How Much Protein Do You Need to Build Muscle

 

Protein intake is critical to building muscles. This is an established fact in bodybuilding and weightlifting circles. Protein is a significant component of your muscles. That is, your muscles are made mostly of protein. With this fact known, the next question usually is, "How much protein do I need to build the muscles I want?"

The answer to that question is where there are differences among expert bodybuilders and weightlifters. While different studies support different protein intake levels, some factors make for the differences in these studies. Some of these factors include individual differences, whether the target person also needs to gain or lose weight, and so on.

Let’s zoom in a little on the role of Proteins in building muscles so that we’ll be able to establish how much protein is required.

The Role Of Protein In Building Muscles

When you break them into their building blocks, proteins are made up of amino acids. These amino acids are also the building blocks of your body's cells and tissues. That includes your muscles too.

When the body is starved of the essential amino acids it needs to build and grow new cells or tissues or to repair worn out tissues, it improvises. This improvisation includes taking amino acids in your body and using them in the places where they are most needed.

It also includes breaking down fats and carbohydrate stores in the body. The result is that you'll end up leaner (losing weight) over time. But this weight loss will be detrimental to any plans you have of building or growing your muscles because those amino acids may be collected from the muscles, depending on how great the need for them is.  

So, simply put, you need amino acids (from proteins) to grow your muscles. Without them, any efforts invested in muscle growth are a waste.

Muscle Protein Breakdown (MPB) And Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS)

Another essential factor you must consider when determining how much protein you need to build your muscles is the difference between muscle protein breakdown (MPB) and muscle protein synthesis (MPS).

MPB occurs every time the muscles are engaged in strenuous activity, such as in exercise. These kinds of activities create micro-tears in the muscle tissues. When this happens, amino acids are then sourced and transported to the sites of these tears to repair the broken down muscle and synthesize new tissues for replacing any damaged ones.

This process, where the muscles are repaired and maintained after a tear resulting from intense use, is known as muscle protein synthesis.

When Muscle Growth Occurs

In simple terms, muscle growth occurs when MPS happens faster or more than MPB.

To ensure that muscle protein synthesis outpaces the breakdown of muscle protein, you have to take in enough amounts of protein. This will enable the amino acids to be sourced from the protein you eat rather than from the muscles you already built. But eating more protein when your muscles are being used or exercised isn't the entire muscle growth equation.

You should also ensure you're getting enough rest because that's when the required protein synthesis and repair or replacement of muscle tissues occurs, and you need to eat sufficient amounts of fats and carbs for bulking.

So, to recap, your muscle growth equation has four essential parts:

·         Strategic training routine that triggers MPS,

·         Enough protein consumption for MPS,

·         Adequate rest, and

·         Intake of enough calories (bulk dieting) to help you gain weight.

I want to state here that you can also lose weight and gain muscles simultaneously. But this depends on different individual factors such as your fitness level, the body composition you start your weight and muscle training with, and more.

How Much Protein Do You Need To Eat To Gain Muscles?

As stated above, there are varying schools of thought on the precise amounts of protein to eat. But there are also some common grounds. While your particular protein need may differ based on age, fitness levels, starting body composition, and more factors, it is directly related to your muscle mass.

In other words, the more muscle mass you have and use, the more protein you will need to gain more muscles.

The results or recommendation from different studies include:

-          At least 1.6 to 17grams/kilogram (or 0.7 to 0.8 grams/pound) of body weight while doing strength training. This is according to older studies.

-          According to later studies, the requirement was 1.8 to 2.0 grams/kilograms (or 0.8 to 0.9 grams/pounds) of body weight.

-          A more recent and considerably larger study suggests 1.6 grams/kilogram (or 0.72 grams/pound) of body weight, indicating that anything more than that isn’t necessarily beneficial to MPS.

The one thing all of these recommendations have in common is that they all fall within the range the American College of Sports suggests. That range is 1.2 to 2.0 grams/kilogram (0.54 to 0.9grams/pound) of body weight. For a 150 pound adult, this translates to 81 to 136 grams of protein.

So, depending on where you are starting from, you can begin your protein consumption at 0.8 to 1 gram of protein/kilogram of body weight and adjust it to fit your actual demands as you observe your body and muscle growth. This can go up to 1.5 grams. You can source this protein from lean meats, plant-based proteins, fish, and dairy products.

 

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