#22 - How To Build Muscle - Top 5
Hey, Hey ladies. Welcome to episode number 22. We're going to talk about how to build muscle today. I'm excited about this podcast. First, I want to introduce you guys to my new little guy, to my new little dude, his curl up under my chair, sleeping right now. He is the cutest 13 week old, rottweiler cane corso mix. And we've only had them for about six days. We picked them up last Sunday. And his personality is starting to come out. He is getting comfortable and he is for rochus. He, we have him on a bit of a schedule, you know, he had naps or he sleeps overnight and then we get up, we take them for a walk and then he eats breakfast or lunch or even dinner. And after he eats, he goes into this like 45 minutes of, we call it ferocious play. He's just like a tasmanian devil with little teeth. It's hilarious to watch. And I'm learning that I shouldn't wear my nice clothes. So much fun. I have loving having a dog back in my life. And what I've noticed is my socialization has gone up, immensely. I've met, like a dozen new people from my neighborhood. I've met other dogs. I'm planning puppy dates. It's been so good for me mentally and physically my step count, you guys has doubled easily. We talked last week a little bit about how my step count was so sad and getting a puppy, absolutely was the solution. I don't recommend getting a puppy just because you need more steps. But if you want to get a dog, it will up your step count. All right. You guys, so that's dude, if you want to see dude, just jump on the Instagrams. I've been pretty obsessed lately, he is the cutest little guy.
All right. So let's talk about how to build muscle. What I want to do today is I want to give you my top five areas you need to look at. And I'm going to give you a number of things to think about in each of those areas. All right. So it's more like my top 15. We're going to call it a top five because that sounds easier. You guys with me? So if you're here, if you're on this podcast today, you want to build some muscle and you may still have body fat yu want to lose and that's totally fine. But I, as a coach, like my clients to lose the body fat first, and then we focus on building muscle and some coaches do it differently. Some coaches will focus on building muscle first and then focus on weight loss or body fat loss. If you've listened to this podcast for a while, you'll know the reason I do it this way, the reason I like to pull body fat off first, I often send clients into the transformation program to lose the weight. Because there's a confidence that comes with having that weight drop there's more trust in yourself, there's more eagerness to sculpt a body because weight loss doesn't necessarily make your body look the way you want it to. But muscle building can do for you. One of the reasons I got into personal training was because someone told me that if I lifted weights, I could make my body look however I wanted it to. And I thought this was so fun. And for me, weight training is more like art. It's designing and developing and sculpting my body to look exactly how I want it to. I love that we can do this. I love that I can shape my glutes and my legs and my shoulders and my arms and my back to create a silhouette, to create a shape that impresses me thats wows me to this day. Sometimes I still look at physique photos of myself and I'm like, who is that? That's amazing girl.
So let's start with number one. The number one thing you need to do to build muscle is be consistent. You need to be consistent in your workouts, you need to be consistent in your nutrition and you need to be consistent in your sleep. And I'm going to talk about all three of those things over the next few steps. But let's talk about consistency first. So a lot of women I work with very much so having an all or nothing mentality, have this perfectionism state of mind that ends up stopping them from achieving their goals, because if they can't do it perfectly, they stopped doing it all together. What I want to encourage you to do, no matter what your goal is, is be consistent. If you are planning on working out four days a week and you're not able to be consistent with that, but you can consistently get to the gym two days a week, that's okay. Create a program or have a coach create a program for you that can build muscle with two days of working out a week, you can do that. It is possible my friends. You do not need to go to the gym five days a week to build muscle. You don't. I promise. So figure out what you can do consistently. How many workouts can you fit in consistently each week? How much time can you spend doing those workouts? And then get consistent with your nutrition as well. So, you know me, I want you to build a nutrition plan. And then I want you to consistently eat. Not necessarily the same thing, but I want you to consistently eat the same macros. So we're going to talk more about nutrition in just a minute, but we really want to make sure you're getting a consistent amount of nutrition in your calories aren't bouncing up and down, you're not having full days of fasting, your not having days where your protein is really low and then really high. We want to keep it really nice and consistent. And we want to make sure that your sleep is consistent. And my shift workers really struggle with this one and it can really delay the results. It can really slow down their progress because sleep is so important for building muscle, you guys. Do you know that when you sleep is when your muscles heal and grow? It's important. So if you want to build some muscles, But you need to up your sleep. You might need to sleep more. You may need a nap. Is that okay? But we want to make sure that your sleep is consistent. So consistently getting that six to eight to even nine hours sleep, listen to what your body needs, make sure that your sleep quality is good, you want to make sure that you're consistently going to bed at the same time each night, if possible, consistently getting up at the same time each morning. If you're getting enough sleep, this will completely take away your need for an alarm clock. And if you are working out first thing in the morning, your body will start producing energy for you. It'll start creating ATP, knowing that that workout is going to happen. And you'll start waking up with more and more energy, ready to fuel that workout. That's what happens when you have a consistent sleep schedule. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. So number one on the top five list, onsistency in everything you do as much as you can. You know me, it's not about perfectionism. If you can be consistent 80% of the time, you're a good girl. Okay.
So now we're going to go into each of those three items that you want to be consistent with. So number two, on my list, is workouts. So if you want to build muscle, you're going to have to work out. Sorry, hate to burst your bubble. When I tell my clients that come to me for weight loss. I tell them that they don't need to work out to achieve weight loss, they just need to master their nutrition. But for building muscle you're going to have to work out, you can't eat your way to muscle mass. The reason for this is because how our human bodies are designed is to be as efficient as possible. And if you're not using your muscle, your body will not build more. It doesn't need to. Right? So the reason that we build muscle is because we're putting our bodies under pressure, under resistance, under strain, and our human bodies are so smart. Like I talked about in episode 21, they're like, oh my goodness, we need more muscle. We need to make this girl stronger. She's lifting these crazy heavy things. Let's recruit some more muscle. Let's build it up. So the more we do that, the more muscle we built now. A reminder, doesn't happen overnight. it doesn't happen fast so don't be afraid to build a little bit of muscle. Okay. Let's talk about workouts. So you want to lift weights, you want to lift heavy weights. Now, if you're just getting started, you may want to start a little bit lighter and work your way up. You may want to start in like a conditioning rep range, which is 15 reps. Let's say 15 to 20 reps. But if you've been working out for a while and you're ready to go into hypertrophy, which is building muscle, you want to lift a weight that you can only lift for six to 12 reps. So maybe you warm up with a weight that you can easily lift for 12. And then you up that weight a little bit, and you max out at 12, which means that a 13th rep is not physically possible. Your form would go and then maybe you pick up some heavier weights and you max out at 10 reps, and then maybe you pick up some heavier weights and you act out at eight reps, and then maybe you pick up some even heavier weights and you max out at six, or you cut your breaks down a little bit and you use the same weights and lower those reps just a little bit each time. Right? However you do it, but you want to make sure that you are maxing out your lift or lifting heavy enough that it is difficult for you, that you're having to focus on what you're doing.
Next, during your workout, mind muscle connection is key. We're going to do a whole episode on mind, muscle connection. I think it's actually coming up next week. But, don't be chatting with the neighbor next to you, don't be on your phone, don't be thinking about what you need to do later that day. The beautiful thing about working out, is how present you can be, be in the moment, think about your breath, think about the muscle that is moving for you, the muscle contraction that you are doing. And will your body to get the most out of each rep, out of each movement that you're doing and your workout, will be times 10, the result you get will be so much faster. The results of your workout will be so much better, if you are actively engaged mentally in what you're doing. I cannot emphasize this enough. You guys, so many people I see in the gym aren't focusing on what they're doing, they're focusing on the mirror or on what someone else is doing or on their phone. Be in the moment. For me, working out is similar to meditation. It is my present moment time. I love it. Also in your workouts when it comes to building muscle, you want to focus on compound movements. So this is kind of like multitasking your muscle building. We want to focus on bigger movements that include a lot of muscles at once to optimize our muscle building potential. Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't isolate to. If you were trying to sculpt out certain areas, we're going to talk about that in a an upcoming podcast. But for building a muscle foundation, compound lifts are going to be your best friends. So these are things like squats, push-ups pull-ups or lat pull downs, overhead shoulder presses, lunges, all of those exercises that are using more than one muscle group at the same time. And lastly, when it comes to workouts, make sure that you are progressively overloading your workouts and what this means is each time you go to do a workout, try and do a little bit more than you did the week before. So, if you did three sets of 10 reps with 10 pound weights the week before, maybe you do three sets of 10 reps with 12 pound weights, maybe you do four sets of 10 reps with 10 pound weights, maybe you do three sets of 12 with 10 pound weights. You get it. There's three different ways that you can progressively overload. There's all sorts of ways you can progressively overload, you can do drop sets, you can do super sets, same muscle group. But what I want you to focus on is just each workout to a little bit more than you did that work up before lift a little bit heavier. I really encourage my women, when they're, especially when they're training for strength, but even in hypertrophy to use that first week with a new workout plan to figure out where you're at to get comfortable with the movements, lighten your weights a little bit, really get good at the form. See how your body feels after the workout. And then each week after that for the next three weeks, usually a program is four weeks. For each week after that , test yourself. See what you feel comfortable pushing. If you have a rep range, goal of eight for an exercise for a set. And you lift a weight that you can only do comfortably for seven. That is okay in my books. If you wanted to, you could drop the weight and do an eight rep, for my perfectionist out there. But I'd much rather you lift a weight that you can only live for seven, then be lifting a weight for eight that you can actually do 12. Does that make sense? You guys picking up what I'm putting down? All right, so that is number two. You got to work out and all those tips when it comes to the workouts. I know you guys.
Okay. And number three on my list when it comes to building muscle is nutrition. You guys know this. right? Working out has so much to do with building muscle, but nutrition is the fuel that's going to help build that muscle. So you got to make sure that you're getting enough nutrition. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that you need to eat more, you may not need to eat more calories or more carbohydrates. But often when my ladies go into muscle building phase, we need to increase their protein. Often, we do need to increase our carbs too especially if they're coming off of a fat burning program. Or a weight loss program. But there's a few things that I want you to consider, if you are planning nutrition for muscle building. First off, if you're currently intermittent fasting, you may want to consider moving over to a mini multi meal style protocol where you're eating multiple times throughout the day from when you wake up to pretty much, when you go to bed, the reason for this is those smaller meals spread throughout the day are going to create a pretty consistent step one stream of insulin. And insulin carries your nutrients, it carries those carbs and those proteins to where they need to go in your body, including your muscles. So when your body is trying to recover when you've damaged your body, by doing all of those things in step two, that we discussed workout wise. You want that steady stream of insulin taking those nutrients from each of those meals to where they need to go, to be able to repair and grow your muscles.
Second, let's talk about protein. So with protein, what I do suggest is that you are taking in about one gram per pound of your goal body weight. So if you weigh 200 pounds in your goal body weight is 150,yyou want to work your protein intake up to 150 grams a day. You don't necessarily need to go up to 200. If you're at your goal weight, and you're trying to build muscle, you may want to consider taking your protein intake even higher than one gram per pound per day. You can take it up as high as 1.5 is what I considered safe. I wouldn't necessarily go too much higher than that. It can be really hard on the body to digest that much protein. But everybody is different and you'll need to test your own. But start with a goal of working your protein up to one gram per pound of body weight as your goal weight. And then see how your body reacts and go from there. If you need some help with the math, I'm going to be creating a freebie for nutrition, for muscle building. Or you can jump into Lady Sculpt membership where we go so in depth into the math, my friends. So in depth, if you like math, you'll love it. And if you don't like math, I can help you out in there.
Okay. The last thing I want to say about nutrition for muscle building is really paying attention to what you're eating before and after you train. I'd say those are your two most important meals of the day when your goal is building muscle. So making sure that you're having at least 20 grams of protein, and I'd say 20 grams of slow release carbohydrate pre-workout to really fuel that workout, make sure that you're nice and strong and, energized so that you can lift heavy weights. And I'd say, do that about an hour before your workout. At least give yourself time to digest and then maybe have your pre-workout or have some branch chain amino acids during your workout and intra. And then post-workout, I like to have mine pretty quick. I sometimes even start my post-workout meal while I'm finishing my workout while I'm doing my last few accessory sites, or while I'm doing my stretching, I'll have a protein shake. And some fast absorbing carbohydrates so high GI index carbohydrates. So for me, I like to do a protein shake and maybe a couple of tablespoons of raisins or some people like to do a banana or another piece of fruit. Old school bodybuilders, like to add in some candy there. So if you do have a sweet tooth and you're like Lylas, so I'm not willing to give up the gummy bears. There's a place for the, my friends in a muscle building protocol. And that would be right after your workout. Now I really recommend that you don't put candy in your protocol, I recommend you use fruit or, I did a shot of tart cherry juice for a while that was a really good post-workout recovery. Another option would be like cottage, cheese and blueberries, fantastic fast absorbing protein with a nice fast release carbohydrate. Another option would be, like some scrambled eggs and fried potatoes, right. And again, another really nice, fast, high GI carbohydrate in the potato and a nice fast absorbing protein in the egg. So lots of options post-workout but you want to really make sure that you are fueling your body and refueling your body before and after you train, this is going to give your muscle the best opportunity to grow. We don't want to starve your muscle, pre-post workout that's like two steps forward, two steps back my friends.
Okay. Let's move on, number four. Let's talk about sleep and rest. And why it's so important. So like I said earlier, when you sleep is, when your body recovers and when your muscles heal and when they grow. So if you get really bad doms, delayed onset muscle soreness or muscle stiffness, it could be a sign that you're not sleeping as well as you should be, or you're not giving your body the nutrition, it needs to recover properly when it's sleeping. So a couple things to look out there. But we want to make sure that you're having some solid sleeps. So, like I said before, going to bed at the same time every night, if you can, trying to disengage from those screens, turning off the TV, shutting down your phone. Maybe doing some journaling or some reading, or just even some mindful thought work you can listen to. There's some fantastic sleep podcasts out there. You guys, I've been hanging out in podcast world. Now that I've got this podcast going. And I'm amazed. There's podcasts for everything. It's fantastic. I'm like, I need more time to listen to all these podcasts. There's great meditation, podcasts, sleep podcasts. You can listen to those before bed. Anything that will help you like drift off. Also, I can recommend this enough, get yourself a bed that is the most comfortable as bad you've ever slept on. My husband, actually, this was his idea. When we first started seeing each other. He suggested we buy a bed and we bought a very expensive bed. We bought a, I think it was like a $10,000 bed. We got a deal on it, it's a Tempur-Pedic adjustable bed. And that was nine years ago and it is still the comfiest bed that I've ever slept on when I have been traveling or away. And I come home and I crawl into bed. I'm like, oh, I missed this. We get such good sleeps on that bed. I feel, I've felt the lack of sleep this week. So this week, my husband and I have been trading off, he watches dude from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM and sleeps with him in his, like, so dudes in a kennel in the living room and one of us sleeps on the floor in the living room. So he's with dude from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM. And then he wakes me up at 2:00 AM and I sleep on the living room floor from 2:00 AM to 8:00 AM, which is when dude gets up. And I can feel that I'm not getting full night's sleeps in my usual bed. So get a good mattress, you guys spend the money, get a good mattress. It will make a difference and get a good pillow, maybe a couple of them. You want to get a solid sleep. If you're like me and you like to drink a lot of water through out the night, it may include getting up to pee once or twice. If you have trouble falling back asleep, when you've gotten up to pee, you may want to drink less water. I have no trouble falling back asleep. So getting up to pee does not bother me. But we want to do everything in our power to make sure you are getting a solid six to eight hours of sleep, every night. Some supplement support for sleep that I've used, that I've had tremendous success with a zinc meg. So zinc and magnesium supplement. Magnesium is great for calming and relaxing you, it also gets rid of restless leg syndrome or feet syndrome at night. If you're someone who flexes your feet, I am. Zinc is also great for immune system recovery repair. So I add that to my evening regiment. Also, if you're somebody who has a high stress level during the day, or you find that you have a hard time, like calming down and shutting down your person, pathetic system at night. If you're in like adrenaline overload or if your adrenals are fatigued, you may find gaba helpful. What gaba is, is it's a free form amino acid. So it's just like a little tiny piece of protein and it helps stop the neurotransmissions of adrenaline. So if your brain is on and it's going and you can't turn it off and there's things happening that you're excited about or that you're worried about and your brain just won't turn off. Gaba does the same thing to your brain that wind does. So also, if you're someone who likes to drink wine at night to relax, you may want to consider moving that over to gaba. Gaba is not addictive, there's no negative side effects that I'm aware of to it, it just helps you relax really in natural way. If you want to take melatonin or need help with melatonin, you can also do that. I like to do it more naturally. So serotonin turns into melatonin. So making sure that you have enough serotonin in your body, which we get from tryptofan, which is another amino acid. So can you see how getting enough protein is really important here, you guys? Making sure you have enough protein. So you have enough amino acids to create serotonin, to create melatonin. We'll help you sleep. So eating more protein could essentially help you sleep better. So if you have trouble sleeping, I highly recommend that you first start with trying to create a more routine sleep schedule. And taking away screens devices, distractions, etc. And then if you still find that you're struggling to get to sleep or stay asleep, then you may want to consider adding in supplementation. All right, you guys.
And number five on my top five list is journal, all of it. You guys, knew this was coming right. That's how we bring awareness. That's how we research and study ourselves. So create a muscle building journal on. On the front page, I want you to write down what your goals are, how you're going to do it when you're going to do it by how you're going to reward yourself for it, all of it. Create a plan and then every day, document your nutrition and your workouts and your sleep. Write it all down so that you can make sure you're improving. If you're not recording your workouts, how do you know if your workouts are getting better? If you're not recording your nutrition, how do you know if it's consistent? Start a journal. Or if you have an app that helps you journal it, that's okay too, but make sure that you're writing it down so that you can see your progress. This is such an important part to achieving a goal, any goal. So some of you might think I'm a little bit crazy, but I actually started a journal for my dog when I got him this past week. At first, I started on a note pad, we were just trying to figure out what his schedule was like, like how often did he need to go out for a P, when we feed him, how long till he naps? How long does he nap, how long does he need to go out for a walk? When does he ferocious plate because I needed to make sure that I was timing my work schedule around what his natural schedule was and I could mesh those two so that I could still work with clients when my husband was working, right. So after three days of doing this, I'm like, I'm just going to start a book. So I pulled up one of my journals that hadn't been used and I call it the dude book. And we're on day six and just the same way, I journal my food and my workouts and my stuff, I journal his stuff. I journal his days and it has been so helpful in helping me plan my day and when I'm going to do what, because I know exactly when he's going to need to nap. And I know exactly when he's going to go into ferocious play mode and I can be ready and I can create a life for him that is on his schedule and be available to him when he wants to play and when he wants to be trained and when he wants to nap, I can get all of my stuff done. Right. So some of, you might think that's excessive, I don't. I love journaling, it brings so much awareness into my life. So that is your top five list ladies, let's just recap really quickly. How to build muscle. Lylas Leona top five tips. Number one, consistency with workouts, nutrition, and sleep. Number two, on my list, do your workouts lift some heavy weights regularly. And number three on my list when it comes to building muscle, nutrition. Make sure you're getting enough protein and fuel your workouts before and after them. If you work out first thing in the morning, you fuel the night before. Just a tip. Number four, sleep. Make sure you're getting enough sleep and let yourself recover properly. And number five, journal all of it. All right my friends. That is what I have for you today in episode 22,. We will see you next week. Bye for now.
