Protein – every gym goer’s favourite supplement.

• nutrition
• protein
• supplements
• exercise
• muscle growth
• athletes
• toptips

 

If you’re into your fitness you will see protein everywhere, take a look around next time you’re in the gym (April 12th can’t come fast enough ) and you’ll see people sinking a protein shake, eating a protein bar out of the gym vending machines, shakers everywhere. They all know to get a high protein meal in regularly throughout the day. Everyone knows they need protein but are we having enough? And do some people have too much? How do we know?

Well, the amount we need depends on our training, our goals and most importantly our body weight. The protein requirements of bodybuilders, sportsmen, cyclists, and general gym goers are all different. The absolute minimum you need is 0.8 grams per kilogram of your body weight, so if you weigh 100kg, the minimum you would need per day is 80 grams.

 

If your goal is to lose body fat aim for around 1.2-1.4 grams per kilogram.

For Muscular development aim for 1.4-1.6 grams per kilogram.

If you’re involved in high-intensity sports, team sports, or even cycling you’ll need around 1.7 grams per kilogram.

And for bodybuilders, you’ll need between 1.6 grams and 2.2 grams per kilogram.

 

Your protein can come from any source, and the timing doesn’t matter all that much either. It doesn’t need to be a shake or protein bar, and it certainly doesn’t need to be within the first 30 minutes post-workout like some people like to believe. You can get your protein in whenever it suits you, but make sure you space out your servings throughout the day.

 

If building muscle is your goal and you’re looking to maximise muscle protein synthesis – the process of building muscle, you’ll want to make sure that you’re getting a serving regularly throughout the day, but not too regularly – this is where it gets interesting… As many know, protein is made up of a group of compounds called amino acids, there are 20 in total of which 9 have to come from food – the Essential Amino Acids. One of these essential amino acids is a branched-chain amino acid called Leucine – this is the trigger for MPS.

 

Leucine acts as an independent trigger for Muscle Protein Synthesis so we should aim to get around 2.5g (of Leucine – the amount in each high protein food varies) in every meal to start the process. But (there’s always a but isn’t there), you need to let your leucine levels drop back down to baseline level before spiking it again, as recent studies have shown that keeping your leucine levels high won’t enhance the effect, it can hinder it. Once your threshold has been reached your body signals that the muscle is full it will use any other leucine in other areas of the body. It will continue to do this until the Leucine reaches its baseline level again, usually around 4-5 hours when it can be spiked again to restart the process. So don’t be topping up your protein every 2 hours or so, be patient and eat a little more in your main meals.

 

Plan your day, whether your protein is meat, fish, dairy or from non-animal sources (that vegan life) and make sure to give your body time in between to reset.

 

One final thought… don’t forget to train hard! You’ll need that progressive overload too!

 

Written by Matt Lockley of Shape Up Nutrition.

A Level 4 qualified Nutrition Coach

Web - www.shape-up-nutrition.com

Email - matt@shape-up-nutrition.com

Insta - www.instagram.com/shape_upnutrition

 

 

The author of this article/blog/ is a qualified Level 4 Nutrition coach. Further detail regarding the author can be found via the website or social media handle listed above.

 

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