What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Building Muscle

Table of Contents

• Your Cellular Batteries Are Probably Dead (And Why That Matters)
• Your Body Has Office Hours for Muscle Growth
• Why Your Strongest Muscles Are Still Asleep
• Why Your Muscles Need to Be Like Hybrid Cars
• Simple Life Hacks That Reprogram Your Muscles

TL;DR

• Your cellular batteries (mitochondria) matter way more than how much protein you eat
• NAD+ levels control whether your muscles can actually use the energy they make
• Your body has specific times when it’s ready to build muscle – most people ignore this completely
• You’re probably never using your strongest muscle fibers because nobody teaches you how
• Teaching your muscles to run on different fuels is like upgrading from a gas guzzler to a hybrid
• Simple things like hot and cold exposure can boost your results without extra gym time
• Your sleep matters more for muscle growth than your actual workout (I know, I was skeptical too)

I used to think I was doing everything right. Hit the gym religiously, tracked my protein like a hawk, followed every program I could find. Yet I kept hitting the same frustrating plateaus. Sound familiar?

Turns out, I was missing some pretty important pieces of the puzzle that most gym advice completely ignores. Research shows that muscle mass naturally declines at a rate of approximately 4.7% per decade in men and 3.7% per decade in women after peak mass is achieved – which makes understanding what actually drives muscle growth even more crucial.

Your Cellular Batteries Are Probably Dead (And Why That Matters)

For years, I thought muscle growth was all about lifting heavier and eating more protein. Then I discovered something that completely changed how I think about training.

It’s like finding out you’ve been trying to charge your phone with a broken cable this whole time. Your muscles have these tiny power plants called mitochondria, and if they’re not working properly, it doesn’t matter how perfect your workout is.

According to research on body composition, muscle mass naturally declines with age through sarcopenia, with men losing approximately 4.7% of peak muscle mass per decade and women losing 3.7% per decade. This decline emphasizes why optimizing your cellular power plants is way more important than just focusing on traditional muscle-building approaches. Source: Withings Health Insights

NAD+: Think of It Like Your Phone Battery

Think of NAD+ like the battery in your phone – when it’s running low, everything slows down. Your muscles are the same way. When NAD+ levels are optimized, your muscles produce energy more efficiently, build protein better, and recover faster between workouts.

This completely changes how you think about getting stronger. For those wanting to dig deeper into how this actually works, understanding NAD+ cellular energy mechanisms gives you the foundation for muscle growth that goes way beyond just lifting weights.

When Your NAD+ Levels Are Tanked, You’ll Know It

When your cellular batteries are dead, you’ll feel it. That feeling where you’re tired but wired? Where your workouts feel harder than they should? Where you need two cups of coffee just to feel human? Yeah, that’s probably what’s happening.

Age-related NAD+ decline creates this domino effect where everything just feels harder. Most people experience this without realizing it’s the root cause of their training plateaus.

Here’s what actually worked for me:

1. Check how you’re feeling (how quickly does your heart rate recover? How’s your energy during workouts?)
2. Try NAD+ precursor supplements like NMN or NR – yes, they’re expensive, but hear me out
3. Track how you feel over 8-12 weeks (this isn’t an overnight fix)

My friend Sarah was ready to quit the gym entirely. At 45, she felt like her body was working against her – same workouts that used to work just… didn’t anymore. After starting 500mg NMN daily and tracking her recovery, her resting heart rate dropped from 72 to 65 BPM within 8 weeks. More importantly, she stopped feeling like she needed 48 hours to recover from every workout.

The Workouts That Actually Boost Your Natural NAD+ Production

Here’s where it gets interesting – certain types of training can actually make your body produce more NAD+ naturally. It’s like teaching your phone to better manage its own battery life.

What I’ve found works:

1. High-intensity bursts at 85-95% effort for 30 seconds (yes, it sucks)
2. Follow with longer moderate efforts at 65-75% (this is where the magic happens)
3. Do this 2-3 times weekly – more isn’t better here

Training Phase	How Hard	How Long	Rest Between	How Often
High-Intensity Burst	85-95% max effort	30 seconds	2-3 minutes	2-3 times/week
Moderate Phase	65-75% effort	5-8 minutes	1-2 minutes	2-3 times/week
Recovery Session	50-60% effort	20-30 minutes	24-48 hours	1-2 times/week

Timing Your Supplements and Food (This Part Actually Matters)

I know what you’re thinking – more complicated timing stuff. But stick with me here, because this part is crucial.

When you eat and take supplements relative to your workouts creates these windows where your cellular power plants actually grow. Same workout, dramatically different results based on timing.

Here’s what I do now:

1. Fast for 12-16 hours before my most important training sessions (I know, I was skeptical too)
2. Take NAD+ supplements 60-90 minutes AFTER finishing my workout
3. Wait 3-4 hours post-exercise before eating protein (this was the hardest part for me)

Your Body Has Office Hours for Muscle Growth

Just like you’re more productive at certain times of day, your muscles have their own “office hours” when they’re ready to grow. Most training programs completely ignore this, which is like trying to call customer service at 3 AM.

Your muscles follow predictable 24-hour patterns for protein building, regardless of when you eat or train. Miss these windows, and you’re leaving gains on the table despite doing everything else right.

Recent research highlights how important muscle health is for aging well, with scientists discovering that “exercise causes skeletal muscle to become stronger, more powerful, fatigue resistant, metabolically flexible, less prone to damage, and better able to recover from injury” Open Access Government. This research shows why timing your training with your body’s natural rhythms can maximize these benefits.

The Genes That Control Your Muscle-Building Schedule

Your body has these genes called BMAL1, CLOCK, and PER that basically act like internal schedulers for muscle growth. They create predictable windows when your muscles are most ready to build protein.

What I’ve learned works:

1. Schedule your main lifting session 2-3 hours after you naturally wake up
2. Plan a second session during your evening energy dip (usually 6-8 PM for most people)
3. Use light therapy to keep your schedule consistent (even just getting outside helps)

My Daily Muscle-Building Schedule:

• ☐ Wake up at the same time (give or take 30 minutes – life happens)
• ☐ Get 15-20 minutes of morning sunlight (even through clouds)
• ☐ Main workout 2-3 hours after waking
• ☐ Optional evening session between 6-8 PM
• ☐ Dim lights 2 hours before bed
• ☐ Track how you feel and perform

Why Eating Carbs at Night Might Actually Be Smart

This goes against everything you’ve probably heard, but hear me out. The same meal produces different results depending on when you eat it. Evening carbs can actually be better for muscle building and recovery.

I know it sounds backwards, but here’s my approach:

1. Eat 60-70% of your daily carbs in the 4 hours after evening training
2. Spread protein evenly throughout the day (this part stays the same)
3. Have most of your fats in the morning to support hormone production

Why Your Strongest Muscles Are Still Asleep

Here’s something that blew my mind: most people never actually use their strongest muscle fibers. Ever.

Traditional muscle building focuses on getting tired and feeling the burn, but your biggest, most growth-responsive muscle fibers only wake up under specific conditions that most workouts never create. It’s like having a sports car but only driving in first gear.

Most people rely on fatigue to work their muscles harder, but that actually prevents you from accessing your strongest fibers. This approach leaves massive potential on the table.

How to Wake Up Your Strongest Muscle Fibers

The biggest, most powerful muscle fibers in your body are basically hibernating unless you know how to activate them. Instead of waiting until you’re tired to recruit these fibers, you need to wake up your nervous system first.

Research shows that resistance training challenges all muscles throughout the body, with protein building increasing for up to 48 hours after exercise. This extended window emphasizes why proper muscle fiber recruitment is so important for maximizing these benefits. Source: Tanita Health Insights

Speed Kills (In the Best Way Possible)

Moving lighter weights as fast as possible actually recruits more muscle fibers than slowly grinding through heavy reps. This approach forces your nervous system to wake up your strongest motor units from the very first rep.

Here’s what I do now:

1. Use 60-80% of my max weight but move it explosively
2. Rest 3-5 minutes between sets to maintain speed (this was hard to accept at first)
3. Monitor how fast I’m moving – when speed drops, I stop the set
4. Focus on moving the weight as fast as possible, not how heavy it is

My buddy Mike switched from traditional slow reps to explosive training. Using 70% of his max squat weight but focusing on speed, he increased his 1-rep max by 15% in 12 weeks while actually doing less total work. The key was stopping each set when his speed dropped below 80% of his best rep that day.

The Trick That Makes Every Rep Better

Combining heavy loads with explosive movements creates this effect where your nervous system stays “turned on” for the next exercise. It’s like revving your engine before a race – you wake up your strongest muscle fibers so they’re ready to work harder.

My approach:

1. Heavy compound movement: 3-5 reps at 85-95% of max (this wakes everything up)
2. Rest 3-4 minutes for complete recovery
3. Explosive movement: 3-5 reps at 30-50% max with maximum speed
4. Rest 2-3 minutes before repeating

Your Body Is More Connected Than You Think

Here’s something most people don’t realize: your muscles don’t work in isolation. They’re all connected through this network called fascia, and how force travels through your body affects everything about how you move and adapt.

This is why some people get better results from compound movements than isolation exercises – their body is working as a system rather than individual parts.

How Force Actually Moves Through Your Body

When you generate force in one muscle, it travels through fascial connections to other parts of your body. This means that developing one area requires thinking about how it connects to everything else.

My approach to training this:

1. Check for restrictions using basic movement tests
2. Include some fascial release work before training
3. Add multi-directional movements to each session
4. Progress from isolated exercises to integrated patterns

Training Your Body as a System

Your body works like a balanced tension network where everything affects everything else. This systems-based approach often produces better results than traditional bodybuilding methods.

How I implement this:

1. Master the basics first (squat, hinge, push, pull)
2. Add rotation and side-to-side components
3. Include some unstable surface work to challenge the system
4. Progress to movements that match what you actually do in life

Why Your Muscles Need to Be Like Hybrid Cars

Your muscles’ ability to efficiently switch between different fuel sources – glucose, fats, and ketones – determines how well you perform, recover, and maintain muscle as you age. It’s like upgrading from a gas guzzler that only runs on premium to a hybrid that adapts to whatever fuel is available.

This metabolic flexibility separates people who maintain their strength and muscle mass long-term from those who struggle with energy and recovery.

Recent cardiovascular research has identified skeletal muscle composition as a key factor in heart health, with studies showing that “skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration and exercise intolerance” American Heart Association are directly linked. This connection shows how muscle fuel flexibility affects your overall health, not just performance.

Understanding this becomes even more powerful when combined with cellular energy optimization strategies that enhance your body’s ability to efficiently use different fuel sources.

Teaching Your Muscles to Run on Different Fuels

Muscles that can efficiently switch between fuel sources maintain high performance across different demands while recovering faster and adapting better. It’s like having a car that runs equally well on gas, electric, or hybrid mode depending on the situation.

Building Your Fat-Burning Engine

Training your muscles to efficiently use fat as fuel creates this metabolic resilience that spares your quick energy (glycogen) for when you really need it. This gives you a stable energy foundation that supports everything else.

Here’s what I do:

1. Train 2-3 times weekly in a fasted state at 65-75% max heart rate
2. Gradually build from 45 minutes to 90 minutes over 6-8 weeks
3. Monitor how I feel – if energy crashes, I back off
4. Consider MCT oil to help with ketone production (optional but helpful)

Fuel Source	What It’s For	Training Zone	How Long	Recovery Time
Fat Burning	Base endurance	65-75% max HR	45-90 minutes	12-18 hours
High Power	Max intensity	85-95% max HR	15-30 seconds	24-48 hours
Sustained Power	Long efforts	75-85% max HR	8-20 minutes	18-24 hours
Pure Power	All-out efforts	95-100% max HR	5-15 seconds	2-5 minutes

Maximizing Your High-Intensity Power

While fat burning provides the base, your glycolytic power system determines peak performance. This system powers your heaviest lifts and most intense efforts, and it needs specific training.

My approach:

1. Perform 15-30 second all-out efforts with 2-3 minute recovery
2. Start with 4-6 intervals, build to 8-12 over time
3. Include 1-2 sessions weekly during intense training phases
4. Use how you feel and performance metrics to monitor adaptation

Smart Nutrition Timing for Better Results

Systematically changing what you eat to match your training produces way better results than eating the same thing every day. This isn’t about being obsessive – it’s about working with your body’s natural rhythms.

The Carb Cycling Approach That Actually Works

Strategically changing your carb intake around training teaches your muscles to efficiently use whatever fuel is available while optimizing how you adapt to different types of workouts.

My framework:

1. Low-carb phases (50-100g daily) during base building periods
2. Moderate-carb phases (150-250g daily) during strength phases
3. High-carb phases (300-500g daily) during peak performance periods
4. Adjust based on how you’re feeling and your goals

My friend Jennifer implemented this by eating only 75g carbs daily during her 6-week base phase while keeping protein at 120g. During her 4-week build phase, she went to 200g carbs on training days and 100g on rest days. Finally, during her 2-week peak phase, she ate 400g carbs daily. The result? A 12% improvement in her power-to-weight ratio and way better recovery between hard sessions.

Can You Handle Different Fuel Strategies? Check Yourself:

• ☐ Can maintain steady energy during 60+ minute fasted training
• ☐ Heart rate stays stable during fat-burning zone work
• ☐ Can switch between high and low carb days without energy crashes
• ☐ Recovery stays consistent across different eating strategies
• ☐ Performance improves across various training intensities
• ☐ Sleep quality remains stable during dietary changes

Simple Life Hacks That Reprogram Your Muscles

Environmental factors influence how your genes express themselves, creating opportunities to enhance your training results through simple lifestyle changes that don’t require more gym time. These interventions can amplify your results without adding complexity to your routine.

Research shows that normal body water ranges vary significantly with age: 75-89% for men and 63-75.5% for women aged 20-39, declining to 70-84% for men and 60-72.5% for women aged 60-79. This decline in cellular hydration directly impacts muscle function and shows why environmental interventions that support optimal cellular conditions are so important for how to improve skeletal muscle. Source: Withings Health Insights

Heat and Cold: Simple but Powerful

Strategic exposure to heat and cold creates beneficial adaptations that enhance muscle protein synthesis, improve recovery, and optimize how your cells handle stress. These temperature therapies act as powerful amplifiers for your training.

When exploring how to improve skeletal muscle through environmental interventions, understanding cellular health optimization provides the science behind why heat and cold therapies create such profound muscle growth adaptations.

Why Saunas Might Beat Extra Sets

Okay, before you roll your eyes at another wellness trend – hear me out. Regular sauna use increases heat shock protein production, which protects your muscle proteins from exercise damage and enhances your muscle-building response to training.

What I do:

1. Sauna sessions: 15-20 minutes at 80-90°C (176-194°F)
2. Frequency: 3-4 sessions per week after training
3. Hydration: drink 500-750ml fluid per session
4. Progression: gradually increase time and temperature tolerance

I’ll be honest – my first few sauna sessions sucked. Sitting in that heat felt unbearable. But around week 3, something clicked. Now I actually look forward to it, and my recovery between sessions is noticeably better.

Cold Exposure That Actually Helps Recovery

Cold exposure activates brown fat, improves circulation, and enhances recovery through reduced inflammation and better sleep quality. You don’t need to become Wim Hof – even a cold shower for the last 30 seconds can help.

My approach:

1. Cold water immersion: 10-15 minutes at 10-15°C (50-59°F)
2. Timing: 2-6 hours post-training (not immediately after)
3. Frequency: 2-3 sessions weekly during high-volume phases
4. Start small – even 30 seconds of cold shower helps

Sleep: The Most Underrated Muscle-Building Tool

I used to be one of those “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” people. Staying up until 2 AM scrolling my phone, then wondering why my lifts sucked the next day. The connection between sleep and muscle growth isn’t just theory – it’s the difference between spinning your wheels and actually making progress.

Sleep quality directly influences growth hormone release, protein synthesis rates, and neural recovery, making sleep optimization potentially more important than your training program design.

For those serious about muscle optimization, implementing proven deep sleep enhancement strategies can dramatically amplify muscle growth by optimizing growth hormone release during critical recovery windows.

Optimizing Deep Sleep for Maximum Growth Hormone

Growth hormone release happens primarily during deep sleep phases, with peak levels depending on sleep continuity and depth rather than just total sleep time. Optimizing your sleep architecture can dramatically improve your muscle-building capacity.

What actually works:

1. Keep consistent sleep/wake times within 30 minutes daily (don’t stress if you’re off – life happens)
2. Create a cool (65-68°F), dark sleeping environment
3. Cut blue light exposure 2-3 hours before bedtime
4. Consider magnesium glycinate (400-600mg) one hour before sleep

Those looking to enhance their sleep quality can benefit from understanding evidence-based sleep supplementation that supports the deep sleep phases critical for muscle recovery and growth.

Have you been tracking your sleep quality, or are you just guessing about your recovery? Most people underestimate how much their sleep patterns affect their training results.

Sleep Quality Setup That Actually Works:

Evening Routine (2-3 hours before bed):

• ☐ Dim lights to 50% or less
• ☐ Set room temperature to 65-68°F
• ☐ Put away all screens/blue light devices
• ☐ Take magnesium supplement if using
• ☐ Practice 5-10 minutes of deep breathing

Sleep Environment:

• ☐ Blackout curtains or eye mask
• ☐ White noise machine or earplugs
• ☐ Comfortable mattress and pillows
• ☐ Remove all electronic devices
• ☐ Ensure proper ventilation

Morning Routine:

• ☐ Wake at consistent time (±30 minutes)
• ☐ Get 15-20 minutes bright light exposure
• ☐ Track sleep quality and duration
• ☐ Note energy levels and recovery markers

For those looking to implement these advanced muscle optimization strategies with proper medical oversight, understanding NAD+ benefits for muscle health provides the perfect foundation for combining cellular energy enhancement with the environmental strategies we’ve discussed.

For those looking to implement these advanced muscle optimization strategies with proper medical oversight, Enov.One’s personalized approach to longevity and performance enhancement provides the perfect foundation. Their NAD+ supplementation directly addresses the mitochondrial health aspects we’ve discussed, while their comprehensive health assessments can identify your individual variations in circadian rhythms, metabolic flexibility, and recovery capacity.

Through their telemedicine platform, you can monitor the biomarkers that indicate successful implementation of these strategies – from tracking NAD+ improvements to monitoring sleep quality and recovery metrics. Ready to take your muscle optimization to the next level with science-backed, personalized support?

Final Thoughts

Look, this stuff works, but it’s not a magic bullet. You still need to show up, do the work, and be patient with the process. The difference is now you’re working WITH your biology instead of against it.

The science of muscle optimization goes way beyond just lifting weights and eating protein. By focusing on cellular health, working with your body’s natural rhythms, waking up your nervous system, teaching metabolic flexibility, and using simple environmental hacks, you can achieve better results while working smarter, not just harder.

I’m not gonna lie – implementing these strategies takes patience and consistency. Start with one or two approaches that make sense for your situation, then gradually add more as you master each piece. Don’t try to do everything at once.

Remember, the goal isn’t just bigger muscles – it’s building metabolically superior, resilient muscle tissue that serves you well throughout your entire life. Your muscles are incredibly adaptable when given the right signals and proper support.

Will this turn you into a superhuman overnight? Nope. Will it help you finally break through those annoying plateaus? In my experience, absolutely. But it takes patience, and honestly, that’s probably the hardest part.

By understanding and applying these principles, you’re not just improving your physique – you’re optimizing one of your body’s most important systems for long-term health and performance. And honestly? That makes all the difference in the world.