9 rules to stop being under-muscled

Hello there,

I spent the entire Eid holidays in Dubai, just reading, giving myself permission to be “unproductive,” and simply being present with my family.

Having an uninterrupted hour to train, which I used to take for granted, was such a weird feeling.

During my visit to a gym I hadn't been to in years, I ran into someone I met in 2015. He did not recognize me at first, but I did; he looked exactly the same as he did a decade ago, despite consistent training 5 x week (That’s around 2,600 gym sessions in a decade).

As a businessman who values money, he's been getting a terrible ROI on his time and energy.

Here’s a harsh truth I realised too late: you can train for hours, but if you are not consuming sufficient protein, you’ll remain under-muscled.

9 protein rules to build lean muscle (without the hustle):

1. As we age, muscle loss increases, and we need more protein. (The only studies showing that reduced protein leads to longevity are done in mice).

2. In a study, 62-year-old seniors trained for 6 months with no muscle gain. A group of the same age took protein supplementation and gained over 3 pounds of muscle.

3. If you eat too much protein, the excess is excreted as urea in urine.

4. Proteins are the building blocks for muscles, enzymes, and many important hormones. We must obtain 9 of the 20 required amino acids from our food because we can't synthesize them.

5. The RDA recommends a minimum of 0.8g per kg of body weight, which is for survival, not for optimal health. A study found that elderly people consuming this amount lost muscle mass in only 2 weeks.

6. For active individuals with normal kidney function, one gram per pound of body weight per day is recommended (The safe upper limit is 3.7g per kg of body weight).

7. You should not have one meal a day. Spreading protein intake across several sittings helps avoid amino acid loss; aim for 3-4 servings a day at 0.25g per pound of body weight.

8. Age, sex, activity level, and lean body mass are factors that need to be considered to determine protein intake.

9. Low protein in the elderly leads to low muscle mass, increasing mortality and decreasing quality of life. Elderly individuals should monitor lean muscle mass via DEXA scan and add protein if it declines.

Your survivability against any cause of disease or death is going to be improved with the health of your skeletal muscle. Period.

The media wants you to eat cereal and convinces you that you need energy and a big breakfast to face your day, and so do your kids. The media needs to understand that we no longer need to hunt or harvest for survival; we are glued to desks all day, every day, and sometimes even on weekends.

Do this for the next 10 years, and you’d have drastically improved your time on earth.

It doesn’t have to be complicated.

If this was helpful, share it with someone you think it can help too.

Until the next,

Diego Carrete

Chief Executive Officer @ FIT LIFE FZCO

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