Additional Muscle-Building Strategies

Welcome back to BETTER, the email series that provides tools, strategies, and knowledge to help you progress toward a healthier and fitter future.

This week, we are providing strategies to help your muscle-building efforts.

Today's installment covers additional strategies to enhance your muscle mass!

When strength training, work to feel your muscles contracting. Feeling the muscles you are training is critical to ensuring they get enough stimulation to grow.

Always have a variety of protein sources available. Buy canned chicken and tuna and store them in the pantry with a high-quality protein powder. Also, freeze pre-made lean meats so you always have protein available for your next meal.

Train hard and chill even harder for maximal muscle growth. Your body can't prioritize muscle mass growth if you're stressed to the gills. Manage your stress to give your body the opportunity to get stronger.

If gaining muscle is essential to you, don't stop trying. One way to ensure you never get stronger is to stop trying. Even glacial progress is progress. Keep working. If you hit a bump in the road, stay resilient and remind yourself why getting stronger is so important to you.

Clawing your toes into the ground during your strength exercises is a game changer. This simple cue activates more muscles in virtually any strength movement. use it in all of your sets.

If you have a hard time eating enough, choose foods wisely. Choose healthy foods that are easier to eat, like ground beef and chicken, brown rice, olive oil, nuts, protein powder, and full-fat Greek yogurt.

The "dirty bulk" is outdated. You don't need to eat massive amounts of food to gain muscle. In fact, several recent research papers indicate that most of us have a ceiling of a 500-calorie surplus for gaining muscle. Anything above this is likely going to be stored as fat.