The newsletter which curates & delivers the best nutritional advice, fitness hacks & holistic health strategies to your inbox every week.

💪🏼 FITNESS HACKS

Not Just About Vanity! The Holistic Health Benefits Of Building Muscle & 3 Steps To Do So More Quickly, Easily & From Anywhere!

A lot of people go to the gym, exercise, or look to build muscle for the wrong reasons...

Usually they do it purely for vanity: to look good in front of the mirror.

Life's about balance so being fueled by some of this 'vanity motivation' (external, extrinsic motivation) is ok...

In fact, it's perfectly normal (even encouraged) to want to have big, bulging biceps, 6-pack abs, a great backside, great physique & to look your physical best... (why not, right?)

But too much of this — or having this be your only intention behind doing exercise — may end up doing you more harm than good & cause you a lot of unhappiness in the long-run...

It does beg the question though… what other possible reasons are there for working out/exercising or more specifically building muscle?

Well, turns out, there are many! Including...

1. Health & Longevity

While it's true that bodybuilders or strongmen don't live very long, that's an extreme example...

A large number of studies support this, for example...

• Researchers in UCLA followed 4,000 adults for over a decade as part of a study & they discovered that adults with more muscle lived longer…
  

• Scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging found 2 sessions a week to grow muscle can reverse age-related cell damage in our bodies…
  

• And a study that tracks 2,200 middle-aged adults for 44 years concluded that “good muscle strength” is the strongest sign of a long life…

2. Increased Risk Of Disease

When people think about disease they either blame their genetics, environment or focus on other factors like nutrition… but your physical fitness has a massive role to play here too...

Studies prove this also...

• A 2016 study for example found low levels of muscle are linked to bigger risk of diseases…
  

• A 2017 study saw low muscle mass increased cardiometabolic risk in kids…
  

• Researchers from Harvard Medical School also concluded one study saying that they can more accurately predict Type 2 diabetes in a population with low muscle mass…

There's also the benefit of...

3. Mobility & Functional Strength (Throughout Life)

Another important aspect is actual strength...

This helps you in your everyday life (being able to easily open the pickle jars, carry shopping, move around pieces of furniture or pick up your kids when playing with them)...

4. Less Pain In The Body & More Happiness

A body in pain is an unhappy body (& mind) & while the process of building muscle isn't an easy or happy one, over time, the net result is greater when compared to the alternative...

That alternative is weak joints (muscles support your joints), stiffness in the body, etc…

One of the reasons people avoid weight/strength training for example is existing joint pain in the body…

Ironically though, the reason many of those people have this pain in the first place is because they don’t weight train / lack muscle to support their joints.

The better route is this: Figure out how you can weight train in a way that doesn’t make your joint pain worse & as your muscles built, your joints as better supported going forward.

^ those are just few of the other sources of motivation/benefits to consider (besides only looking good) for building muscle (& yes, there are many others!)...

With those in mind, let's move to the main part here…

Here are 3 best practices to help you to build strength/muscle more quickly, easily & from anywhere (no heavy weights or expensive gym membership required):

Tip #1. Slow Down

To start, is important to note that strength is built through time under tension. 

So when someone says, “Do 6 reps to get stronger”... those 6 reps don’t mean nothing if you’re swinging the weight around like someone possessed, letting speed & momentum do the job for you!

It means, if it is performed slow & controlled it’s the perfect amount of time under tension…

Put another way, it’s not the quantity of reps that matter, it’s the time you’re doing the exercise for.

With this in mind, you can get much better results doing basic exercises such as pushups, sit-ups or squats from home that with most of the equipment at the gym... just be sure to do each of these basic exercises as slowly as you can!

Tip #2. Kneel Down

The sad reality is that most people at the gym don't have the right form for optimal gains.

They will use their legs & lower back to perform a Bicep Curl for example, rather than the bicep itself! (same for the Shoulder Press, Overhead Tricep Extension, etc)

Reason is usually they’re either lifting a weight that’s too heavy or they’re tired & it’s easier to recruit the legs rather than the smaller muscles in the arm!

Simple solution: lower the weight & kneel down... therefore eliminating the legs from the equation altoghter... plus, you’ll work your core more which is something we all need to do! (this is yet another way that you can get better results doing basic exercises at home than by using fancy equipment at the gym!)

Tip #3. Pre-Fatigue

There are a huge number of techniques you can use to tire your muscles out without the need for a large weights selection (once again, enabling you to get better results with less equipment & less time!)

One of these techniques is to pre-fatigue the muscle in a 'superset' (2 exercises performed with no rest in between).

Put simply: there are many ways to improve your strength & effectively build more muscle faster, easier & from anywhere!

Speaking of muscle & improving physical fitness, if you'd like more techniques like these... put together into a complete guide to burning fat, building muscle & transforming your body forever, then be sure to check out the full Potencia fitness course:

‘Unstoppable Fitness: How To Burn Fat, Build Muscle, Improve Flexibility & Create An Unstoppable Body’

📖 FREE EBOOK

Longevity Secret: The 6 Mindsets & Habits Of The Happiest, Healthiest & Longest-Living People In The World!

We briefly mentioned how centenarians living in ‘blue zones’ (a.k.a. the geographic places where people live the longest) continue to be physically active into their 70’s, 80’s, 90’s & beyond…

If you’d like to learn even more about the mindsets & habits (beyond just exercise) of these individuals, you can download this free guide!

👉 Download the ebook for free here »

💭 QUOTE OF THE WEEK

🌿 HEALTHY RECIPE

A Nutritious, Easy-To-Make & High Protein Meal Perfect For Post-Workout Muscle Repair/Growth, Weight Loss & Health!

An awesome meal to quickly throw together on a health or weight loss journey is stir fry!

(Stir frys are often clean, nutritious & totally satisfying!)

^ That is as long as what you pair your stir fry with is clean & alkaline, it will absolutely aid in weight loss & boost your health & vitality.

No side dish is usually required but if you'd like one, we suggest going for with a gluten-free option like quinoa or perhaps the cleanest side possible which is cauliflower rice - as covered in a previous newsletter.

In this particular stir fry recipe, we have lots of alkalinity in french beans & one of the healthiest sources of protein, which is tofu (which we covered in another newsletter.)

However, in this specific recipe if you are to make it without any modifications we are going heavy on the protein which makes it an awesome post-workout meal option - as it will aid with muscle repair, recovery & growth!

All that in mind, enjoy this fairly quick & easy stir fry for lunch or dinner (or whenever!)

• Serves: 4 people

• Time: 23-30 mins

• Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients:

• 400g (1 pack) tofu

• 2 chicken breasts

• 500g french beans

• 1 medium red onion (2 small)

• 1 head garlic

• 8 tbsp coconut oil (separated into three servings of 2, 2 and 4 tbsp)

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• Large pinch sea salt

Method:

1. Drain & cube tofu

2. Preheat pan on medium and add 4 tbsp coconut oil

3. Chop chicken into mouth sized pieces

4. Fry tofu in single-layer batches

5. Keep turning until all sides are golden brown (about 3-4 minutes), set aside once done

6. While frying tofu peel & chop red onion keeping eye on tofu

7. Crush, peel & dice garlic

8. Reheat pan on medium and add 2 tbsp coconut oil

9. Add sea salt to chicken & coat by hand

10. Add chicken to pan and seal all sides, cooking until golden brown (6-8 minutes)

11. Top & tail french beans, then cutting in half

12. Add cooked chicken to same dish as tofu

13. Add 2 tbsp coconut oil to large frying pan or wok

14. Add garlic to pan cooking until golden brown

15. Add onion to pan and cook to translucent

16. Add french beans to pan followed by soy sauce giving a good stir

17. Season well with black pepper

18. Cook until french beans are tender (3-4 minutes)

19. Add chicken and tofu to pan for 30 seconds

20. Serve as is or with quinoa or cauliflower rice (optional)