Normal protein requirements for athletes and awesomeness
(originally posted on TylerMethod.com blog of outdoor resistance training)
It's funny to read other muscle-building advice and one thing that always urks me is the suggested protein requirements that are offered.
Here's a little tip: if you're not taking steroids, there is no reason to get 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. There's not even a reason to take .5 grams of protein/lb. Read further if you disagree.
In fact, when you were just a baby feeding from your mother's milk, you were only consuming roughly 5% protein from nature's perfect nutrition. Not a typo. And the fact that humans develop the most rapidly at birth, tells me that the protein requirements are much smaller and perfect carbohydrates and fat-burning/muscle-building essential fatty acids are also very important in building an athletic body and brain. And a healthy one.
The biggest explanation for the rapid amount of growth as a baby, is mainly due to hormonal levels. I mean, babies sleep CONSTANTLY and this is largely due to their pituitary gland pumping out incessant amounts of growth hormone (along with other relatively sparsely known hormones such as cortisol, estrogen, etc.).
When you are experiencing a "perfect hormone profile" as a youngster (or even as a teenager, the muscle growth and fat-loss is still substantial compared to when you enter your 30's) you need FEWER building blocks to build the same kind of muscle.
In fact, the first steroid ever was called testosterone suspension and was manufactured by Nazi Germans in the early 1930's. Well, what did these Nazi's do with the juice? They did what any bad little Nazi would do and injected it into their prisoners of war and fed them substantially FEWER CALORIES but still maintained weight much better than their endocronic (natural) brethren, consuming the same amount of food. In other words, the prisoners on anabolics didn't lose much weight while "normal" prisoners nearly starved.
Why? Because the testosterone doses were high enough to significantly increase protein-synthesis so that LESS FOOD was being processed more efficiently, helping to stave off severe muscle-loss.
You see, when your DNA is processing requests at its fullest capacity (influenced by testosterone) you feel better, you get better results in the gym, you're less prone to injury and your cognitive function is at it's peak. However, just like with everything in life there is a need for balance and efficient consumption of calories. While muscles consist of proteins, massive consumption of amino-acids will not simply make you "more muscular" overnight-or even over the summer.
The consistent effort and erratic training stimuli that the best athletes all use, is what will help you build the most muscle and get the strongest and fastest you've ever been. But isn't all training advice boring, slow, tedious with results being moderate? Of course it is. Results of any kind are hard-fought, which makes success that much sweeter.
However, when you build your strength and muscle on natural fundamentals that don't involve synthetic analogs of testosterone you are sparing your liver, kidney, testicles, heart, prostate, brain, joints and even psychological well-being. Your painful injections are in vain, I'm afraid (pun intended). Ouch.
Embracing the natural fundamentals that I speak of involves doing the obvious things like getting 8 hours of sleep every night (or as much as feasibly possible-more sleep means more fat-loss, better protein synthesis, better cognitive ability), eating MOSTLY natural foods that are not processed, and giving every single workout the absolute attention that it deserves and requires. Go hard or go home.
Let's look at sleep for a minute. There are millions of teenagers that want, in some way, shape or form, to be the next Arnold Schwarzeneger, Roberto Clemente, Lee Haney, Michael Jordan or even Tiger Woods (he is one of the best golfers ever, infidelity aside). With this said, a broad swath of this proposed population of young athletes will NEVER go on to achieving their TRUE potential as an athlete SIMPLY because they refuse to be disciplined about getting enough sleep.
The crazy part is, motorists are in deadly accidents NOT because they were drunk but because their reaction times were so bad due to severe lack of sleep...on their way to work! According to statistics and reaction times, driving while extremely tired is just as perilous as driving drunk. Moral of the story? How are you going to REALLY kick some tail in the gym, at the field, on the track and in the classroom while maintaining a peak protein-synthesis (more muscle and strength) with 4-6 hours of sleep? Short answer: You're not. No matter what kind of supplement you take.
So this is a pretty important detail in the broad focus of becoming a better athlete and a healthier human being. Sleep is necessary and so are natural foods. Diets are just that, diets. The first three letters spell D-I-E. Hmmmmmm.
Grab something to eat that is REALLY natural and make it a habit. 28 days in a row and you're a new person with more sleep and natural foods is really the cornerstone of every physical discipline. And it happens to be the biggest contributors to revving up your muscle-gains, strength gains (most strength is actually gained via the nervous system, which needs A LOT of sleep) and overall health.
I'm not saying ditch the powdered protein. I'm not even saying ditch that steak that you have grillin' on the George Foreman grill while the game is on. I'm simply saying you gotta GREEN it up in your life and start workin' in some salads (spinach aka "Superfood"), almonds, oatmeal, brown rice, hummus, olives, black beans, the whole nine...instead of that Big Mac after the game. Small, constant attention to improvement is what can help you separate yourself from the herd.
Isn't it time to be in the front?
Jacob Tyler
Check out our daily Tyler Method blog for tips and advice to get in awesome shape for pennies a day
Purchase a pair of Tyler Grips and get freaky forearms and biceps
Follow TylerGrip on Twitter for daily exercise and nutrition tips and advice
Become a friend of TylerGrip.com on Facebook
Email TylerGrip.com
(originally posted on TylerMethod.com blog of outdoor resistance training)
It's funny to read other muscle-building advice and one thing that always urks me is the suggested protein requirements that are offered.
Here's a little tip: if you're not taking steroids, there is no reason to get 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. There's not even a reason to take .5 grams of protein/lb. Read further if you disagree.
In fact, when you were just a baby feeding from your mother's milk, you were only consuming roughly 5% protein from nature's perfect nutrition. Not a typo. And the fact that humans develop the most rapidly at birth, tells me that the protein requirements are much smaller and perfect carbohydrates and fat-burning/muscle-building essential fatty acids are also very important in building an athletic body and brain. And a healthy one.
The biggest explanation for the rapid amount of growth as a baby, is mainly due to hormonal levels. I mean, babies sleep CONSTANTLY and this is largely due to their pituitary gland pumping out incessant amounts of growth hormone (along with other relatively sparsely known hormones such as cortisol, estrogen, etc.).
When you are experiencing a "perfect hormone profile" as a youngster (or even as a teenager, the muscle growth and fat-loss is still substantial compared to when you enter your 30's) you need FEWER building blocks to build the same kind of muscle.
In fact, the first steroid ever was called testosterone suspension and was manufactured by Nazi Germans in the early 1930's. Well, what did these Nazi's do with the juice? They did what any bad little Nazi would do and injected it into their prisoners of war and fed them substantially FEWER CALORIES but still maintained weight much better than their endocronic (natural) brethren, consuming the same amount of food. In other words, the prisoners on anabolics didn't lose much weight while "normal" prisoners nearly starved.
Why? Because the testosterone doses were high enough to significantly increase protein-synthesis so that LESS FOOD was being processed more efficiently, helping to stave off severe muscle-loss.
You see, when your DNA is processing requests at its fullest capacity (influenced by testosterone) you feel better, you get better results in the gym, you're less prone to injury and your cognitive function is at it's peak. However, just like with everything in life there is a need for balance and efficient consumption of calories. While muscles consist of proteins, massive consumption of amino-acids will not simply make you "more muscular" overnight-or even over the summer.
The consistent effort and erratic training stimuli that the best athletes all use, is what will help you build the most muscle and get the strongest and fastest you've ever been. But isn't all training advice boring, slow, tedious with results being moderate? Of course it is. Results of any kind are hard-fought, which makes success that much sweeter.
However, when you build your strength and muscle on natural fundamentals that don't involve synthetic analogs of testosterone you are sparing your liver, kidney, testicles, heart, prostate, brain, joints and even psychological well-being. Your painful injections are in vain, I'm afraid (pun intended). Ouch.
Embracing the natural fundamentals that I speak of involves doing the obvious things like getting 8 hours of sleep every night (or as much as feasibly possible-more sleep means more fat-loss, better protein synthesis, better cognitive ability), eating MOSTLY natural foods that are not processed, and giving every single workout the absolute attention that it deserves and requires. Go hard or go home.
Let's look at sleep for a minute. There are millions of teenagers that want, in some way, shape or form, to be the next Arnold Schwarzeneger, Roberto Clemente, Lee Haney, Michael Jordan or even Tiger Woods (he is one of the best golfers ever, infidelity aside). With this said, a broad swath of this proposed population of young athletes will NEVER go on to achieving their TRUE potential as an athlete SIMPLY because they refuse to be disciplined about getting enough sleep.
The crazy part is, motorists are in deadly accidents NOT because they were drunk but because their reaction times were so bad due to severe lack of sleep...on their way to work! According to statistics and reaction times, driving while extremely tired is just as perilous as driving drunk. Moral of the story? How are you going to REALLY kick some tail in the gym, at the field, on the track and in the classroom while maintaining a peak protein-synthesis (more muscle and strength) with 4-6 hours of sleep? Short answer: You're not. No matter what kind of supplement you take.
So this is a pretty important detail in the broad focus of becoming a better athlete and a healthier human being. Sleep is necessary and so are natural foods. Diets are just that, diets. The first three letters spell D-I-E. Hmmmmmm.
Grab something to eat that is REALLY natural and make it a habit. 28 days in a row and you're a new person with more sleep and natural foods is really the cornerstone of every physical discipline. And it happens to be the biggest contributors to revving up your muscle-gains, strength gains (most strength is actually gained via the nervous system, which needs A LOT of sleep) and overall health.
I'm not saying ditch the powdered protein. I'm not even saying ditch that steak that you have grillin' on the George Foreman grill while the game is on. I'm simply saying you gotta GREEN it up in your life and start workin' in some salads (spinach aka "Superfood"), almonds, oatmeal, brown rice, hummus, olives, black beans, the whole nine...instead of that Big Mac after the game. Small, constant attention to improvement is what can help you separate yourself from the herd.
Isn't it time to be in the front?
Jacob Tyler
Check out our daily Tyler Method blog for tips and advice to get in awesome shape for pennies a day
Purchase a pair of Tyler Grips and get freaky forearms and biceps
Follow TylerGrip on Twitter for daily exercise and nutrition tips and advice
Become a friend of TylerGrip.com on Facebook
Email TylerGrip.com
Real men don't take steroids. Compensation issues aside, it's just not good for your body.