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For all of us trying to reach the full potential of our health, it is important to be sure that our body is performing at it’s most optimal level. Often times, to get to this point, it takes just small adjustments over an elongated period of time in a person’s daily lifestyle and diet choices to have significant progresses in health. In terms of building muscle, one of the best things an avid fan of resistance training can do is get their insulin levels under control and learn to manipulate insulin to their advantage.

What is Insulin?

First let’s explore briefly what insulin really is. Insulin is a powerhouse hormone that regulates the metabolic processes of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Often times, insulin gets coupled just with carbs. But, on the contrary, insulin has a very big effect on how we burn and store fat. Not only is this hormone an “anabolic giant,” but also a storage hormone for muscle and fat cells. When optimized, insulin can promote dramatic changes in muscle structure (protein synthesis) and make burning fat (lipolysis) easier.

Insulin is released into the pancreas in response to an elevation of glucose (carbs) in circulatory system. From this point, insulin in the bloodstream takes nutrients such as amino acids and carbs and stuffs them into muscle and fat cells. Why is this important? Two reasons! First, you want insulin to stuff these nutrients more so into the cells of muscle than fat. Secondly, you want muscle cells to be as responsive as possible to insulin knocking on muscle cell’s door. Both of these points examine an instance of being insulin sensitive.

Insulin Resistant vs. Insulin Sensitive

There are two states often talked about when speaking on insulin: Insulin sensitivity and Insulin resistance – opposite ends of the the spectrum. In the case of insulin sensitivity, muscle cells respond very well to small levels in the blood. On the contrary, those who are insulin resistant will not respond to normal insulin levels. Unfortunately, insulin resistance can result in metabolic damage, increased fat storage, and even diabetes.

Increase Your Insulin Sensitivity

So what are the best ways to increase someone’s insulin sensitivity? First, let’s point out that every single person is capable of becoming insulin sensitive. But, not each person is born as insulin sensitive as the other. The easiest ways to increase your insulin sensitivity is simply through diet, exercise, and proper supplementation. Sounds pretty simple. And, guess what? It is that simple. However, simple doesn’t translate to easy!

Exercise
If you are in the business of building muscle, you must training with intent and intensely against mechanism of resistance. In addition to this element, adding in separate sessions of High Intensity Cardio can really take your insulin sensitivity to a heightened level. Especially those that master intra workout nutrition. Those that do, often see optimal gains and optimal recovery.

Diet
Your diet should always fit the lifestyle you lead. Nutrient timing is a sticky subject since each of us have so very different life demands. But, let’s try to keep the diet subject as simple as possible. For those of us the train very hard; bodybuilder per say, a moderate carbohydrate diet is very sufficient. On average, a training competitor’s diet should consist of approximately 40-50% fibrous carbs, 30-40% high quality protein, and 20% healthy fats. Your carbohydrates for the most part should be scheduled out around your workout time (before, during, and post workout). This is the time when your body most needs to replenish is glycogen storage. This is also the time period where insulin plays a very pivotal role in promoting massive protein synthesis, and does an excellent job of driving nutrient away from fat cells and into muscle cells. So in other words, this is the best time to GROW!

Supplements
The last element is supplements. Now, I would like to point out that the term supplement means a healthy addition to an already steady diet. In my opinion, the effectiveness of supplements is downgraded exponentially when a solid diet does not provide a healthy foundation. That being said, there are a number of very cheap and easy supplements that really do a great job with insulin sensitivity. The first one is omega 3 fish oil. Please take note that you want to find a supplemental omega 3 that will provide you with 6-10 grams of DHA and EPA. These are the most active working omega oils. Next on the list is the antioxidant Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA). A serving of 600 mg daily is recommended to increase insulin sensitivity and assist with fat oxidation. The addition of cinnamon has been shown lower blood glucose levels during and following a meal. Simply add 2-3 teaspoons daily to a few of your meals containing carbohydrates to keep your blood glucose levels down. This will keep insulin from spiking too often throughout the day. The last beneficial supplement to add to your arsenal would be a carbohydrate supplement. Some popular kinds would be maltodextrin, dextrose, waxy maize, karbolyn, vitargo, and (my personal choice) cyclic dextrin. It is recommended that a simple serving of 30 grams of any of these coupled with BCAA’s or EAA’s during your workout will promote protein synthesis and prevent unwanted muscle protein breakdown. Both of these processes are made possible by the release of insulin and being very insulin sensitive.

Conclusion

One of the most efficient ways to build muscle is to get insulin under control. Take care of the little things you can do daily that will guarantee you become and stay insulin sensitive. Eat moderate carbohydrates, time most of your glucose intake around your most active times of day, include supplements like cyclic dextrin, ALA, Omega 3 fish oil, cinnamon, and BCAA or EAA’s to manage insulin levels, exercise not only consistently but intensely, and maintain a balanced diet with whole fresh foods. If you can master all of these elements, you can guarantee that you will not only gain muscle, but you will have a much easier time staying lean and losing fat.