This is something that is all too common in the gym unfortunately…
We’ll use a fictitious character and call her “Sarah”.
Sarah shows up to the gym religiously 3x per week.
Every day that Sarah comes to the gym, she works her butt off.
Sarah doesn’t make excuses and is always up for the challenge.
Sadly, Sarah doesn’t see as much progress as she would like in regards to building lean muscle.
Sarah starts to get a little discouraged and brings it up to me (I’m glad she did).
It didn’t take long for us to identify the red flag.
Turns out, Sarah isn’t consuming hardly any protein. Foods she thought were fairly high in protein were just enough to scratch the surface (more on that in just one sec).
This is a problem because protein is key to building lean muscle. You can’t build lean muscle without it. It will also help with fat loss, improving satiety, and leads to healthier hair and nails.
In a nutshell, without protein all that hard work in the gym is not going to give you a great ROI on your hard work.
Sarah is like many clients we’ve seen over the years. Not getting enough protein is very common. That brings me to the point of this message.
If you aren’t consuming protein on a regular basis (by regular I mean at least 20g several times per day), then here are a few strategies you can try out to see what works best for you…
- Include a high-protein food with every meal… again, 20g minimum.
- Add a protein shake as a snack in the afternoon (if this interests you, I’ve got some solid recommendations).
- Add protein rich foods such as eggs or chicken to your salad.
- Choose high-protein snacks such as greek yogurt, deli meat, cottage cheese, or jerky.
Moral of the story, if you do not want lean muscles then ignore everything I just said. However, if that sounds like something that would be a great match for that amazing personality of yours then make sure you’re getting your protein!
Also, in case you were wondering, within a month of adding in more protein Sarah was able to get over that plateau, increase her lean muscle tissue, and drop a few pounds of body fat. Not too shabby!
Enough chit chat… Time to go eat some eggs
Later gator.
John
PS- If you want help working towards your fitness goals and building lean muscle, here is the best way we can help… Fill out the form on your screen and connect with us today!