This topic is up for a lot of debate, but I am a huge fan of nuts. The assortment you are eating is good because each one has different health properties that will benefit you. One thing I will say is to eat nuts that are most composed of monounsaturated fats. Those are the most heart healthy fats and your body can break them down easier.

One thing to keep in mind is that one gram of fat equals 9 calories, while one gram of carbohydrates or protein equals 4 calories. This is where you might get in trouble just because each gram of fat is double that of protein or carbs. This makes nuts typically higher in calories compared to the serving size, so it is easier to take down a bunch of calories even though you don’t feel like you ate a bunch.

Another positive to nuts is the amount of good carbs and protein that is in them. You are looking at a low carb snack with some fiber in it and a decent amount of protein. Considering that my diet is typically much higher in fat content than your average American, I am obviously a fan of the nutritional make up of nuts. Good amount of good fats, fiber and protein is always a plus.

Another topic that is up for a lot of debate, but a general rule of thumb is a gram per two pounds of body weight. So if you weight 120 pounds you should be getting around 60 grams of protein per day. For serious athletes and people who exercise a ton, it has been recommended to get around 1.2 grams per two pounds of body weight.

You also can break it down into percentages based on your diet. If you are following a 60/20/20 (carbs/protein/fat) diet which is typical for our culture than you can look at it in as a percentage. So if you are getting 1,500 calories per day and want to eat 20% protein, that would be 75 grams of protein per day.

One thing that is important especially for women is to make sure you are consuming more calcium if your protein intake increases. The more protein in your system, the more calcium your body requires.

I used the 5×5 as an example in that article because it is one of my favorite set/rep schemes for people. If you are a beginner lifter the 5×5 may not be great for you quite yet but as long as you have been lifting for about a year consistantly you should be alright. 5×5 is essentially doing 5 sets of 5 reps of a given exercise. I recommend doing this with your primary lifts (squat, bench, rows, pull ups, dead lifts, etc).

The idea is that you will still be getting in enough volume (overall reps) to get some muscle growth going but you will also be getting much stronger. Sticking with a lower rep count (such as 5) you will be able to recruit your larger muscle fibers and actually become much stronger. As I was saying in the article, you have to get a solid base of strength before you get into a high rep, hypertrophy phase.

You dont have to stick with the 5×5 but anything between 4-6 sets and 3-8 reps is a good range to stick with. The weight you use should be heavy and by the last rep of each set you should be able to move the weight with a little more than half the speed of your first rep. In other words, you shouldn’t be failing on the last rep but definitely struggling. This will build lasting muscle. Take a week off and you won’t have to worry about shrinking.