We all know that in order to build an appreciable amount of muscle mass, you need to eat protein and lots of it! You can hear the same advice in the gym from the bros, you can read it on the Internet, and you can read it in magazines, repeated over and over again, ad nauseam. It’s practically bodybuilding gospel. And all of it is true.
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It is essential that, especially if you are a bodybuilder or an athlete, you consume a greater quantity of protein throughout the day than the average person. However, the main point of dispute is how much more? What is the optimal amount and is it really that important to always have lots of protein in every meal, especially the post-workout one? Well, you might be surprised by the answer.
What remains unchanged is the proper timing of your meals throughout the day, and never allowing yourself to starve, which should be the two general rules of every day in the life of a bodybuilder. However, sometimes not consuming enough protein gives your digestive system its much-needed rest because it’s been suggested that this resets your metabolism’s capability of building new muscle.
Numerous studies have come out confirming this concept. The research has shown that the protein we consume can influence the serum myostatin, thus influencing the growth of new muscle mass. The compound myostatin is a so-called negative muscle growth modulator. This means that the less myostatin you have, the more muscle you can build.
A study was made where the scientists focused on the process of satellite cells’ activation by dietary protein. Satellite cells are the precursors to the skeletal muscle cells, which means that they have a vital role in our bodies’ adaptive response to the training stimulus. There were 21 participants, mostly healthy males, which were randomly selected into two groups. The first group ate 1.2g of protein per 1kg of body weight and the second group ate 0.1g of protein per 1kg of body weight.
Both groups were following a training regimen. Afterward, a muscle biopsy was made from the subjects’ legs as well as their recovery rate post-workout. It was found that satellite cells, as well as myostatin levels, experienced a significant drop soon after finishing their training session in both groups. And here comes the interesting part.
After about 48 and 72 hours, even though the satellite cells and the myostatin levels got back to their baseline values in the group that ate more protein, the levels remained lower for a longer period in the group that ate less protein.
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After 72 hours, the myostatin expression was significantly increased in the first group, while myostatin expression was significantly decreased in the second group. Even though this particular study did not manage to show that the protein we eat has a direct impact on the increase of satellite cells post-workout, it did manage to find that the concentration of dietary protein has a direct impact on post-workout myostatin levels.
If we are to be a bit more specific, a diet that has low-to-moderate protein content has the potential to decrease myostatin levels, thus increasing muscle mass. This means that having low myostatin levels which were caused by working out triggered the differentiation and activation of satellite cells.
But this doesn’t mean that you don’t need that fast-digesting whey protein from your post-workout shake. It’s been shown that consuming protein immediately after finishing your workout session inhibits myostatin expression. The expression had a significant increase one hour after the workout session in a placebo group, but not in a group that consumed whey protein.
Which finally leads us to the real question of whether it is necessary or optimal to consume an excess amount of protein after the passing of 48 or 72 hours if you don’t feel like eating? When you consume protein in moderate amounts at regular intervals, this continuous intake can trigger a low-level chronic metabolic acidosis.
Studies have shown that it is better to skip eating protein every once in a while in order to allow your body to re-calibrate, which could be done with properly structured periods of fasting.
And there is one more issue to take into consideration. Building a muscular body is a spectacular achievement, but without the big gut that lots of professional bodybuilders seem to have nowadays. Bodybuilding is about the development of your abdominal muscles as much as it is about building your shoulders, biceps, and pecs.
Besides, it doesn’t matter how big your pecs have gotten when you have an enormous gut just below. The same as monitoring how your body responds to a different training stimulus, you should also pay attention to the way your body responds to a certain diet or dietary change.
When you force the body to digest excess protein and you get the response that it doesn’t need it, it’s only logical that the excess protein would be stored in the form of fat. No matter how unlikely this outcome is, it is quite possible.
Even though it is unfavorable from an energetic point of view, when you force the body to process too many calories which it doesn’t need, the most logical destination is the storing of body fat.
All things considered, the biggest takeaway point is to pay attention to your body’s response and reduce protein intake every once in a while. When you do this, you shouldn’t be afraid of losing any muscle mass, on the contrary, you can actually trigger new muscle gains.
Related:
Could Too Much Protein Actually Limit Your Gains ???
How to Reduce Myostatin for Muscle Growth
