“How much protein should you eat to build muscle?” This is a question I frequently get, and it is the area in which most people go wrong when trying to gain extra mass.
You are probably not eating as much food as I recommend. Over 500 professional rugby players have been my colleagues for over a decade and I have never met one who ate as much as I do.
There are many MYTHS and UNTRUTH’s around protein consumption. One of the most popular is that your body can only digest 30g per serving. This has been around since the 1970’s, and it was probably fuelled by the men at the Golds Gym.
Rumours often have truth to them. This one is based on research done with elderly patients in a hospital. According to the study, patients who received more than 30g of protein did not experience any anabolic benefits. This is where the myth originates, but it has not been proven true for healthy people.
Is there a risk of eating too much protein?
Although there are some reported adverse effects to eating too much protein, these claims have been exaggerated and many review documents state that excessive protein intake has no detrimental effects. Excess protein intake has never been linked to liver or kidney damage in healthy individuals.
The paleolithic diet is something I love. It proposes that our digestive system is more attuned towards the hunter-gatherer style of eating over the hundreds of thousands of years of human history. Can you picture our prehistoric ancestors telling us, “You better not eat any woolly mammoths as all that extra protein will be wasted.”
There are some caveats to consuming excessive protein. You should ensure you stay hydrated.
protein – The Muscle Building Cornerstone
Building muscle involves many aspects. In fact, I often consult clients and professional athletes about my Regenerate system which includes 25 supplements. The best way to build muscle is to eat the right amount of protein.
After observing the performance of athletes I recommend in a Muscle Building phase, the figure I settled on is 3.5g Protein Per Kg Body Weight. This means that a 100-kg athlete would consume 350 grams of protein. This is a lot of protein, it’s equivalent to 13 cans of tuna. Protein powders are popular because you don’t have to eat as much.
Although the recommended level of 3.5kg may be slightly higher than what professional bodies recommend, it is the one that I believe will get the best results for my athletes.
Another tip I recommend is to include protein in every meal and include proteins from three different sources in every meal , e.g. Don’t eat just 2 or 3 chicken breasts at once. Have a portion of cottage cheese, an omelette, and a wheyshake on the side. If you’re having a wheyshake, add cottage cheese or yoghurt to it or liquid egg whites.