Proteins Role In Muscle Building

Our shredded guest author Patryk explains in short what protein is, why and how much you need to build more muscle.

Why do you need protein to build muscle?

Protein is the building block of the body. When you train, the muscle tissue gets damaged and needs to be rebuilt through protein synthesis. This process is the basic of building muscle. Protein also affects your body composition by regulating hormones and water retention.

What is protein?

Proteins are macro-molecules containing chains of amino acids. Quality protein helps you get the essential amino acids that your body needs for protein synthesis but can't produce on it's own.

But what is quality protein and how much do you need to eat?

What is a good protein source?

This is what we look at if we want to find optimal protein sources:

• which essential amino acids are contained
• what is the energy value of the product
• is the protein easily digestible

Based on this criteria, animal products are considered optimal protein sources (especially egg whites). Vegetable proteins, on the other hand, generally lack one or more amino acids. These proteins, however, can be mixed with each other to provide all the essential amino acids.

For more info on non - meat and non - dairy protein check out vegan muscle building foods.

How much protein do you need to build muscle?

Include a quality protein source in every meal.

The point is not to eat tons of proteins, the point is to have a balanced nutrition that makes your body use the protein you eat for muscle building and not as an energy source.

For 1 gram of protein that you eat, you should eat around 24 calories (not grams) from carbohydrates and fat.

1 g protein = 4 kcal
1 g carbs = 4 kcal
1 g fat = 9 kcal

Let's say you eat 100 g of protein in one day, then you would eat another 2400 calories from fat or carbs. For example by eating 90 g of fat + 390 g of carbs, which would give you 810 kcal from fat + 1560 kcal from carbs.

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Can you eat too much protein?

Yes, you can eat more protein that your body can use. A lot of people only count the protein they eat from meat and diary. But the truth is that you get protein in other foods.

Handful of walnuts (30g = has 5 g of protein, 100 g of rice has 7 g of protein...) It is not scientifically proven that eating more than 30 g of protein per meal can help you build more muscle. So relax, train hard and eat a balanced diet, results will show with time.

About the author

Patryk is a trainer and workout enthusiast from Poland.

His body is a reflection of his passion for workout and nutrition research.

Check out his Instagram and web page with lots of advice - Deepbreath.pl (Polish), DeepBreath on Facebook (Polish)