Weekly Supplement BS Report

 

Just last week I ran into an old buddy at my gym. He’d just finished his workout, and was guzzling down a protein drink in a can I’d never seen before. I asked him the usual questions: where he got it, how much did it cost, and how much protein was in it. Even though it was a cheap knock-off brand, it had 35 grams of protein per can. And to my surprise, that was the second can he had drank in the last 20 minutes. For those that lack math skills, that’s 70g of protein in 20 minutes. And even more surprising, he was grinning ear to ear because he thought it was all going straight to his muscles. Apparently, he also lived by the mantra “more is better.”

 

Now if you read my article a couple weeks ago about protein pulsing, you probably have an idea where I’m going with this. Anything in excess is unhealthy for you, even water. So guess where almost 50g of that 70g of protein went? Fat and oxidation. No one needs 70g of protein at one sitting. In fact, according to the majority of clinical studies out there, no one really needs more than 20-25g of protein at one sitting. 70g of protein at one sitting is no more anabolic than 25g of protein at one sitting. The only benefit the extra protein provides is extra calories. And for many of us, that’s not really a benefit.

 

20-30g of protein is more than enough protein to switch your body from a catabolic state to an anabolic state. Rarely will a clinical study use more than 25g of protein. Why? Because that’s all that’s needed to turn on muscle protein synthesis. Anything more than that, and it’s not being used for its intended purpose: muscle protein synthesis. A study I had in the protein pulsing article looked at the correlation between the amount of protein consumed and muscle protein synthesis. The result: 40g was no more effective than 20g. And anything excess was oxidized.

 

Why do people consume more than 30g in one sitting? Why do manufacturers put 40g of protein in one serving? I have no idea. Stupidity maybe? Ignorance?

 

It makes entirely more sense to split up the 40g shake. Take 20g now, and then 20g 2 hours later. You’ll get a much longer anabolic response. And I’d be willing to bet, you’ll also lose a little fat.

 

Stop wasting your money. Train smart. Eat smart. Supplement smart.

 

 

 

Weekly Supplement BS report #4

Weekly Supplement BS Report #4

October 6th, 2009 Volume I Issue 5

This last week has been kind of crazy at Muscle Geeks so I’m a little behind schedule. Our facebook app has moved from the planning stage to the development stage, we’ve decided to give our website a complete makeover, and we’re adding product descriptions to every product in our store. Plus, we’re also preparing for an advertising launch at 10 major colleges over the next 3 months. On top of all of that, my deadline for an article in Fitness and Physique Magazine was due this past weekend.

Now that all is back to normal, I can get back to the real BS.
This week’s article is going to be a little shorter than the rest. It’s not because of time constraints though. It’s actually because I’m not really for sure what I believe just yet… I don’t know if I really can call it BS. But if I can, my diet will be forever changed.

I first came across this topic around 6-8 months ago on a bodybuilding message board. The members were debating the topic of “protein pulsing.” Apparently over the last couple of years, there’s been a growing amount of research supporting its benefits for bodybuilders. According to its supporters, muscle protein synthesis slows almost to a halt if the muscle is constantly supplied with amino acids, similar to how Type II Diabetes develops. They theorize that’s it’s better to let your body reach a catabolic state (almost zero amino acids in the bloodstream), and then quickly flood your bloodstream with amino acids via a fast-digesting protein. This way, your muscles do not become “desensitized” to amino acids and muscle protein synthesis is improved above and beyond that of a normal protein intake. If this theory holds true, the old way of thinking about protein intake (1-2g per pound of body weight) may vary well be sent to the the BS box along with creatine ethyl ester, serum creatine, etc.

 

After I had read the entire discussion and reviewed some of the studies, I thought I’d try it out. So I developed my own protein pulsing protocol, and have been using it for the last 3 months. I’ve been consuming between 150-180g daily instead of my usual 250g daily. Thus far, I must say I have been impressed. It appears as though I’ve lost a little flab, while subsequently adding a little size (via the mirror, no objective tests). I’m also hovering around 205 lbs, 5-7 lbs over my average weight. I’m most happy with my weights though. On almost every major lift, I’ve either hit my all-time max even though I’m 15-20 pounds lighter than when I hit them prior to, or I’ve surpassed my all-time maxes. That’s pretty impressive, especially when you consider my diet really hasn’t changed (other than the decrease in calories from less protein) and I haven’t added any other supplements than what I normally take. And even my weight routine is relatively the same.

 

However, even with my own personal results, I still wasn’t convinced protein pulsing was superior. There’s just too many factors involved in strength training and bodybuilding. I could easily be overlooking something that I’m doing now that I wasn’t doing before. Sometimes the most trivial things can make the biggest difference. Then two things crossed my desk. I was perusing Function Ingredients magazine, and there was a small article about a doctor out of Texas who wholeheartedly believes that the body cannot digest more than 20g of protein per sitting. According to him, anything more the 20 grams, and you’re wasting it. However, there was no supportive material with it, just the doctor’s opinion. Then a fellow Geek brought the following study to my attention:

Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men.

Moore DR, Robinson MJ, Fry JL, Tang JE, Glover EI, Wilkinson SB, Prior T, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM.

Exercise Metabolism Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jan;89(1):161-8. Epub 2008 Dec 3

BACKGROUND: The anabolic effect of resistance exercise is enhanced by the provision of dietary protein. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine the ingested protein dose response of muscle (MPS) and albumin protein synthesis (APS) after resistance exercise. In addition, we measured the phosphorylation of candidate signaling proteins thought to regulate acute changes in MPS. DESIGN: Six healthy young men reported to the laboratory on 5 separate occasions to perform an intense bout of leg-based resistance exercise. After exercise, participants consumed, in a randomized order, drinks containing 0, 5, 10, 20, or 40 g whole egg protein. Protein synthesis and whole-body leucine oxidation were measured over 4 h after exercise by a primed constant infusion of [1-(13)C]leucine. RESULTS: MPS displayed a dose response to dietary protein ingestion and was maximally stimulated at 20 g. The phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6 kinase (Thr(389)), ribosomal protein S6 (Ser(240/244)), and the epsilon-subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2B (Ser(539)) were unaffected by protein ingestion. APS increased in a dose-dependent manner and also reached a plateau at 20 g ingested protein. Leucine oxidation was significantly increased after 20 and 40 g protein were ingested. CONCLUSIONS: Ingestion of 20 g intact protein is sufficient to maximally stimulate MPS and APS after resistance exercise. Phosphorylation of candidate signaling proteins was not enhanced with any dose of protein ingested, which suggested that the stimulation of MPS after resistance exercise may be related to amino acid availability. Finally, dietary protein consumed after exercise in excess of the rate at which it can be incorporated into tissue protein stimulates irreversible oxidation.

Hmmm… Do we really need all that protein? Is timing more important than quantity? Has the bodybuilding community been wrong all these years? Does the average (non-enhanced) gym rat really need to be consuming 1-2 grams per body weight?

Honestly, I don’t know. I think this is a no-win argument. I can probably argue both sides relatively easily from a scientific standpoint and from a real-world standpoint. In fact, both methods have been successful for me. I’ve ballooned up to 225-230 lbs while consuming 300-350g of protein daily, and I’ve quietly grown to 205 lbs with just 0.73g per pound of body weight. During both of those stages, I’ve achieved my all-time maxes in all three of my major lifts.

I’ll take the easy way out though. I won’t call BS on it just yet. I think they both have their places in a transformation. It’s just something to think about, and possibly experiment with especially if you’re in a rut.

Just be warned, you’ve probably already been beat down with the various carb cycling diets out there. Protein cycling is next…