The Truth About Protein

Information for those who work out and diet.


http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/guide-to-protein/

For anybody actually interested, did you know that whey protein isolate (there is a difference between "isolate" and "concentrate", with the former being the protein of choice for bodybuilding) is actually the highest quality protein that you can consume for quick muscle repair and recovery?

Skimmed over it. I'm just going to say:

Just drink whey protein isolate after your workout or as a source of protein to meet your protein needs and gain muscle (essentially 1g of protein/lbs of lean body mass. To do this your going to have to calculate your body fat percentage with a caliper). And then drink casein protein (protein found in milk, cottage cheese) at night just before you sleep as it is a slow digesting protein.

Of course, your also going to have to lift some heavy weights as well :P

Or even moderate weights, you can actually achieve the same effect of "muscle tearing" by lifting moderate weights, at a high rep count. I prefer lifting in this manner, so I don't bulk up too heavily (heavier weights, lower reps = bulkier size, lower weights, high reps = toning / conditioning). In either case you will build muscle since you are tearing the fibers, and supplementing muscle growth by taking in protein.

It's actually the opposite. Lifting heavier weights at lower reps does not make you bulkier, it just makes your muscles stronger. Lifting lower weights at higher rep is what makes your muscles grow bigger faster.

Muscle growth is called hypertrophy, the type of hypertrophy that affects muscle size most is sarcoplasmic and the type that affects strength most is myofibrillar.

Sarcoplasm is the fluid in your muscles which is why training for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy makes your muscles bigger faster. When you are doing more repetitions, your muscles need more sustained energy which is why your body increases the sarcoplasm in your muscles. Sarcoplasm is a fluid and it can hold nutrients/energy, and fluids can'd flex to create tension, so you might get bigger but you're not gonna get much stronger. There are different ways to train for this, 4 sets of 12 at a relatively fast reps with short breaks, or 3 sets of 8 with a 3/3 cadence, pyramid sets, supersets...etc. The ultimate goal is to create cumulative muscle fatigue.

Myofribillis are bundles of actomyosin, which are what helps the muscle contract. So to lift heavier weights, your muscles need to build a higher density of myofribillis. Increasing the myofribillis density makes no significant changes to your muscle size in comparison to increasing the sarcoplasm in your muscles (they're just tiny lil actins). The most famous method for strength training and increasing muscle density is the Bill Starr 5x5 method.

It's why powerlifters lift a huge amount of weight in relation to their body mass, while bodybuilders lift a much lower weight in relation to their body mass. Powerlifters train with 5x5 or other low rep training, while bodybuilders train with 4x12/etc and often adding on supersets.

This contradicts a lot of the information out there, including materials I have studied extensively on the subject (re "gaining mass" by anthony ellis, for example). In my own personal experiences as well, I have found that I do not build as much muscle when I am lifting moderate weights, that I am able to push to failure between 15-20 reps. I suppose maybe what you are saying could be true for some folks, but it is certainly not for my body type, and as I mentioned -- what you are saying goes against a lot of information out there on the subject.

Do a quick google search on how to build muscle, and you will find many articles that mention lifting heavy weights where you push to failure between 4-6 reps. Of course this doesn't mean I don't build muscle in the manner i've outlined, it happens no matter what -- it is a *slower* growth for me though.

The only source I can think of that recommends doing lower repetitions with higher weights to build muscle are the stronglift followers. But, I don't agree with that method at all. The approach is simple, pump your body full of hGh and insulin for fast growth. But in the end, the guys just end up chubby and bulky instead of gaining real muscle and remaining slim and sleek. Their advice should be avoided.

I'm familiar with anthony ellis's book The Secrets to Gaining Muscle Mass. He talks about doing 4 sets (starting with 6-8 reps and pyramids down), a superset to failure and then a burn out set. That is very geared towards sarcoplasmic hypertrophy as I described. He does describe doing a warm up set of 10-15 though (which I think is redundant).

I usually go through medical science and its studies when it comes to things regarding the human body. Then I find pros/amateurs that are following the same guidelines and try to model them. So far, everything I've done seems to hold true.

From what I learned, the reason why you're not building muscle is because you're doing 15-20 reps in a set. That is largely over the amount that should be performed in a set. To build muscle, 12 reps should be the highest amount in a set and there needs to be at least 4 consecutive sets with short breaks in between targeting the muscle group that is being worked. And there should be around 3 exercises back to back targeting the same muscle group. This is the way to create cumulative muscle fatigue in order to build bigger muscles effectively. This is for people that have been lifting for a while, because if you're just starting out, you can do anything and see gains.

But any stylized lifting phase has its lifespan. So if you're consistent week after week, your routine will stop giving you any real gains after 2-6 months. It's what people call a plateau. So if you're doing 15-20 reps to failure, it is outside the scope of maximizing on strength gains or muscle gains. If you're training to failure, you are also putting more stress on your central nervous system, cutting the routine/phase lifespan even shorter.