A Guide to Protein Consumption for Muscle Building
If you’re looking to build muscle, increase hypertrophy and make gains... where should you place your efforts when it comes to protein consumption? There is a tonne of information out there, many myths, and a host of over-hypes. Here’s what you really need to know and how to action it.
13th April, 2021
Since the gyms are opening back up in the United Kingdom, it might be in your best interests to pair up your resistance training with some sound protein advice. I hope you enjoy geeking out as much as I did writing this.
The three key determinants of muscle building
There are three key variables that are within our control and allow us to impact muscle building:
Nutrition - sufficient energy balance, protein intake.
Exercise - mechanical stimulation of the muscles through resistance training, looking specifically at volume as the key driver and progressive overload as a way to improve over time.
Recovery - more training does not equate to better or faster results and we often reach a point at which adding more training becomes detrimental to progress. Our body requires time to repair and adapt - recovery includes but is not limited to: rest days; adequate sleep; and gentle movement.
In this blog post, I’m going to focus on a small subsection for you… and that’s Nutrition - protein intake. But first, let’s set the scene!
Some benefits of muscle building you might not have considered
We usually attribute increased muscle mass with being stronger, looking more aesthetically pleasing (sexy as f**k), and a feeling of being awesome and independent. These are all really important and it’s completely up to you how you value muscle mass but what we often overlook is the role of muscle on our general health, now and as we age.
What are these benefits?
Quality of life - you’ll experience a greater amount of freedom with more muscle mass and strength, especially later in life. We’re not talking superhuman feats of strength but more of a functional ability to go about your everyday life as you age (like lifting your shopping into the back of your car; holding your grandchildren; travelling to new places; getting out of your arm chair; or simply moving from point a to point b).
Recovery from injury/illness/surgery - the fitter someone is going into surgery or recovering from an injury or illness, the quicker and more likely they will be to recover.
Metabolic health - muscle is the biggest site of glucose disposal in the body and better yet, exercise is an insulin-independent way to clear blood glucose. A reason why exercise is probably even more important in those who are pre-diabetic or diabetic (magic!).
Cancer mortality - research has suggested that lung cancer patients who simply preserved or even increased their muscle mass had a lower rate of recurrence compared to patients who lost muscle mass.
All cause mortality - having low strength may mean someone is four times more likely to die of any cause (Li et al, 2018). So having more muscle... and better yet being able to use it… reduces all cause mortality.
Basal metabolic rate - muscle is metabolically active and requires energy to just exist at rest. So having increased muscle mass means you’ll ‘burn’ slightly more calories (useful if you want to create an energy deficit to lose body fat).
Key store of amino acids - our skeletal muscle is a main site of essential amino acid storage (amino acids are the building blocks of protein) and important not only to build muscle but also help make up important molecules such as hormones and carriers of substances in and out of cells.
Everyone will benefit from increasing their muscle mass. Instead of focussing solely on ‘an absence of fat’ for better health, let’s focus on ‘increased muscle mass’. Muscles are great. Set yourself up for a win, get out there and get building.
Going a bit deeper into muscle hypertrophy
Muscle hypertrophy is the process in which muscle fibres grow in size and occurs as a result of muscle protein synthesis and muscle protein breakdown.
Our skeletal muscle is in a constant state of flux, between muscle protein synthesis (MPS) - the building of muscle proteins; and muscle protein breakdown (MPB) - the breakdown of muscle protein.
So for hypertrophy (muscle fibre size increase) to occur, net MPS must be greater than MPB. The two key determinants for stimulation of MPS are: protein intake and mechanical tension on the muscles (resistance training). Doing both of these things, in the right way, will hugely benefit MPS and ultimately muscle growth.
Okay, that’s enough of that… onto the good stuff and the reason you’re here - protein!!
The protein pyramid of importance
This lovely upside-down pyramid illustrates where we are best to focus our efforts for maximal return. As we move from top to bottom, things become less important although that’s not to say the bottom of the upside down pyramid isn’t important.
To make each area more manageable and actionable, you may want to master the top section before moving onto optimising the one below it. If you’re a seasoned pro then you might be able to pick up little nuggets of information to make small adjustments and optimise what you’re already doing.
Here’s a little more detail on each section of the protein pyramid:
Total Daily Intake
This is the total amount of protein eaten over the course of the day. Remember we want to aim for a positive net protein balance where MPS is greater than MPB.
How much is enough? 1.6-2.2g per kg of body weight is a recommended range for muscle building, so a 60kg female might want to aim for between 96-132g of protein per day; an 80kg male maybe 128-176g per day. I think it’s important to remember that if you have a high body weight as a result of higher fat stores then your protein target (based on the 1.6-2.2g per kg equation) may be estimated far too high in which case it might be a good idea to estimate your protein intake using this equation in line with your estimated lean body weight instead of total body weight.
Unless you have a medical condition that affects the functioning of your kidneys, a high protein diet will not be detrimental to your health, unless your protein consumption is so high that the rest of your diet is affected as a knock-on, for example you may be at risk of missing out on essential fat, fibre, and micronutrients especially if you are restricting your total calorie intake.
Unlike calories, that are looked at as an average over time, we look at protein consumption over the course of one day. Generally we can’t make up for a low consumption day by increasing consumption another day.
Distribution
Refers to how many times you have a serving of protein over the course of a day, and the amount of protein in each of those servings.
You’ll get a huge benefit and probably more enjoyment from your total daily consumption by spreading this out across the day opposed to eating it all in one go. Three, four or five servings of 20-30g per day is a brilliant position to be in to stimulate muscle protein synthesis multiple times a day.
To action this, you might want to plan your main meals around a protein source, as you can see from my beautifully created and highly accurate graph:
More protein in one serving isn’t exponentially better however, and there is little additional benefit to having >40g, in fact current research suggests that doubling your protein serving from 20g to 40g only offers a 10% increase in fractional synthetic rate (the rate of muscle protein turnover) after a full body workout, so it’s up to you whether the cost of increasing your serving is worth a very small return.
It’s worth noting that higher protein servings may actually further benefit certain populations, this is especially true for the elderly where protein servings need to be higher to elicit the same MPS response as in a younger population.
Another reason why distribution across the day is worth considering, is that ample time should be left between protein feedings to allow MPS to return to baseline rates before being saturated again (this is known as the refractory period). Generally this period looks to be about 2-3 hours. So there is no benefit to drip feeding your muscles with constant low protein doses.
quality
Protein quality is a term that describes the amino acid make-up and digestibility of the protein source.
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are categorised as non-essential or essential. Our bodies can synthesise the 12 non-essential amino acids but not the 8 essential amino acids so we have to make sure we obtain the essential amino acids in adequate amounts from our diet. When we talk about ‘protein quality’ we’re referring to the availability of essential amino acids in that food source. Most animal-based protein sources like meat, dairy and eggs contain all the essential amino acids in sufficient quantities and are therefore categorised as ‘high quality’ or ‘complete’ protein sources whereas most plant-based proteins do not contain all the essential amino acids and are referred to as ‘incomplete’ proteins. However, vegan options such as soy, tofu, tempeh and quinoa are all complete sources of protein but tend to require consumption in higher quantities to provide the same protein content as animal sources. That isn’t to say you can’t obtain adequate protein as a vegan or vegetarian, you just might need to plan a little more thoroughly.
Interestingly, the most important essential amino acid when it comes to regulating muscle protein synthesis is Leucine, which is required in a quantity of about 3g to maximally stimulate the cellular pathways that are key to MPS. You’ll likely get 3g of leucine in a 20g complete protein source, so no need to worry about this. I just thought it was interesting how one little amino acid plays such an important role in the MPS pathways.
Some protein sources are digested more quickly that others, take for example whey vs casein - because whey is faster digesting/absorbing it enters the bloodstream and becomes available to the muscles much more quickly than casein but it also means that amino acids in the blood are elevated for a shorter duration vs casein. People sometimes supplement with casein before bed, this is a period of time where we are fasted so some people may find benefit in the elevated amino acid availability that casein offers for a slightly extended period of time. You may be better saving your money by eating Greek yoghurt before bed (if you’re really serious about muscle building), milk products such as yoghurt contain both whey and casein protein so you’ll get the benefit of both.
Timing
Refers to when protein is consumed around workouts. People often overthink protein timing or assume that if they miss the ‘protein window’ after a workout, they’ll lose all their gains. The protein window is much larger than we think and rates of muscle protein synthesis are increased for up to 48 hours after resistance training. Rates decrease over the course of the 48 hours by which time you’ll most likely have done another workout anyway AND it’s likely you’ll have something to eat an hour or two after training, whether that’s a meal or a protein shake or bar.
So don’t fret too much about drinking your protein from a shake as you’re walking out the gym, unless you’re a seasoned lifter looking for as many advantages as you can get.
Even though it isn’t absolutely imperative to consume protein directly after a workout, it’s preferable and conducive to muscle building goals to eat soon after, for example 1-2 hours after finishing your workout.
main take homes
Your protein intake is important but it’s only part of the bigger picture. It’s a good place to start and if you’re returning to the gym and ramping up your resistance training, you’ll put yourself in an extremely advantageous position by supporting your training with adequate nutrition. So when it comes to protein, remember:
Total intake - 1.6-2.2g per kg of lean body weight. If you’re environmentally conscious, you may choose to follow the lower end of recommended protein range (1.6-2.2g per kg body weight) and/or replace some animal sources of protein with plant proteins.
Distribution - 3-5 servings of 20-30g per day (maybe even upwards of 40g if you want that extra 10% benefit following a full body session) and spread them evenly throughout the day.
Quality - animal sources generally contain all the essential amino acids, you may have to plan a little more robustly if you’re vegetarian or vegan.
Timing - once you’ve nailed all of the above you might want to think about timing protein servings so that you’re eating within 1-2 hours of finishing a resistance training session.
This is all of course very generic advice and based on what we currently know. There are nuances in all areas and it’s up to you how and if you action the information. If you’d like some more bespoke guidance to help you build muscle, I can help so let’s chat!
- Catherine
References: Bauer et al., 2013 - Evidence based recommendations for optimal dietary protein intake in older people: a position paper from the PROT_AGE study group; Kraemer & Ratamess 2004 - Fundamentals of resistance training: progression and exercise prescription; Li et al., 2018 - Associations of muscle mass and strength with all-cause mortality among US older adults; Little & Phillips, 2009 - Resistance exercise and nutrition to counteract muscle wasting; Macnaughton et al., 2016 - The response of muscle protein synthesis following whole-body resistance exercise is greater following 40g than 20g of ingested whey protein; Moore et al., 2009 - Differential stimulation of myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic protein synthesis with protein ingestion at rest and after resistance exercise; Tang et al, 2009 - Ingestion of whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate: effects on mixed muscle protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men.