8 Facts About Protein, Protein Powder & Muscle

It is always best to exercise and consume protein to increase muscle protein synthesis.

There are 3 ways to grow muscle. Lift weights, take anabolic steroids or SARMs, and increase your protein intake. I recommend staying natural and lifting weights and consuming more calories mainly from protein. If you cannot eat your protein you buy protein powder. Quality determines your gains in muscle. The harder you lift and the more often the more muscle you’ll gain. The higher quality of food, the better chance you’ll have to increase muscle protein synthesis. Protein coming from corn is not better than protein coming from milk and eggs. Quality protein is determined by the DIAA score. If you combine high-quality protein with exercise that will give your body the best chance to increase muscle mass. Professional bodybuilders that look unnatural are combining all three: drugs, high protein, and exercise, that is why they look they way they do. If one of those is missing they will not be as huge as they are. Therefore when you lift, make sure to consume protein before or after training.

Some studies to look at that relate protein intake, exercise, and gains.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26842665?dopt=Abstract

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-3-2-12

You should consume between 20 and 40 grams of protein per serving, even more if you’re elderly

The amount of protein that you should consume should be between 20 and 40 grams. The government’s RDA has been determined to be to low to maximize muscle protein synthesis. I believe that everyone is different to some degree or another, so an estimate is the best you can do. Protein is not a drug, so one cannot overdose on protein powder. Nor do you want to get a scale and measure your protein to the milligram. As long as you get a nice serving of protein in a meal or in a powder like whey protein isolate you are giving your body the best chance for muscle growth. However, I also believe training intensity does factor in. If you are training like a mad man 7 days a week your protein intake should be higher. Keep in mind if you are cutting your carbohydrate intake you should increase your protein intake as well. My recommendation is to use a protein blend if you are cutting your calories. Something as simple as combining whey protein an casein protein. You can even use something like the Muscle Shake.

If you are old, say over 55, then you want to further increase your protein intake. Makes perfectly good sense to me. Growth hormone and testosterone levels are naturally decreasing so you would naturally want to exercise MORE and increase the quality of your protein food or protein powders. Using something more elite like Peptopro or Hydrolyzed whey protein 520.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/resistance-exercise-enhances-myofibrillar-protein-synthesis-with-graded-intakes-of-whey-protein-in-older-men/3D6DF3A0BD1E312A3BD39CB0A4361B0F

Don’t Forget About Leucine, Very Important

I always tell my customers that one of my most underrated products is leucine peptides. I don’t think one research scientist who has conducted studies on amino acids and protein powders can disagree with me in that leucine is one of THE most, if not the most important amino acid to help increase muscle protein synthesis. The reason why whey protein powder works so well to help increase muscle mass is that it is high in leucine. That is why it is important not to forget the leucine in your diet if you are trying to increase muscle mass. Milk protein contains one of the highest concentrations of naturally occurring leucine.

IMPORTANT: NOT L-Leucine. My position is that it is pretty much useless. You can simply consume more whey protein if you want more leucine. Or get my leucine peptides.

I found an interesting study where researchers were able to increase muscle protein synthesis by just using leucine and carbohydrates. That just shows you the power of leucine. Keep in mind however that a complete amino acid profile still beats leucine alone. Meaning it does not make sense just to consume leucine and not other protein sources. My recommendation for leucine peptides is 1 to 2 teaspoons or 5 grams approximately, remember these are not drugs, these are food products.

Protein Intake Should be Spaced Out Throughout the Day

The anabolic effects of protein does not last that long in the body. Whey, chicken, beef, fish, milk, or a vegan source of protein pretty much evaporates within a few hours. Therefore it remains a rule for those wishing to build muscle mass that you should consume some form of protein every 3 to 4 hours if you wish to keep in a positive nitrogen state. If you cannot eat the protein source you can use a protein powder, which most people do. I consider protein powder quality convenient food. Most of the time it is less expensive to drink a protein powder than it is to eat food. Protein bars, chicken sandwichs, beef jerky, eggs, are all most of the time more expensive than protein powder. The best choice of a protein powder during the day is a protein blend. Our Muscle Shake is a native blend. The only one in the industry. It consists of fast and slow digesting such as milk protein isolate, whey protein isolate, and micellar casein. This protein powder will give you body a dose of both fast and slow acting protein powders that is high in leucine.

Below is a research study on protein timing

https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.2001.281.2.E197

Pre Or Post Workout? Does Not Matter!

Years ago when I first started Proteinfactory.com I would tell people to always use protein powder post workout. I based that on the theory that the you just put your body through a significant catabolic event and the body is now needing to recover, so feed it amino acids in the form of protein powder. One of my original formulas was a post workout formula that was 50% maltodextrin, 25% Hydrolyzed whey protein 520, and 25% CFM whey isolate. People have never experienced such a high degree of hydrolysate whey protein before and most people could not handle it. But for those that COULD handle it they experienced great gains. But little did I know that this formula could be taken pre or post workout, because the anabolic effects of bodybuilding last throughout the day. That is why it is important to space the protein intake throughout the day. Hopefully you can consume protein every 3 to 4 hours. But regardless, you can have a pre or post workout protein shake consisting of high quality hydrolyzed protein like Peptopro, Salmobolic 98, or Hydrolyzed whey protein 520 and carbs.

It is personal choice pre or post workout just make sure you do one of the other!

For me, I chose post workout. I like to juice up some vegetables and toss in some Peptopro and 520. What a great post workout drink. Lately I talked about pomegranate juice which I feel is really good to use.

The Faster The Better

You know I look at a lot of what my competitors are selling and saying in their marketing about the proteins that they own. Most say that theirs is the highest quality and the best and blah, blah, blah, blah. But unless their protein powder is a hydrolyzed protein from some source or another it is not the best. It is a FACT that the faster amino acids enter the bloodstream the better increase in muscle protein synthesis. If you are not using a hydrolyzed protein powder you are not using the best, plain and simple. If you want the best protein powder you’ll have to deal with the taste. I have written previous articles about scams most companies perpetrate when claiming to sell hydrolyzed protein powder. In my opinion, I’m the only company that sells real hydrolyzed protein powder. Make sure you always have a good hydrolyzed protein powder that you are consuming around your workouts.

Don’t Stray From the DIAA

Don’t get cute when it comes to picking protein sources. Sometimes a company will come out with a weird protein powder like buckwheat, chia, hemp, or cricket. But don’t be dazzled by these new protein powders. Protein quality is measured by the DIAA (digestible indispensable amino acid score). For you old schoolers like me, forget the biological value and PDCAA those are totally outdated. Those proteins top on the list is your native protein powders like milk protein isolate, whey protein isolate and whey protein concentrate. Muscle Shake is a native whey protein blend. That is why so many people using it are experiencing great results.

NATIVE protein powders along with hydrolyzed protein should be your first go to.

Pre Sleep protein powder is definitely a great idea

Taking a casein protein powder is a great idea right before bedtime. Not only will it help increase muscle protein synthesis, but it will help increase your metabolism. Simply use a micellar casein protein powder and you’re good to go.

https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00331.2016

facts about protein powder