How to Build Muscle

Alright guys, I’ll admit it.  I’m vain.  I would like to be bigger.  Maybe not Arnold big, but I would like to add a few more pounds to my 5’ 10” frame.  However, many people struggle with the herculean task of adding muscle mass, and for many there doesn’t seem to be any solution.  Any one who has looked into the topic knows that there are a few basics you need to follow: Lift heavy weights often, and EAT!  These two things will get people on the right track, and they should be able to add a considerable amount of muscle, especially if they are new to weight training. 

Yet, these two suggestions are somewhat vague, especially the eating part.  Some people will tell you just to eat everything in sight, and gain as much weight as possible then after the weight is put on you can look at cutting down on the fat you have gained.  Who really wants to get fat like that though? 

Another question people have about the eating part is how much protein should they eat?  While getting in enough energy to grow through healthy fats and whole food carbohydrate sources such as potatoes is certainly needed, protein remains kind of an anomaly in the diet for many.  If we follow what the body builders have been preaching for half a century or more we would think that the way to put on weight is to consume massive amounts of protein 8 times a day or more!  Another question mark is when to consume this protein, especially around a workout.  Well the science in this particular area has come a long a way in the past decade or so, and since a friend asked me many of these questions and more a week ago, I thought I should dig into the research to see if my own thoughts on the subject were valid, or if I needed to revise some of them.

The Central Problem of Gaining Muscle: Net Protein Balance

Just like with fat gain one of the main problems with muscle growth is the balance of muscle protein synthesis vs. muscle protein breakdown.  Obviously, in order to increase our muscle mass we need to decrease our protein breakdown and increase our protein synthesis.  But, are each of these processes created equal?  Or does one contribute more to the net balance than the other?  Well, it appears that muscle protein synthesis controls our net balance much more than net protein breakdown (1,2).  With this in mind let’s look at some of the ways we can increase our muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and decrease muscle protein breakdown (MPB).

Muscle Protein Breakdown

Since this part of the equation contributes less to overall net balance, and is much simpler than MPS, I think we will start with this one.  MPB is markedly increased following resistance exercise (2).  So, after a workout one of our primary goals should be to decrease this response.  The easiest way to do this is through insulin.  Several studies have shown that an increase in insulin following a workout will increase net protein balance by decreasing MPB (2, 3, 4).  This is why consuming carbohydrate after a workout will help to improve net protein balance.  This is contrary to the belief you hear from many other sources, that say that the spike in insulin will help to “shunt” nutrients into your muscle cells.  This is only really true for glucose, and the rest of the benefit comes from this decrease in MPB.

This makes physiologic sense, since insulin is one of the most important markers for energy excess in our bodies.  Any intro physiology or nutrition course will tell you that insulin shuts down protein degradation.  This is because the insulin is telling our bodies that glucose is around, so there is no need to try and break down protein for gluconeogeneis to provide glucose for tissues that need it.

Muscle Protein Synthesis 

Now we get to the tricky part.  MPS is controlled by a variety of factors, and is also 3-5 times more important for net protein balance than MPB (5).  During the actual act of exercise MPS is decreased and MPB increased, however the opposite happens during recovery, with MPS being stimulated and MPB decreasing (6).

The type of exercise done has a lot to do with the degree of MPS induced by exercise.  This nifty little graph shows that it neither the load nor the volume that increases MPS the most, but rather the intensity (ie. Going to failure or close to it), as shown by the dramatic increase in myofibril FSR from the two bouts of intense exercise but not in the work matched control exercise trial.

           

What else can help to increase MPS?  Several studies have shown that amino acids taken immediately after exercise will increase MPS.  Specifically, the addition of amino acids will increase MPS through activation of mTORC1, which controls many of the downstream activators of MPS (5, 7).   How much protein is needed to stimulate MPS?  Well it appears it is actually only about 20-25g of protein ingested, with no increase in MPS when the amount was increased to 40g (5).  And protein quality makes a difference.  Whey protein is able to stimulate MPS more than other protein isolates (soy, egg, casein) and even whole food!   But even more specific than that, it appears that the branched chain amino acid leucine has a considerable effect on MPS, but only about 3-5g of leucine combined into the 20-25g of total protein was needed to gain the beneficial effects. 

Nutrient Timing

We have seen the ways we can use both exercise and nutrition to help increase MPS and decrease MPB, but what about the timing of nutrient intake around a workout?  I always  overhear all the jersey shore guys in the weight room talk about their various pre/peri/post workout supplement regimes that include a list of supplements larger than this article, and walk around with some very brightly colored drinks during their workouts.  But are all these necessary?  Is there a specific time we should take in our nutrients to get the greatest response from them?

As I said before, MPS is increased 100-150% immediately following an intense resistance workout, and we can attenuate this response by consuming protein immediately after the workout as well (5).  But are there any benefits to consuming this protein before the workout?  

It doesn’t look like it.

Consuming nutrients before a workout has little effect on MPS after the workout.  We can see that in this nice graph from with the very incriminating an article title: “Essential amino acid and carbohydrate ingestion before resistance exercise does not enhance post-exercise muscle protein synthesis” (8).  I wonder what they are going to find?

This graph shows the FSR, which is a measure of protein synthesis in a muscle, for a group that fasted before a workout, and one that consumed some essential amino acids with some carbohydrate.  As you can see there is no significant difference in the FSR between either groups, showing that protein consumption before a workout does little to improve MPS induced by a workout.

Additionally, we have this study that has similar findings (9).  This graph shows the area under the curve for several subjects who either had a whey protein drink before a workout (PRE) or after a workout (POST).  

The authors found no statistical difference between the two, but I suspect that if we remove the one guy who appears to be an outlier in the PRE group, the POST group would be slightly ahead in average.  However, I doubt anything would be stastically significant, so, in combination with the other study, I think we can say that protein ingestion before a workout does little to improve MPS.

How to get Huge

So after all this I think we are left with a few basic facts for how to grow our muscles through nutrition and workouts.

• In order to grow your muscles you need to maximize muscle protein synthesis, and decrease muscle protein breakdown
• Exercise itself will cause an increase in MPS, and this effect is greatest at the highest intensities of resistance exercise
• To minimize post-workout MPB consume some simple carbohydrates.  These will cause an insulin response that will curb MPB.
• To maximize MPS consume around 20-25g of simple protein, ideally whey, that contains 3-5g leucine immediately after a workout.

This is a pretty simple system that should help to increase muscle mass.  Of course other factors are very important in the process, such as sleep and stress. A complete approach to building muscle should take a holistic approach to the individuals performance that considers the effects of training and recovery, that fits optimally into ones life and goals.  However, if you already feel like you have your training set, you get enough sleep, practice some stress reduction, and eat enough to grow but still aren't adding any muscle, trying this post-exercise nutrition protocol might help you build some size that even Arnold could appreciate!