How Much Protein for Muscle Gain?

How Much Protein for Muscle Gain?

We’ve covered before that protein is an essential nutrient for life, playing a critical role in building tissue, cells and muscle.  All proteins are made from a collection of up to 20 amino acids.  The different collections and structures of the various amino acids determines the proteins role and how it manifests as muscle or other tissue.  Muscle protein makes up approximately 50% of the total protein in the body and adequate muscle growth is dependant on sufficient levels of protein (and the underlying amino acids). 

When you workout with heavy weights, your muscles will get forced into a protein breakdown state - your body will actually split up amino acids to be transformed into energy and/or used to synthesize new protein.  Therefore to realize muscle growth, you have to combine weight training AND maintain a positive protein balance (that is your protein intake and synthesis is greater than your protein breakdown).    

While all this might suggest that more protein is better, that isn’t always the case.  There are limits at which your body can absorb and use protein in all of these processes.  The upper training limit for intensive training is 2g per kilogram of body weight.  For a 180 pound person (82 kg) that looks like upper protein limits of 164 grams per day.  There is no evidence of benefits of consuming above this level for training, muscle growth, or performance. 

There is also emerging evidence that it is better to spread your protein across your daily consumption patters.  Recent studies suggest that 20 grams every 3 hours is absorbed and synthesized more effectively than smaller, more frequent servings of 10g x 8 meals, or larger servings of 40g x 2 meals.   Studies are ongoing - we always need something to study.  Most importantly - get your protein in during the day.  You’ll want to experiment with your own body to see how it responds to protein consumption and the impact on your muscle gains. 

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