Muscles – Some Is Good, More Is Better, Biggest Is Just Right
Hey Jason, I wanna gain a bunch of muscles so I can bench press you. Oh, and explain to me how our bodies produce muscles. Thanks.
- P. Diddy Gandhi
Ha! I’m just messing with ya Prakash. But you do ask a very good question that occupies the minds of most gym nuts.
How do we gain more muscle?
Two words: Protein Synthesis.
Protein Synthesis involves 3 major stages [1]:
1. Amino Acid Synthesis – Amino acids come from metabolic pathways as the building material for the protein synthesis. 10 of the 20 amino acids the body can manufacture by itself, but the other 10 amino acids we must obtain from food sources.
2. Transcription – Transcription happens in the cell nucleus (where the genetic information is stored) when cells want to make more proteins. In transcription, cells create the blueprints for the type of protein they want to synthesize. Then they send the design documents outside of the nucleus via FedEx to the manufacturing sites that make proteins.
3. Translation – The manufacturing sites where proteins are generated are located in the cell cytoplasm (inside the cell membrane but outside of the nucleus). When the design documents arrive, the manufacturing site uses the blueprints to make proteins using amino acids as the building material. Once the final product is made, it is shipped to the proper location to perform its duty. For the purposes of our discussion, the proteins are shipped to the muscle cells to make muscles bigger and stronger.
There are many stimuli for cells to signal protein synthesis: injuries, infection, cancer, etc. But for the purpose of muscle-building, we’ll only need to focus on 2 ways:
Eating [2][3][4][5] and Exercising [6][7][9].
Duh, that’s common sense! Don’t need a biology degree to know that! (You said)
That’s right. From various experimental studies, we have found that food induces the insulin production that promotes protein synthesis, and fasting reduces it.
And what about exercise? Exercise makes insulin more efficient at stimulating protein synthesis. Exercise also increases the rate at which cells signal for more protein.
But before you throw egg whites and protein shakes at yours truly, consider this…
Every year millions of “research” dollars get thrown into advertising telling you that there are new and improved ways to get bulging biceps, a chiseled chest, and rock-hard abs. How often do you get tempted?
Remember the electro-stimulation machines used in physical therapy that promised the effect of 250 push-ups in 5 minutes without breaking a sweat? How about supplements such as nitric oxide or L-arginine that dilate your blood vessels to create that pumped muscle look for hours at a time? Or some Acai extract that will help you lose 2 dress sizes in 5 days without lifting a finger.
Yeah, I thought so.
Just open a body building magazine and you’ll read more advertisements disguised as ‘cutting edge’ research articles telling you the latest and the greatest gadgets and supplements that will ‘fry’ your tri’s and gain 20 lbs of pure muscles in 10 days. Before you know it, you are standing in the nearest GNC store waiting to get your hands on the latest amino acids, King Kong extract… or suffer the humiliation of not looking like the next Arnie.
It’s easy to get distracted by the noise, isn’t it? That’s okay, we all have been there (myself included; shameful, I know).
The point is… all you need is to focus on the fundamentals. Boringly consistent is far more effective then quick, exotic gimmicks.
Here at EP-Fit, the game plan is simple:
1. Focus on the quality of food
2. Eats lots of meats and vegetables
3. Workout regularly (and frequently with weights)
4. Drink milk to gain weight (if you’re not lactose intolerant or allergic to it)
5. Take fish oil and multi-vitamins (without iron) daily.
So to build muscle we need to consume more protein, but what kind?
Animal proteins are better than vegetable protein, in general. Animal proteins contain all the essential amino acids, but vegetable versions usually lack one or more essential amino acids. For athletes, casein and whey are the proteins of champions. For long-term use, casein is the best for promoting protein synthesis. And for the short term, whey provides the best initial benefit [8].
And where can you find abundant amounts of casein and whey?
MILK.
A quart of 2% milk will cost much less than a designer protein drink endorsed by Mr. Wielder. And they both do the same thing – induce hyperinsulinemia – a fancy way to say it gets a lot of insulin in your bloodstream.
As for the meals, unless you’re an elite athlete, it’s better to get proteins from solid food than from meal replacement liquids.
What about the timing of drinking milk?
The best time to consume milk is within 60 minutes after training [9].
Interestingly, if you want to take pre-workout supplements, amino acids + sucrose (table sugar), should be taken immediately before the workout to maximize effectiveness. The amino acids and sugar combo helps, but don’t expect your muscles to pop out of your skin any time soon. The results stated in Rasmussen’s study was deemed over-reaching 3 years later by Ratamess and colleagues in the Journal of Strength Conditioning Research [9].
The Take Home Message:
Just have a glass of milk within an hour after your weight training (and try NOT to over-train).
One Cautionary Note:
The low-carb diet that helped so many people and promoted the lean muscular physique is no magic bullet. In August 2009, a team of Harvard medical researchers did an experiment that fed mice the low-carb diet for 12 weeks and the results showed that the mice that were fed the low-carb diet had the least weight gain – almost 30% less – as expected. However, they also found:
…a significant increase in atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries and a leading cause of heart attack and stroke. The findings also showed that the diet led to an impaired ability to form new blood vessels in tissues deprived of blood flow, as might occur during a heart attack [10].
And the study discovered that… all the mice’ standard cardiovascular risk indicators, such as cholesterol, showed normal or slightly favored the low-carb diet group, despite the obvious evidence of vascular damage [10].
So the key here is that a low-carb diet is effective, but don’t overuse it. According to the EP-Fit game plan, rule #2 is to eat lots of meats and vegetables. Vary the percentage of protein regularly to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis.
Do you need to be on the low-carb diet to have a muscular and lean physique? Of course not; our own boxing trainer, “Powder,” consumes only about 20% protein. Compare that to my protein consumption, which wavers between 30% to 80%. And we all know who is beefier and leaner (hint: it’s not me).
Hope this helps, and next time I see you, Prakash, I have a new movement to show you – Muscle UP!
References
1. Protein Biosynthesis Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_biosynthesis
2. Effect of Physiologic Hyperinsulinemia on Skeletal Muscle Protein Synthesis and Breakdown in Man
Robert A. Gelfand and Eugene J. Barrett
Department of Internal Medicine and the General Clinical Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
J. Clin. Invest.© The American Society for Clinical Investigation, Inc. 0021-9738/87/07/0001/06, Volume 80, July 1987, 1-6
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3298320
3. Feeding activates protein synthesis in mouse pancreas at the translational level without increase in mRNA
Maria Dolors Sans,1 Sae-Hong Lee,1 Louis G. D’Alecy,1 and John A. Williams1,2
Departments of 1Molecular and Integrative Physiology and 2Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 287: G667-G675, 2004.
http://ajpgi.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/287/3/G667
4. Regulation of protein synthesis by insulin
C.G. Proud
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, 2350 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z3, Received 14 September 2005
Biochemical Society Transactions (2006) Volume 34, part 2 @ 2006 Biochemical Society
http://www.biochemsoctrans.org/bst/034/0213/0340213.pdf
5. AMP-Activated Protein Kinase, AMPK
Michael W. King, Ph.D, Molecular and Developmental Biology
Studies of Gene Function in Regeneration, Early Development and Cancer
http://themedicalbiochemistrypage.org/ampk.html
6. Exercise Stimulates the Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Pathway in Human Skeletal Muscle
Doron Aronson,* Mariona A. Violan,‡ Scott D. Dufresne,* David Zangen,* Roger A. Fielding,‡ and Laurie J. Goodyear*
Research Division, Joslin Diabetes Center, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School; and
The Department of Health Sciences, Sargent College of Allied Health Professions, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
J. Clin. Invest.© The American Society for Clinical Investigation, Inc. 0021-9738/97/03/1251/07, Volume 99, Number 6, March 1997, 1251–1257
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC507939/
7. Mixed muscle protein synthesis and breakdown after resistance exercise in humans
S. M. Phillips, K. D. Tipton, A. Aarsland, S. E. Wolf and R. R. Wolfe
AJP – Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol 273, Issue 1 E99-107, Copyright © 1997 by American Physiological Society
http://0-ajpendo.physiology.org.library.pcc.edu/cgi/content/abstract/273/1/E99
8. PROTEIN – WHICH IS BEST?
Jay R. Hoffman and Michael J. Falvo
The Department of Health and Exercise Science, College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, USA ©Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2004) 3, 118-130
http://www.jssm.org/vol3/n3/2/v3n3-2pdf.pdf
9. Protein Intake: Effect of Timing
Jay R. Hoffman,PhD, FACSM,FNSCA
College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, December 2007 • Strength and Conditioning Journal © National Strength and Conditioning Association Volume 29, Number 6, pages 26–34
http://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Abstract/2007/12000/Protein_Intake__Effect_of_Timing.5.aspx
10. Low-carb diets linked to atherosclerosis and impaired blood vessel growth
Bonnie Prescott
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, August 24, 2009
http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/medicine-health/articles/low-carb-diets-linked-atherosclerosis-and-impaired-blood-vessel-growth
