Over the past few years I’ve been trying to put on some additional muscle. Overall my progress has been slow. This is due to genetics, my inconsistent training, my distaste for eating large quantities of protein, and my age (though gaining muscle wasn’t much easier in my twenties).
There’s another factor though: supplementation. Many of the anti-aging and disease-preventing supplements I take boost AMPK and inhibit mTor. MTor is required for muscle growth, so inhibiting it on a daily basis isn’t helping me gain muscle tissue.
So going forward, I’m going to try to line everything up for more effective results, as follows:
Clean-up days
- caloric deficit and less protein intake
- shorter eating window/intermittent fasting
- supplements that boost AMPK, encourage autophagy, and inhibit mTor (antioxidants, pterostilbene, quercetin, etc.)
- less intense exercise (walking, stretching)
Build-Up Days
- caloric surplus and more protein intake
- larger eating window/more meals
- supplements that support protein synthesis (B-vitamins including niacin, zinc, etc.)
- more intense exercise (weights, sprints, sports, etc.)
It occurs to me that it may also make sense to organize my work and household in similar ways. Clean-up days might include actual cleaning, yardwork, organizing, Kon-Mari’ing, etc., while build-up days might include shopping, building stuff, etc.
In terms of writing and other creative work, build-up days would be more focused on generating new material, sketches, new ideas, while clean-up days would involve more editing, cutting, refining, etc.
I don’t know if the clean-up/build-up division will hold across all categories (health/household/creative work), though I suspect they might naturally coincide, at least to some extent. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Do you have similar systems?
Deanne
Very interesting concept. How often do you have clean up versus build up days?
J.D. Moyer
I’ll report back once I’ve done more tracking, but I’m thinking I’ll slightly prioritize cleanup days for now, maybe 4/3.
Joe Garma
I’ve been lifting weights since I was 15 on a semi-regular basis, so that makes it 50 years. I’ve found that the only times I actually gained muscle and strength is when I followed a program and tracked results. You need to focus on progressive increases of intensity (more weight, less rest, more sets, etc.), consistency (at least 2x/week per muscle group) and nutrition (not only protein, but creatine is helpful, but cycle its use).
J.D. Moyer
That lines up with my experience as well, though creatine negatively effects my sleep.