It's Thomas DeLauer here with Antler Farms and today I'm talking about how we actually
build muscle.
What is happening inside our bodies to actually create new muscle fibers and grow existing
muscle fibers.
So first off, we have to look at two things.
We have something called hyperplasia and something called hypertrophy.
You see, hyperplasia is where you're actually creating new muscle fibers.
And a lot of people will tell you that it's easy to go out and work out and create new
muscle.
But the reality is, I want to debunk this right out the gate.
Hyperplasia is a very rare thing.
It's a very difficult to build new muscle fibers.
So I hate to break it to you, but what you are born with is generally what you get.
However, hypertrophy is a very serious thing.
Hypertrophy is the growth, the expansion, and the adaptation of those existing muscle
cells that you already have.
And those can grow quite a bit depending on how hard you push them to adapt to new loads.
So you may be wondering, what happens when you're actually in the gym.
So when you're in the gym, you have a level of microtrauma that occurs.
So those muscle fibers that are already there, already existing in your body, they get torn.
They have these micro fissures, these micro tears that break them down a little bit.
And then they build back up in order to adapt to ultimately have more leverage.
You see, when you look at a muscle cell, when you look at the sarcoplasm, which is actually
a muscle cell, it actually is not very big.
It's kind of long and skinny in the first place.
And what happens, is it uses leverage to create contractile strength.
So when you lift heavier weights, it has to get thicker so that it can adapt and have
more leverage.
That's why the heavier you lift, the bigger your muscles get.
But it's not that easy.
You see there's a nutritional component that goes along with it, too.
Because if you don't have the right nutrients and you don't have the right protein, how
can you actually build new muscle.
So that's where a couple of different things come in.
And the main one that I want to focus on is insulin.
You see, insulin gets a bad rap because, yes, insulin is technically the absorptive hormone.
It encourages your body to store things, whether it be sugar, whether it be fat, or whether
it even be protein.
The thing is, insulin can be your best friend or it can be your worst enemy.
Because insulin is what actually allows nutrients to get into the cell.
You see, insulin opens the cell doorway.
So when you have a cell that looks like this, insulin comes along and it knocks on the cell
door, and the cell opens.
And all the nutrients can go into the cell causing it to grow, causing it to actually
be replenished, and causing it to actually do what it needs to do.
But the problem is, a lot of times, people are spiking their insulin by eating very sugary
foods in conjunction with other things that aren't good.
So it means that the cell is opening up and absorbing lots of bad things.
What you need to make sure that you do in order to build muscle properly, is spike your
insulin in a way that allows protein to get in, but not fat and not a ton of sugars.
So this is where it's really interesting.
Right after a workout, your insulin sensitivity is at it's highest.
And that simply means that your body is very receptive to taking in whatever you're eating
at that very point in time.
So if you were to go and eat a bunch of donuts right after your workout, some people might
say that the carbs are gonna help you recover, but the reality is, the carbs are gonna allow
the fat to go into storage too.
So you're not giving the cell what it needs.
What you want to be getting is a good amount of protein.
Now you don't need to be having copious amounts of protein, but you should be having enough
to at least allow for substantial recovery of the muscle cell.
So how can you do that?
Well, whey protein isolate is one of the better ways.
And Antler Farms has a very specific clean whey protein isolate that utilizes grass fed
protein so it doesn't have a lot of the other garbage that most whey proteins would have.
You see, whey protein isolate is the most pure form of whey protein that you can get.
It means that the whey protein has been isolated.
It means all the protein has been isolated away from the other components of the dairy,
which means you have a very, very pure form of protein.
But get this, it absorbs so fast that it causes insulin to spike much like sugar would, but
without the negative affect of sugar.
So whey protein that is actually high quality like a whey protein isolate, can spike your
insulin, and therefore by itself, allow it to get into the cell to allow it to grow,
and allow that muscle cell to become bigger and stronger so it can adapt to heavier loads.
So then by progressive resistance by actually increasing how much you lift day in and day
out, the muscle has to adapt more and more and more.
And proper protein with the right amount of insulin spike that's occurring from a good
protein, will allow that to happen.
When muscle gets stronger, you lift more the next day.
You rebuild it, then you lift more the next day.
Progressive resistance and proper periodization to allow muscles to actually grow.
Now, of course, there's a multitude of other things that come into play when it comes down
to building muscle.
Another thing that we have to look at is something known as MTOR.
It's known as the mechanistic target of rapamycin.
Now it's a pretty involved thing, but all it simply means is that with the right nutrients,
your body flips a switch.
It almost literally flips a switch inside your body that tells you to build muscle.
The mechanistic target of rapamycin is a very interesting thing that is still being studied,
but it triggers anabolism.
And when you are triggering anabolism, you're triggering your body to be in a mode for building
muscle.
More MTOR means more muscle.
Heavier workouts mean more MTOR.
Proper nutrition and the proper spikes of insulin like utilizing whey protein isolate,
triggers more MTOR.
So more MTOR along with more weight training and along with the right amount of protein
can allow you to build muscle at a very fast rate.
So one thing that you have to make sure that you're paying attention to is don't muddy
the water with a lot of different nutrients.
When it comes down to keeping it clean, when it comes down to keeping it simple, you wanna
make sure that the period after your workout is reserved for the highest quality nutrients
possible.
It is the worst possible time to be consuming junk, contrary to what a lot of the bros will
tell you.
Okay, you wanna make sure that this is the period where you're getting a high quality
whey protein isolate.
And if you can't do whey protein isolate, some form of collagen protein, or something
that's gonna allow you to rebuild at that very point in time.
Of course, last but not least, you need to be in a calorie surplus.
You need to make sure that your calories are slightly above where your baseline is so that
your body knows that it's in a surplus and to actually gain weight or build muscle and
not try to waste it.
And this all comes down to a nitrogen balance, which we can save for another topic, which
all has to do with the amount of protein that you have in your body.
So that's the basics.
The 101 on how you actually build muscle and how your body synthesizes protein.
So, as always, make sure you're keeping it locked in here with Antler Farms.
And make sure you check out the whey protein isolate that is made from New Zealand, grass
fed beef, so that you're not getting all the garbage that's in most whey.
I'll see you soon.