💪🏽 I want to share with you my personal tips to help improve your quads!

🟣The first and most obvious tip is going to be exercise selection. If we want to grow our quads, we need exercises that specifically target the quads! Pretty obvious, right? The reason I bring this up is because not all lower body exercises are optimal for adding mass to the quads. Squats for example, are great for the lower body, but can be performed multiple ways. Performing squats with a high bar position, allowing for maximal knee flexion , ie. forward knee travel when your knees travel over your toes, as well as keeping your back as perpendicular to the floor as possible will ensure maximal quad activation. This technique is obviously very different than a low bar powerlifting style squat which targets the posterior chain.
🟣Next let’s talk about volume and frequency. Although, all rep ranges will stimulate hypertrophy, staying between 8 and 15 repetitions is a good place to stimulate some growth. Performing heavier weight for fewer reps will stimulate hypertrophy, its potentially not quite to the same extent and may lead to excessive fatigue, which isn’t the goal for hypertrophy. Play the long game and program a variety of rep ranges
🟣In terms of weekly sets. 10-12 hard sets seems to be the low end of volume required for hypertrophy, while 20-25 sets seems to be the upper end. If you are new to lifting, start in the lower range & progress toward the upper over 6 to 8 weeks of training.  Increasing your volume should lead to better overall gains in your quads. After getting to the higher end of volume, make sure to take an easy deal of week then start over again, only with slightly heavier weights!
🟣Frequency also matters and 1x per week won’t cut it! Aim to train your quads a minimum of 2-3 times per week. The total sets can be split up evenly on various training sessions throughout the week.
🟣Lastly, make sure you are focusing on progression! You need to make progress in terms of the total weight and reps you perform over time. You should aim to make small progressions, whether It be 5 lb, or 2-3 reps, every week or every month to ensure you are making gains! ...

Check out our newest @teambiolayne coach @josephmu94 and his post on protein absorption rates.

Drink whey protein right before your workout because you digest it super quick and drink casein before going to sleep because it digests super slow!
We have ALL heard this from our local gym bros, but does it hold any scientific merit regarding muscle hypertrophy? The short answer is….. not really.
Part of this statement is true. Whey is digested faster than casein, which leads to a quicker rise in plasma amino acid concentrations and subsequently leads to a better acute protein synthetic response. However, this is an “acute” effect, meaning short-term, directly after exercise.
In the real world, we don’t make gains immediately after a single workout, right? It takes several weeks if not months. So, it doesn’t make sense to take evidence from acute post-workout protein studies and extrapolate that to conclude that fast digesting proteins are better for long-term gains.
If we look at the scientific data, two papers (PMID: 28422532; 24149727) that supplemented either whey, casein, or different combinations of both post-workout for eight or more weeks showed THE SAME hypertrophic response in all groups after resistance training. This means that when total protein is accounted for, the type of protein consumed doesn’t matter all that much as long as it is a complete protein source with adequate leucine (I will talk about this stuff in another post).
Although whey does increase acute muscle protein synthesis (MPS) more robustly than casein, both stimulate 24-h MPS to a similar degree! Remember guys, we don’t build muscle just RIGHT AFTER a workout, MPS is elevated roughly 48-72 hours. Therefore, the acute response is not the end all say all.
Overall, your daily protein intake is MORE IMPORTANT than whether you consume whey after a workout or casein before bed, so don’t stress it that much.
If you found this post helpful, please share with someone who would benefit from reading this! Hope you all have a wonderful day! ...

𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐭? 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠!⁣ A very big contributor to being hungry when dieting is food choice! Calorically dense foods aren’t by any means “bad,” but they tend do make you less satiated since the volume of food consumed is typically very low. On the other hand, less calorically dense foods increase satiety since they provide more food volume per calorie.⁣
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Calorically dense example⁣
𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭: 𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟎 𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐥⁣
2 tbsp Peanut butter (100 kcal/tbsp; 200 kcal total) 🥜 ⁣
2 slices of dense mixed grain bread (110 kcal/ slice; 220 kcal total) 🍞 ⁣
Starbucks venti white chocolate mocha with whole milk and whipped cream (600 kcal)⁣
𝐋𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡: 𝟔𝟗𝟎 𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐥⁣
½ cup trail mix (350 kcal) 🌰🥨⁣
2 servings Lay’s “baked” chips (120 kcal/28g; 240 kcal total)⁣
8 oz orange juice (100 kcal) 🍊 ⁣
𝐃𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫: 𝟕𝟐𝟎 𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐥⁣
Thai Kitchen Thai peanut noodles (540 kcal) 🍲 ⁣
3 chocolate covered strawberries (60 kcal each; 180 kcal) 🍫 🍓 ⁣
Total = 2300 kcal⁣
⁣
High Volume Example⁣
𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭: 𝟓𝟐𝟎 𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐥⁣
300g egg white (50 kcal/100g; 150 kcal total) 🥚 ⁣
1 cup frozen mixed veggies (100 kcal) veggies 🌶 🥬 🍅 ⁣
Thomas’ English muffin (150 kcal) 🥯 ⁣
2 slices light cheese (120 kcal) 🧀 ⁣
𝐋𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡: 𝟓𝟔𝟓 𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐥⁣
Turkey Wrap: 340 kcal 🌯 ⁣
​2 slices light cheese (120 kcal), 4 oz deli sliced turkey (120 kcal), spinach tortilla wrap (100 kcal), 1 tbsp mustard (0kcal)⁣
12 oz skim milk (120 kcal) 🥛 ⁣
1.5 cups mixed berries (105 kcal)⁣
𝐃𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫: 𝟓𝟑𝟎 𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐥⁣
4 rice cakes (35 kcal/cake; 140 kcal total)⁣
30g protein cookie butter (60kcal/15g; 120 kcal total)⁣
250g plain Greek yogurt (130 kcal)⁣
1 cup Kevin’s Cauliflower rice stir fry (140 kcal⁣
𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭: 𝟐𝟖𝟎 𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐥⁣
1 pint halo top birthday cake ice cream (280 kcal)⁣
Total = 1895 kcal⁣
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💜As we see, the high-volume alternative provides much more food & less calories than the high density alternative.⁣
💙 It’s not about how much you eat in terms of volume but how much you eat in terms of calories! Choosing less calorically dense foods should allow you to eat more food, feel full and successfully lose fat! ...

Part 2- The endocrine series: LEPTIN

Last post we covered the effects of ghrelin, today I’ll cover leptin, which is probably the most “popular” hormone associated with hunger and satiety.

Leptin is produced in adipose tissue, therefore the more adiposity we have, the more leptin we produce. This means individuals who are overweight or obese, generally speaking have higher concentrations of leptin than leaner individuals.

What does it do?
Leptin has the opposite effect of ghrelin. If you remember, increased ghrelin leads to hunger. On the other hand, leptin decreases hunger & increases energy expenditure. When released from adipose tissue, leptin is released into circulation, makes its way to the hypothalamus & signals through specific leptin receptors to decrease hunger & increase energy expenditure.

If leptin increases energy expenditure & satiety, why do overweight individuals struggle with weight loss & hunger if they have higher leptin? This is a great question & it can be partially explained by a phenomenon known as “leptin resistance,” which is similar to insulin resistance.

In essence, overweight individuals produce more leptin, but leptin cannot properly exert its effects. In other words, the body is “resistant” to the effects of leptin.

How does this happen?
One theory is that triglycerides that cross the blood brain barrier influence leptin signaling leading to leptin resistance. Since overweight & obese individuals have higher concentrations of circulating triglycerides, they also have a higher degree of leptin resistance.
Theoretically, improving leptin sensitivity in overweight & obese individuals would be a promising therapeutic effect to aid in fat loss.

I hope you guys found this post educational and easy to understand! These topics are complex if you read them out of a textbook, so I am trying my best to make this information easy for all of you to understand without having a degree in physiology! ...