TAKING ACTION: ✅After reading today’s post, are you consistently meeting your protein goal? If not, why? Let’s talk about it below! While it’s true that muscle growth depends on all of your macros, protein is arguably the most important. It’s the building block for muscles. Carbs count, too, thank goodness 🙌, but today is all about protein. Protein is the macro you don’t want to skimp on, especially if you are working toward goals of feeling leaner, stronger, and more physically fit. Not only does it aid in muscle growth, but it aids in muscle preservation—and as you age, you want to preserve your muscle mass at all costs. 💯 So whether you’re trying to lose fat or build muscle, you simply shouldn’t skimp on protein. That brings us to this question: How much protein should you really be eating? Generally speaking, women over 40 need to eat between 0.6 g and 1.2 g of protein per pound of body weight. Where you personally land in this range will depend on your height, weight, activity level, and goals. A general recommendation for an active woman is typically around 100g per day; however, if you’re an active woman who is hoping to gain and/or preserve lean muscle and optimize healthy body composition, you may want to shoot for 1.0 g-1.1 g per pound of body weight. Are you consistently meeting your protein goal? If not, now is the time to make it a priority. Your muscle growth, and specifically your glute gains, depend on it. 👌 *See comments for another Glute Workout*

TAKING ACTION: ✅Do you have a hard time feeling glute-focused moves in your glutes? Share with me below, and check out the activation tips below. Yesterday, we chatted about the importance of your nutrition this month. Your nutrition is key when it comes to building glute strength, but there is another prerequisite we need to discuss so you can get the most out of your glute workouts ⬇️ 👉GLUTE ACTIVATION To reap the most benefits, you need to learn how to activate your glutes. If they aren’t activated, you’ll likely use the wrong muscles during glute exercises, and that defeats the purpose. Glute activation refers to activating (or "firing up") the glute muscles to strengthen them. For many, the glutes remain 'inactive' or 'switched off', even during lower-body exercises. This happens when your glutes are weak. Glutes can be weak for numerous reasons, but are mainly caused by sedentary lifestyles. This is known as gluteal amnesia or "dead butt syndrome". One way to overcome dead butt syndrome is to practice the mind-to-muscle connection during your workouts. When you are doing squats, certain types of lunges, and other exercises that are targeted for your glutes, do you feel it mostly in your quads? After a lower-body workout, are your glutes rarely sore? Those are usually indicators that your glutes aren't being activated properly. This is called quad dominance in the fitness world. Don't get me wrong, strong quads are great and are sometimes called upon during glute workouts, but they should not be the dominant muscles during glute work. Another way to activate the glutes is to perform glute-activating moves before your workout even begins. By performing some isolated glute moves pre-workout, we can get them fired up and ready to burn! 🔥 ⬇️ See the comments for an exercise! ⬇️ OPTIONAL READING: 8 Best Glute Activation Exercises to Maximize Your Booty Gains - The Travelling Wellness Girl

TAKING ACTION: ✅What questions do you have about eating more this month? Are you nervous? Excited? Let’s discuss it below! We’re talking about glutes throughout this week, and throughout May; however, I’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about a major player in the game when it comes to glute strength and growth— YOUR NUTRITION THIS MONTH. 🍽 The fact is, you can’t grow strong glute muscles without a proper amount of nutrition. That’s a fact. I’d be remiss if I encouraged you to work hard on your glute strength this month and didn’t stress the importance of proper nutrition. We certainly don’t want all of our upcoming squats to be done in vain—this is why we’ve removed low macro days this month and are focusing on eating more! I mean, seriously—who wants to do squats or Bulgarian split squats without a high return on their investment? If I’m gonna squat, I'd better see some results. Just sayin’... Per the website, https://exercisewithstyle.com/foods-that-go-straight-to-your-bum, certain foods help with growing your booty. Some of the foods listed are below ⬇️ 🍽 salmon 🍽 eggs 🍽 spinach 🍽 quinoa 🍽 chick breasts 🍽 brown rice 🍽 pumpkin seeds 🍽 legumes 🍽 clean nut butter 🍽 and if needed, protein supplements/shakes. Here is the protein shake I use: https://aleiahkennedy.thegoodinside.com/shop/product/organic-super-protein Note that the list is mostly made up of whole foods. Funny how that works…😉 Also, check out these muscle-building recipes below! 20 Protein-Packed Bodybuilding Recipes for Muscle Growth - Just Love Cooking