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The Dr. Shannon Show
Coffee Chat: My journey of building 5lb of muscle and body recomposition
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If you are loving what you're learning in the podcast and you want to start applying it to your fitness routine, you can try one of our free classes. No credit card required. Just drop your email to get access. This is a upper body build class taught by myself. To take the class, visit portal.evlofitness.com I'm Dr. Shannon Richie. I'm a doctor of physical therapy, fitness trainer, and founder of Evil Fitness. In the Dr. Shannon show, you'll learn applicable tools to improve your health based on science. Welcome to the show. Hi everyone. Welcome back to this little coffee chat. So yesterday we released an episode about how to build five pounds of muscle, and I have had my own personal journey of building five pounds of muscle over the last few months. So I kind of wanted to share where I'm at and what I was doing to achieve that goal. So, currently, the last DEXA scan that I got, I had gained 4.2 pounds of muscle. And I haven't gotten a DEXA scan in about a month. But my assumption is that I've surpassed that five pounds of muscle. So. And I feel really, really good and I learned a lot this go around that I want to share today. I also think it's important to say that I also lost body fat when I was postpartum and breastfeeding. I did gain a little body fat, and when I was breastfeeding, I actually had a hard time with my nutrition and regulating my hunger cues. I was starving all the time. And so I did gain a little, a little body fat during that time. So I, I say this because my focus was on muscle during this time period, but I also did lose fat. And I don't want people to kind of see my body composition change and think that it was all strength training that created the fat loss, because that's not how it works. I was also eating in a way that created both a little bit of a deficit in my nutrition that created that fat loss while also building muscle at the same time. It's called body recomposition. So with eating, I was eating at about my maintenance calories, or sometimes a little bit less, like 100 to 200 calories under my maintenance. But most of the time I was hitting my maintenance calories. And I calculated that using the body recomposition guide that's on the EVLA membership that was created by a registered dietitian. Again, my focus was not on fat loss, and that's not something that I even really talked about on my Instagram very much. But I just wanted to note that because I think that it can from the outside appear like, oh, all she did was, you know, strength train and eat enough protein and that's what created, you know, lean, a leaner body. And that's just not how it works. So I wanted to say that first, how did I build the five pounds of muscle? I applied the reps framework. I kept it really basic and really simple. So in case you're new around here and aren't familiar with the reps framework for building muscle. The R& reps stands for repetition. So getting close to failure in 30 reps or less. The E stands for exercise selection. So I chose really simple exercises, just ones that target one muscle group at a time. The P stands for protein. So eating 0.75 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, I like to say on that higher end, I tend to eat about one gram or sometimes even more than one gram per pound of body weight per day. And then the S is structure. So having a really planned out routine, I did the the EVLO five time per week track and sometimes I did the four time per week track. Sometimes I didn't even take the whole class. I sometimes did the warmup of first set and fast forwarded to the cooldown. But I was fairly consistent with the Evolo either four or five times per week track. So applying the basics is truly what allowed me to achieve this goal. Now I have built muscle in the past and body recompositioned in the past a couple years ago using these same tools. But I'm in a different season than I was then. I have have a baby, I have a lot less time. You know, things with Evolo have really ramped up and so my attention is very divided. I'm also in general a little more fatigued than I was back then. And so my lifestyle is just different. So I did a few things differently than I did the first time that I want to kind of highlight and talk about. So first of all, my muscle came back relatively quickly this time. The first time it took me maybe six months to build five pounds of muscle. And this time it took me, you know, maybe three or four. And this has a physiological mechanism why? It has an explanation why when you build muscle the second time it comes back quicker. And this might just be because you already have really strong neuromuscular pathways to the muscle that just really established so it can come back quicker the second time. Which is why building muscle even, even if it's your first time building muscle is such a good investment. Because even if you fall off and you're postpartum or you're injured, or you have a season of life where you're not consistent and you lose some, it comes back a lot quicker the second time. So that's the main difference that I saw between kind of this season of body recomposition and the last time I did it a couple years ago. As far as what I changed in my workouts, again, I didn't change that much. But because I am in a different season of life and just a little bit more fatigued in general than I was the first time I did this, I really tried to manage my fatigue in my workouts. Managing fatigue can really, really help in getting a higher quality workout. And I know it sounds counterintuitive because we think the more exhausted and t we are from a workout, the more effective it is. However, the more fatigued you are, the less motor recruitment you get when you do a set. So if you think about it this way, if you were going to go lift like a heavy piece of furniture, like you were going to lift a heavy coffee table and move it in your house, would you want to lift that heavy coffee table after you just ran five miles and you were really tired? Or would you want to lift the coffee table when you were fresh? You would want to lift it when you're fresh because that's when you are the strongest. So if we think about applying that to our workouts, we want to manage our fatigue both before our workouts, during our workouts, and after our workout so that the sets that we are doing are really high quality and recruiting the highest percentage of the muscle as possible. So I was really focused on managing fatigue and also was just kind of studying it more this go around learning more about it. So the ways I did that this time was I lifted a little heavier and did fewer reps now usually. And again, it's possible to build muscle anywhere from 6 to 30 reps, as long as you're taking each set close to failure. So you want to get maybe a few reps shy of not being able to complete another rep. And you can do that anywhere from 6 to 30 reps. And you just get to choose what your preferences are, maybe what you're comfortable with. But I've been doing this for a while, so I decided to try a little heavier weight, a little fewer reps. So I was falling like about 15 reps or less, I would say, between that 6 and 15 rep range. And so if I was taking classes from another instructor at evol, either Payton or Jill. Then I would stop the sets a lot earlier, so I would do as many reps as I could, getting close to failure. A lot of times I was falling under about 15ish reps, and then I would just break and rest and, and wait until the, the next set happened. And that did a couple things. Number one, when you lift slightly heavier for fewer reps, you'll notice that you get less of a burning sensation. This burning sensation is called metabolic stress. And it happens, tends to happen with higher rep, and people associate that with an effective exercise or with an exercise that builds muscle. The metabolic stress, the burning sensation itself, is not the stimulus that causes muscle. The stimulus that causes muscle or creates muscle growth is approaching muscular failure in under 30 reps, with or without the burn. So what happens is when you lift a little heavier and for slightly fewer reps, you have less of that metabolic stress. Metabolic stress is also associated with fatigue. So because you have less metabolic stress, you have less fatigue, meaning you're more fresh for your next set. So not only was I getting a little bit of break, kind of waiting for the instructor to finish, because I was lifting slightly heavier, finishing the sets earlier, so I got a little break, but I also was getting kind of less of that metabolic stress. So I just felt like my workouts were more effective and I, I was able to manage my fatigue better. Another thing that this does is it doesn't cause as much soreness. So from workout to workout, you're also managing your fatigue. So, you know, I'm not so sore from my workout on Tuesday that when I go to work my legs again on Thursday or Friday, you know, I'm not getting a super high quality workout. So that's kind of what I was focused on this time. I also did a lot of heart rate breaks. So if my heart rate got really high from getting close to failure in, let's say, step ups or a leg exercise, which often happens, I took break, I let my heart rate fall, I maybe paused the class or did some mobility. So again, I felt less fatigue going into the subsequent set, so that that set could be really effective. So those are the things that I kind of did from my workout. Those are, this is just a really small tweak that I made. Um, I always say you choose the rep scheme that you like. I really like the idea of doing higher reps, especially if you're a beginner or if you're someone that's prone to injury. You just can lift a little bit lighter and still get close to failure. And still see really, really great musc. And then once you get used to it, maybe after, you know, six months to a year, you can start to increase the weight a little bit and decrease the reps. So that's kind of what I did there. And now cardio. A lot of people ask about cardio because they think that cardio is the key for fat loss. And this is not true. The reason I saw fat loss was because of how I was eating. And of course staying active overall is important and will have an effect, but not as big of an effect as, as, as we think. So I walk a lot and during this season when I started this in like, let's see, I started in October with this goal from October to now, it's now mid December. I. The weather in Austin is just amazing. And so my husband and I walk a lot. Sometimes we walk like twice a day. It's also my daughter is teething and it's the only thing that sometimes will help her distract her from her teeth. She loves walks. So we find that we are getting out of the house and walking a lot these days. So that' that's mainly what I was doing for cardio was just kind of walking. And I do get a lot of steps. I did a whole podcast episode about how walking affects body composition, if you want to check that out. But I did get, you know, I do tend to get between 10,000 and 12,000 steps per day. Studies show that you really don't need more than 7,500 and that's kind of where you max out as far as a body composition change. But go listen to the episode if you want to learn more about that. So mainly walking was my form of kind of light to moderate intensity cardio. In all honesty, I had the goal of doing rehit. So reduced exertion. Reduced exertion, high intensity training. I did a whole episode about reh if you want to check that one out. But basically it's really low dose sprint training. So it's like 20 second sprint with two minutes in between of rest and then another 20 second sprint and then a cool down. So very, very quick workout. And the effects on VO2 max and cardiovascular health are, are incredible, truly. So it's something that you can do like once or twice a week that has great effects on your cardiovascular health. My goal was to do that once a week. Now this didn't have anything to do with muscle growth or with body composition really at all. It was more just for cardiovascular, for cardiovascular health. And I'm going to be Real honest, I didn't get to it. I didn't do it very consistently at all. I really just did it a handful of times. Again, different season of life. And I was really more focused on my strength training than I was on rehab. But again, in another season I plan to kind of add that more frequently. Food. This is something everybody wants to talk about. And again, just a quick disclaimer. I am not a registered dietitian. I am not formally educated in nutrition. So please go to a registered dietitian if you have any struggles with your nutrition. But I'll talk about kind of what I changed this time versus the first time. I had my body recomposition journey. So the first time I was fasting more. This worked really well for me at that stage of life. Uh, this was, you know, a few years ago. I, I think I was 30 or 29, doesn't matter my age, but it just worked really well for me. I felt really great fasting. I would work out, fasted, and this time not so much. I felt like not as strong in my workouts when I didn't eat something before. So I tend to eat before. I tend to work out in the morning and so I tend to eat before I work out. Now I am not someone that's hungry in the morning, so I have to like chok something down. But I find that when I do, I get a lot better workout. I just feel stronger. I feel like my sets are higher quality. So I usually, it's usually I have to choke down a banana and like a protein shake and I keep it really simple. Again, I'm just not starving in the morning. So I have changed that and I found that that's really, really helped me. Um, I've also been trying to eat a lot less processed food and this has been difficult for me because I am very big on convenience food and easy. And that's again what I did the first time my body recompositioned. You know, I did a lot of protein bars and, and dairy and Greek yogurt and things like that. And I still do a lot of dairy. But I really tried. I, I wanted to start small with this. I was like, okay, I'm not going to cut out all processed foods because that's not realistic for me right now, especially with a baby. Like the idea of not supplementing with protein powder and things like that, I just don't know that I can do that right now. So I was like, I'm just gon cut out protein bars and we're going to Start there. Because I was eating at least one protein bar a day. I'm not going to lie. So I cut out protein bars and I felt really good. I mean, I think, you know, it made me focus more on snacks that had more volume. Like, again, Greek yogurt or cottage cheese with some berries. I do tend to supplement with protein powder. I like just ingredients. Protein powder. You can mix it in water, you can mix it in a smoothie, you can mix it in Greek yogurt, cottage cheese. So my goal was to eat less processed protein bars this time. And I feel. Felt really good doing that. And then finally, I feel like it's important to say that I. I was eating at my maintenance and I was really noticing, like, what. And I, I read, I email or I emailed. I interviewed a registered dietitian, Miranda, about what maintenance feels like. And she was, she described it really well. And this is kind of how I felt. So she said, you know, you should get hungry. It's not like you should never get hungry. Hunger is good, but you should listen to that. Hunger and e are hungry. And so that's really what I tried to do. I let myself get hungry. I wasn't just like constantly eating like I was when I was breastfeeding, but I let myself get hungry. And then I. I just tried to fuel myself. And I thought about protein first. So whether it was a snack, lunch, dinner, breakfast, what's going to be my source of protein, and then from there, build out the rest of the meal. So where. Where am I going to get a veggie? Or where am I. Where am I going to get a starch or a carb or a fat? So thinking about protein first, letting myself get hungry, but then eating when I was hungry. And as far as tracking food, I do track my food. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but what I found, unfortunately, is that it's really difficult to know, you know, where you're at if you are at maintenance, if you're in a surplus, if you're in a deficit, and especially when you want your deficit to be so small, like 100 to 200 calories or 200 to 400 calories, whatever it is, that's. That's really not a lot of food. And so it's hard to tell. So I, I personally find a lot of success with tracking. I also think that some people feel really restrictive doing that. I feel the opposite. I feel a lot of freedom when I track because I'm like, okay, I know exactly where I'm at. It's not something that I have to think about or I just put it in and then kind of set it and forget it sort of thing. And you get really good at it too. Like you get really fast at it. And a lot of times I'll eat the same things. Like my favorites are all saved so I just like add them real quick. So it's really not super restrictive or time consuming for me. I use Chronometer, but you can use MyFitnessPal. I've used MyFitnessPal in the past. It works the same. The reason I started using Chronometer was because it also looks at micronutrients which I, I love to, to check on. So like am I getting all of the micronutrients that I need? And it'll kind of show you a breakdown of all of them and it can be kind of motivating to add in really nutrient dense food. Like if I'm, I find that I'm like, I tend to be low in vitamin D. So like what foods can I eat that can help me bring up my vitamin D or my vitamin C or whatever it might be. So I, I kind of like that aspect of it. But again, you can keep it really simple and use MyFitnessPal. So those are the things that I've changed with food and exercise and kind of where I'm at now. What I want to do now is talk about my goal for 2025. My goal is to build another five pounds of muscle. And this will be interesting because this will be more muscle than I've ever had. Right. Where I'm at now is about the place where I was before I had a baby. And so I want to build, I want to kind of take it to the next step. However this go around, I will not be getting a DEXA scan. I will not be measuring it, you know, objectively using a scale or a DEXA scan or anything like that. I'm just going to be going based on how I feel strength wise. Like, am I getting stronger? Are my lifts going up? Am I feeling really good? And then just visual. Do I see visual visually more muscle. I really want to focus on my legs specifically. I always had a hard time working legs. I just, I just don't enjoy working legs. And I know some people are the total opposite. They love working legs. I really love upper body and core legs are not my favorite. So I'm really going to focus on my legs and the way I'm going to do that is not adding any more resistance training, not adding any more volume. Just really focusing on high quality sets for my legs. Again, applying what I was just talking about earlier, where I might lift a little bit heavier, do fewer reps so that I'm not stopped from like boredom or discomfort, but I'm actually stopped from the muscle or choosing exercises that are really high quality load for those muscles like we're doing in Evlo. I just find if I'm being honest, a lot of times I'll stop a lower body exercise because I just don't like it. Like I'm just not enjoying the exercise. So I think if I lift a little bit heavier, a little fewer reps for my lower body specifically, I'll stop because of the muscle, not because of just like overall general discomfort. I want to update you all each quarter of this year and kind of tell you where I'm at, what I'm learning, and hopefully you all join me in this journey of building muscle. I spent the whole podcast yesterday talking about why you should do this, and I truly think that this kind of stuff changes your life. It will change the trajectory of your life. It will change the trajectory of your health. It will put you in an upward spiral rather than in a downward spiral. I mean, there are so many benefits. So make sure you go listen to yesterday's yesterday's episode if you haven't already. I think it's episode number 197, but this will be really fun. I'm excited to take you all along on the journey. Make sure to keep us updated and if you have questions for us, I want to do episodes where I'm kind of ask answering frequently asked questions and sharing your stories to make sure you share all of that with us. Hope you all enjoyed this. You'll see you all next week, same time, same place. Bye for now.