Dr. Gabrielle Lyon’s sincere desire to educate people about the importance of building muscle beyond fitness stems from a life-long study and observation in her clinical research and practice. From an early personal passion for nutrition and fitness as a teen, to observation and experience with patients in her medical residency, she realized that the focus on obesity was failing to help people prevent or heal from metabolic diseases and live healthier. She observed the connection between muscle mass and the biochemical role muscle plays and created a muscle-centric medicine® practice. She’s gone on to create a community and resources that are helping many people live better by building muscle for weight loss, anti-aging, and overall health.
A beautiful person inside and out, we love that she practices what she preaches and has committed her life to helping people shift how they view the role of the muscle system in their health routines. We’re proud to partner with Dr. Lyon in her mission to empower people to make choices and changes that have a big impact on their bodies.
This episode of Sunlighten Spotlight explores our body’s skeletal muscle system and how similar it is to the endocrine system and thyroid. More than helping physical strength, our muscle system produces important proteins and biochemicals that affect our entire body.
Watch, learn, and get inspired that you can make a few simple changes in your health routines that can have a big positive impact on how you age and feel.
Current health trends steer us to a focus on nutrition, but Dr. Lyon elevates the importance of training your muscles as something that should be a priority, not optional. It’s that important. Dr. Lyon explains why in her conversation with Connie Zack, including these topics:
- Muscle is the Organ of Longevity®
- The skeletal muscle system is like the endocrine system or the thyroid: it releases proteins, interfaces with the immune system, the brain, and every tissue in the body
- Our muscle system impacts glucose disposal, insulin resistance, fatty acid metabolism and more
- The medical community is focused on obesity as the problem; the issue is skeletal muscle
- Many metabolic diseases begin in skeletal muscle
- Skeletal muscle affects the way we age
- Skeletal muscle is the pinnacle of health and well-being, not peripheral
- Train for hypertrophy (muscle growth), which is different than strength training
- Weight training should translate to functional movement that is repeatable in life
- The right mix of exercise includes HIIT, hypertrophy (appropriate resistance) and cardio
- Cardio should not even be optional – it should be like brushing your teeth
- We need to think of muscle as medicine
- The RDA for protein hasn’t been updated in 30 years; Dr. Lyon recommends more
- How you train is important; Dr. Lyon gives simple recommendations
Dr. Lyon recommends sauna for muscle recovery and to protect against muscle atrophy. It’s also shown in research to help reduce inflammation, increase flexibility and agility. Here is how Dr. Lyon uses the sauna herself and recommends it for her patients:
Evening Sauna – At the end of the day, anywhere from 1 to 3 times a week for 20-40 minutes a day is a great addition to a mix of muscle training, nutrition and sleep.
View all Sunlighten saunas here.
Check out more resources to support your muscle system and optimal health at DrGabrielleLyon.com, including her free guide, “The Lyon Protocol 2.0™,” newsletter, and her new podcast, “The Dr. Lyon Show.”
Mention Dr. Gabrielle Lyon or muscle-centric medicine to get a discount.
