Focus on building and maintaining lean body mass, as it is crucial for metabolic health and is inversely proportional to the risk of mortality after age 50. Strength, in particular, has a significant inverse correlation with all-cause mortality.
Engage in resistance training at least three times a week for 30-40 minutes, as it significantly improves metabolic health, increases bone density, and contributes to a long, healthy life, regardless of age or starting fitness level.
Aim for a high protein intake, such as 1.6 to 2.4 grams per kilogram of body weight (e.g., 100-120g/day for a 135lb woman, or ~200g/day for a 180lb man), to maximize muscle protein synthesis and lean mass accrual.
Focus on overall diet quality, including a high intake of fruits and vegetables, as this appears to be the most significant factor for health outcomes, rather than specific macronutrient ratios or isolated food types.
Select a dietary restriction method (e.g., calorie counting, carb restriction, time-restricted eating) that feels least restrictive to you as an individual, as adherence is the most critical factor for long-term success.
Practice sitting with discomfort, whether it’s hunger or other urges, and learn to distinguish true physical hunger from eating cues driven by stress, boredom, or societal factors.
Adopt the rule of ’never do two bad things back to back’; if you miss a workout, ensure you work out the next day, and if you have a blowout meal, make the next meal a healthy one.
For one week, rigorously track every single piece of food consumed (no licks, bites, or snacks unaccounted for) to gain an accurate understanding of your actual energy intake, as self-estimation is often highly inaccurate.
Weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after using the bathroom and before eating, every single day, then average weekly weights to track progress accurately and account for daily fluid shifts.
To continue building muscle, consistently apply progressive overload by increasing the weight, repetitions, or number of sets over time, as adaptation requires continuous challenge.
Integrate planned recovery periods (tapers) into your training program to manage fatigue, allow for adaptation, and prevent overreaching, especially as you become more advanced or older.
Perform most resistance training sets at a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) of 7-8 (3-2 reps shy of failure), occasionally pushing to 9 RPE (1 rep shy), as training close to failure provides similar hypertrophy stimulus with less recovery debt than training to absolute failure.
Aim for approximately 6-10 hard sets per muscle group per session for optimal hypertrophy, adjusting based on rest periods (e.g., 6 sets with 3+ minutes rest, 10 sets with 1-2 minutes rest).
Ensure exercises are performed through a full range of motion, or at least emphasize the lengthened (stretched) position of the muscle, as this appears to be crucial for maximizing hypertrophy.
Incorporate machine-based exercises (e.g., hack squats, leg presses, pendulum squats) for major muscle groups, as they can provide effective stimulus with less fatigue and allow for a full range of motion, especially for those not prioritizing free weight strength.
For isolation exercises, use higher rep ranges (10-20 repetitions), shorter rest periods, and higher RPEs (8-9), potentially taking the last set to failure, to complement compound movements.
When aiming to gain muscle, pursue a very slow rate of weight gain (e.g., no more than 5 pounds over 12 weeks) with a slight caloric surplus of 100-200 calories above maintenance, to maximize lean mass accrual and minimize fat gain.
If feeling overwhelmed by tracking all macronutrients, prioritize tracking total calories and protein intake, as these two factors provide approximately 99% of the benefits for body composition goals.
Prioritize consuming a significant amount of protein at breakfast (e.g., 20-30 grams) to stimulate muscle protein synthesis early in the day, especially if your current breakfast is typically low in protein.
To increase protein intake without significantly increasing calories, opt for leaner cuts of meat (e.g., sirloin, filet, chicken breast, venison) over fattier options like ribeye or T-bone.
Utilize protein shakes as a convenient and effective tool to boost protein intake, especially if you have a low appetite for solid protein or want to easily add protein to carb-heavy meals like cereal.
Maintain a minimum fat intake of at least 20% of total calories or 40 grams per day to support hormone levels, as very low fat diets can potentially impair testosterone.
After establishing protein and calorie targets, customize your carbohydrate and fat intake based on personal preference, adherence, and how your body responds (e.g., appetite, brain fog).
Consider whey protein as a top-tier supplement due to its high content of leucine, branched-chain amino acids, and essential amino acids, making it highly bioavailable and effective for muscle protein synthesis.
When choosing protein supplements, avoid brands that use proprietary blends or engage in ’nitrogen spiking’ (adding cheaper amino acids to artificially inflate protein content), as these practices can hide inferior product quality.
Use creatine monohydrate for supplementation, as it is proven to saturate muscle cells 100% and is cost-effective; other forms of creatine are not superior and are often marketed to justify higher prices.
Choose between creatine loading (20g/day for 5-7 days) for faster saturation with potential GI discomfort, or a maintenance phase (5g/day) for slower saturation (3-4 weeks) with less discomfort, as both methods achieve full muscle saturation.
Consume creatine daily, even on non-training days, to maintain muscle saturation; if on a very tight budget, prioritize taking it on training days.
Consider supplementing with nitrates/nitrites (e.g., beetroot juice) or citrulline (6-8 grams per dose) to enhance exercise performance by increasing nitric oxide levels, with citrulline being more bioavailable than arginine.
Unless your workouts are exceptionally long (2-3+ hours) or you perform multiple training sessions per day, intra-workout nutrition (e.g., glucose/carbohydrates) is generally not necessary for most weightlifters or bodybuilders.
Recognize that day-to-day weight changes are primarily due to fluid shifts, while weekly and monthly averages more accurately reflect changes in actual body mass.
Be cautious of calorie burn estimates from wrist-worn fitness devices, as studies show they can overestimate exercise energy expenditure by 28% to 93%.
Be mindful of alcohol consumption, as it is calorie-dense and can impair judgment, leading to poorer food choices.
Consider a short water-only fast (3-5 days) at least once in your life to learn that acute hunger is manageable and comes in waves, building resilience against eating out of habit or boredom.
Recognize that the first six weeks of resistance training primarily build tissue resilience and strength, with significant hypertrophy typically occurring after this initial adaptation phase.
Incorporate a variety of rep ranges (e.g., <5 reps for some compound movements, 6-10 for others, 15-20 for isolation) into your training, as muscle growth can occur across a wide spectrum of repetitions, and variety can aid adherence.
As an experienced lifter, accept that gaining muscle mass will likely involve some simultaneous fat gain, as the body prioritizes energy storage; focus on the long-term composition improvements.
During a muscle-gaining phase, monitor your progress by looking at monthly average weight trends rather than daily fluctuations, as weight gain often occurs in non-linear ‘chunks’.
Branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) supplementation is generally not necessary if you are already consuming sufficient total daily protein from high-quality sources.
If following a plant-based diet and concerned about protein quality, consider adding supplemental BCAAs to meals or protein sources to enhance their anabolic potential.