Ep. #181: Does Protein Timing Really Matter for Building Muscle?

[00:00:00] All the cells in your body contain proteins that are constantly being broken down and built back up. This applies to muscle tissue as well, of course, and these processes of protein breakdown and protein synthesis are simultaneously active at all times, but to varying degrees. If you want to know whether protein timing really affects muscle growth or not, then you want to listen to this podcast.

This podcast once upon a time, my girlfriend, who’s now my wife, used to pack protein bars in her purse when we went out to do things. And those protein bars weren’t for her, but they were for me. And she did that because she knew that if I didn’t eat my protein every few hours, that Mr. Hyde would come out.

I wouldn’t just get hungry, I would get angry. I’d get hangry. And looking back, I mean it was pathetic, I know, but I used to think that if [00:01:00] you went for more than a few hours without protein, that you’d start losing weight. Muscle. And when you think you’re losing muscle, I swear you can feel your precious biceps disintegrating with every passing minute.

And of course, I eventually canceled my worthless bodybuilding magazine subscriptions and wised up. And I now know, and you probably know that you do not have to eat protein every few hours to not lose muscle. You don’t have to even do it to gain muscle. And you can even eat nothing for an entire day without losing any muscle to speak of.

Now, what we’re going to talk about in this podcast, though, is what is optimal for gaining muscle. Is there a difference between eating two and five servings of protein per day, for example, in terms of long term muscle gain? And if there is a difference, why now, before we dive into this episode, I have to shill for something to pay the bills, right?

No, I’m just kidding. I’m not big on promoting stuff that I don’t personally use and really believe in. Instead, I [00:02:00] am going to just quickly tell you about something of mine. Specifically, my high quality sports multivitamin Triumph. Now, Triumph was designed for athletes and physically active people who want to optimize their health and fight off stress, fatigue, and overtraining.

It contains 21 vitamins and minerals, as well as 14 additional ingredients that improve overall health and being, enhance physical and mental performance, and help with weight Protect against disease. All that is why Triumph has over 500 reviews on Amazon with a 4. 5 star average and another 180 plus on my website with a 5 star average.

So if you want to plug any nutritional holes in your diet, check out Triumph. Improve your mood and mental and physical performance and boost your resistance to stress, sickness and disease. Then you want to head over to www. legionathletics. com and pick up a bottle of Triumph today. [00:03:00] And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast to check out and you will save 10 percent on your entire order.

And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100 percent money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or you get your money back period. You don’t have to return the products. You don’t have to fill out forms. You don’t have to jump through any other hoops or go through any other shenanigans.

So you really can’t lose here. Head over to www. legionathletics. com now, place your order, and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. And if for whatever reason, they’re just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the spot. Alrighty, that is enough shameless plugging for now at least.

Let’s get to the show. So let’s start this discussion [00:04:00] with a quick primer on what protein is and why it is important, especially in the context of muscle building. So a protein is a compound that the body uses to create tissues, hormones, enzymes, and various other chemicals that are essential to staying alive.

Proteins are made up of chains of smaller molecules known as amino acids. And these are the basic building blocks of our bodies. There are 21 different amino acids that are needed to form proteins and your body can produce 12, but then it needs to get the remaining nine from the food you eat. And those nine are known as essential amino acids because they are essential to staying alive.

And they are phenylalanine, valine, threonine, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, and ketamine. Histidine. Now, many plants and animal tissues are rich in protein and serve as a [00:05:00] food source that can supply many of these amino acids that we need. And this, in turn, is why you must eat protein to stay alive.

This is how you provide your body with adequate essential amino acids. Now, Your body needs more or less protein based on various factors, including your age and your activity level. For example, regular exercise and regular weightlifting in particular increases your body’s demand for protein because it damages tissues that must be repaired and also stimulates muscle growth, which requires the addition of muscle tissue, which then of course requires amino acids to create the tissue that’s going to be added.

So sedentary folk, they don’t need to eat as much protein as us weightlifters, but they do need to eat more than most people eat. And protein intake is far more important to the average person than most people realize. And the reason for this is even if you don’t [00:06:00] exercise much eating inadequate protein results in greater muscle loss as you get older.

And the less total lean mass that you have in your later years, the more likely you are to die of all causes. A number of epidemiological studies have shown that. shown that there is an association between total lean mass and longevity. So the bottom line here is if you want to maintain your health as you age, then you want to maintain your muscle.

And the absolute best way to do this is to eat a high protein diet and to do some form of resistance training really for the rest of your life. It doesn’t always have to be heavy weightlifting, but something for training your muscles. Is crucial. Okay. So now that we understand what protein is and why it matters, let’s move on to the next layer of this onion, which is what happens in your body when you eat protein.

So when you eat protein acid and enzymes in your stomach, break it down into its constituent parts, the amino acids. Some forms of [00:07:00] protein like whey protein, for example, break down very quickly, whereas others like egg and casein take quite a bit longer. Casein, by the way, is one of the proteins found in milk along with whey.

Casein is the curds in cottage cheese, for example. That’s casein, and that’s why cottage cheese is very high in protein. Now, these amino acids then make their way into the small intestine, which then contains special cells that transport them into your blood. And from there, they are shuttled into cells everywhere in your body for use.

Now, many different things happen. ultimately happen in your body when you eat protein. So let’s reframe our original question here to fit the context of this discussion. That is how does eating protein affect your muscles? And to understand that we need to zero in on one of the essential amino acids in protein, and that is leucine.

Leucine has a special place in bodybuilders hearts everywhere. [00:08:00] Because it directly stimulates protein synthesis, which is the process whereby amino acids are arranged into proteins that can then be used for muscle growth. So when you eat a food that contains protein, that protein is comprised of amino acids that are bound together.

Your body is then able to break those bonds to obtain the free amino acids that you that it needs to then build its own proteins. The presence of leucine then tells the body that amino acids are available for use and to start building proteins. And then your body complies and it creates a pool of newly minted proteins that it can use to build and repair its tissues.

And that includes muscle tissue as well, of course. Now, as you can imagine, the amount of amino acids that are supplied by a meal affects the amount of muscle growth that can occur as a result of eating the meal. And that’s why research shows that the leucine content of a meal directly [00:09:00] affects the amount of protein synthesis that occurs as a result.

So in other words, high leucine meals have a higher immediate muscle building potential than low leucine meals. That’s one way of looking at it. And. This is one of the reasons why it’s very important to consider the quality of the protein that you’re eating. What you want, from a muscle building perspective, is protein that is absorbed well by the body, and is rich in essential amino acids, and especially in leucine.

And that’s why, Animal proteins like meat, eggs, and dairy are very popular among us weightlifting peoples. It’s because they score highly against those criteria. And now as a quick note, that isn’t to say that you can’t build muscle effectively as a vegan. You absolutely can. If you know what you’re doing, it’s just a little bit trickier on the meal planning side of things.

Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would [00:10:00] you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. If you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it.

It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say, Thank you. Thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle for Life, and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. Alright, so now that we have the basics of protein metabolism under our belts, let’s tackle the next topic, which is the simple science of protein and muscle growth.

Now, all the cells in your body contain proteins that are constantly being broken down and built back up. This applies to muscle tissue as well, of course, and these processes of protein breakdown and protein synthesis are [00:11:00] simultaneously active at all times, but to varying degrees. For example, when you’re in a fasted state, protein breakdown rates drop.

Rise. And if the breakdown rates exceed the synthesis rates, you lose muscle. This is called a state of negative protein balance. Now, when you eat protein synthesis rates rise. And once they exceed protein breakdown rates, the result is muscle building, muscle gain. This is called a state of positive protein balance.

And in this way, your body moves between anabolic building up and catabolic breaking down states each and every day. And under normal health and dietary circumstances, studies show that muscle tissue is fairly stable and that this cycle of cellular regeneration remains fairly stable. Fairly balanced.

And this is why the average person doesn’t really lose or gain muscle at an accelerated rate. At least, on a day to day basis, there’s really no noticeable changes in total lean mass. [00:12:00] But of course, most of us know that we do actually slowly lose lean mass as we get older, if we don’t take actions to not lose muscle, but that’s generally how it works on a day to day basis.

When we train our muscles, we are sending several different signals to the body to increase protein synthesis rates and to adapt to better deal with this activity that is stressing the muscles. And To do this, our body then adds cells to muscle fibers, and that’s muscle growth over time. That’s how muscles get bigger and stronger.

And when you look at it this way, what we think of as just muscle growth is actually the result of protein synthesis rates exceeding protein breakdown rates over time. In other words, when your body synthesizes or creates more muscle proteins than it loses, you have gained muscle. And when it does this over long periods of time, you have gained a lot of muscle.

On the flip side, when [00:13:00] it is creating fewer proteins than it is losing, you are losing muscle. And if you do that long enough, you lose a lot of muscle. And if it were to create and lose more or less the same amount of muscle proteins, then you have maintained muscle. Your body composition, you have neither gained nor lost muscle or maintained at least the muscle aspect of your body competition.

And this is why bodybuilders do everything they can to both elevate protein synthesis rates and suppress protein breakdown rates, including high protein and high carb dieting, progressively overloading their muscles in the gym, ensuring they are not in a calorie deficit, paying attention to their pre workout and post workout nutrition.

Eating protein before they go to bed, limiting cardio, taking supplements. And of course, in many cases, taking steroids and other drugs in the final analysis, the goal here with any of these strategies is to simply keep protein synthesis rates as high above [00:14:00] protein breakdown rates as possible for as many hours of the day as possible.

And as you can see, there are many factors in play here. that cumulatively determine whether you are gaining or losing muscle. And some of these factors are more important than others. Like for example, eating protein before bed isn’t nearly as important as eating enough protein every day. And that then brings us back to the central question of this podcast, which is how important is protein timing?

How does the frequency with which you eat protein influence that balance between protein synthesis and protein development? Degradation, which is also known as protein turnover. You may have heard of that term and let’s dive into that. Now, as I mentioned in the beginning of this podcast, I was pretty sure that protein timing mattered because it’s something I’d always heard.

And I swore that I could feel myself losing muscle if I didn’t do it right. And I now know that it’s definitely not vital. We can find conclusive evidence of this in research [00:15:00] on the intermittent fasting style of dieting. And. You’ve probably heard of this, but in case you’re not sure what it is, it involves fasting.

So eating no food, really no calories for extended periods of time, followed by anywhere from two to eight hour feeding windows, as they are called. And when you can actually eat food When we look to the literature, we can see that it is well established at this point that this type of dieting does not result in muscle loss.

For example, one study found that eating the entire day’s worth of protein in just a four hour window, which was then followed by 20 hours of fasting did not result in any muscle loss. And you can find similar results in several other studies as well. So the bottom line here is that your muscle does not just wither away if you miss a meal Fail to provide your body with a constant supply of essential amino acids.

So long as you just eat enough protein every day, you’re not going to lose muscle [00:16:00] due to protein timing factors at least. Now that being said, there is evidence that eating protein just one to three times per day isn’t optimal. For building muscle. So first we can look at a study conducted by researchers at RMIT University.

And in this study, 24 healthy young men did a workout and then they ate protein in one of a few different ways. One group had four servings of 20 grams of protein with three hours in between each serving. Another group had two servings of 40 grams with six hours in between each. And a third group had eight servings of protein 10 grams.

With about one and a half hours in between each serving. And the result here is that the muscle protein synthesis rates were significantly higher in group one, which was the four servings of 20 grams with three hours in between each, then in groups. Two and three. And another study worth looking at was conducted by scientists at the university of [00:17:00] Texas.

And this study found that protein synthesis was about 23 percent higher in people that ate three large meals containing about 23 grams of protein, plus three smaller meals containing about 15 grams of essential amino acids. Compared to people who just ate three large meals alone. And another study found similar effects in athletes that were in a calorie deficit as well.

Now none of these findings are particularly surprising when you consider some of the things that we know about how protein absorption affects protein Metabolism. So the first thing that you need to know here is there is a limit to the amount of protein that your body can digest process and then use for protein synthesis.

So research shows this number is about six to seven grams of protein per hour for the average person. And I would also note that this is probably slightly higher in people that have above average muscularity, but [00:18:00] we’re probably still looking in the six to 10 grams per hour range on the whole. So the next thing to consider is that there is a limit to how high protein synthesis rates can rise from a single dose of protein.

Scientists call this sealing the muscle full effect. And once this has been reached, any further amino acids that are ingested are no longer used for muscle building purposes. But Instead are targeted for elimination for oxidation for burning. So for example, in one study, researchers had young men eat varying amounts of egg protein after a workout.

And then they measured the protein synthesis rates after the meal. And what they found is that 20 grams of protein resulted in about 89 percent of the protein synthesis response of 40 grams of protein. So you can see there is diminishing returns once you approach that muscle full effect. In another study, whey protein was used and it found more or less the same thing, that 20 grams was almost equally effective at [00:19:00] elevating protein synthesis rates as 40 grams.

And similar effects were seen yet again in another study that found no statistically significant difference in protein synthesis rates after the ingestion of both 30 and 90 grams of protein from brown beef. So the next limitation that we have to consider is the limit. To how long protein synthesis rates will remain elevated when you eat protein.

Now here, research shows that muscle protein synthesis rates remain elevated for no longer than about three hours, regardless of how long the amino acids are in your bloodstream. So in other words, a large amount of protein may take, let’s say five, six, seven hours to fully digest and process, but protein synthesis rates will remain elevated for just three of those hours.

So let’s put these points together. So if the body can only process about seven, eight, maybe nine or 10 grams of protein per [00:20:00] hour for muscle protein synthesis, and if 20 to 30 grams of protein maximally stimulates muscle protein synthesis in most people under most circumstances, for example, older people might need a bit more protein.

One study showed that 40 grams is probably better for people that are middle aged versus the 20 grams that we’ve seen to be more or less optimal for younger people. And if we also know that muscle protein synthesis rates last for no longer than three hours, then it seems logical that eating about 30 grams of protein every three to four hours will result in more muscle protein accumulation over time than eating fewer larger servings.

Separated by longer periods. And just to make it crystal clear, by eating protein more frequently, what we are doing is we are keeping our protein synthesis rates above baseline for as many hours out of the day as possible. And we are also allowing for the amino acids [00:21:00] provided by that protein to be utilized most efficiently for protein synthesis.

With very little earmarked for oxidation or burning. So in other words, we get to squeeze the absolute most muscle growth out of each and every meal and our diet as a whole. When we eat protein in this manner. So the bottom line here is that protein timing does matter. You probably will gain muscle faster if you’re eating four to six servings of protein every day, then fewer larger servings.

That said, this is not a deal maker breaker like total protein intake or progressive overload, or even total caloric intake energy balance. If you just prefer eating fewer, larger meals, or if that just works better for your schedule or lifestyle, then you can still do just fine and gain plenty of muscle and strength.

You should just know though, that is not the optimal way of going about it. Hey there, [00:22:00] it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don’t mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick.

review of it on iTunes or wherever you’re listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just podcast and you won’t miss out on any of the new goodies.

Lastly, If you didn’t like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife. com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself, and I’m always looking for constructive feedback, so please do reach out. Alright, that’s it. Thanks again for listening to this episode, and I hope to hear from you soon.

And lastly, this [00:23:00] episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I’m not big on promoting stuff that I don’t personally use and believe in, so instead I’m going to just quickly tell you about something of mine. Specifically, my high quality sports multivitamin, Triumph. Now, Triumph was designed for athletes and physically active people who want to optimize their health, And fight off stress, fatigue, and overtraining.

It contains 21 vitamins and minerals, as well as 14 additional ingredients that improve overall health and being, enhance physical and mental performance, and help protect against disease. All that is why Triumph has over 500 reviews on Amazon with a 4. 5 star average, and another 180 plus on my website with a 5 star average.

If you want to plug any nutritional holes in your diet, improve your mood and mental and physical performance, and boost your resistance to stress, sickness, and disease, [00:24:00] then you want to head over to www. legionathletics. com and pick up a bottle of Triumph today. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps use the coupon code podcast to check out and you will save 10 percent on your entire order.

And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100 percent money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or you get your money back, period. You don’t have to return the products, you don’t have to fill out forms, you don’t have to jump through any other hoops or go through any other shenanigans.

So you really can’t lose here. Head over to www. legionathletics. com now, place your order and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. And if for whatever reason they’re just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the [00:25:00] spot.