Part 1
“There is no need for lectures on growing muscle! I am fully immersed in the industry and can truly understand the quality of information I need in order to grow muscle. After all, I follow the latest fads from a particular professional, stay current in training forums, schedule my workouts every day and change my exercises whilst always retaining this thought process – I must lift heavier.”
Your’s sincerely, the stubborn gym junkie
It is time to find out if what you know or learnt is a myth or a fact!
We can all replay a moment in our gym lives that we too came up with similar views and internal conversations. While listening to help and advice from professionals, friends or gurus, judging whether or not a claim is a fact or myth has been the endeavour of all of us in our personal fitness journey and it just so happens we meet a cross road each day that tears us between truth and persuasion. So the question has to be asked, How on earth do we identify a myth from a fact?
In this blog I will be exploring whether a statement is myth or a fact and will incorporate what science has already proven.
You must eat large amounts of protein to build muscle “The more the better!” Myth or Fact
So, you are researching as a beginner or your stuck in the rip of a bodybuilding addiction over the years and you have come to the conclusion of the greatest training find in history.
If I eat more protein, I will proportionally gain more fat-free mass (lean muscle).
Well, to that statement there is some fact! Below, I will challenge that the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) can be exceeded for the strength and training for individuals seeking muscle growth.
What does science tell us?
The recommendation for strength and power athletes range from 1.6-2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.[1][2] . We are all well aware of this general consensus, though can this be conclusive or have there been other studies that support the fact that more than the recommended RDA actually supports muscle growth.
In several studies, controls consumed protein at ~1.5-2.5 times the current RDA, in line with current strength/power recommendations, yet in many cases, adding additional protein produced significantly greater muscular benefits.[3][4][5]. Wow, so eating more protein does help those wishing to gain greater lean mass! In conclusion the study deemed 2.38 g/kg/day the benchmark, which reconfirmed the affermention consumption of 1 g protein/lb of bodyweight/day (2.2 g/kg/day) which was a previous school of thought.
What we must also take into account is individual athletes taking anabolic substances for added performance. Due to the nature of the drug and its added support with protein synthesis the human body in this state can take far greater protein consumption, so it leaves great speculation to the true tolerance when met with a subject on this level.
Does high protein consumption effect your internal organs ?
There has been much debate over the matter of whether or not high protein consumption, leads to impaired renal function or chronic renal disease. In this day and age this matter is of high importance as not only do people engage in weight training have high protein diets, but also people engage with weightloss diets. So, as a devout professional I have uncovered some very important academic journal finds on this matter, along with compared studies.
Let’s take vegetarians for instance, it has been reported that there are no statistically significant differences in age, sex, weight, and kidney function between non-vegetarians and vegetarians (a group demonstrated to have lower dietary protein intakes)[6][7].
The greatest cause for concern for high protein intake lays with people who may already suffer from mild strain to their renal system, as going above RDA (recommended daily allowance).[8]
Will Brink talks about protein intake :
Here is the journal study behind the benefit of more protein then recommended RDA>
In conclusion the myth of “more protein the better” is Fact. More protein than the recommended RDA is beneficial for muscle growth, though keeping in mind a healthy renal system is very important during your fitness journey.
[1] Joint Position Statement: nutrition and athletic performance. American College of Sports Medicine, American Dietetic Association, and Dietitians of Canada
Med Sci Sports Exerc 2000, 32(12):2130-2145
[2] Tarnopolsky MA, Atkinson SA, MacDougall JD, Chesley A, Phillips S, Schwarcz HP: Evaluation of protein requirements for trained strength athletes.
J Appl Physiol 1992, 73(5):1986-1995
[3] Kerksick CM, Rasmussen CJ, Lancaster SL, Magu B, Smith P, Melton C, et al.: The effects of protein and amino acid supplementation on performance and training adaptations during ten weeks of resistance training.
J Strength Cond Res 2006, 20:643-653
[4] Burke DG, Chilibeck PD, Davidson KS, Candow DG, Farthing J, Smith-Palmer T: The effect of whey protein supplementation with and without creatine monohydrate combined with resistance training on lean tissue mass and muscle strength.
Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 2001, 11:349-364
[5] Candow DG, Burke NC, Smith-Palmer T, Burke DG: Effect of whey and soy protein supplementation combined with resistance training in young adults.
Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 2006, 16:233-244
[6] Bedford JL, Barr SI: Diets and selected lifestyle practices of self-defined adult vegetarians from a population-based sample suggest they are more ‘health conscious’.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2005, 2(1):4.
[7] Blum M, Averbuch M, Wolman Y, Aviram A: Protein intake and kidney function in humans: its effect on ‘normal aging’.
Arch Intern Med 1989, 149(1):211-212
[8] Martin WF, Armstrong LE, Rodriguez NR: Dietary protein intake and renal function.
Nutr Metab (Lond) 2005, 2:25