What are the benefits of protein for muscle gain?

• protein
• muscle gain
• amino acids
• hypertrophy
• toptips

Protein is made up of different amino acids which are the building blocks for muscle tissue growth and repair. Second, to water, protein is the body's most abundant material however, the body can only produce 11 of 20 essential amino acids internally, therefore the remaining 9 amino acids must be sourced through your diet. Complete protein sources (meat, fish, quinoa) contain all 9 essential amino acids that your body needs for muscle protein synthesis.
The amount of protein and timing also matters! 
For muscle gain (hypertrophy) to occur, you need to ensure that the formation of muscle proteins is greater than the breakdown of muscle proteins = anabolic > catabolic state. For this reason, your body needs to be in a positive nitrogen balance. Nitrogen is essential for muscle growth as it tells your body that it has recovered from the last workout putting your body in an anabolic state. As protein is the only macronutrient that contains nitrogen, one can assume that a positive nitrogen balance is associated with sufficient levels of protein which is the optimal state for muscle growth.
How much protein should you eat per day?
Leucine is one of the most important amino acids as it turns "on" the anabolic response in the muscle. However, after muscle protein synthesis is increased by leucine, its levels will reduce again and this happens over the period of 3-4 hours. Consequently, the amount of protein you eat per day should be spaced out to maximise muscle protein synthesis. Research has shown that athletes should be consuming between 1.6-2.2 g of protein per body weight each day which can be broken down into 30-40 g of protein per meal depending on your goals. This will ensure you are hitting the leucine threshold adequately. Eating more than 40 g of protein per meal may increase muscle protein synthesis but there is a limit to how much muscle protein synthesis can occur so it recommended that protein is spread out throughout the day rather than consumed all at once! Animal-based protein is higher in leucine than plant-based therefore you can increase the minimum intake per meal to ensure you are getting enough leucine in.

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