What is PROTEIN? Proteins are long chains of amino acids, which are probably the most important nutrients that we get from our diet. Why we need PROTEIN? We need to eat plenty of protein foods every day to keep our metabolism running, our energy up and our blood levels stable. Athletes need to consume more protein than average people, especially athletes that are lifting weights. Why athletes need to consume more PROTEIN? Athletes spend more energy than the average person and they need additional nutrients to recover from intense physical activity. Protein plays a very important role in every athlete's diet, whether running sprints, swimming or lifting weights. Most famous nutrient, protein, helps repair and strengthen muscle tissue. What can happen if you eat too little protein?- Low energy and fatigue- Poor concentration- Mood swings- Trouble building muscle mass- Trouble losing weight- Low immunity. How much protein athletes need? The recommended daily intake of protein for an average person is 4. If you want to gain muscle that wouldn't be enough to fuel your muscles for growth. Many fitness experts say that 2 grams of protein per one pound of body weight are necessary for muscle gain, some say even more but they are all wrong. You won't build more muscle if you consume more protein that your muscles need. You can't build 1 pound of muscle for one day, not naturally. The recommended daily intake for athletes is 1. That is enough to build muscle and you won't have an excess of protein that will be stored as fat. You also need to focus on other nutrients, like carbs and fats so if you consume 1. Just focus on other nutrients, on your training and rest. Proteins don't build muscles all alone. Best Exercises to Build Muscle Mass Fast. What are the best sources of protein? FISH Fish that are high in protein per one fillet (8. Workouts & Diet Plans for Ectomorph, Mesomorph and Endomorph Body Types: There are some interesting facts related to these body types. You might have come across some. Tuna (2. 2g), Salmon (2. Halibut (2. 2g, Perch (2. Cod (2. 0g). Seafood is an excellent source of protein because it is low in fat. It requires you to decrease your. Want to pack on more lean muscle mass? If you’re working hard in the gym and have a goal to build a stronger, more muscular body, it’s a must that you are taking. Know complete about your body type for ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph.Know what is good according to nutrition and exercise point of view each body type. Male body types - ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. How to understand your body type and work your training and diet around it. The Complete Teen Muscle Building. Fish like salmon is little higher in fat but is heart- healthy kind of fat - omega 3 acids. WHITE MEATTurkey and chicken breasts are probably the best source of lean protein. Darker meats are also good but they are higher in fat than white meat. LOW- FAT CHEESECheese high in protein per ounce (2. Parmesan (1. 0g), Low- fat Swiss Cheese (8g), Low- fat Cheddar (6g), Low- fat Cottage Cheese (5g). LEAN BEEF3 ounces of Lean Beef contain about 1. EGGS (Especially Egg Whites)1 Large Egg contains about 7 grams of protein. Whole eggs are high in protein, but egg whites are almost pure protein. They are also loaded with healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. Low- fat MILK1 cup of low- fat milk contains about 8 grams of protein. Black Beans. 1 Cup = 1. NUTSPeanuts are the highest in protein in comparison with all other nuts. They are also loaded with healthy fats and they are very rich in calories. One ounce (2. 8 g) contains 7 grams of protein, with 1. You can also try peanut butter, it is very delicious and very good for muscle growth with quality nutrients and a high number of calories. Shrimp. Shrimps are low in calories but loaded with many nutrients including selenium and vitamin B 1. Like fish, they also contain plenty of omega- 3 fatty acids. A 3 ounce (8. 5 g) serving contains 1. Very good source of lean protein and also very healthy food. Whey Protein Supplement. Whey is a type of high- quality protein and it is very effective at building muscle mass. Only one serving (3. Whey Protein Powder can contain about 2. Great source of fast- digesting protein very useful as a post- workout meal. Check out more about Whey Protein Supplements and other great muscle- building supplements in another article: Best Muscle- Building Supplements to Build Muscle Mass Fast. How to Gain Weight and Build Muscle. So you wanna put on some lean muscle mass. And you want to do it within the context of the Primal Blueprint, but aren’t sure where to start. It’s a common question and it’s about time I addressed it head on. As I’ve made pretty clear, our ultimate goal is to achieve positive gene expression, functional strength, optimum health, and extended longevity. In other words: To make the most out of the particular gene set you inherited. These are my end goals, and I’ve modeled the PB Laws with them in mind. But that doesn’t mean packing on extra muscle can’t happen with additional input. After I retired from a life of chronic cardio and started living Primally, I added 1. The question is how much and at what expense? I’d be the first to tell you that lean body mass is healthier than adipose tissue. Generally, the more lean mass a person has, the longer and better they live. But to increase mass at the expense of agility, strength, or speed is, in my opinion, counterproductive. What would Grok do – go for enormous biceps or the ability to haul a carcass back to camp? Unless you’re a bodybuilder (nothing wrong with that, mind you; it’s just not my focus), I can’t advise simply packing on size without a proportional increase in actual strength. Those bulging biceps might look good on the beach, but then again, so does the body that comes with keeping up with the younger guys, knocking out twenty pull- ups in a row, and lifting twice your bodyweight. Form is best paired with a healthy serving of function. The two are quite delicious together, and, luckily, following the PB allows us to get both without sacrificing either. Of course, we’re all built a little differently. The basic building blocks are the same in everyone, but sexual reproduction (as opposed to asexual reproduction) has the funny habit of producing unique genetics and small variations that affect the way we respond to our environments. It’s why some people are short and some are tall, or why some of us respond better to carbohydrates than others. Even though we all pretty much operate the same way, there IS a range of possible outcomes that is proscribed by your direct ancestors. By that same token, some people just naturally have more muscle mass. They’re usually innately more muscular than the average person, and putting more on through resistance training is often an easy task. Then there are those who can’t seem to gain a pound: the hardgainers. They might be increasing strength, but it doesn’t seem to translate into visible muscle mass. Now, my initial advice for a hardgainer is this – don’t worry too much about it! As long as you’re getting stronger, you’re doing it right. Let’s face it, though. You’ve probably heard that enough already. It’s fun being the lanky guy at the gym who can lift more than most, but you’re dead set on bulking up (who doesn’t like a bit more muscle to go along with that strength?), and you want to do it in a Primal context. Besides, continuing to increase strength will eventually require increasing size. To do so, you have to target the very same anabolic hormones that others use to get big, only with even more enthusiasm and drive. Like I said, we all have similar engines, but some require more fuel and more efficient driving (sorry for the corny analogy). Activating these hormones will work for anyone, provided they work hard and eat enough food. The main hormones that contribute to muscle anabolism are testosterone, growth hormone (GH), and insulin- like growth factor- 1 (IGF- 1). A little more about each and how to utilize them: Testosterone. Crazy bodybuilders don’t inject themselves with anabolic steroid hormones that are based on testosterone for nothing. Among other roles, testosterone is an important muscle- building growth factor that favorably affects protein synthesis in addition to working with other hormones (like GH and IGF- 1) to improve their function (more on this later). If you want to increase strength and build muscle, testosterone is absolutely required (don’t worry, though: no injections necessary!). Growth Hormone. It’s right there in the name, isn’t it? It helps muscle grow and, perhaps more importantly, it burns body fat. After all, leaning out is a big part of building muscle (or else you’ll just look puffy) and GH will help you do it. Insulin- like Growth Factor 1. IGF- 1 is extremely similar in effect to GH, as it should be – GH stimulates IGF- 1 production in the liver. In fact, it’s suspected that IGF- 1 is actually responsible for most of the “growth- promoting effects of circulating GH.”Anabolic hormones all work together. In fact, to maximize their muscle- building potential, you must have all three present. Testosterone increases IGF- 1, but only in the presence of GH. GH promotes skeletal muscle cell fusion independent of IGF- 1, but the two are most effective in concert. Luckily for you, the types of exercises that stimulate the secretion of one will generally stimulate the secretion of the others. Funny how that works out, huh? Enter The Central Nervous System. In order for your body to start pumping out these delicious anabolic hormones, you must first give it a reason to do so. I might even say you should give your genes a reason to express themselves. The most effective way to do this is by notifying the central nervous system. Now, the CNS can be a stubborn bastard, but he’s all you got when it comes to interpreting stimuli and relaying messages to the rest of the body. He’s not easily perturbed, and he won’t bother if you aren’t serious. If you insist on doing nothing but light aerobics or tiny isolation exercises, your CNS will barely notice. If you want to get your CNS’ attention, pick up the intensity. Run some sprints or do some heavy lifting. When you do an exercise like the squat with a heavy weight, all hands are on deck. Your CNS realizes that some serious exercising is going down and notifies the hypothalamus, which in turn talks to your pituitary gland. This tiny – but vital – member of the endocrine system is the gland that dispatches luteinizing hormones to tell the testicles to secrete testosterone. It’s also the gland that synthesizes and secretes GH. IGF- 1 is mostly produced by the liver, but its production is facilitated by the presence of GH, so we can see that it all comes down to CNS stimulation. Chronic cardio doesn’t affect your CNS in any meaningful way, so that’s why we tend to avoid it; vigorous sprints, hard and heavy lifting, and anaerobic output will get its attention, so do plenty of these to maximize muscle growth. Cortisol: A Hormone to Avoid. Promoting muscle and strength growth also requires avoiding excess amounts of catabolic (muscle wasting) hormones like cortisol. Cortisol is the major stress hormone, and it exists for a very legitimate reason (dealing with “flight or fight” incidents, inadequate sleep, anxiety), but in large amounts cortisol increases serum amino acids by breaking down muscle, inhibiting protein synthesis and reducing amino acid uptake by the muscles – all awful things for muscle growth. Compounding the problem even further, the broken- down muscle is converted into blood glucose, which then raises insulin secretion and increases insulin resistance while promoting fat storage. And we all know how great those muscles look with a nice layer of adipose tissue covering them up! On a serious note, most people following the PB already minimize cortisol by getting plenty of sleep and reducing stress, but if you’re preoccupied with building muscle mass and engaging in extended workout sessions to achieve it, avoiding excess cortisol can get tricky: excessive exercise without enough recovery time actually increases cortisol. It makes sense (think of it like your body’s telling you it needs a day or two off), but the desire for more muscle mass drives many to work out to the point of counter- productivity. Just be careful, and give yourself at least a day of rest after a particularly grueling session. Lift Really Heavy Things. If you haven’t figured it out already, you’re going to be doing some heavy lifting in order to put on lean mass. The foundation of your routine should be the big compound lifts: squats, deadlifts, presses (bench and overhead), pull- ups, rows, dips, snatches, power cleans, clean and jerks. These engage multiple muscles while triggering your hormonal response systems. Bodyweight stuff, while valuable, simply isn’t going to get you the strength and mass increases you’re looking for. Testosterone, while useful, only gets really anabolic when you start lifting. You need to get under some decent weight, enough so that your CNS and endocrine system are blasted, but not so much that you can’t maintain proper form. A popular routine is the 5. Popularized by programs like Strong. Lifts and Starting Strength, doing compound lifts for five sets of five reps allows you to strike a balance between strength building and superficial muscle hypertrophy. Done this way, your hypertrophy won’t be purely sarcoplasmic, which results in fluid- filled muscles that look big but don’t see a corresponding increase in actual strength. That’s real muscle that would make Grok proud. If you’re lifting heavy and lifting hard, keep your workouts spaced at least a day apart and don’t lift more than 3x/week. Three exercises per session should be perfect. That may not sound like much, but it’ll be plenty if you do it right. Remember, you’re doing big compound movements that will really shock your system, with an emphasis on intensity and power. You don’t want to overwork yourself, release a bunch of cortisol, and set yourself back a few weeks. Squats and deadlifts are absolutely required. They engage the most muscles and produce the biggest hormonal response. They will be the bedrock of your mass building campaign. Most programs recommend doing squats every session, and I tend to agree. Deadlifts are a bit more taxing and so should be relegated to every other workout.
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