Protein Loading For Metabolism And Muscle Building

Can you trick your metabolism into building more muscle? Protein loading is a very good method to help increase metabolism and muscle building.

The adage “you are what you eat” is nowhere truer than in the context of bodybuilding. We can exercise hard and often, employing the most sophisticated techniques, but - unless we fuel our bodies properly - our hard labor in the gym will be useless. Basically, we can get out of our bodies only what we put into them.

From more than a decade of clinical trials of our innovative weight-training system has come a new understanding of the ways in which dietary intake can be manipulated in conjunction with weight training to promote maximum muscle growth. We call this the Protein Loading Principle. And there is no better way in getting all the protein you need then with Cytosports line of protein supplements.

METABOLISM & MUSCLE BUILDING

To understand how protein loading works, it’s necessary to have a general idea of the processes of metabolism. Metabolism refers to the whole range of chemical and physiological processes by which a living organism produces energy to maintain its vital functions/These include the replacement of cells, recuperation and muscle development.

The reason there is no single caloric formula for weight gain (or weight loss, for that matter) is that individual metabolisms differ. What is optimal for one person concerning food intake may simply be inadequate for another. Your individual metabolism is thus critical to the determination of how much muscle you can gain and how quickly you can gain it.

Within the body are two aspects of the metabolic process: the anabolic or building-up process and the catabolic or breaking-down process. Muscle building depends largely on creating a positive anabolic state, that is, on ensuring that the energy intake is directed more toward the process of building up the body than to the loss of body mass.

The fundamental reason some people gain weight quickly and others gain it slowly is the speed at which these processes take place within the body. Building muscle is itself a way of influencing metabolism. The more muscular we are, the more energy we will need to maintain our body state. Our exercise regimen stimulates metabolism and keeps it elevated for several hours after the workout.

The intimate connection between exercise and metabolism suggests the possibility of manipulating the combination of exercise and diet in such a way that the body’s response can actually be modified to allow the anabolic effects to predominate, i.e., to increase strength and muscle size.

High metabolic rates create a special problem for those who wish to gain weight, since their bodies seem to require enormous quantities of food simply to maintain equilibrium. Since high-intensity exercise elevates metabolism, the obvious question arises: How can a bodybuilder with a high metabolic rate use high-intensity exercise and diet to gain weight? Won’t his already elevated metabolism become even more so, with the result that he actually loses weight?

The answer is relatively simple. To further elevate the metabolism of a person whose metabolism is already elevated is extremely difficult - just as it’s difficult to lower the metabolism of a person whose metabolism is already low.

The human organism works according to a principle called homeostasis. Homeostasis means that the organism will respond to demands upon it using as little energy as possible to do the job. This is the way in which the body preserves its natural equilibrium.

One way of facilitating this process is through certain forms of high-intensity exercise that encourage the slowing of an already high metabolism so that the body can accommodate the increased demands of the training with minimal disruption to the system’s equilibrium. The other - and complementary -approach is through dietary intake, and this is where protein loading comes in.

With the exception of the water component, protein represents 98-99% of the skeletal muscles. It has been estimated that a total “renewal” of the materials in the cells that compose our muscles takes place every six months. This constant process of cell replacement is hastened by intensive exercise.

HOW MUCH PROTEIN

According to the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) established by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the World Health Organization, only 0.8 gram of protein per kilogram of bodyweight is sufficient to sustain the body’s daily requirements. Though the issue has not been decided definitively, the evidence suggests that considerably more protein than that is required for muscle building.

Since nitrogen is a central component of protein, the interplay between protein production and protein breakdown in the body is measured by what are termed nitrogen balance studies. If the intake of nitrogen exceeds the amount of nitrogen excreted, a state of positive nitrogen balance exists and muscle growth is enhanced. Negative nitrogen balance occurs when nitrogen excretion exceeds the nitrogen intake.

Until recently, the orthodox view has been that muscle mass could not be increased if the body exhibited a negative nitrogen balance, and there has been widespread debate as to whether exercise alters protein metabolism sufficiently to hasten a nitrogen deficit.

Our own clinical studies suggest that high-intensity exercise decidedly increases the protein requirements of the athlete. This view is in accordance with that of Dr. Scott Connelly, who said: “Any setting of an amount of protein theoretically necessary must be set against the background of activity (caloric requirements)…. Without this, assigning someone an arbitrary daily protein need is ludicrous.” In addition, variations arise from the digestibility of different types of protein. For example, egg protein is deemed to have a higher protein efficiency ratio than soybean protein.

If training increases the level of daily protein requirement, and if sufficient protein is a major factor in the augmentation of muscle mass, how should we eat in order to achieve maximum growth? Protein loading suggests one answer to this question.

Author: Rex Grogan
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