Macro-Based Diets Part 2: Building Muscle and Strength
When it comes to building muscle and strength, the most important macro to track is protein. You have to be hitting your daily protein goals (in addition to a good strength focused workout program) in order to grow the muscle you want. The most effective way to build muscle is to be in controlled weight gain/bulk phase where you consistently eat a little more calories than your maintenance number would be while focusing on protein consumption.
Why You Can’t Combine Exercises To Get The Best Of Both
Multi-joint exercises, sometimes called “compound exercises,” are great for strength and muscle building because those exercises work many muscle areas at once. Single-joint exercises are a great way to supplement these because those target areas that don’t get targeted as much during multi-joint compound exercises. However, other “compound” exercises - which are usually just disparate exercises put together either in a circuit using the same weight or mashed into one movement - aren’t good for maximizing your effort because they are limited by the weakest area involved in the exercises. Because our lower bodies tend to be stronger than our upper bodies, we cannot progress properly if our lower body lifts (deadlift, squat, etc) are limited by how much we can lift during our upper body lifts (bench, overhead press).
Detraining, Retraining, And Not Sitting Still
Taking a break or having to ease up on your training doesn’t mean that you’ll immediately lose all of the gains you’ve been making. It takes longer than we think to lose the strength, muscle, and endurance we’ve built. Even when do we lose some, it’s not as difficult as we think to get it back.
The Simplest Way To Get In Amazing Shape
The 80/20 principal states that in any field, you can get 80% of results with only 20% of effort, and the last 20% will take the last 80% of the effort. This is meant to be encouraging that you can a lot of good results without having to dedicate all of your time and energy. When it comes to fitness, the 80/20 principle can be applied to build very straightforward routines that will work - if you’re able to stick with it long enough.
What Are Microworkouts?
Microworkouts are super short workouts that are usually only one or two exercises that are done until failure. They can be useful for targeting specific muscles and accessory work that would allow individuals to build muscle faster outside of their regular workouts. They can also be good for people who struggle to make time for longer workouts, but still want to add movement into their daily routines.