Optimized Muscle Building (Why 90%+ Don't See Results)
People are beginning to see the light. They're breaking free of the social norms around health and fitness imposed by society. The problem? 90%+ of them aren't training with a real plan.
People are waking up.
A counter-movement has emerged to combat the societal norms being pushed on us:
Body Positivity — erosion of responsibility for health, “healthy at any weight”
Symptomatology — neglecting root cause treatment in favor of pharmaceuticals
Sedentarism — normalization of physical inactivity
At some point, the underlying reality becomes clear:
None of society's antidotes are going to save you.
So, with that said, what’s the solution?
Make a lifestyle change.
Use exercise and nutrition as your vessel.
But here’s where well-meaning people run into a problem:
90% of people who hit the gym never see health or aesthetic improvements.
The reason for this?
It’s simple: they’re not training with a real plan (or the right one).
When the benefits of training are laid out for them, most people understand they need to take action and resist what has become commonplace in our society.
If you’re still unconvinced, this newsletter is a good place to go first:
So where’s the disconnect?
They lack an understanding of the key principles of muscle growth.
Building the most muscle you can requires a plan.
Yes, you’ll get some aerobic health benefits from just going through the motions, but most of your time and energy will be wasted.
So if you’re ready to make a change, I’ve got a pretty good idea of the questions that you’re probably asking (because I asked them myself):
What should my diet look like to ensure I’m not only building muscle but recovering as well?
How should I approach my training to maximize muscle growth?
How can you track the amount of muscle that you’re building?
How can you assess the quality of the muscle that you’re building?
How much muscle do you need to build for optimal health?
I’ve got all the answers for you.
Let’s get right into it.
Optimal Nutrition For Muscle Building
We aren’t even going to talk about actually lifting weights yet.
The first step?
Setting the nutritional foundation you need to build and maintain healthy muscle.
So how do you get it right?
Let’s break it down.
Protein: Muscle Protein Synthesis & Amino Acid Profile
Okay, first and foremost:
When we talk about building muscle, recognize that our main objective is to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.
Muscle protein synthesis is the process your body uses to repair and build muscle.
As you might have guessed, consuming protein is critical to triggering this process —it’s in the name.
But here’s what you might not have known:
When you consume protein, your body breaks it down into amino acids.
Your body uses these amino acids as a part of muscle protein synthesis to repair damaged muscle fibers and stimulate the growth of new muscle tissue.
So here’s the big takeaway:
The total protein intake we need to stimulate muscle protein synthesis is defined by the amino acid composition of the protein.
Protein is made up of 20 different amino acids, 9 of which are essential for your body.
Of these essential amino acids, one stands above the rest: leucine.
Leucine is the trigger for stimulating muscle protein synthesis.
Without enough leucine, you can’t expect to maintain healthy muscle mass.
So what’s the leucine threshold you should be aiming for?
To maximize muscle protein synthesis, you need to eat 2.5 to 3 grams of leucine in a single meal — this comes out to roughly 30-50 grams of quality protein.
As you can see in the chart above, muscle protein synthesis begins to take off once the aforementioned leucine of 2.5 to 3 grams is reached.
After this point, you’ll begin to notice diminishing returns.
Next question: how can you go about achieving this threshold?
You can find leucine in plentiful quantities in high-quality protein sources such as:
Eggs: 0.5 grams of leucine per egg
Beef: 2.94 grams of leucine per 100 grams
Chicken: 2.82 grams of leucine per 100 grams
Animal-based proteins like the ones listed above closely mimic the amino acid composition of human muscle tissue, making it easy for your body to use animal-based proteins as a base for building muscle.
But plant-based proteins are a different story.
While plant-based proteins do have some leucine content, it isn’t nearly as plentiful as you would find in animal-based protein sources.
In other words, if the protein you’re eating originated from plants, you’re going to need to eat a greater quantity of protein than you otherwise would if it has been animal-based.
Alright, there’s one more thing you need to know:
If you’re seeking to build muscle optimally, you should be shooting for about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day (assuming it’s coming from sources high in leucine).
For example, if you weigh 200 lbs, you should look to eat roughly 200 grams of protein per day to supercharge your muscle-building goals.
Meal Timing & Starting Early
Now that you know how much protein to consume daily, another question arises:
How many meals should I split my protein intake into? And how should I time them?
Here’s what the answer revolves around:
When you trigger muscle protein synthesis, its effects last for around 2-3 hours.
The takeaway?
Spreading your protein intake out across…
3-4 meals daily
3-4 hours apart
…enables you to trigger muscle protein synthesis multiple times throughout the day, maximizing your gains.
Here’s a chart illustrating how this works:
You’ll notice that on the x-axis, I used the sample meal times of 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM, and 6:00 PM.
These are the meal times that have worked well for me as I maximize muscle protein synthesis — with the final meal at 6:00 PM, I have ample time to digest my food before going to sleep.
Alright, now let’s talk specifically about the first meal of the day.
I’d advise you to start early.
The reason?
Limiting the amount of time you spend fasting prevents your body from going into a catabolic state, where your body begins to break down tissue (potentially muscle tissue) to fuel your activities.
On top of that, the first protein-packed meal doesn’t just help your muscles:
Eating a high-protein first meal will keep you feeling full throughout the day due to its high satiety effect and will help stabilize your blood sugar levels, preventing energy crashes and hunger later in the day.
It will even release gut peptides like GLP-1 (the same hormone targeted by Ozempic).
The willpower to avoid bad food choices later in the day will come that much easier.
Okay, by now, you’ve got a great idea of how much protein to eat and how to structure your diet appropriately to get the dosages you need at the right intervals.
But what about other dietary variables, like the total number of calories, carbohydrate intake, and fat intake?
Let’s talk about it.
Optimizing Calorie, Carbohydrate & Fat Intake
We’ll start with calorie intake — this is a big one.
If you’re not eating enough food, your body won’t have the fuel it needs to grow in response to your training.
But if you’re eating too much, you’ll eventually reach the point of diminishing returns for muscle building and accumulate unnecessary fat.
So, how do you figure out the right number of calories?
Setting Your Calorie Intake for Muscle Gain
Building muscle requires energy — more energy than you burn each day.
This means you need to eat in a caloric surplus.
A good starting point is to aim for 250-500 extra calories per day above your maintenance level — the number of calories you need to eat to sustain your current body weight given your activity level.
But here’s the challenge:
How do you figure out what your maintenance level is?
The easiest way to get a ballpark number for your maintenance calories is by using an online calculator or a simple formula.
A popular option is the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation, which takes into account your weight, height, age, and activity level.
Here’s the formula for men:
And here it is for women:
Once you have the baseline number from the formulas above, multiply it by a factor that reflects your activity level:
Sedentary (little or no exercise): Multiply by 1.2
Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days a week): Multiply by 1.375
Moderately active (moderate exercise 3-5 days a week): Multiply by 1.55
Very active (hard exercise 6-7 days a week): Multiply by 1.725
Super active (very hard exercise, physical job): Multiply by 1.9
By the end of this calculation, you’ll have the approximate number of calories you need to eat to maintain your current body weight.
But here’s something that trips a lot of people up: your maintenance calorie needs aren’t static.
As you gain or lose weight, the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight changes.
Why?
Because your body’s energy requirements adjust with your new body composition.
Let’s break this down.
Gaining Weight? Your Maintenance Increases
As you build muscle (and even fat), your body requires more energy to maintain that mass.
Think of it this way: if you’re upgrading from a small car to a bigger, more powerful vehicle, it’s going to need more fuel to keep running.
The same applies to your body.
As you get stronger and more muscular, you need to give it more fuel — more calories— to sustain those gains.
Losing Weight? Your Maintenance Decreases
The opposite is also true.
If you’re in a calorie deficit and losing weight (whether fat or muscle), your body now requires fewer calories to maintain itself.
With less mass, your body simply doesn’t need as much energy to function.
This is why weight loss plateaus happen.
As you shed pounds, your maintenance calorie needs drop, and what was once a deficit might now just be enough to maintain your new, lower weight.
The Key to Success: Track and Adjust
So, how do you stay ahead of these changes?
You need to track your progress.
Just like monitoring your finances helps you stay on budget, tracking your calories and body weight helps you ensure you’re staying on track with your goals.
As you progress, your calorie needs will shift — sometimes subtly, sometimes significantly.
It’s like fine-tuning a machine.
If you want to build more muscle, you might need to increase your intake over time to match the new demands of your growing body.
If you’re cutting weight, you’ll need to lower your calories as you lose mass to continue creating a deficit.
The key is to stay flexible and listen to the data.
Your body is always giving you signals—you just need to track them and adjust accordingly.
Here’s a quick bullet point guide on how to approach it:
Track your daily intake: Use a food-tracking app to monitor how many calories you’re eating each day.
Weigh yourself regularly: Aim to check your weight each day, under consistent conditions (first thing in the morning).
Adjust as needed: If your weight is going up and you’re trying to maintain or cut, consider reducing your intake. If you’re building muscle but your weight isn’t budging, it might be time to increase your calories.
Alright, now you know how to get an accurate measure of your current maintenance calorie threshold.
But remember: our goal is to build muscle.
So how many calories above maintenance should you be focused on eating?
Here’s a template for you to follow:
Small Surplus (250 calories/day): Slower muscle gain, with minimal fat.
Moderate Surplus (500 calories/day): Faster muscle growth, but with a little more fat gain.
Your goal is to find that sweet spot where you’re fueling muscle growth without unnecessary fat gain.
Where Do Carbohydrates & Fats Fit In?
Okay, now you know the amount of calories and protein you should be taking in.
The next question is: how should you split those calories between carbs and fats?
Carbs: Your Body’s Primary Energy Source
Carbs are your body’s preferred source of energy, especially during intense workouts.
They fuel your muscles so you can lift heavier and recover faster.
Carbs also help replenish glycogen, the energy stored in your muscles, which is depleted during exercise.
To build muscle, you want to make sure your muscles are well-fed with carbs.
Aim to make about 40-50% of your daily calories come from carbohydrates.
If you’re eating 2,500 calories per day, that’s roughly 250-300 grams of carbs.
Think of carbs like high-octane fuel.
As a general rule, the more you consume, the better your workouts will be.
Fats: Supporting Hormone Health and Recovery
Fats are essential for hormone production — especially testosterone, which plays a huge role in muscle growth.
Healthy fats also aid in recovery and reduce inflammation.
Around 25-30% of your daily calories should come from fat.
If you’re eating 2,500 calories a day, aim for 70-80 grams of fat.
Think of fats as the oil that keeps the engine running smoothly.
They’re not your primary fuel, but they’re crucial for keeping your system in balance and supporting long-term health.
Alright, after a comprehensive deep-dive into how you should structure your nutrition to optimally build muscle, we can finally move onto optimal training.
Training To Maximize Muscle Growth
Here’s the reality most people neglect: your muscles need a reason to grow.
Training without a strategy means you’re not challenging your body enough to see significant progress.
Whether it’s:
failing to increase the intensity (progressive overload)
skipping out on the importance of time under tension
not giving your body adequate rest to recover
Inefficient training will only lead you to frustration, burnout, and limited gains.
So, how do you build the most muscle through training? Let’s break it down.
The Power of Progressive Overload
You can’t expect your muscles to grow if you’re lifting the same weights, doing the same number of reps, or following the same routine every week.
Progressive overload is the key.
Think of it this way: your muscles adapt to the stress you put on them.
If you’re not increasing the challenge over time, they have no reason to grow.
Here’s the idea visualized:
In the above chart, you’ll see the following pattern:
When you exercise at an intensity that challenges your body, you’ll initially see a decline in your performance.
However, once you allow your body to recover, you’ll be able to push yourself at a greater intensity in future workouts.
Why?
As long as you’ve followed the weight training protocol to plan, your muscles have grown in size and strength — they’ve adapted to handle a greater workload.
When you chain this effect over time, the result is called progressive overload.
So how can you apply progressive overload?
Actually, there’s a variety of ways:
Increase the weight: Gradually add more weight to your lifts each week.
Add more reps or sets: If you can’t add weight, push for an extra rep or set.
Reduce rest time: Increase workout intensity with shorter rest periods.
It’s a simple concept, but it requires consistency and discipline over time.
So what’s the best way to make sure you’re continuously pushing the envelope?
Just like for your daily calorie counts and macronutrient intake: data tracking is non-negotiable.
You need to be able to reference information on your past exercise sessions to assess how to tackle your next workout.
Here’s a variety of important metrics you’ll want to be tracking as you continue to train (I’ll be writing a separate newsletter specifically on this topic in the coming weeks):
each exercise you did during your gym session
the number of reps and weight you lifted
your rate of perceived exertion (RPE)
your rest times between sets
With these metrics in hand, increasing muscle mass is simple:
Find a way to make the next gym session harder than the last.
Time Under Tension: Why It Matters
Another crucial factor is time under tension.
It’s not just about how much weight you lift; it’s about how long your muscles are working during each rep.
The longer your muscles are under tension, the more micro-tears occur in the muscle fibers.
I know it doesn’t sound appealing, but these micro-tears lead to growth when your body repairs them through muscle protein synthesis.
Here are some popular strategies that you can implement to maximize time under tension:
Slow down your reps: Focus on the negative (eccentric) portion of the lift — this is when your muscle lengthens under load. For example, during a bicep curl, take 3-4 seconds to lower the weight.
Control the movement: Don’t rush through the exercise. The goal is to maximize muscle engagement with every rep.
Isometric holds: Incorporate pauses at the peak of the movement to keep your muscles engaged for longer.
It’s tempting to rush through your sets, but slowing down and focusing on quality reps will have a much bigger impact on your muscle growth.
Think of it like this: it’s better to do 8 slow, controlled reps with good form than to pump out 12 rushed reps with poor technique.
Rest and Recovery: Don’t Skip the Essentials
Here’s something that often gets overlooked: muscle grows when you rest, not when you’re in the gym.
Training stimulates the process by breaking your muscle fibers down, but it’s during recovery that they rebuild themselves.
Let’s zoom in a bit on our prior chart showing progressive overload:
In the above chart, you’ll see that the stimulus of lifting weights brings our performance below baseline.
This makes intuitive sense.
Try hitting 4 sets of heavy bench presses.
By the last set, your performance is almost certainly going to degrade.
Eventually, you just won’t be able to lift the weight.
The growth doesn’t happen until after you recover when you’ll see increased performance and more muscle mass as a result.
Bottom line: if you don’t give your body enough time to recover, you’re sabotaging your gains.
So the question remains:
How can you optimize your recovery from your training stimulus?
Here are some actionable tips to help you maximize your recovery potential (some of which we have already talked about):
Get enough sleep: Your body repairs muscle tissue while you sleep, so aim for 7-9 hours a night.
Fuel your muscles: Proper nutrition, especially protein, is essential for recovery. Make sure you’re eating enough to support muscle repair and growth.
Rest days: Don’t think you need to hit the gym every day. Rest days are just as important as training days because they give your muscles time to rebuild.
Stretching & massage: Staying mobile will help reduce your risk of injury in the long term, keeping you consistent in the gym
Building muscle isn’t just about pushing harder — it’s about being strategic.
Train hard, but give your body the time and fuel it needs to recover.
If you’re interested in data-driven methods to enhance your recovery, check out my newsletter on HRV — one of the best and most readily available indicators we have for assessing recovery.
Wrap-Up
Building muscle requires a clear strategy incorporating all of the following aspects:
Nutrition — total calories, protein & amino acid consumption, carbs and fats
Progressive Overload — focus on increasing the intensity of every workout
Time Under Tension — keep tension in your muscles as you work them
Recovery — emphasize sleep & nutrition to aid you in muscle recovery
If you can master these principles, you’ll be setting yourself up for maximum growth.
If you haven’t seen results in the gym, take this information and apply it.
Track your progress to prove to yourself that these principles work — and use the data you collect to inform you of how to get better every single day.
The better version of you will thank you for it.
Until next time.
— Landon