Make Your Workout Work for You

By Team Beachbody

While the majority of our customers are interested in weight loss, we have been getting a lot of inquiries on how to gain muscle mass while doing Power 90^®. Everyone that does the program can expect changes in lean muscle mass, but the muscle they gain is usually far offset by the fat they lose.

Here we compare various techniques to help you gain weight versus what you should do to slim down:

Weight Gain: Increase protein intake. You can't build muscle without their "building blocks," amino acids. The latest studies in applied physiology show that you need to consume nearly a gram of protein per pound of body weight per day to significantly increase muscle size. To give you an idea, a 4 oz steak has approximately 35 grams of protein.

Weight Loss: While you should still (most of us anyway) increase the percentage of protein in your diet, you don't want to eat massive portions. Max out at around 30% of your daily caloric needs, which means that you'll probably never get anywhere close to a gram per pound of bodyweight.

WG: Eat a pre-workout meal. Forget our normal recommendation to workout on an empty stomach - that's to put the body to work burning stored fat as fuel. Carbohydrates are the body's chosen (and most efficient) fuel source. 60 - 100 grams of complex carbs about an hour before you workout should allow you to push much harder and finish off that extra rep. That'll build muscle!

WL: Skip this meal. Try to not eat within 2 to 3 hours before working out. If you workout on an empty stomach, your body will be forced to utilize stored body fat for fuel--its second choice.

WG: Do fewer reps with more weight. Adjust your weight so that you start failing earlier during the resistance exercises. Try and fail between 8 and 10 repetitions. Once you hit 10 at one weight, adjust the weight so that you can only do 6 and keep in there until you are back up to 10.

WL: More reps, less weight. Go until you hit at least 15, then drop down to 10 reps and work back up.

WG: Eat a post-workout meal, then do it again. Within 15 to 45 minutes of finishing your workout, eat a snack or shake that has some simple sugar (for immediate glycogen replacement) and about 20 - 30 grams of protein and 60 - 80 grams of carbohydrates. Then 2 hours later, eat a high-protein meal.

WL: Follow the same pattern, but on a much smaller scale. Still eat the post-workout snack. This is your most important meal of the day because your body absorbs nutrients up to four times better during this window! Get 10 - 20 grams of protein with 30 - 50 grams of carbohydrates. Make your next meal high in protein, but light in overall calories.

WG: Take creatine and amino acid supplements. If you're open to supplementation, take creatine monohydrate both 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after your workout. Take this in a drink sweetened with a non-acid substance such as fruit juice (not orange or grapefruit) or Gatorade (don't drink too much because it's high in sodium, which you only need in high dosages when sweating profusely). Take amino acid supplements or a protein drink without carbohydrates before bed. Again, this breaks that Power 90® rule of going to bed on an empty stomach, but your body repairs itself while sleeping and you want to assure that you have the nutrients for it to repair itself as quickly as possible.

WL: Men, take smaller portions of creatine and only on your weight training days. Women, Performance Formula or Amino acid supplementation can still be effective, but not so necessary unless you can't get all of your daily protein requirement from your diet.

WG: Sleep more. Anyone doing an intense exercise program will benefit from more sleep, but when trying to increase size it becomes even more essential. You only grow and recover while sleeping. The harder you workout, the more muscle fiber breakdown you incur. The more sleep you get, the faster your muscles will grow.

WL: Sleep as much as necessary. Since you aren't in grow-mode, this will vary. The same principles are at work and you will most likely need more sleep early on in the program. As it progresses, you may find that you have more energy and can sleep less. Since you are leaner than you once were, your body probably requires less sleep and this is a good thing.

WG: Workout whenever you feel strongest during the day. Hammering out that one last rep now becomes important because this is where the big gains are made. It's therefore important to get the most out of each workout. Later in the day, your blood sugar is higher and you can probably exercise harder.

WL: Intensity still matters, but doing the entire workout is more important than maxing out each set. Morning workouts can boost your metabolism for the day and help promote weight loss. Also, a split routine, where you do a little in the AM and more later in the day can be effective because you need less recovery time when you aren't working out as intensely.