Gaining muscle can be a difficult process. It involves a lot of gym work and a lot of food, but if done right it can actually be easier than you think. Generally, one of the biggest barriers that people have to gaining muscle is their nutrition, specifically their protein intake and total energy intake.
But why does protein help build lean muscle? And what can you do to make sure you are getting enough?
What is protein?
Protein is made up of smaller units called amino acids, which are essentially the building blocks needed for muscle. When you consume foods high in protein like meat, tofu, or dairy, your body breaks down the protein into amino acids which is use to repair and rebuild muscles.
Protein also plays an important role in the general function of your body. Outside of muscle development, protein is also used to create enzymes, which are used to break down, build up, or speed up processes in your body.
Muscle Recovery
Protein will only help you build lean muscle if you are strength training. When you exercise, you create tiny tears in your muscles. This is a good thing, as these tiny tears signal to your body to send protein in order to repair them. During this repair process, your body will not only fully repair the area, but also identify that the muscle needs to get stronger or larger, and add more lean muscle.
An important note is that this is often where people go wrong when building lean muscle. If you are working out but do not have enough protein, your body will not have the building blocks needed to repair the area effectively. This means that your body will not be able to add more lean muscle, and in some cases, will not be able to fully repair the damage at all, leading to you taking a step backwards in your strength and muscle goals.
Another important note is that building muscle takes a lot of energy. Because of this, you need to make sure you are eating in a energy surplus, otherwise your body will not have the energy required to build muscle.
Muscle Protein Synthesis
Now that we know how muscle is built, the next step in making sure you are letting your body go through this process as efficiently as possible is by distributing your protein throughout the day.
When you digest protein, specifically an amino acid called leucine, your body sends signals to your muscles that they can start repairing themselves (or muscle protein synthesis). This
leads to a boost in productivity in the repairing system which lasts for a few hours. Because of this, getting a hit of protein in every few hours is the best way to make sure our body is repairing itself as optimally as possible.
This means having a protein hit in-between main meals is ideal.
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