At this point I’ve looked at over 900 blood reports of men 40+ and I can say with certainty that most men could easily get a better ROI with their workouts from blood work adjustments
One of the fastest way to make more progress at the gym, is optimizing blood markers where you’re out of balance.
I’m often surprised how many guys pick a local trainer over getting their blood work done to see better results at the gym.
One of the biggest keys to put on more muscle is recovery.
If you are fatigued and tired going into your next workout session, you won’t be able to increase the amount of reps or weight you lift.
And as the name of the game is, progressive overload is what gets you more jacked.
No progression = no extra muscles
No matter how many times your trainer tells you to push yourself harder or that you don’t want it bad enough, you won’t get better results if you aren’t recovering from that session.
So while it’s helpful to have an intelligent designed workout plan, it’s even more powerful to optimize your recovery via blood work.
Here’s a few examples that are high ROI blood markers to optimize for your lifting sessions:
– Magnesium – if you’re deficient, which 9/10 guys are, then it will impact your sleep, recovery, testosterone levels.
– Zinc – Similar as above, also a co-factor for testosterone production and optimal immune system so you don’t get sick that often
– Protein breakdown – Are you getting all amino acids from your diet to put on more muscle mass?
– Protein digestion – With stress and age, you have lower stomach acid, which makes it harder to absorb more protein. Supporting your gut with digestive enzymes can be helpful to get more protein absorbed.
– Cortisol – If your cortisol is too high, that is catabolic and will slow down your muscle growth, lower your testosterone levels and impair your recovery. Will also affect your sleep and therefore overall recovery.
– Vitamin D – Another co-factor for testosterone, but also key for bone density as it helps calcium absorption and overall energy & vitality = you can push yourself more
– Full iron panel – Most docs only test serum iron but not the complete panel. We want the full one to see cash flow and reserves of your iron which is important for oxygen and energy. Good luck doing a 1h workout with low iron, you’ll be heavy breathing as if you did a half marathon
– Potassium and overall electrolyte status – Electrolytes, but specifically potassium play a role in your workout performance. If your potassium is low, you may get cramps at night but also during the day, and also feel restless at night
There’s more but those are the low hanging fruits.
Success doesn’t require you to always do more.
Rather get more out of what you’re currently doing.
That’s my philosophy and this is one way to achieve that.