The Quest for More Muscle... Separating Nutritional Fact from Fiction, By: Dave DePew and Jeff Kotterman

It is in every gym in the world. it has found its way into every type of person. People are trying to increase muscle. It could be for size and appearance. It could be for better sport performance. It could be to recover from an injury or illness or to raise the metabolism and lose weight. Those diligent exercisers, dieters and supplement guzzlers all have similar goals: to put on that extra poundage of hard, toned, delineated skeletal muscle.

The Myths

In the quest to cause the body to grow itself into desired shape we’ve worked out to the point of injury, stuffed ourselves with food to the point of nauseousness and tried every isolated nutrient sold even remotely related to protein synthesis.

Myth 1. Megadoses protein intake means extra muscle growth.

Insufficient protein intake does play a significant role in limiting muscle growth but, excess protein is not used to build muscle at a faster rate. If you take in more protein than is used for your workout recovery it just gets stored as fat or passes out of your body. Filtering the blood and emptying the bladder and bowl does take energy and does divert blood flow. Excess protein is just counter productive for your lean body mass goal. In the early days of my practice , I can remember getting a teen ready for his first body building show. I had brought his lean body mass up significantly. He was way more muscular and stronger than when we started six weeks back. I had started him with the fundamentals in any sports nutrition practice and then added the latest research to bring him just a couple of weeks out from his first show. We had one problem, though. He was three weeks out when he hit a plateau. He stopped losing body fat around 6.0%. We tried everything. Nothing worked until we dropped his protein. He lost the body fat and actually gained muscle for his show. How did he gain muscle with less protein in his diet? When we finally decreased his protein, we replaced lost calories with carbohydrates and essential fats. The primary macronutrient that drives lean body mass gain is carbohydrate, not protein.

How much Protein is Enough?

Exercise physiologists report that athletes (if your in the gym, your an athlete) need between .8 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight every day. Why convert pounds to kilograms? With this formula a 185 lb. male, 10% would eat the same amount of protein as a 185 lb. male 20%. That is why my practice follows the guidelines according to pounds of lean body mass, otherwise known as fat free mass or all the metabolically active tissue in your body. This means that you should be eating 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of lean body mass. To find out where you fall in this range simple depends on your activity level throughout the day. Whey protein has been proven to be very bioavailable. Use it as a protein source once or twice, daily. How much protein per meal? 20-45 grams is a safe range for most.

Myth 2. If your an athlete, eat carbs. carbs and more carbs. If your a bodybuilder, cut your carbs.

It’s in every exercise related journal, in college texts and taught in exercise physiology class. If you want to drive that muscle to maximum performance, eat a high carbohydrate, low fat diet. Wait a minute!! Walk into most gyms and what does your trainer say? “Cut your carbs!”

How much Carbohydrate is Enough?

This is a more sensitive issue concerning body composition. It is obvious that carbohydrate intake drives muscle growth. What gets burned during anaerobic muscle contraction? Glycogen or carbohydrate. How quickly you recover from your workouts ( growing muscle to prepare for the next weight workout) depends on how well you replenish muscle glycogen. Average muscle glycogen requirements per day for a 185 lb. male 12-15% is at least 320 grams. The quicker we replenish these stores, the faster we put on muscle. Consuming an excess of carbohydrate at one time will also cause triglyceride formation and increase bodyfat in order to protect blood sugar levels from rising. A good way to do this is to consume the carbs when muscle is most likely to receive it. This is within 15 to 30 minutes after a hard workout where there is significant glycogen usage. 100 grams of glucose from any of the popular sources such as Natures Best Perfect Carbs has been very effective with several of my clients

Myth 3. A low. low fat diet is the way to go for lean muscle growth.

So there’s low-fat, fat free everything on the shelves of food markets. If eating low fat or no fat was correct, America would be leaner. This is definitely not the case. We’re getting fatter. 

How Much Fat is Enough?

Part of the reason for rising obesity in this country is excess consumption of saturated fat. Part of the reason for the rising obesity in this country is also the low fat, high carbohydrate diet that is presumably perfect for athletes. Limiting essential fats causes all kinds of problems. When it comes to adding lean body mass, they are needed nutrients for joint lubrication, and connective tissue maintenance. Just like a piston needs grease, so does an active muscle need poly and mono unsaturated fats to keep excess friction in the myelin sheaths and tendons, causing connective tissue failure. So how much fat is enough? My practice recommends between seven and thirty percent of total calories from a blend of essential oils. Rather than blending them yourself, there are products available, such as “Udo’s Choice Blend”.

Saturated fat is either used as a fuel source, converted to cholesterol or stored as fat. That is reason enough to limit it’s intake. Saturated fats also add flavor to foods and contain nutrients that aid in digestion and absorption. Poly and monounsaturated fat are not only used for fuel, but also for joint lubrication, organ insulation, organ padding, and general membrane integrity. Your intake should be adjusted to contain equal amounts of poly and monounsaturated fats in your diet. The most common forms of these are safflower oil and olive oil. Other fats include trans fatty acids or partially hydrogenated oils. These are damaged fats that have been altered through high temperatures. Therefore, heating an oil or fat to high temperatures for sautéing or roasting changes them to this form of fat. Trans fatty acids have been found to be carcinogens as well as possibly contributing to coronary heart disease. This means that healthy meal cooked in olive oil might not be so healthy. It is best to purchase safflower or olive oil that is cold pressed or expeller pressed. They need to be consumed at room temperature or colder. This means that your essential oils should be placed over food after cooking with seasoning for flavoring, over salad as part of the dressing or in shakes and smoothies to thicken and balance them. So what is seven to thirty percent mean when your sitting down to eat? The answer is between one half teaspoon to one tablespoon of essential oil per meal depending on your energy requirements.

So generally, there are the most effective ratios of protein, carbs and fats for lean body mass gain. Most of my clients are eating a ratio of 30% protein, 50% carbs and 20% fat. After evaluating performance on that ratio it is adjusted, individually.