4 Muscle-Building Breakfasts (and Mark Rippetoe Wisdom)
Strength is one of the ten domains of fitness, defined as “the ability of a muscular unit, or the combination of muscular units, to apply force” (CrossFit Journal). Did that definition just give you flashbacks to 11th-grade physics or a college anatomy class? In simpler terms, strength is what enables you to pick yourself up off the floor after playing with your kids (or grandkids) or to wheel and dump mulch around the yard. It’s what allows you to carry your groceries in from the car or easily heave your over-stuffed, 49.9 lb.-carry-on bag into the overhead compartment on the airplane.
As Mark Rippetoe, author of Starting Strength stated, “Strong people are harder to kill and more useful in general.”
There are few of us who wouldn’t like to be stronger for all of the above reasons, not to mention the fact that it reduces your risk of injury and is going to improve the way you look. As with anything related to our health and fitness, strength is tied to our nutrition, sleep, exercise, and recovery. Taking it one step at a time, let’s narrow it down to nutrition, and from there, let’s talk about the best meal of the day: breakfast.
Conventional American wisdom and advertising tell us breakfast should be cereal with milk and fruit, a bagel with cream cheese and orange juice, or a Pop Tart as we make our way out the door. These foods are highly processed, sweetened, and enriched with vitamins and minerals that never actually get absorbed by your body (Holistic Squid). They also don’t provide much in the way of protein, the building block of muscle. Instead, plan to get your day off to a great muscle-building start by getting some good whole-food options with a little bit of preparation and creative thinking around breakfast.
Zucchini and Sweet Potato Egg Frittata
While it sounds fancy, like it should be served for Mother’s Day brunch, a frittata has the ability to not only do casual, but to be a versatile addition to your breakfast menu. Because you can adjust them to meet your nutritional needs (add meat more meat, veggies, or starches), they are ideal for meeting your strengths goals. This Zucchini and Sweet Potato Frittata is great for summer because all of you garden growers have an excess of zucchini on its way and sweet potatoes will help you hit enough carbs to have energy in your workouts and recover. Our favorite perk of frittatas is that you can freeze them in individual-meal-sized slices ahead of time (or make muffin frittatas in a muffin pan) and toss them in the microwave for a quick breakfast (or lunch… or dinner).
With a few tweaks (i.e.- ditch the sugar free maple syrup and use a high-quality protein powder of your choice), this recipe can give you a good punch of protein and accompanying carbohydrates- a good choice for after a lifting session. Rather than drowning pancakes in syrup (sugar-free or not), use a dollop of almond butter and don’t be afraid to add a side of eggs. Also, pancakes can be frozen and thawed out in the microwave so you don’t have to find time to cook or do dishes in the morning if you plan ahead.
I am strong.
Strong I am.
I do love greens, eggs, and ham…
This one-dish breakfast dish is flavorful, flexible, and a good way to get both your protein and those muscle-building greens. Substitute in your favorite greens and add a starchy vegetable to hit your carbohydrate needs.
For those of you who aren’t a huge fan of eggs, we have this hash. It provides plenty of versatility in that you can add more veggies if you want, and you control the kind of meat you use. Need we say more?
Whether you love mornings or not, it’s an opportunity to get yourself off to a good start when it comes to your nutrition and strength gains. There are plenty of options for healthy, muscle- building breakfasts that are easy to prepare the day of or ahead of time. Breakfast is the perfect time to reset and recommit your day to making optimal choices for your health, well-being, and especially your strength. So, good luck with your breakfast consumption. Please share any other good ideas in the Facebook comments!
In the meantime, we’ll leave you with this Mark Rippetoe gem: “Physical strength is the most important thing in life. This is true whether we want it to be or not.”