sides.

Band Supported Leg Lowering 

https://youtu.be/TY6RmPbKqe0

Lie flat on your back and then bring both of your legs up towards the ceiling. Your legs and body should form the shape of a “L.”

Wrap a band around the arch of one of your feet and hold it stable. Keep both of your knees locked out by squeezing your quadriceps muscles and pointing your toes towards your shins.

Lower your leg that does not have the band around it until either A) you feel tightness in your hamstring, or B) you feel pain in your back (this is bad) or don’t feel stable in your core. When either of those things happen, stop, then reverse the movement and lift the leg back up.

Ideally, you’ll take 2 seconds to lower your leg, then take 2 seconds to lift your leg back up using your core muscles. Perform 1-2 sets of 5 repetitions per leg as a part of your warmup, or pair with a lower body movement such as stiff-legged deadlifts.

Resistance Band Exercises for Muscle Activation

Resistance band exercises can be used to strengthen or activate hard-to-hit muscles. For example, your shoulders are two areas that most people have troubling “feeling.” Because of continuous tension, bands are an effective way to help activation and work those muscles without supporting muscles taking over.

Band pull-aparts are a fantastic way to warm up your shoulders. Remember how bands help create more tension throughout the movement? Tension means more blood flow. More blood flow means you’re muscles will feel warm. It’s like adding oil to a squeaky break.

When performing the movement, make sure you don’t have too much slack in the band, because if you do that takes the tension off of your shoulders. The band pull-apart is also effective because it works your shoulders in a pattern that is often overlooked.

Think about how much time you spend at your desk with your shoulders slouched. The band pull-apart works the opposite range of motion, meaning it helps pull your shoulders back into their correct alignment, improving your posture.

Better posture means less pain. And because you’re pulling the band apart, that means you have maximum tension with minimum weight. This is something that isn’t always easy with weights like dumbbells.

Band Pull-aparts 

https://youtu.be/vBhetF3Cyew

Here’s how to do it: Grip the opposite ends of a long (about 40 inches is typical) resistance band. You can mix up your hand position, from prone (thumbs facing one another) to neutral (thumbs facing the ceiling) to supinated (thumbs pointed away from one another).

Position your hands about shoulder width apart, or at a distance where you feel a little tension in the band. From there, pull your hands outward as wide as you can.

Pause and squeeze the muscles in your upper back and shoulders, then reverse directions and bring your hands back toward one another (back to the starting position), and repeat. Focus on keeping your shoulders down and back throughout the entire movement.

Perform 3 sets of 15-30 repetitions.

Mini-Band Lateral Walks

Remember how pull aparts were great for your shoulders? These lateral band walks can do the same for your glutes and help them wake up.

Place the band above your knees. Spread your legs wide enough that you feel tension across the band. (Consider this an athletic position, like a baseball player about to field a ground ball.) Take one leg and step out to the side. Then, follow with your other leg, making sure you maintain tension on the band throughout the movement.

Walk for 10-15 steps in one direction (i.e. from left to right) then switch and go for the same distance in the opposite direction (from right to left).

Goblet Squats

Place the mini-band around your legs just above the knees. Hold a dumbbell vertically against your chest with both of your hands supporting the weight underneath. Press your elbows inward against your rib cage, which activates the muscles in your upper back.

Squat down by pushing your hips back and pressing your knees outward against the mini-band. Doing so activates your glutes and helps you steer clear of knee pain. Lower yourself down until your elbows touch the insides of your knees, then press through your feet to stand back up.

Resistance Band Exercises for Building Muscle

No matter what some people might insist, weights are not the only way to build muscle. Weights are effective because they add resistance. Bands also provide resistance, meaning they also can help you build muscle.

In particular, bands might be most effective when doing higher rep training, such as performing 20 to 30 reps (or more) per set (this is known as “metabolite training”).

Research has repeatedly shown that building muscle is somewhat dependent on volume — or the number of reps x sets x weight. Because you have 3 variables you can manipulate, bands provide a way to increase volume (through more reps) without needing more weight.

This approach works for any muscle in your body — from arms and shoulders, to your chest, back and even your butt. Just ask anyone who’s ever tried Bret Contreras’s glute burnout. Here is another example of how you can use bands to achieve some metabolic glute work:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYPHRU-B8w3/?taken-by=l2fitnessyeg

Resistance Band Exercises and the Mind-Muscle Connection

The mind-muscle connection is something that not everyone is familiar with but it can make a huge difference in your training. Basically, it’s about using your brain to drive more effort from your muscles. If that sounds a little crazy, rest assured it’s a real thing. (Here’s proof.) And with the help of resistance bands, you can develop it.

Resistance bands are useful way to build that connection because the farther you pull the band and the more it lengthens, the harder your muscles have to work.

The increased tension provides a strong peak contraction at the top of every rep. You’ll really feel those muscles working. Want to take it up another notch? Add in a pause at the top. (Ooh, it burns!)

What are the Limits of Resistance Bands?

Like anything, there are always some limitations. For instance, resistance bands don’t necessarily challenge your muscles through a full range of motion.

Lifting weights consists of a raising portion (the concentric) and a lowering portion (the eccentric). The eccentric phase of a lift is the part where you are lowering the weight back down, and it’s beneficial for both muscle growth and improving muscle control.

They feel lighter on your muscles as the bands themselves get shorter. As we discussed above, that may be great from an injury prevention standpoint. But since eccentric muscle actions are where we elicit the most muscle damage in training, using bands alone might limit the amount muscle you can build.

Bands can also make measuring your resistance a little tricky. Part of adding muscle is creating a challenge for your muscles. That’s why bands work — they add resistance. At some point, however, your body will adapt to resistance. This is why you might stop seeing results. Your body adapts, and you need to keep creating a new challenge in order to fight off plateau.

There are many ways to do steer clear of plateaus, however. You can make an exercise more challenging (if you are doing band rows with both arms, you can switch to a 1-arm version with the same band, which will make it more difficult), or you can add weight. This is where dumbbells and barbells have an obvious advantage, as you can just use bigger weights.

But don’t stress too much. Your hand placement, the distance between you and where the band is anchored, and how far the band is stretched can all be used to increase or decrease the resistance. You can also user thicker bands (which has more resistance) or even add multiple bands.

At some point — yes — you might need to add more weight to create a bigger challenge. But as long as you continue to find ways to challenge your muscles (which can also occur by doing more reps and/or sets of an exercise), your resistance band workout will keep delivering results.

The Resistance Band Workout for Building Muscle

Want to give resistance band exercises a try? Here’s a sample upper and lower body workout designed for building muscle.

Upper Body Resistance Band Workout
1) Band pull-aparts: 4 x 15-20 reps x 60s rest
2A) Band pushups: 3 x 10-20 x 45s
2B) Band 2-arm rows: 3 x 15-20 x 45s
3A) 1-arm band row: 3 x 8-15/arm x 45s
3B) 1-arm band chest press: 3 x 8-12/arm x 45s
4A) Band overhead triceps extension – 3 x 12-20 x 45s
4B) Band biceps curls – 3 x 12-15 x 45s

Lower body Resistance Band Workout
1) Mini-band lateral walks: 4 x 15-20/side x 60 seconds
2) Band leg curl: 3 x 15-20 x 60s
3) Rear foot elevated split squat (can add band for resistance): 4 x 12-15 x 60s
4A) Band good morning: 3 x 20-25 x 60s
4B) Walking lunges: 3 x 10-15/leg x 60s
5) Band iso hold Pallof press: 4 x 30s/side x 60s

READ MORE: 

How to Build the Perfect Bodyweight Workout

How to Master the Art of Old School Muscle Building

The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective

References

1. Pull, Ranson (2007) Eccentric muscle actions: Implications for injury prevention and rehabilitation.


2. Schoenfeld BJ (2010) The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training.


3. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW (2017) Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations Between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.


Landon Poburan is the owner of L2 Fitness in Edmonton, Canada. The L2 Fitness Summit is a video series that includes 11+ hours of muscle building ideas from our friends Dr. Mike Israetel and Dean Somerset. If you’re a coach, or just super into getting swole (Israetel) while staying awesomely mobile and balanced (Somerset), then you may seriously enjoy this product, which is on sale for $50 off through December 10th at midnight. And coaches: You get CEUs! Full disclosure: We here at Born Fitness get absolutely nothing for telling you about this product — we are not affiliates and have no financial stake involved. 

Landon Poburan

Personal trainer, nutrition coach and owner of L2 Fitness located in Edmonton, AB Canada.

l2fitness.com/

The post How to Use Resistance Band Exercises in Your Workouts appeared first on Born Fitness.

I remember interviewing Olympic athletes back in 2008 and being astonished by their 6- and 7-day per week plans, consisting of multiple hours pounding their muscles each day.

So much for worrying about more than 60-minutes of exercise turning your muscles into cortisol drained mush, right?

Your biceps respond best to specific, high-tension techniques that usually require nothing more than your body weight.

During my “famous” Dwight Freeney (the tire workout) interview, the All-Pro defensive end crushed his workout for 2 hours.

When interviewing and spending time with True Blood star and Evolution author Joe Manganiello, I learned that the shredded actor consistently pushed his body 6 days per week.

While most people don’t have the time (or desire) to train frequently, it’s one of the most misunderstood aspects of training.

You can achieve great results pushing your body with full body routines three days per week. You can also do it with bodyweight exercises. Or you can do it with more frequent, but shorter sessions. The secret lies in the execution, says strength coach Chad Waterbury. 

To offer a different approach to building your biceps, let Waterbury be your guide to a better understanding of how to program your training frequency—and discover a unique way to bigger arms. -AB

The 4-Step Biceps Builder

By Chad Waterbury

Helping people add mass to their most stubborn muscle groups has been my passion since I started training professionally in 1996. For the first five years of my career I trained my clients using a mix of low reps with heavy weights and high rep sets to failure.

That’s what most trainers did back then, and still do today.

However, my approach to building muscle changed in 2001 after I went to see the Cirque du Soleil show, Mystere, in Vegas. As I was watching the now-famous Alexis Brothers perform their incredible feats of strength, I couldn’t help but be astonished by two things.

First, they had two of the best physiques I’d ever seen: an ideal combination of muscle, symmetry and cuts. Second – and this is most important – I was shocked when I looked at their weekly schedule.

Those two dudes were performing their mind-blowing strength performance 10 times per week.

I didn’t care if they were using every pharmaceutical that Tijuana had to offer. What they were doing defied all the “laws” of training and recovery I learned in college, textbooks and articles.

That’s when I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity (thanks Pulp Fiction): I was going to start training my client’s most underdeveloped muscles more frequently each week.

That strategy changed everything for me; however, it was a long road of many failed attempts to figure out just how often a guy or gal with average genetics could stimulate a specific muscle or their entire body while avoiding burnout.

The High Frequency Training Plan

By 2012 I had accumulated enough experience with frequent training to write my first book on the subject, High Frequency Training (HFT).

My overall approach with HFT was pretty straightforward. You’d choose an exercise such as the pull-up and perform a total number of reps per day (e.g., 50), regardless of how many sets it took. Then you’d add one rep to that total and continue the plan for 6-8 weeks.

It worked well and many guys built up their biceps while the gals finally got the glute size they wanted. But, based on the feedback from a wide range of people around the world, that approach still didn’t work as well for some muscles as I’d hoped.

So I continued to endlessly experiment with higher frequency training plans. Part of my evolved strategy was to look at athletes that built proportionally large muscle groups from their sport. Cyclists have impressively muscular thighs, and gymnasts that do the rings have the best biceps on the planet.

These are their strengths. But for many people, these body parts are weaknesses. So my approach focused on taking what works from the best, modifying, and creating a structured plan to build up any weak body part using a frequency model of training.

The 4-Step Biceps Blast

Since it’s a common area of focus, let’s use the biceps as an example. First, unless you’re genetically gifted (congrats to those who won that lottery), my experience has taught me that most people struggle to build their arms from high rep training. If they did, every collegiate rower would have massive guns.

But maybe more importantly, it’s that people don’t know how to activate the muscles in your biceps. Everyone knows how to flex, but that’s not what happens when we start cranking away at curls.

Body language takes over. Your shoulders and back help move the weight. And the next thing you know, you cranked out an awesome set, only to see arms that look just like they did on rep 1.

Maybe you got a pump, but within an hour your arms are back at their original size.

Second, simply training heavy won’t work, either. There are plenty of guys with average-sized pipes that can curl a lot of weight. Your biceps respond best to specific, high-tension techniques that usually require nothing more than your body weight.

Here’s one biceps-building technique that uses what I call an Iso-Squeeze Countdown. One great exercise for this technique is the inverted row.

Here’s the 4-step plan that will turn the inverted row into powerhouse biceps builder.

Step 1: Assume the starting position with your arms straight and hands 10 inches apart with an overhand grip (palms facing down).

Step 2: Pull your body up to the peak contraction position, hold it, and squeeze your biceps as hard as possible for 3 seconds. Then, immediately do 3 full range of motion reps. Rest for 10 seconds.

Step 3: Pull your torso back up to the peak contraction position and squeeze your biceps intensely for 2 seconds, followed by 2 full range of motion reps. Rest another 10 seconds.

Step 4: Again, pull your torso up to peak contraction, squeeze your biceps with as much tension as you can muster for one full second, then do just 1 full rep.

That short but intense protocol, when performed for the right number of sets and frequency throughout the week is just one of the three ways I stimulate new growth in your most underdeveloped muscle groups. For example, I would combine that movement with an antagonist (opposite muscle) exercise, such as a pushup, and follow the same protocol. Superset just 2 sets of this combination, and then combined with a frequency model of training, you’ll be on your way to faster results.

Targeted Muscle Building and Strength

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Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post The 4-Step Biceps Builder appeared first on Born Fitness.

In an age where the latest technology is favored over time-tested advice, and “get fit quick” infomercials clog our expectations with smoke and mirror sales pitches, we have a tendency to overlook the best advice simply because it’s old.

Some watches are old. Some cars are old. Hell, some might even consider Arnold old (not me, boss). But we can all agree that sometimes the most valuable things in life are those that have age, character, and a track record you can trust. Nowhere is this more accurate than the sage muscle building advice from yesteryear’s bodybuilders. As the great Mark Twain once said: “Age is just an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

As you work to give your extra 1% this year—whether that’s starting your journey to a better body or be better than ever—one place you should not ignore the are the history books. Here are some of the best bodybuilding tips developed back-in-the-day that today’s best fitness coaches think could use a refresh in the gym. Add these to your fitness plan—including a favorite technique from Arnold—and the only thing that will be old is the body you used to have.

The Expert: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Muscle Building Technique: The Strip Method

“Without stripping there is no excitement,” says Arnold. Before you get the wrong idea, the legendary bodybuilder is referring to mega-drop sets that he used to quickly and efficiently challenge his body. The idea is simple and an instant way to shock your system and pack on muscle.

Here was Arnold’s approach in his bodybuilding days, with the dumbbell overhead press as an example:

1)      Use 100-pound dumbbells for 6 reps

2)      Immediately grab 90-pound dumbbells and do another 6 reps.

3)      Complete this pattern—without rest—until he reached 40 pounds

“By the time you’re on the lower weights, the burning is so intense that 40 pounds would feel like 110,” says Arnold.

It’s time efficient, and your muscle activation increases as fatigue sets in. But one of the biggest benefits comes from using less weight. You don’t need to use heavy weights to see results and have an incredible workout. “Even if you started with 15 pounds and worked down to 5, it’s a great way to work your muscles quickly and always keep them guessing.”

The Expert: Rob Sulaver
Muscle Building Technique: The Pump

“The greatest feeling you can get in a gym, or the most satisfying feeling you can get in the gym is… The Pump.” -Arnold

One of Arnold’s most famous lines captures the incredible feeling and reason that many people lift weights. “Anyone who’s ever had a tough resistance training session knows the feeling well – massive, engorged, tight vascular muscles,” says Rob Sulaver, owner of Bandana Training.

While a little vanity is fine, training for a pump actually has benefits for your body that go beyond the “most satisfying feeling.” In a scientific sense, the pump is the vasodilation of your capillaries, says Sulaver.

This means that you’re increasing blood flow to your body tissues, which helps transport the nutrients in your body more efficiently, and can improve your recovery. On a hormonal level, the pump can help increase testosterone and growth hormone naturally; this potent cocktail means more muscle and less fat.

What’s more, the pump also triggers feel-good endorphins and enkephalins—nature’s painkiller. “That’s why the pump is associated with wonderful, euphoric superhero feelings of invincibility and extremely good looks,” says Sulaver.

You can receive a pump in a variety of ways. Try combining heavy movements like squats and bench presses (3 to 6 reps per exercise) with bodyweight movements (think pushups and lunges) for higher reps (8 to 12). Or, you can simply keep all exercises in the 3 to 10 range (a mix of lower and higher reps), but shorten your rest periods to about 30 seconds to create the pump.

Whatever your choice, training for the pump isn’t the only key in the muscle building process, but it does play a role in packing on size and reminding you of the work you’re putting in.

The Expert: Tony Gentilcore
Muscle Building Technique: Wave Training (PAP)

One of the fundamental aspects of adding muscle is becoming stronger. For most people, this can be a frustrating process. That’s why wave training was so useful. Scientifically speaking, wave training is a technique known as “post-activation potentiation.” (Now you can see why bodybuilders used a different name.)

The technique involves alternating sets of low rep training with sets of higher reps, says strength coach Tony Gentilcore.

The low rep set (with a heavy weight) activates more muscle fibers so that when you do the higher rep set, you can lift more weight than you normally would.

For example: After a proper warmup, perform 1 rep of squats at 225 pounds. Rest 2 to 3 minutes, and then lift 185 pounds 5 times. The 185 pounds should feel lighter because the heavier set activates more of your motor units (the trigger in your body that causes your muscle fibers to fire), which allows you to move more weight, says Gentilcore.

From there, you can then do another set at 225 or maybe even 230, rest another 2 to 3 minutes, and then try to do a set of 5 reps with 190 pounds—your goal being to increase weight with each set.

And remember—don’t get caught up on the weights. Progress at your own level, and while this might seem like magic, you’ll experience real instant strength gains, which will lead to faster results.

The Expert: Jim “Smitty” Smith
Muscle Building Technique: Partial Reps

In general, focusing on giving only 50 percent on anything is a formula for failure. But when it comes to lifting weights, it might be one of the best ways to improve your workouts. Partial reps—where you focus on a limited range of motion—can help spark muscle building, improve your weaknesses and add serious strength, says strength coach Jim Smith, owner of Diesel Strength & Conditioning.

To start, you need to determine you sticking point—the area in an exercise where you struggle and the weight doesn’t seem to move. On the bench press, this is usually the point where the bar is about 3 to 6 inches above your chest.

Partial reps allows you to use heavier weights because you have to move the weight a shorter distance, which allows you to “feel” what it’s like to handle heavier loads, says Smith. For this reason alone, it builds confidence that you can become stronger.

On the bench press, you can perform board presses or pin presses. On board presses, you place different size wooden boards on your chest, which limits your range of motion. This is best performed with a partner. Don’t have a training buddy? Then do pin presses in a power rack. Set pins to the area of your sticking point (say 6 inches above your chest), and perform reps where you are only pressing out at the top of the exercise.

It might seem like cheating, but when you return to the full range of motion, you’ll discover that your weak point is now stronger, and you can begin making progress again.

The Expert: Clifton Harski
Muscle Building Technique: Pre-exhaust

Basic logic would tell you that a tired muscle won’t “work” as well as a fresh muscle. And yet, bodybuilders were notorious for a technique known as “pre-exhausting,” where they would purposely fatigue a muscle with an isolation exercise, and then follow with a compound (multi-muscle) exercise to cause more growth, says strength coach Clifton Harski.

Here’s how to make it work: Pick an isolation exercise. If you’re working your chest, you’d do a series of chest flys for 8 to 12 reps. That would exhaust your pecs. Then, follow that with a compound exercise like an incline chest press for another 8 to 12 reps.

You might have to use less weight on the incline chest press, but your muscle fibers should be working more in your chest, and as an added benefit, your triceps will work harder because your tired chest requires your arms to assist more with the lift, says Harski.

Use this technique with any of your major muscle groups to help jump-start a stalled program, or simply to help you “feel” the muscles you should be working and improve your focus.

The Expert: Brad Pilon
Muscle Building Technique: Forearm Training

“One traditional muscle building method that is absolutely essential for naturally skinny guys looking to build a powerful physique is direct forearm training,” says Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat. Before you insert your favorite forearm joke, remember that all the bodybuilding greats—Arnold, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, and Ronnie Coleman—had meaty, well-trained forearms.

And for good reason: big forearms don’t just make you look impressive, they help you perform better too. Everything from direct arm work like biceps curls, to your presses and pulls that build a stronger, healthier body start with your ability to grip the weight.

“Somewhere in the early 2000’s we got the idea that the muscles of the forearm got enough stimulation from ‘grip training’ like heavy deadlifts, and that we didn’t need to do any direct training for forearms,” adds Pilon. But nothing could be farther from the truth—especially for people who have trouble becoming stronger.

Begin with a few sets of direct forearms work, such as forearm curls, and then add more weight and volume as you become stronger.

Putting It All Together

Adding any of these techniques to your workout can help provide the spark that you need to push forward, feel better, and look the way you want. But like anything in life, too much can be a bad thing. So start with one of these techniques and give it a try for 4 to 6 weeks.

Once you see progress, then try another to keep you heading in the right direction. If we all start practicing these techniques, we’ll make sure that the classics of yesteryear are not only preserved–but also reestablish the foundation of success for the future.

More Great Advice Catered To Your Goals

Why settle for general fitness advice when you can have advice sent specifically for your goals and needs? Find out how to build your plan for free.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post How to Master the Art of “Old School” Muscle Building appeared first on Born Fitness.

Beginnings suck.

Sure they are exciting — in theory — but learning a new skill or practicing a new habit can be incredibly frustrating. With time, practice, and lots of effort, you see rapid improvements and rewards for your relentlessness.

When it comes to building muscle, oftentimes the opposite is true. When first start training you seem to gain size like you were born to be a bodybuilder, or you drop fat as if those 4-week magazine promises are actually a reality.

Then a funny thing happens: you become better at lifting and yet most of the time the progress slows down. Sometimes almost completely.

Sure, you add some weight to your lifts or learn some new exercises, but you end up feeling like your body is muscle-resistant.

What gives?

In the most basic sense, you’re completely normal. Plateau is a natural part of body transformation.

At a higher level, you’re digging your own grave by ignoring a few simple rules. You see, you need to add in specialization that targets your weak points and gives them no choice but to change into what you desire.

To bust past your plateau and start gaining muscle fast, you usually have to stop following the same traditional methods and become more innovative with your workouts.

Remember, muscle growth is primarily the result of three factors: muscle tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage. That means just adding weight is not enough. You need to challenge your muscles in ways that force them to grow. 

Having a hard time gaining muscle or jumpstarting a lack of progress? Good, you’re not alone. But with a specialized approach, as pointed out below by muscle-building specialist Bryan Krahn, you can jumpstart almost any stagnant plan.

Adding Muscle: The New Rules of Specialization for Size

In the simplest sense, you want gains. New muscle. More size. Something you can look at in the mirror and think, “Awesome, my body changed.”

To make that happen, select a body part and then make it a focus for at least 4 to 6 weeks. Follow the rules below, and you will see the type of changes you want, but be forewarned: it will require quite a bit of extra effort.

• Design: Yes, there is a time and place for body part trainng. One body part or muscle group (chest, back, legs, arms, etc) at a time.
• Sets: 40-50 sets per week
• Frequency: 2-4 sessions per week. Spreading the weekly volume over more training days typically works better.
• Rep range: All of them! 4-6, 8-15, 12-25. Even sets of 50. The only range to avoid would be sets of 3 or less, especially if frequency is on the high end. Save that for a dedicated functional hypertrophy phase.
• Exercises: All of them. Compound lifts are great but isolation work earns its stripes during a specialization phase. Also include both unilateral and bilateral movements.

The Muscle-Building Difference

Variety is a strong hypertrophy driver, so during specialization phases I like to program exercises that I haven’t used consistently in two years at least.

This doesn’t mean making up silly exercises – just switching from wide-grip barbell curls to medium grip. Buy Bill Pearl’s book The Keys to the Inner Universe. You’ll find plenty of options

Intensity Techniques

If your workout just consists of the, “same old, same old” you probably won’t notice much difference, although the added frequency will probably cause a spark. This is about creativity that makes your muscles feel alive.

Add in techniques like mid-rep pauses, peak contractions, accentuated stretches, drop sets, super sets, and compound sets. Just not all in the same workout. More is more…up to a certain point. So take a technique or two, and then add it to your workout.

Oh yeah, and one of thing: Avoid techniques like forced reps or negative reps.

But What About The Other Body Parts?

Think maintenance. Use full body workouts with basic, compound exercises performed with perfect technique while leaving a few “reps in the hole.” This will provide a solid training effect and make you feel like you’re actually doing something worthwhile. Which you are — reinforcing great technique.

Duration

Use this approach for 4-6 weeks max. You need to reduce volume to allow supercompensation to occur. It’s also wise to return to more “normal” training before embarking on another specialization phase.

For example:

• 4-6 week arm-specialization
• 1-2 week unloading (reduce your volume)
• 4-8 week “normal” training
• 4-6 week leg specialization

Note: Never do back-to-back specialization phases for the same muscle group. It doesn’t work.

What does this look like? Read more about Krahn’s specific strategies, and understand why you’re too boring to build muscle.

It addresses many of the common issues of stalled progress, and provides a path to make sure you keep growing.

A Different Approach to Muscle

Tired of the same results? At Born Fitness, we like to show you a different way. Learn more here.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post The New Rules of Specialization: How to Add Muscle Mass appeared first on Born Fitness.

What’s not as settled is where you should get your protein and what are the best protein sources. And when you consider all the options, it’s easy to see why. From meat to vegetarian sources, powders to dairy, there’s a wide variety of options and plenty of difficulty understanding what you need, what is good, and if “too much” is really a danger.

While your own needs will be personal based on your body and goals, here’s how you can make the protein column on your shopping list a little easier to understand.

Protein supplementation should not be catered around absorption speeds, marketing promises, or the latest and greatest protein powder modification.

Understanding Your Protein Options

“Lean Proteins”

The top sources of food protein are those that are high in protein while simultaneously lowest in fatty acids (kind of obvious). Meat rarely, if ever, has carbohydrate or alcohol content. These “lean meats” are fairly equivalent on a macronutrient basis to many protein powders, with roughly 100 calories per 20 to 25 grams of protein.

Your typical lean meats include warm-water fish, white poultry meat, and red meat sources considered extra lean. (For reference, red meat and pork tend to have higher fat content.) Egg whites also qualify, and most protein powders fall into this category.

Food sources of protein that also contain fatty acids are cold water fish (salmon as an example), most of the red meats, the dark meat of the poultry, and any of the lean category if you decided to cook it in oil. Whole eggs are similarly in this category as the yolk contains fatty acids.

If a meat has breading on it, it is now covered in carbs. That is not inherently bad, but you should understand that no meat can be breaded and still be considered lean.

Dairy products tend to never be as lean as the leanest meat products, although they are in a wide spectrum of fat content; checking the label or investigating nutritional information online would be prudent.

The Food Groups Richest in Protein

As mentioned earlier, it seems that the best sources of protein on a caloric basis come from animals. In general, the food groups and their overall protein contents are in the order (greatest to least content on a caloric basis):

• Meat and Dairy products (lean)
• Most Vegetables
• Meat and Dairy products (fatty)
• Meat substitutes
• Fruits and harvest vegetables
• Most grains

Vegetables are in a weird position, as they tend to have roughly 3 to 4 grams of protein per 40 calories (which is 30-40% by caloric weight). It is unlikely that they will form a substantial amount of your dietary intake due to their filling nature, but they are indeed decent protein sources from a caloric perspective.

Most root and harvest vegetables (pumpkin, squash, potatoes, etc.) are listed further down as they have a greatly increased amount of carbohydrates. Additionally, although some grains can indeed have a high protein content (such as quinoa), the majority of grains eaten in a standard diet tend to have a large degree of carbohydrates relative to protein; the focus on enhancing grains appears to be related to micronutrition and fiber, with minimal focus in increasing protein content.

Vegetarian and Vegan Proteins

Supplement-wise, a rice/pea blend as well as both soy and hemp appear to be viable vegan protein sources. Soy food products are viable options, as are vegetables themselves if you can eat sufficient amounts of them. Some microalgae protein sources also exist, mostly chlorella and spirulina.

What About Powders?

Overall, the importance of a protein supplement is only important if you don’t consume enough protein your diet. Protein supplementation should be catered mostly around allergies, price range, flavor, and perhaps functional properties of the protein if pudding is desired.

Protein supplementation should not be catered around absorption speeds, marketing promises, or the latest and greatest protein powder modification.

Adding more amino acids tends to have the biggest impact when total protein intake is lower. Let’s say you only consume 50g of protein a day. It is a good idea to increase that to 75g by adding whey because of its cysteine content.

However, if you’re a 180 pound male and you eat 100 grams per day, you don’t need to worry about consuming any specific protein, as even poor sources of one or another amino acid will add up.

Because of these reasons, BCAA and EAA supplements also seem to have less of a role as supplements when protein intake from food and supplements is comparatively high; they have a much larger role when your diet is low in protein overall, especially low in complete proteins.

The bottom line: Consume enough protein and you do not need to worry about absorption speeds, amino acids, or complete vs incomplete. Instead, focus on consuming protein via your diet and/or supplementation, however works best for you.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post The Best Protein Sources appeared first on Born Fitness.