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Sports Nutrition |
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| A non-drug nutritional approach to achieve optimal athletic performance | Dan Benardot, PhD, RD, LD, FACSM | ||||||
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For Nutrition Counseling
Robin Lea Benardot, RD, LD
For Additional Photos Jump to Visitors since Jan 1, 2005
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Building Lean (Muscle) Mass Power athletes (figure skaters, gymnasts, weight lifters, etc.) are usually looking for ways to increase lean body (muscle) mass. The greater the mass, the greater the potential for increasing strength and power. There are many techniques employed for increasing muscle mass, and typically include resistance training, consumption of more energy (calories), and the intake of products that claim to enhance muscle development. Some of these techniques and products work, while others do not. Athletes should carefully evaluate the adequacy of their diets before embarking on a regimen of costly and unproven supplements that are meant to enhance muscular development, muscular strength, or both. Building muscle mass has been the tradition for centuries with power athletes. The Greek Olympic wrestling champion of the sixth century, Milo of Crotona, was famous for doing progressive resistance training and eating an enormously high protein intake: he carried a growing calf the length of the stadium each day, and after four years of carrying it, he ate the calf. It was estimated that Milo had an average meat (beef) intake of 20 pounds per day! When observing the eating behaviors of power athletes, one has to wonder if much has changed since the time of Milo. Surveys suggest that power athletes have tremendously high meat intakes and supplement all this protein with additional protein powders, protein shakes, and amino acids. There is clear evidence that competitive weight lifters need about 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. However, surveys suggest that the protein intake of lifters is up to four grams per kilogram of body weight. The question is: does all this protein intake work? The answer is: not as well as they think it does. Since protein provided at a level above 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight is likely to be stored as fat or burned as a fuel, there is no anabolic or ergogenic advantage to levels of protein that exceed the human anabolic maximum (i.e., humans cannot use more than 1.5 g/kg of protein to build tissue). Regardless of whether the excess protein is stored or burned, there is an increased need to excrete the nitrogen associated with protein, and this causes a greater urinary output that can lead to dehydration. In fact, many athletes claim they lose weight on a high protein intake, but this is likely to be due to the high level of body water that is lost rather than from the loss of fat. What the extra protein does do is provide the extra calories that are necessary for building muscle. Think of it this way: If you need 2,500 calories to keep your weight the same, then you need more calories to sustain a higher weight. Therefore, the basic principle to building muscle is to eat the calories you would require to achieve the weight (muscle weight in this case) you wish to have. However, you must also give the body an impetus to build muscle tissue, and that requires resistance activity that puts more stress on the muscles than they have currently adapted to. It's rare that a person could build more than a maximum of 2 pounds of muscle per month, which would require an extra 7,000 calories/month above current intake. This means that the athlete who eats an extra 230 calories per day (about 60% from carbohydrate; 15% from protein; and 25% from fat), plus puts extra 'stress' on the muscles is on the road to building bigger muscles. Oh...don't forget rest, as the muscles actually only 'build' themselves if the body has enough rest between those bouts of resistance activity. (C) 2007, Dan Benardot
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