How to get Lean Muscle?
A high quality protein diet and strength training are the most effective was to get lean muscle, reduce body fat, balance out hormones and sculpt the body…
Let’s start with training…why is strength training so effective at burning fat?
Trying to lose body fat by manually burning calories such as running is an ineffective strategy in comparison to weight lifting.
Our bodies are good at adapting to burn calories because it is always trying to maintain homeostasis. Your body is not going to make you leaner unless it is at it’s best interest (from a survival point of view). Exercise tells your body to adapt in a particular way…lots of cardio tells your body to build endurance and burn some calories. Endurance does not involve a lot of muscular strength.
The body is a calorie efficient burning machine… so the body will learn to burn less calories or the roughly the same amount of calories, you could perhaps call a plateau, when experiencing repetitive exercises i.e. running. A runners body becomes very efficient at burning calories. A research study taken out of a Hunter & Gather tribe in Hadza Tribe found out that the Hadza Tribe, despite walking or running between ten to twenty miles a day, burnt roughly the same amount of calories as an Office Worker.
This was possible because from an evolutionary stand point, the Hadza Tribe peoples’ metabolisms had adapted to their taxing energy requirements of the body, so their metabolisms had become more efficient for survival by essentially slowing down. So to put it bluntly, lots of cardio and low calorie diets are ineffective ways for getting lean muscle.
Strength Training!
Strength training or weight lifting creates metabolically proactive tissue which speeds up the metabolism. The process of building muscle shifts the metabolism into becoming less efficient at burning calories, because you are burning more calories to survive which leads to body fat loss!
Muscle takes up three fourths of the space fat does, so you can weigh the same but be a much smaller and stronger person.
So how can we gain lean muscle tissue?
1. Eat more protein: protein fuels muscle and speeds up the metabolism and it is very satiating producing.
2. Strength training: include strength training sessions into your week, aim for perfecting skill of exercise before increasing weight i.e. squat with good technique and form and you’ll get ten times more from your results.
These two combined creates a youthful growth hormone and makes you feel healthy (strength training stimulates the release of the human growth hormone, which aids in building muscle and burning fat).
More on Protein
Overnight fasting means your body is in its’ most efficient fat burning mode, and all body systems are downregulated. We want to be hitting a certain amount of protein at the first meal of the day in order to hit what is called the Leucine Threshold, an amino acid essentail for muscle building and protein synthesis at a muscular level.
Protein is essential for virtually every cellular function in the body, not just muscle building and repair. It is responsible for metabolic function, cell structure, and regulation of all tissues and organs, including muscle.
Every cell in your body is full of enzymes, which are proteins that control your metabolism (essentially protein working on a metabolic level).
Protein helps to regulate blood sugar levels by causing a moderated insulin response in comparison to carbohydrates (carbohydrates are NOT an essential macronutrient, but protein and fat are). The body can generate glucose through Gluconeogenesis when consuming protein which reduces or prevents blood sugar spikes.
It is important for neurotransmitters that are responsible for mood and sleep. It also builds and structures bones, ligaments, tendons, skin, brain, liver, and even your fingernails.
Proteins are built from amino acids which are the foundation of how we build our diet hence why a high quality protein at your first meal is so essential for setting your body up for the rest of the day.
So, how much protein should you have at breakfast to hit that optimal protein turnover?
Aim for at least 20 - 30g of protein for your first meal of the day (I like to hit at least 30g) but you may need more depending on your body size and energy requirements.
Examples
- 4 large eggs = 22g protein
- 24g Whey (protein powder) = 22g protein
- 130g turkey breast (no skin) = 39g protein
- 130g fillet steak = 37.8g protein
Reference:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/07/study-office-workers-burn-as-many-calories-as-hunter-gatherers/260384/
Mind Pump: How to Gain Lean Muscle
Forever Strong, Dr Gabrielle Lyon