Wednesday 7.26.2023

Every 90 Seconds for 9 Minutes:
1 Hang Power Snatch + 1 Power Snatch
-then-
Every 90 Seconds for 9 Minutes:
1 Power Snatch

Nutrition of the Week:
Building muscle

Let’s talk about building muscle. What does it take and when can you expect results?
Building muscle requires a calorie surplus and lifting heavy weights. Incorporating scheduled periods of a calorie surplus during a year of training is important for your overall health and training.

Keep in mind you are trying to gain weight-you are trying to increase your intake to support that muscle growth, but the tough part is that you will inevitably gain some fat along with the muscle. Get strong first, and then plan a fat loss cycle after you normalize calories post calorie surplus. Gaining muscle is hard, it can mess with your head if you don’t already have a good relationship with the scale. Things that help are to focus on your strength PRs, and focusing on what your body can do. Allow yourself to take up space. See where that journey takes you. If you aren’t ready for that-focus on being ok with being at maintenance calories.

Besides a better body composition, building muscle allows you more food freedom. It can also be good for your thyroid and hormone function to give your body a break from restrictive dieting through a targeted surplus. You will likely see improved recovery, improved energy, sleep, and mood.

So how do you know if you are eating enough food? First let’s determine your maintenance calories. Begin by tracking your intake and your weight (via a scale, measurements, photos, etc). If you are staying about the same, then you can assume that you are at maintenance calories. From this point, you can begin by adding roughly 5-10% beyond your maintenance calories. You will likely need to spend a minimum of 3-4 months at this level. Make changes slowly and gauge your progress via scale, measurements, and photos. As always, if you need some extra help or accountability-let us know!