There are all kinds of diet recommendations all over the fitness magazines and websites that advise you to divide your eating into different "ratios" and "percentages" for building muscle mass and gaining weight.
Some recommend high fat, low
carb, others say moderate
carbs, moderate fat, high
carbs, low fat, etc. But the one thing that each and every one of these "weight gain" / "muscle building" diets say is it must be HIGH in protein. On almost every page there are adverts on whey protein supplements promoting the stuff with incredible claims.
The truth is it is not necessary at all to eat a diet high in protein to gain muscle weight.
Some even suggest you have to not only eat high, but massive amounts of protein to build muscle. Then you look at the nature and the most powerful land animals such as horses, elephants, bulls, rhinos and Gorillas actually have very little protein. Also, a growing baby's diet has less than 6% protein, yet I've seen claims that you need to consume 35% protein to gain muscle. Of course this is all propaganda.
This Myth is due to 3 reasons:
1) Most people think that muscle tissue is made up mostly of protein
2) Most people think that either high amounts of fat or high amounts of carbohydrates will cause you to get fat
3) Most people think that protein has a "
thermogenic" (inner-body temperature raising) effect, which helps burn fat
All three of these beliefs are completely wrong!
Muscle tissue is NOT made up of mostly of protein. Muscle tissue is 70% water.
The other 30% is made of glucose, and Amino acids. Your muscles need just as much glucose (which is what carbohydrates are converted into), if not more than protein to gain muscle size.
Those that have medically studied the physiology of the human body know that amino acids are what make up protein.
However, the body uses whatever amount of amino acids it needs at that particular moment. The rest it stores for later use.
It is not true that you need to be eating a steady stream of protein to gain muscle weight, your body keeps a little pool of stored amino acids.
Protein is by far the most difficult
macro nutrient to break down and digest and the higher the amount of protein you eat the more stress you are placing on your digestive system. High protein diets can lead to kidney stones and will make your blood more acidic leading to increased joint pain.
Have you ever noticed how you feel when you eat a huge burger or steak?
Even after several hours have passed, it still feels like you've got that entire piece of meat just sitting and rotting in your stomach.
How much benefit in gaining muscle weight do you think that's going to give you?
Have you ever drank those disgusting protein shakes or eaten those chalk-tasting protein bars? You get gas, you feel bloated, and you might even get diarrhea.
There are several real-life examples of athletes that don't consume massive amounts of protein to gain muscle weight, yet have tremendous physiques, are in excellent health, are powerful, fast, and agile.
Here's just a few:-
- Mike Mahler - Kettlebell expert
- Jon Hinds - Pan American Ju-jitsu Gold medalist, owner of Lifeline fitness and founder of the Monkey Bar Gymnasium
- Bill Manetti - Powerlifting champion
- Stan Price - World weight lifting record holder; bench press
- Chris Campbell - Olympic wrestling champion
- Luke Cummo - UFC Ultimate Fighter
- Carl Lewis - Multi-Olympic Champion
You can eat all the protein in the world and not gain one pound of muscle weight if you aren't eating enough calories.
Remember, it doesn't matter what we've been fed by the magazines and companies trying to sell us their latest protein concoction; training hard using full body exercises and eating high quality nutrients is the key to success.
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