WS#36 - Protein and bicep curls

Week of 12/4/23

Protein…again

A client expressed some concern about how she did not eat enough protein one day during the week. The concern was mostly regarding progress, and I could tell there was a feeling that she did something wrong. I provided some nuance around the topic that I felt was worth sharing.

Protein and calories are an important part of every day. Having some awareness around the day-to-day intake matters, but it is more important to hit your targets on a weekly basis. Each day of the week matters as it contributes equally to the weekly totals, however thinking of weekly vs. daily facilitates a system that has some flexibility. Here is an example to help clarify.

Client A is a 150lb women who has goals of building muscle while not gaining weight too quickly. We determine that each day she needs to eat around 120-150 grams of protein, 50 grams of fat, and 200 grams of carbohydrates. This means that the calorie goal each day is going to be between 1700 and 1900, give or take a few calories. Let’s say one day during a week she only eats 20 grams of protein because the day did not go as planned. She missed the low end of her goal range by 100 grams (400 calories). Did she ruin her whole plan? We know from the numbers I provided above that each week she needs to have between 840 and 1050 grams of protein. That 210-gram gap between the high and low amounts leaves room for imperfection. She did not fail by having a single off day. The problem arises when these imperfections compound on each other. It is easy to see how a few days like this during a week are hard to overcome once the magnitude of the shortfall in protein and calories builds over a few days.

Don’t get too down on yourself if you go off plan. One day will not push you so far off the path that you need to course correct and the only thing you need to do is get right back on the plan. This is not permission to miss your targets two to three days per week, but it is permission to avoid trying to make up for lost ground because of one off day. Any good plan provides some sort of wiggle room like the plan illustrated above.

Is this going to help my arms look better?

A client asked me about her arms and whether the bicep curls we were doing were going to help to make them more defined. The answer I provided was probably not the one she was hoping for, however I would have been lying if I answered any other way. My answer expressed that a single exercise on any day is not going to move the needle much. The only way to create change is to progress over time and perform said exercise week after week increasing one of the training variables that we can control. For example, one day of bicep curls where you do 3 sets of 10 reps is not going to make your arms grow or change much. But months of bicep curls where you progress the weight lifted and reps over time will absolutely lead to changes.

As I have talked about in the past, exercise is a strange beast that facilitates positive and negatives as it is used for many different reasons. When it comes to changes and progress on things like aerobic endurance, muscle size, muscle strength, fat loss, or any factor associated with aesthetics, if you are expecting results quickly you will be disappointed. You need to manage your expectations or else you will become frustrated with the rate of change. Expectations are one of the most important variables to manage when it comes to fitness and aesthetics and are a primary reason many fall off a plan, even when their plan is working. Any half-decent, goal-oriented plan sets reasonable expectations with some sort of range. Make sure you have a handle on this before you put all your eggs in one basket and get emotionally attached to a result.

-Matt