Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 227: Best Routine to Build Muscle + Processed Food + Fat Loss

Episode Date: October 5, 2022

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Welcome in everybody to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matranga. And in today's fitness centric episode, we are going to discuss a variety of different things. I'm answering questions of yours that I have fielded from my Instagram and various social medias. We're going to talk about the best split or training routine to grow muscle. We'll talk about how much protein you can truly digest and assimilate in a single meal and whether or not you need to be careful about overeating protein in a single sitting. We'll talk about processed foods as it pertains to weight loss and whether or not you can lose weight while eating processed foods. We'll talk about probiotic supplementation, as well as a handful of other questions in the rapid fire backend section of this episode. So buckle in as we get into it today. We're starting off with a question from Real Ivan Perez. And Ivan asks, what's the best split to gain muscle size? So when we talk about muscle size, we're talking about hypertrophy or

the growth of muscle fibers and the muscle cell. So there's two primary components of muscular growth at the cellular level. There's the growth of the fiber. This is known as myo, myo meaning muscle, fibular, which doesn't refer to the fibula bone, it refers to the fiber. So myofibular hypertrophy means growth of the muscle fiber. Then you have sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. And sarcoplasm is just the kind of unique gelatinous material that we find inside the actual muscle cell. So hypertrophy, when we're talking about it, we're generally talking about myofibular hypertrophy. We're talking about growing the muscle fiber. And then with that, you might see some associative and kind of correlative increases and expansion of the sarcoplasm or the actual kind of liquid cellular component of the muscle fiber. So what routine is best for developing not just the fiber, right, but also the muscle

in its totality? So the best way to influence sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is with high volume training, probably with a lot of pump work. The best way to develop the muscle fiber is with mechanical tension and actual stress and progressive stress placed mechanically onto the tissue as it contracts through a full range of motion. So the best training split for this would be a training split that allows for consistent progressive resistance for the muscle to be trained through its full range of motion, ideally with a variety of different contractile ranges being stressed.

So we need something that is hard in the shortened position. We need many things that are hardest in the lengthened position. We need to accentuate, of course, the range of motion of the tissue that we're training so that we stretch the muscle and contract the muscle through the largest space possible. This is going to promote the formation of cross bridges or the kind of Velcro effect at the level of the tissue. And then those small micro tears that come with overloading, that come with good quality contraction and technique will eventually lead to growth. But the key here is that you do enough damage to stimulate and potentiate growth while still allowing enough time for the recovery to occur. A lot of individuals get caught in the recovery trap where they're training very, very hard.

They're training very, very frequently. They're not creating enough time for recovery. So this is obviously problematic because you only make the gains you can recover from. So this is obviously problematic because you only make the gains you can recover from. What I have found is that for most people who have a semi-regular schedule where they sleep somewhere between six to eight hours a night, where they have the opportunity to get enough protein in across the day, and they're making good decisions nutritionally, A four to five day per week routine is more than sufficient. The reason I like four to five is because four is going to allow us to stimulate tissue twice per week, hemispherically speaking. If we were to divide the body into a northern and southern hemisphere

or the upper and lower body, you can train the lower body twice, you can train the upper body twice. I like that you can have a rest day after each of those sessions. So perhaps you can always have a rest day before hard lower body training, which I think is very, very good for creating a lot of output, but also a lot of space and opportunity for recovery. That fifth day or that fifth training session, which might be reserved for those of you who are more advanced. And again, this is really up to you, the lifter. Can you handle that extra volume? And if you can, that fifth day can be a specialization day. I would say this is how I program for about 60 to 65% of our composition slash physique-based clients at Core Coaching Method. We're looking for four sessions

a week, two upper, two lower that are challenging where we are biasing volume, mostly with compounds and with some isolation work towards the muscle groups, movement patterns they most want to develop. And then for that fifth day, we apply a considerable amount of additional volume, usually more recoverable volume. Could be volume that is perhaps more emphasizing that myofibular or perhaps that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Maybe it's a pump focused day if that block has a lot of mechanical tension. Maybe if the previous block was mostly mechanical tension with lots of eccentrics and lots of length and position work, we'll focus more on shortened position work, more pump work, oscillating back and forth between the two so you don't go insane and get bored.

But I would say that the best split is one that's going to allow you to train in a way that is progressive, in a way that is challenging, but most importantly, in a way that creates time and opportunity for recovery. That seems to be what most people really miss about this, which is that more training isn't better if you can't recover from the training that you're doing which makes so much sense and it sounds so intuitive when you hear somebody who's been coaching for a long time say it but a lot of people really struggle with this because they have a kind of pseudo addiction to training they want to grow they're incessant they're driven are, you know, go-getter type A's. So they actually train too much.

They train beyond what they can effectively recover from. And so their fiber, you know, fibular components of their muscle tissue don't recover properly. They don't grow properly. And they end up kind of spinning their wheels, training a lot, maintaining well, but perhaps not reaching and kind of achieving new levels of muscular development and composition. So you don't want to get caught in the recovery trap. So I'd say the best split for most folks is going to be one that allows for four training sessions to five training sessions a week. And yeah, you can push it to six if you're really advanced and have those recovery processes

really down tight. Okay, this question comes from at Kennedy Joe. And the question is guideline, uh, specifically is the protein guideline of 30 to 40 grams for men and 20 to 30 grams for women per meal realistic. Uh, and is it effective? So I think that 20 to 30 grams for women and 30 to 40 grams for men of protein per meal is realistic. Now that looks like for a woman, it looks like a protein shake or maybe four to five ounces of protein. For a man, it might look like a scoop and a half of protein and six to eight ounces of protein. Usually this is animal lean animal protein as a kind of model.

Now, do I think that's realistic for most people? I do. I think that people who have been chronically deficient in protein and aren't in the habit of eating, you know, 20 plus grams of protein at any given serving, they might get a little bit shocked at just how satiated they are from a high protein meal, particularly if that meal contains other satiating foods like fiber, minimally processed carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, of course. However, you need to get a certain amount of protein in per meal if ultimately you want to get enough protein in across the day. We know that as far as muscle

growth, body composition, being lean, performing your best is concerned. Getting a good amount of protein in across the day is critical. I recommend 0.7 to 1 grams per pound of body weight for clients who want to look their best and perform athletically. Meaning if you want to lose fat, gain muscle, or perform well, I like 0.7 to 1 grams per pound of protein. That's pretty standard. You'll hear that from a lot of coaches. However, the problem is if you're 180 pound male aiming to get 180 grams of protein a day, and you're not getting any protein in at your first and second meal, you might have to get 60 grams of protein in on meals three, four, five. So spreading it out and breaking it down makes a lot of sense.

And for the average size man and the average size woman who's eating multiple times per day, a 20 to 30 gram or 30 to 40 gram range might be really effective. There's also the notion that you might not absorb more than that in any given meal. But what really happens there is you don't absorb it all at once. And it's kind of truncated and gets broken down a little more slowly, but it does all get absorbed and it does all get utilized. So, you know, if you're a woman and you eat 31 grams of protein, it's not like you absorb 30 and kick one to the curb. You absorb that first 30 at a faster rate, and then you'll begin working on the next 30 when you've absorbed, digested, and assimilated the amino acids that are kind of broken down from a

whole food protein. Remember, proteins are polymers made up of multiple amino acid monomers. So you get a protein, yum, yum, yum, 20 amino acids. Okay. We break them all down. We get them into the circulating amino acid pool. We put them to use, and then, you know, we can start to kind of backfill whatever we don't have, which is why if your primary goal is muscle growth, it might behoove you, if you will. I hate using that word, but it is a effective word to communicate what I'm trying to say to spread your protein out across the day because it's so filling and you need to eat quite a bit.

Same for fat loss. If you can spread it out across the day because it's so filling, that can actually work to your advantage. Spreading your protein out across the day to be fuller is great. Spreading your protein out across the day to not be so full is great. And I know that's counterintuitive, but bear with me. If you need to eat 180 grams of protein and you try to eat two 90 serving or 90 gram servings, you will be so full after each one of those, it might actually limit your ability to eat enough protein across the day. So for most people with athletic goals, I think a 30 to 40 gram per meal goal for men and a 20 to 30 gram goal per meal for women could work really, really

well. Just make sure you spread that out across a number of meals and don't get it twisted that it's somehow bad to go beyond that range. It's absolutely and completely fine. And I think that you'll find it works really, really well, ultimately, for your training response, for your digestion, for your satiety and your goals to have more frequent protein feedings of kind of a moderate to slightly high range than it does to have massive protein feedings once or twice or really, really tiny protein feedings all the time. There does seem to be a dose dependence with leucine and the leucine threshold as it pertains

to turning on the mTOR pathway. That's the mammalian target of rapamycin. So this is like the muscle growth pathway. And if you don't get quite enough protein, you might not get an adequate amount or the adequate mTOR response to optimize muscle growth, muscle reparation, muscle recovery, which is important for anybody who's training for athletic enhancement, physique enhancement, or even fat loss. So benefits to having those meals spread out So benefits to having those meals spread out, benefits to having those meals around 20 to 40 grams. Nothing wrong per se though with deviating from that. What's going on guys? Coach Danny here, taking a break from the episode to

tell you about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method, and more specifically, our one-on-one fully tailored online coaching program. My online coaching program has kind of been the flagship for Core Coaching Method for a while. Of course, we do have PDF programming, and we have app-based programming. But if you want a truly tailored one-on-one experience with a coach like myself or a member of my coaching team, someone who is certified, somebody who has multiple years of experience working with clients in person online, somebody who is licensed to provide a macro nutrition plan, somebody who is actually good at communicating with clients because they've done it for years, whether that be via phone call, email, text, right? This one-on-one coaching program is really designed to give you all the support you need with custom training

designed for you, whether you're training from home, the gym, around your limitations, and your goals. Nothing cookie cutter here. As well as easy to follow macronutrition programs that are non-restrictive. You'll get customized support directly from your coach's email, or they'll text you, or they'll WhatsApp you. We'll find the communication medium that best supports your goals, as well as provides you with the accountability and the expertise you need to succeed, as well as biofeedback monitoring, baked-in accountability support, and all of the stuff that you need from your coach when you check in. We keep our rosters relatively small so that we can make sure you get the best support possible. But you can apply today by going over to corecoachingmethod.com, selecting the online coaching option. And if we have spots available, we'll definitely reach out to you to see if you're

a good candidate. And if we don't, we'll put you on a waiting list, but we'll be sure to give you the best shot at the best coaching in the industry. So head over to corecoachingmethod.com and apply for one-on-one coaching with me and my team today. Hey guys, taking a break from the show to tell you about our amazing sports nutrition partner, Legion. Legion makes the best evidence-based formulas for sports performance, sports nutrition, recovery, and fat loss. I don't recommend many supplements. In fact, I think you can get the majority of the nutrition you need from a whole foods diet. But let's be honest, many of us are either on the go and need assistance, or quite frankly, we're not going to settle for average and we want to get the absolute most we can out of our training. So Legion is the company I go to for all of my supplement staples,

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check out using the promo code Danny to save on all your sports supplement needs. Back to the show. And one of my favorite things to do when I'm not working out or working with my clients is watch and engage in sports with my friends. Underdog is the best fantasy sports app out there for best ball and for pick'em. If you like football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, WNBA, UFC, boxing, Underdog has something exciting for you. You can bet on your favorite teams. You can bet on your favorite players. You can bet on your favorite players in the easiest and simplest way to engage at a higher level with sports. It's so much fun to be able to do a pick-em with a player from the NBA team I like and from the NFL team I like. Do

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on your favorite teams. You pick the stat line over or under bet five bucks, win 120 X your entry. So you pick five players on your favorite teams. You pick the stat line over or under. Bet five bucks. Win 120x your money. So many cool ways to play. There's also best ball as we get closer to fantasy where you can draft teams against your friends or against other people on underdog for your shot at millions of dollars in prizes. This is definitely one of my favorite things to do when I am playing or watching sports. I love underdog and you can go to the app store today, download underdog, enter the promo code Danny, and they will match your first deposit up to $100.

You'll have a blast playing underdog all season long. Back to the action. Question, I don't have the username here, which is frustrating. However, I remember answering this on my Instagram story because I thought it was so good. And it was, if you're in a calorie deficit, can you lose weight while eating processed foods? And the answer to this question is yes. Most of you probably know this already, but the actual composition of the food, whether it's non-processed or whether it's highly processed, does not change the kind of fundamental physics of fat loss, which are, hey, you need to

eat less calories than you burn. If you do that, your body has to make up that additional energy deficit through mobilizing stored energy in the form of carbohydrate and fat. And eventually, if you do that long enough, you'll break down some of your body fat and see changes in composition. The thing with processed foods, however, though, is they're very hard not to overeat. In fact, they're designed and engineered in many cases to promote overconsumption. So you buy more of them. Talked about this with Dr. Adrian Chavez on the podcast about two weeks ago. So the question then becomes for you, how much cushion do you have? How much of these things can you include? And what's your discipline look like around these things? Because if you have a tendency to overeat certain hyper-processed foods, let's use Oreos as an example. If you're somebody

with extreme willpower and dedication who can eat two Oreos a day out of a pack that's 120 calories or 140, I believe, when you can make a pack of Oreos, which has probably like 40 Oreos, maybe last 20 days, and you can fit that 140 calories of highly processed, refined carbohydrate and sugar and fat into your diet while still maintaining a deficit, that is very unlikely to affect your body composition at all. You should stay right online. And it might actually benefit you to include those foods because you feel less restricted. But here's the other side of the coin. Many people struggle to only have two. So if having processed foods in the house and all of the intentions in the world of, hey, I'm only going to eat two of these Oreos. That's all I want to do. I only want to have two of them. If you can do that, that's great. But many people can't. They

start with two, then they have two more, then they have two more, then they have five more. And before you know it, they've actually over-consumed their calorie intake for the day by a substantially larger margin because this food has become a trigger food. It has become something that they have now began to over-consume. And so you need to have some guardrails. You need to have some boundaries. You need to set some expectations with these foods because there's absolutely no doubt that while they're not inherently fattening, they're inherently designed to be overconsumed. They tend to be loaded with calories. They tend to be minimally satiating. And it can be damn near impossible to, for some people who haveally satiating, and it can be damn near impossible to,

for some people who have quick triggers and very, very high reward responses to these foods, to include them in any amount while trying to lose body fat because they just have a hard time finding the off switch, so to speak. So be careful with them. Understand, again, the physics of fat loss. Calories in, calories out. But the practical side of fat loss is what the heck do I have to have around me to be able to eat less than I need to, to maintain my weight for long enough to see my weight change? Anybody can cut those foods out for a week. But in most instances, you're going to need to cut them out for many, many months or reduce your intake of them for many, many months to end up in the caloric range, energy intake range that's conducive for weight loss.

And that's really hard to hear, but it can really, really be helpful if you're somebody who has a hard time including hyper-processed foods in small amounts to just cut them out entirely. Again, that is something that you have to make the determination about at an individual level. Okay, this question comes from Space Reggae and the question is, are probiotics helpful and necessary? So let's start with necessary. They're not. Almost no supplement that I can think of is necessary with perhaps the exception of like

vitamin D because most people just tend to be so deficient in it unless, you know, you get a good amount of sun. But even then, not a requirement. Creatine, which I love and I think is so valuable for the brain and the body and maintenance of muscle and strength preservation. Not necessary. Omega-3, extremely beneficial. Can be coming from algae.

Can be coming from cold water fatty fish. Can be coming from eggs. Can be coming from a supplement. Very, very beneficial. Can help with joint health, can be coming from a supplement. Very, very beneficial, can help with joint health, brain health, and inflammation markers. However, not necessary. So if none of those are necessary, I can't give probiotics a tag as being necessary. And most probiotic supplements kind of suck. The one that I love and champion and you hear us work with and talk about on the show is Seed. I think think seed's the only really good one out there because they have such a unique delivery system, high quality microorganism content, transparent third-party labeling.

You can see exactly what's in there. You can click through on their website to every single study on every single strain and see how it's been clinically proven to work in humans. You're not going to find that anywhere else. That's beneficial. Still not necessary. Very, very beneficial. What I've noticed from supplementing with seed, better stool regularity. I go to the bathroom at very consistent times, better stool consistency. The way my poop looks and feels is a little better, way better. Symptoms of atopic dermatitis. I get redness on the back of my arms called atopic dermatitis. of atopic dermatitis. I get redness on the back of my arms called atopic dermatitis. Seed contains strains of bacteria that have been shown in humans to reduce skin specific inflammation. I noticed a direct response after about a month of taking the product.

Skin also looks really good when I'm taking seed. There are some cardioprotective strains. I have not yet noticed those. There are some nutrient synthesizing strains that help with things like folate. Have not yet noticed those. Just because I have not noticed them does not mean I'm not benefiting from them. But again, I want to be as transparent as possible. With probiotic supplementation, I always have a caveat. You need to pair that with prebiotic supplementation or prebiotic ingestion. And prebiotics are usually fiber and resistant

starch. So these are things like non-soluble fiber, usually things like cellulose in the form of vegetables and resistant starch, which are oftentimes starches that are cooked and then cooled. So things like potatoes that are cooked and cooled are resistant starch, rices and oats that are cooked and cooled are resistant starches. Prebiotic fiber can be very beneficial. This is fruits and vegetables, but perhaps the most beneficial thing out there is fermented foods and particularly fermented fiber foods like kimchi. If you can have a couple servings a week, ideally up to one a day of fermented fibrous foods, you will get prebiotics and you will get probiotics. And you will give your

intestinal gut microbiome what it needs to continue to move forward with all of the fuel that the good gut bugs need, as well as some of the good gut bugs in the actual fermenting agent. And then if you layer in a high quality probiotic like seed on top of that, you will probably be doing about as much as you positively can for your gut health outside of regular diet, exercise, stress management, and reduction of hyper-processed foods, which do seem to be the particularly favored food source of the bugs that can populate your bacteria that don't have such acute benefits and aren't as closely and tightly linked to good health, longevity, vivaciousness, etc. So definitely don't think probiotics are necessary, but I think doing a good amount and being proactive about your gut health is smart.

And in my estimation, most people would benefit from taking a product like seed in conjunction with a good prebiotic fermented food, uh, you know, inclusion in the diet. That's my honest opinion. Okay. Rapid fire time, guys. We're going to get through some questions. I'll throw out your name. I'll throw out your question and we will get through them fast so that we can cover as many as possible. So this one comes from Steven Lucy. And the question is, are night shreds and metabolic sleep supplements snake oil? So I've never heard of either of these supplements. However, it's not uncommon for companies to market appetite suppressants, sand stimulants, as nighttime fat burners.

And usually what these are, they are just appetite suppressants that are not paired with high levels of stimulants. So imagine a fat burning supplement without caffeine, without ephedrine, without yohimbine, and that's what you got here. An appetite suppressant that you can take at night. Don't really think that these are going to benefit your fat loss at all. Something that I would probably avoid and save money on. Night shreds and metabolic sleep are two supplements that I'm not particularly familiar with. I'm not familiar with the manufacturer, so I won't recommend them. Perhaps they really are high

quality products, but I'm dubious or I am, let's call it skeptical because of the dubious nature. I'm not dubious of many of these nighttime branded fat burners. Okay. M underscore fit for life says most important tip for a 46 year old trying to grow muscles while going through perimenopause. My suggestion is keep going, eat your protein, do the best you can to get sleep and supplement with creatine monohydrate. All these things can be very helpful. The good news is you're 46 years old and you're perimenopausal. You are not postmenopausal. So you have a hormonal environment that's a little bit more conducive for muscle growth and optimizing body composition. So get after it, do the best you can. This question comes from Louisa underscore Fernanda underscore Suarez. And the question is,

what did you study and how old are you? I am 27 years old. I went to Sonoma State University in California and studied physical fitness slash, what did they call the major? Lifetime physical fitness and then pre-physical therapy. And I did not go on to continue the postgraduate work required to become a physical therapist. While in school and post after school, I spent a ton of time getting personal training certifications, working with clients and learned a lot that way. Learned a lot from things like podcasts, YouTube, audio books. I definitely think there's value in expanding your exposure to conventional and institutionalized education. But as somebody who struggled focusing in class, maybe due to ADHD,

maybe just due to general entrepreneurial tendencies that made me want to focus my attention and energy elsewhere. I didn't continue my education after my bachelor's degree. Okay. This question comes from Aksh Don Wafi. I'm about to go on a mountain hike. Shall I pause my creatine intake prior to that day? Absolutely not. Can't think of any reason why one might do that. If you're regularly my creatine intake prior to that day? Absolutely not. Can't think of any reason why one might do that. If you're regularly taking creatine without any deleterious or negative impact, can't see a reason to just stop. Wouldn't be something that I would particularly worry about. This question comes from Mr. Underscore ZGL, and it's TRT, testosterone replacement therapy.

What are my thoughts? Seems to be the end thing. I think for men who have had children who are past the age of 40, who have a clinical deficiency in testosterone, TRT can be a really beneficial thing, can really help you live better, have more vivaciousness, have more virility, have more libido, have better results in the gym. I think what we see with TRT in a lot of clinics is a lot of young people tanking their testosterone through overtraining or not eating properly or not sleeping properly, getting a doctor's prescription to start supplementing with testosterone and taking substantially more than the therapeutic dose and instead just taking a full-blown anabolic dose

and they're taking steroids. And if you look at the literature on testosterone replacement therapy, safety and efficacy compared to perhaps the anecdotal literature with regards to high dose testosterone supplementation or let's call it exogenous testosterone usage, you're probably going to find that there's a disparity there. It's probably healthier to be in the traditional clinical range than it is to be in the, let's call it super physiological range beyond what people can do naturally, especially over the long period of time. And I think a lot of people who do TRT are actually in that super physiological range and they're saying they're doing it therapeutically. There's a lot of young influencers who say, oh, my testosterone was so bad. So I got on TRT and it's like, yo,

you look like every other fucking bodybuilder who's ever lived and taken the super physiological dose. Did you have low testosterone and get a prescription for TRT for TRT and then start taking the, you know, bodybuilder dose? Or are you just taking a dosage that puts you at like maybe 600 nanograms per deciliter right in the middle of that range? Because for most people, they are not taking a dosage that would put them in that more therapeutic normal range. They're trying to reach above it and pass it off as TRT. That's my honest opinion on it. And I think a lot of people are bullshitting. Okay, this question comes from Sean underscore KG. Assuming proper water intake and nutrition, what's the best way

to heal the legs after training? Lots of sleep. You can do some static stretching. You do some foam rolling. You can do some percussion therapy. You can do some massage. You can do cold exposure, but that might limit hypertrophy. You can do sauna. That's probably at the top of my list. I find subjectively sauna reduces my muscle soreness. Um, but a lot of people get really sore one to two days post leg day, just because of the amount of tissue that they're training and damaging. So, um, it might not be something you can avoid entirely, but there are some things you can do. And I mentioned a good number of them. Okay. Last question of the day comes from Lorraine Hale one. And she asks, is it necessary to change your workout split to see more muscle growth? Uh, I would say yes. And I would change it every four to six weeks where you revolve new

exercises in that have shallower progression curves. The longer you do exercises, the longer it takes to see small progressions as you get better and stronger and start to kind of max those out. So shifting from an analog like flat bench with dumbbells to incline bench with dumbbells will flatten out the progression curve. You did a lot of flat bench in the progression curve, get steeper across a four to six week training block. You switch to an incline breast and the progression curve flattens out so you can make more progress faster, challenge the tissue in a unique way. Ultimately oscillating between exercises allows you to train muscles at different contractile lengths, at different ranges of motion, with different arm paths, et cetera,

in the shortened position, in the lengthened position. And most importantly, it keeps you from getting bored and allows you to kick some serious ass in there because you're attacking new things. That's why with the apps, we have the app-based training we have on Train Heroic. We do a monthly mesocycle change. So every month you're getting a new cycle on Elite Physique and on Home Heroes. And with pretty much every training client we work with at Core Coaching Method, we're changing monthly as well. Not because you need to constantly be changing exercises, but because small changes done strategically can make a huge difference. All right, guys, that's going to do it for today's episode. I want to thank you all so much for tuning in and remind you that if you have not

yet left a rating and review for this show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, doing that would really help me out. Helps more people find the podcast, helps me help more people live healthier lives, and that is my goal in life. So I'm asking you to help me with that goal. I have tried to do my best to help you with your fitness goals. So let's see if we can be synergistic about this and best of luck on your day and enjoy the next podcast in your queue. I'll catch you on the next one.