Building muscular strength and size with protein


If your goal is to get bigger and stronger muscles, you have to do two things 1) challenge the muscle, whether with weights, swimming, calisthenics, whatever) and 2) Build the muscle with protein, and all of the other things that your body needs in order to utilize that protein. If you follow me here, just sitting around drinking protein shakes isn't enough, and that's what I'd like to talk about today.

When I first set out to gain some muscle on my skinny body, I was surprised, and a little bit pleased, that it was a thinking man's game. Up to that point I had imagined that it was just for the guys with the small foreheads, who just walked into a gym and moved weights around randomly, grunting like apes. I've seen those guys, and as far as I can tell, nature didn't bless them with the genetics to understand the bigger picture. Nature has been kind to me, and since you're reading this, to you, too.

I've been doing this for decades (longer than I care to admit, in fact!), and long before the internet promised "just that one thing you need to do", it was common to see that sort of stuff in ads in magazines. And since so many people fell for that, it made a lot of money for the companies, and didn't give the consumer anything other than an empty wallet. And for some people, once they hear "it's more complicated than that", they tune out, as if they were being asked to learn rocket science.

But this ain't rocket science, guys! I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I learned what an egg was. I'm no math wizard, but I learned enough about calories to know that if you have to many of them (even in protein), you're gonna get fat.

I like making protein pudding, which I make with protein powder (all of the brands are the same, find one that tastes good to you), sugar-free pudding and fat-free milk. It's fairly low calorie, but I have to watch how much I have, because it does have calories, and those do add up when you get carried away (which has happened to me, this stuff is tasty!)

So go ahead and buy some protein powder. Most grocery stores carry it, and you can get a small container to see if you like it. Experiment a bit. What you'll find is that you'll start learning about protein, and nutrition, and before you know it you'll be growing some muscles and wanting to tell everybody about it.

I hope this helps. 

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