5 Things I Wish I Knew About Building Muscle

When I started weight training I did everything wrong.

Well, that's not exactly true

I followed everything that the jacked dudes in the magazines told me to.

I probably would have gotten great results if I had been taking extra special supplements like them...

But the point is I spent a lot of time and energy not getting results

I learned a lot of things that don't work.

Here's the bad news:

If you want to lose weight, it doesn't really matter what kind of exercise you do.

But if you want to gain any muscle, you have to train in a specific way.

And if you want to gain muscle in your 40's and beyond, it has to be very specific

Learn from my mistakes and save yourself a ton of time and energy.

1. You don't need to be massive to look good.

Instead, pick the muscle groups that make the biggest difference to your physique and focus on those. 

For men that's usually: lats, triceps, shoulders, traps. (not chest and biceps sorry 22 year old Nate)

For ladies choose: glutes, quads, shoulders, triceps, 

Also just for the record no one cares how much you squat.

So don't hurt yourself trying to hit 300lbs.

It's 0% worth it.

Trust me.

2. Your muscle only grows if you give it a good reason

I see so many <dudes> at the gym who are benching the same weight for the same 3 sets of 10 reps year after year.

And while training is great and many people do it for mental health as well

You need to force growth.

The main reason muscle grows is because it thinks:

"oh sht he's about to drop that weight on my face I need to be stronger to stay alive!"

or

"if I don't pull myself into this tree to escape a tiger I will literally die"

That's why you need to fail at least 5x per workout.

Usually on the last set of your exercise. 

caveat: don't fail on exercises that will hurt you like barbell squats. Choosing the right exercises here is SO IMPORTANT

3. You need Carbs & Protein at the right time to Grow

Don't be afraid to eat, especially if you're training hard.

The best time to put most of your calories/carbs is in the pre and post workout window

I love something light before the workout.

Usually Greek yogurt with a scoop of THE WHEY and some blueberries about an hour before.

Then I do a protein shake with a banana or some oats after the workout. 

Harder workout? More carbs pls.

4. Recovery must Match or Exceed Stress

This is why dudes in their 20's don't gain muscle.

They want to train 6 days per week while sleeping 5 hours per night and compensating with 800mg of caffeine.

It gets harder when you're a parent with a full time job. 

Keeping this in mind will save you years of headache.

I saw my best gains of my life when I got super busy after my 2nd kid was born

I had to drop from 6 days per week of weight training to 3.

Magically I started gaining more muscle. 

That's why I always try to push people to only do weight training 3-4 days per week.

As we get older we need more time to recover.  I've found that drinking Fast Aid also really helps. 

5. Find a program and follow it for 6 months

When I was training, I would program hop

...like a lot.

I was always onto the next shiny object.

German volume training, the bulgarian method, 5/3/1, boring but big, strong lifts, crossfit, Smolov...I've tried so many different things.

None of them worked

Or rather

All of them work if you can do them long enough.

The issue is that the first 2-3 weeks of a program you get the "neurological adaptation"

Think about learning to swing a golf club for the first time

You suck at it because no muscle memory

Over time you get smoother and smoother as your body adapts.

That's what happens when lifting.

You get stronger early because you create larger neural pathways for that specific exercise

So when you change exercises after 2 weeks (or during every workout) you never see any physical progress

That's because PHYSICAL ADAPTATION HAPPENS AFTER NEURO ADAPTATION

You can't shortcut this process

Trust me

I learned that the hard way.

If you are ready to take your muscle-building journey to the next level, don't forget to check out The Whey  & Fast Aid to get your protein in while nourishing your muscles, preventing breakdowns, and promoting faster recovery.