Guest post by Denis Faye
Protein Pile-up: Some science regarding everyone's favorite macronutrient

Got Protein? As of late, this macronutrient has become the darling of the sports world. As the battle rages on regarding the merits of carbs and fat, everyone seems to agree that you can't go wrong with protein. The problem is, as is frequently the wont of Americans, we've decided that if a little bit is healthy, a lot must be awesome! Like, you're totally going to get ripped, man, if you pile on those amino acids!

Unfortunately, this just isn't the case. While nutritional science tends to shift and evolve, at this writing, there's simply no credible research indicating that excessive protein consumption increases muscle mass. Let's have a look at the facts.

Protein is made up of various smaller components called amino acids, which function countless ways, including acting as the body's primary building blocks. Your muscles, bones, and skin are all made of protein.

There are twenty amino acids, nine of which are essential, meaning that your body can't convert them so they must be present in your diet. They're all present in animal protein, including eggs and dairy. There are also plenty of non-animal sources of the essential nine, but you need to be a little more strategic when you're a vegan or vegetarian. Hemp and soy contain all eight. Grains are a good source of half the eight and legumes are a good source of the other half, so a combination of the two works well. You don't need to eat them both in the same meal; you're fine if you just consume both over the course of a day.

Protein works its way through the digestive tract, being progressively broken down into amino acid components, until it hits the small intestine where these acids are absorbed into the blood stream. At that point, the body re-assembles the amino acids into different kinds of proteins that do an assortment of things, such as provide structure, regulate fluids and pH, and build muscle.

Contrary to popular demand, excess amino acids are not peed out. They do one of two things. If the body is low in dietary carbs and fat, they're converted to ATP (cell energy) either via the liver, which converts it to glucose, or directly via a process called oxidation. If the body already has enough dietary energy, amino acids are converted to fat and stored in adipose tissue (body fat) – albeit not as readily as carbs.

What is peed out are used-up amino acids as well as the waste products created when amino acids are used as energy. It's called urea and the kidneys filter it.

So you see, excess protein doesn't go dog-piling to your muscles. It just doesn't happen. On average, a body can absorb about 30 grams of protein per meal for protein-specific purposes (http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(09)00769-X/abstract). Anything beyond that goes to energy. Normal people should consume about .8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily (as opposed to pound of body weight). According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition, athletic types may benefit from upping that number to 2 grams per kilogram (http://www.jissn.com/content/4/1/8).

There's even some research suggesting that weight-training athletes need less protein because their bodies are more efficient at using the stuff (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15212752).

So now I've "scienced" you up. While I'm sure you're thankful for that, there's still a rather large gap in this explanation. If "protein piling" doesn't make you buff, why do body builders who eat a bunch of protein get so huge?

The reason for this, in my opinion, isn't which calories they're eating. Rather, it's how many calories they're eating. When bodybuilders want to add mass, they eat a ton of food – protein, carbs, and fat. Not only are they hitting the required protein, they're taking in energy in general, which fuels their workouts, making sure they get the most out of those reps. Sure, that extra protein benefits them, but mostly when it's converted to energy.

But if you're really hell-bent on overdoing protein, it's probably okay. It's generally accepted that healthy kidneys can cope with the load brought on by a high-protein diet. The trick, however, is to maintain balance. When you sacrifice other nutrients for protein, you start to have problems, as demonstrated in a study on Korean bodybuilders who experienced metabolic acidosis (overly acidic bodily fluids) due to high-protein diets (http://www.jissn.com/content/8/1/10). As the study indicates, potassium and calcium supplementation offset the problem, but I'm wondering if the issue would have occurred to begin with had these guys made sure to maintain a balanced diet filled with plenty of vitamins and minerals.

So if you're looking to build muscle, maybe it's time to stop thinking high-protein and start thinking high-healthy-and-balanced. You'll be, like, ripped in no time!

Formerly "weight challenged," Denis Faye shed 50 pounds following a 5-year jaunt through Australia, a trip that helped him become the extreme fitness and sports enthusiast he is today. He's been a professional journalist for 20 years, writing for GQ, Men's Journal, Men's Health, Wired, Surfer, Outside, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Los Angeles Magazine, and Pacific Longboarder. His sports include trekking, rock climbing, mountain biking, spelunking, swimming, scuba, swimming, and — most importantly — surfing. Denis currently writes for Beachbody, which provides effective home workout dvds including the popular P90x program and exercise dvds for the new Insanity: Asylum workout.

Guest post by Dan Blumenstock

What does it really take to build muscle? If you have spent any time at all learning how to build muscle, you might be confused about what it really takes. You might have seen a dozen different training courses from various bodybuilding gurus and muscle building experts that tell you that they have the secret – that magic bullet that will give you the exact results you want in your muscle building efforts.

They claim to have discovered the keys to performing the exact exercises and bodybuilding nutrition you need to develop a muscular physique that you really want. But sometimes, it’s more about inspiration and motivation to work hard instead of finding a magic bullet.

Now, I would never tell you not to look for a mentor in this process. After all, there are others who have already achieved the muscle building success you’re looking for, and you can certainly benefit by learning from their experiences (both their successes and failures) and save yourself quite a bit of time and frustration in the process.

What you have to understand, however, is that the real key to success is YOU.

In other words, you need to have the discipline to consistently apply the principles that you learn for weeks and even months in order to achieve the desired results. Without this discipline, the most expensive and sophisticated bodybuilding training program will be useless to you because you simply have not applied the instructions over time.

What does it really take to build muscle?

You have to use the principle of progressive resistance, which simply means that you gradually challenge your muscles more and more in order to force them to grow. You see, your body will simply not produce the muscle on its own because the process requires lots of energy and the new muscle is difficult for your body to maintain.

So in order to grow muscle in any part of the body, you have to challenge the muscle. When you lift a weight that is heavier than what you're used to, what is actually happening at the cellular level is that the muscle fibers are breaking down. If you give your body some rest and adequate nutrition (including getting enough calories and protein), your body will rebuild the muscle tissue stronger than it was before.

If you apply this principle consistently, then your muscles get stronger and stronger. That's really what it comes down to. You have to challenge your muscles more and more over time, you have to give your body enough rest in between sessions so the muscle can rebuild, and you have to feed your body enough quality food to rebuild the muscle tissue.

Is it really this easy, or is there something more beneath the surface? Well, let's make it clear — I never said this process was easy. It is simple to understand, but applying discipline in any area of your life is not going to be easy. You're going to have to make the time and sacrifices and experience some discomfort during workout sessions (while being careful to avoid injury at the same time).

I hope I’ve provided some inspiration for you to get started on your muscle building quest. By all means, take advantage of a solid training course, but make sure you are ready mentally as well.

Dan Blumenstock
www.TheMuscleBuildingCrusader.com
Raising Money for The Epilepsy Foundation of New Jersey

guest post by Alyssa Jacobs

When working out and building up a strong fitness regiment there are a few things to consider. Things like diet, exercise, and length of sleep are all important to recovery and protein synthesis when building muscle. Another thing that can dramatically affect the process of muscle building is the consumption of alcohol. There is a lot of debate regarding this subject, some myths, and some truths. It is time to sort out what alcohol is really doing to your muscles.

The first thing that alcohol does to the progress you have made in the gym is slow your recovery rate. Alcohol is a nervous system depressant. It retards muscle recovery and production of male hormone testosterone. All of that hard work you put in, and now if you are consuming alcohol, it won't even pay off. If you are to tear your muscles apart by not letting them recover, you will eventually start losing strength if continuous alcohol consumption is not corrected. This is just one of the reasons that alcohol can affect your muscles.

Another reason why alcohol may be bad for muscles is the ingredients. Alcohol by itself is burnt off as energy long before your meals or fat reserves. If enough is consumed you are not burning any extra calories. Not to mention all of the carbs, and calories each beer has to offer, if beer is your drink of choice. That is why beer belly is such a common term. Alcohol increases the likelihood that you will gain fat. If you combine that with slowed muscle recovery, you are not going to see much progress.

Alcohol does however have some good properties. Like anything, if consumed in moderation, alcohol can have health benefits. Alcohol has blood thinning and cleansing properties. That is why you hear a lot of enthusiasts say a glass of wine every now and then is just fine. Of course that is true, unless that glass of wine can leave you inebriated. You should never be able to feel the effects of alcohol, mentally. Once that has happened you have already had too much. Very small portions or alcohol are "okay" but are not necessarily good. A lot depends on your genetic structure. One thing is for sure though—too much alcohol is never a good thing.

One overlooked effect alcohol has on our muscle building is erratic sleep patterns. When consuming a large amount of alcohol our bodies tend not to get the rest we need. Drugs block the REM sleep that is so crucial to our bodies, and our muscles. With sleep deprived muscles, and a dehydrated body, there isn't much room for muscle building. Rest and recovery is just as important as exercise and weight lifting—they are mutually beneficial.

Alcohol can be very detrimental to muscle building. If you are working very hard in the gym, and you want to see results, try to stay away from alcohol, and the excessive partying that comes with it. Of course rewarding yourself with a glass of wine, or a beer once in a while isn't that bad. Just make sure it is always in moderation.

This article was written by Alyssa Jacobs, a fitness enthusiast who works with www.youreviewelectronics.com giving you the latest reviews of HDTV's.

Guest post by Brett Warren

Change in the world of strength training seems to evolve at exponential paces. Maybe we don't notice it on a day-to-day basis – one session at the gym is never very different from the day before – but step back for a moment and contemplate how far we've come.

Our history of exercise for the sake of building muscle dates back two-and-a-half millennia. Milo of Croton, a 6th century BC war hero and famous wrestler in Ancient Greece, was said to have carried a newborn calf on his back every day, until it was fully grown. That's not unlike adding weights to our lifts as we progress in the gym.

By the 2nd century AD, evidence exists of rudimentary dumbbells. Egyptian hieroglyphs depict men lifting and tossing bags of sand. A rod supporting two church bells became a dumbbell in old Europe, replacing stones as the primary lifting object. In Persia, meels developed an ancient version of the clubbell.

Still, 2,500 years of development can't even compare to the progress we've made in the last century. (Of course, with all the focus on things like heirloom crops and romanticism about returning to traditional ways of life, someone today might make a killing opening a gym that features stones and meels instead of machines!)

By the 1960s, gyms began to open in the U.S., and weight-resistance machines were developed. Nautilus machines opened the door for regular exercisers to engage in weight training, building strength without trying to emulate the hulks in popular films like Pumping Iron.

Unfortunately, with the progression of more accessible weight training came the development of a sedentary American lifestyle. Before a half-century ago, most of our jobs required us to move around. Even people who never considered exercise as an end-unto-itself were able to stay in shape, through the movement required by their daily tasks.

Conversely, it's easy today to sit at a desk all day (even writing blogs about exercise!), eat a few less-than-healthy meals, and then veg out in front of the TV all night because we feel crummy from not moving around enough! For many people, especially with office jobs, incorporating weight training into their lives requires going out of our way to some degree.

But it's not just in the gym where change happens. Our lifestyle carries over to every moment of our day, from when we open the fridge in the morning to when our head hits the pillow. And fortunately, it's in that holistic approach to training that evolution has really sped up lately. We know more today about how to build muscle mass than ever before in history!

A few key things we've come to learn in recent years:

1. The kitchen is more important than the gym.
   It goes without saying that you can't just eat right, sit around all day, and build muscle. But you also can't build muscle mass if you're not feeding them properly. It's been said that 80 percent of body sculpting work happens in the kitchen. Eat chicken, brown rice, whole grains, fish, egg whites, potatoes, and plenty of produce. Shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, every day. Pass on the pizza, beer, and ice cream!

   What we've learned in the last 20 years about the importance of avoiding processed foods, in favor of whole foods, makes a bigger difference in the gym than any other development.

2. Understand the science.
   When muscles grow, it's called hypertrophy. You know the 'pump' you feel after working out? That's a temporary boost, called 'transient hypertrophy,' due to the accumulation of fluids in the intracellular spaces of our muscles. We want to create chronic hypertrophy through long-term weight training, which requires consistent workouts. Once a week won't cut it for sustained muscle growth.
    
3. Challenge Yourself
   To make our muscles grow, we have to confuse them! If your body becomes accustomed to a lift, it'll stop growing. Switch things up and slowly add weight to your reps. Your body will adjust and build more muscle. Bring a notebook to the gym to help with this, and don't worry about looking silly. Keeping track of your weight and reps will not only help you progress, but it'll serve as motivation to stay on course. The big thing to remember: You can't just stick with one routine and do it for longer and longer. You won't get results. You've got to vary your regimen!
    
4. Rest Up
   It's funny how our society doesn't always realize the value of something until we start to miss it. With our 24/7 lifestyles, sleep has never come at such a premium. But it's also never been so important. Your muscles grow while they're resting. Take at least one day a week off from your workout routine. And get that eight hours of sleep every night – it'll pay off in the results to your physique.

Try telling a weight lifter 100 years ago that the keys to success include eating their vegetables and sleeping, and you'd likely get a laugh! But there's a reason that records keep getting broken. We're evolving more all the time.

Brett Warren is a fitness and weightlifting enthusiast from Boston, Massachusetts. He is passionate about nutraceutical science and loves his job developing workout supplements for Force Factor. Brett's extensive background in biochemical engineering means he's one scientist you don't want to mess with. When Brett is not crushing it in the gym or working at Force Factor, you can find him spending time outdoors with his family.

by Mark Crossan

The thought of building muscle when you are a complete beginner can seem daunting at first but in reality, the concept is simple. Train hard, eat well and sleep well. Add consistency into the mix and you have a near perfect plan of action. So why do people find it so hard to see results in the gym? Here are 4 of the top reasons why you are not building muscle and getting the desired results from your training.

You Are Not Eating Enough!

Building muscle requires a calorie surplus. This basically means you need to eat more calories than your body needs each day in order for it to grow and build new muscle tissue. Many people believe that they are eating enough when in truth they are not. Writing down a typical day’s worth of food and totaling up the calories is the best way to find out if you are consuming enough calories for muscle growth.  You should be looking to consume around 300-500 calories over your maintenance level to build muscle. At the same time be careful not to consume too many calories.
As well as underestimating calorie intake and neglecting to eat enough, people can also do the exact opposite. People can overeat with the belief that they need to eat big to get big. While this statement holds some truth you don’t need to over exaggerate your calorie intake to build muscle. Eating thousands more calories a day than your body needs will help you build muscle but you will also put on a lot of fat. Eat sensibly to minimize fat gains.

You Are Getting Comfortable!

To build muscle you need to walk into the gym looking to improve upon your previous week’s work. Do not walk into the gym and do the exact same thing every week. If you bench pressed 3 sets of 8 reps with a particular weight last week push for 3 sets of 9. Once your reps start increasing, bump up the weight. Always look to add more weight to the bar or perform more reps. Adding weight or performing more reps each workout is the only way your body will get bigger and stronger. The same goes for your routine. Are you sticking to the same workout routine week in and week out?
If you are and you’re finding progress increasingly harder to come by then you need to switch things up. Your body has become comfortable and accustomed to your routine and needs change and variety. This doesn’t mean you should totally revamp your routine; the change can be as simple as changing the order you perform your exercises in, taking out one exercise and replacing it with another, or simply lifting heavier weights for fewer reps. Do not change your routine if you are seeing good progress. Only switch it up when progress stalls.

Your Protein Intake is too Low

Although protein is not the only contributing factor toward muscle growth, it is important to take in adequate amounts of protein throughout the day. Protein should be the main staple of every meal you consume. Protein will help build and repair damaged muscle tissue, aiding in the recovery and growth of your muscles. Just like calories, protein intake can often be misjudged and needs to be monitored to ensure your muscles are getting enough protein to rebuild and grow. The best high protein foods for muscle growth are lean cuts of meat such as chicken, turkey, beef, pork or lamb—basically, any lean cut of meat you can get your hands on! Other great high protein foods include fish, tuna, whey protein powder, cottage cheese, milk, and eggs.

The most effective way to consistently meet your protein requirements each day is to consume 4-6 small meals throughout the day, each consisting of a rich protein food as listed above. Try to consume at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. You can take anywhere between 1-2 grams per pound of bodyweight if you think there’s any additional benefits to it but as long as you are taking in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight on top of a calorie surplus and a good weight training program, you will build muscle.

You Are Not Consistent!

Whether you are looking to gain muscle or burn fat, if you are not consistent with your training don’t expect to see any dramatic changes in your physique. Consistency not only applies to your training but your diet as well. Diet and weight training go hand in hand. If both aren’t consistent then you are not getting the full benefits out of your training. If your diet is poor, your gym sessions will suffer. If you are consuming a solid diet but you are not training hard enough, you will not grow. It’s as simple as that. Be consistent with your diet by taking in the correct amount of calories and protein each and every day. Train hard and always look to improve upon your previous workouts and you will be unstoppable. Change your gym habits now to build muscle more efficiently and finally turn that average physique into something special!