LEAN MUSCLE IS ONE OF YOUR BODY’S MOST VALUABLE ASSETS!
Think of lean muscle as one of your body’s most valuable assets!
I talk about the importance of training and fueling our body to maintain lean muscle often. If you come to my classes, you know;) In my opinion, the weight loss industry has created a brilliant marketing strategy that relentlessly focuses us on dieting to lose weight, but that all it is…brilliant marketing…It completely misses the mark in terms of actual health and sustainability for a lifetime. Instead it keeps people stuck in a cycle of extreme dieting and fitness trends that ultimately don’t achieve the desired long term results.
I like to encourage people to think in terms of building and maintain lean muscle instead of losing weight. Lean muscle is quite literally one of our body’s most valuable assists. It protects us, it keeps us moving, supports our structure, it is essentially our coat of armor and it is what will keep our physique tight, lean and strong for our lifetime. My goal is to share simple, applicable ways for building and maintaining lean muscle.
The top 3 tools I consider essential for achieving this are, weights, aminos and rest. In my experience this is the trifecta for the fountain of youth.
The only real way to build lean myself tissue is by lifting weights. The science supports weighted swift succession workouts to be the most efficient and effective approach to building and maintaining lean muscle while simultaneously burning fat. This is why I developed BURN45 in the style of workout it is today. Longterm, undeniable evidence, proven results and straight science supporting it. That said, training hard is only the first step. In order to get the most from any workout, the way you refuel and recover is essential to seeing results. One of the easiest and my favorite ways to immediately refuel muscle tissue is with EAA (Essential Amino Acids) within 45 minutes of any workout and before bed. EAA are essentially the building blocks of proteins which it what makes up muscle tissue.
For a long time fitness and nutrition science supported post workout supplementation of BCAAs (Branch Chain Amino Acids) which are generally the top 3-4 primary amino acids in the chain, to be ideal for muscle recovery. However the science has been evolving to support a broader and more complete post workout supplementation of EAAS which include the full chain of 11-12 aminos, giving muscle tissue a superior level of building blocks to repair. I typically like to take 2 KION EAA capsules about 30 minutes before my morning class, then 5 EAAS right after class. Ideally you want to take EAAS within an hour of your workout for optimal absorption.
After testing out a bunch of different brands, KION is my preferred EAA of choice, for a few reasons. One, it is clean, high quality and lists the entire amino chain in their ingredients. Two, I love a capsule because I can be certain that it won’t break my fast. I Intermittent fast in the morning and evening, so the last thing I want to be taking is a sweet powder mixed with water that will break my fast.
For over a decade I have been religious about my weight lifting and amino supplementation to support sculpting and maintaining my body’s lean muscle. Even though I have always known that the body experiences the most optimal recovery while we sleep, it wasn’t until several years ago that I really began to take the quality of my sleep seriously. Especially as we age, the quality of our sleep makes a significant impact on our rate of recovery. The first part of our sleep cycle between 9pm-1pm, is when the body is experiencing the greatest rate of muscle recovery and flushing of toxins from the brain. So the earlier you sleep, the more time you are giving your body time to repair and recover. This part of the sleep cycle cannot be made up by sleeping in later in the morning, so it really is important to create a good sleep schedule that supports your recovery. I have found that in the same way we prepare our body to train in a workout, preparing our body to sleep will help you have the best sleep. A few habits I have created that really make a difference are, about an hour before bed, I like to turn bright lights off. Basically calm the energy in my home down. I turn on a frequency meditation in the background while I go through my evening routine. Hertz frequencies are an effective and subtle way to raise or lower your body’s frequency and set its circadian rhythm. *(I like 825 hertz heart opening frequencies at night to calm my nervous system down and just set the tone for ending my day with a happy heart) my favorite meditation app is Insight Timer but Hertz frequencies can be found on Spotify or YouTube. Then, to give my body an added boost, I like to take 2 more EAAS right before bed and a good magnesium supplement. My fav Magnesium is Cymbiotika, liposomal packets. Magnesium supports sore muscles and has a calming effect of the body, so it’s perfect to help the baby relax into sleep.
Like I said earlier, in my opinion, muscle is the fountain of youth. Properly training and supporting muscle tissue repair, is the key to helping the body burn more fat, recover faster, stay agile and stronger for longer. I hope you enjoyed reading this and will put some of my tips to use in your daily routine.
Wishing you Health & Happiness!
XO, Maria
