As a teenage athlete, muscle is obviously important. It’s the contraction of your skeletal muscles that enables you to train and compete.
The ultimate goal of training is to improve in your sport or event. During individual training sessions, you aim to overload your muscles, the idea being that they’ll adapt to the stimulus. For sports or events where strength and power are crucial, building muscle mass is the objective. However, the best way to do this is the source of great angst and confusion among athletes of all types, and especially among strength athletes and body builders.
In this article, you’ll learn what muscle is made of and how muscle responds to the training and nutrition you provide. You’ll also read about groundbreaking research on what it takes to build muscle, and get an inside glimpse of a PowerBar product specifically designed to promote optimal muscle protein development in response to your workouts.
Building blocks of muscle protein
Muscle is made up of proteins. Proteins are composed of biological building blocks called amino acids. There are 20 different amino acids found in the various proteins in your body, as well as in the foods you eat. Amino acids are what make one protein different from another. In fact, it’s the number of amino acids and the order in which they connect together that differentiates one protein from another.
Athletes who pump iron have long held the notion that eating protein builds muscle. In reality, you don’t directly utilize the proteins you eat. Instead, those proteins serve as a source of amino acids. When you eat food, whether it’s a piece of meat or a slice of bread, whatever protein is present is gradually digested and broken down into its amino acid building blocks. These individual amino acids are then absorbed and repackaged together in different configurations to make the specific types of proteins you need.
So the protein in the steamed fish from dinner last night and in the peanut butter sandwich you wolfed down between classes today will end up being dismantled and their component amino acids used for making all kinds of new proteins, including those found in muscle, bone, hormones, antibodies, enzymes, and more.
Essential amino acids
Of the 20 amino acid building blocks used to make proteins, all are important, but nine are considered essential because your body doesn’t have the ability to make them as it does the others. The only way you can get the essential nine is from what you eat and drink. One key factor in describing the quality of proteins in foods is how rich they are in the nine essential amino acids. For example, proteins like whey and casein from dairy foods and soy protein from soybeans are considered high in quality because they’re both readily digestible and excellent sources of the nine essential amino acids. Lower-quality proteins — gelatin, for example — have a lower proportion of the nine essential amino acids.
Protein turnover: anabolism versus catabolism
Having a basic understanding of amino acids is vital, because they are absolutely critical to the building of muscle tissue. Your muscle tissue is constantly being remodeled: What that means is that existing proteins in muscle are constantly being broken down into their component amino acids, while new muscle proteins are being made. This metabolic process is called protein turnover. In a single day, it’s estimated that roughly 1–2% of your total skeletal muscle tissue is remodeled or turned over.
The breaking down of your muscle tissue is called protein catabolism, while the synthesis or making of new muscle tissue proteins is called protein anabolism. At any given moment, both processes are happening simultaneously in your muscles, but the rates of each vary.
When muscle protein breakdown exceeds the rate at which new proteins are being made, you have a net loss of muscle mass. This muscle wasting happens when you stop or cut back on your training. Your muscles respond to the decreased training load by getting smaller. This occurs when catabolism outpaces anabolism.
Conversely, if you build new muscle tissue proteins faster than the rate at which muscle proteins are broken down, you get a net gain in muscle tissue. This results in what strength athletes strive for — bigger, stronger muscles.
So what does it take to speed anabolism and slow catabolism in your muscle tissue? Well, as it turns out, two of the most powerful factors are nutrition and exercise.
Key catabolic and anabolic factors
The rates of muscle protein breakdown and synthesis are not static. They change constantly, and what you’re eating has a major impact. For example, after a protein-rich meal, the protein is digested to free up its amino acids. The amino acids are then absorbed and taken into cells. Your cells recognize the amino acids, and promptly fire up the metabolic machinery needed to make new muscle protein. Thus, eating protein has a strong anabolic effect on your muscle tissue.
Conversely, when you go without food, such as when you’re sleeping at night, the making of muscle protein falls off sharply. To a lesser degree, the breakdown of muscle proteins also declines, so you end up with a net loss of protein. Therefore, going without food overnight or for an extended period has a catabolic effect on your muscle tissue.
Now factor in exercise. Rigorous exercise training, no matter how you do it, is acutely catabolic. For example, if you’re an endurance athlete, a tough training session will put a serious crimp in the rate of muscle protein synthesis, while boosting the catabolism of muscle protein. Resistance training presents a bit of a different picture. Resistance exercise actually boosts the rate of muscle protein synthesis, but it increases the rate of muscle protein breakdown even more. So, here again, the net effect is protein catabolism.
At this point you’re scratching your head wondering, if exercise is catabolic to muscle, why bother doing it? You do it because the catabolic effects are only temporary, and in fact, exercise provides a powerful anabolic stimulus that drives increased muscle protein synthesis as you recover after a workout. However, important new research indicates that what you do nutritionally just before or after training dramatically impacts muscle protein synthesis.
On the cutting edge of muscle-building nutrition
Let’s say you’ve just completed an exhaustive resistance-training workout. In this article, you’ve learned that a training session like this puts you in a protein catabolic state — a rate at which your muscle tissue is breaking down faster than the rate at which muscle proteins are being made. However, you’re also now aware that after a tough workout, you’re primed and ready to build muscle during recovery.
Realizing this, you reach into your gym bag and down a bottle of whatever’s handy — let’s say it’s fruit juice. The good news is that the carbs in the juice will certainly help reload muscle glycogen fuel stores that were depleted during your workout. And they’ll probably also help to slow the rate of muscle protein catabolism a bit. But carbs alone will have virtually zero impact on the anabolic process: the building of new muscle tissue in response to your training.
What you need to boost anabolism is protein. More specifically, you need protein sources that are rich in those nine essential amino acids that your body can’t make. You can consume the protein before or after training; do whatever makes you feel most comfortable while working out. The key is to have those essential amino acids in place and available when your body is metabolically ready to start the muscle-building process.
So if building muscle is your training goal, make sure you’re chowing down before or just after a workout with high-quality protein sources, in addition to carbs. Animal-derived protein sources, like meat, fish, poultry, and dairy products, as well as the protein from soy, are all high-quality protein sources. If you’re using sports nutrition products to help build muscle after training, choose products that contain protein sources like whey, casein, soy protein, or a combination of all three protein types.
High-potency anabolism
But there’s even more to the muscle anabolism story. Exciting new research indicates that one amino acid in particular is incredibly effective at flipping the anabolic switch and promoting muscle protein synthesis. The amino acid goes by the name of leucine. It’s one of three so-called branched-chain amino acids, and it’s also one of the vaunted nine essentials. But there’s something about leucine that makes it extra special. Scientists have found that if the protein source you’re downing to support your training is enriched with the anabolic sparkplug leucine, your rate of muscle protein synthesis revs up considerably.
In one study, athletes engaged in a 45-minute resistance-training workout while consuming either carbohydrates alone; protein plus carbs; or protein, carbs, and extra leucine. With carbs alone, the athletes remained catabolic after exercise. When they consumed protein with their carbohydrates, protein synthesis outpaced protein catabolism. And when they ingested the carbohydrate-protein combination along with extra leucine, protein synthesis was highest of all.
Why is leucine such a standout? The metabolic mechanisms are still being studied, but it seems to serve as a metabolic signal. It’s almost as if when leucine is present in abundance, your body interprets this as a sign that all the other amino acids needed for protein synthesis are in ample supply, as well. Thus, with added leucine in the mix, all metabolic signals are green-lighted, and the cellular machinery for making new muscle tissue protein works in high gear. By comparison, protein without the leucine boost doesn’t offer the same anabolic kick.
PowerBar muscle-building breakthrough
Leveraging these fascinating research findings, PowerBar has developed a sports bar just for athletes interested in building muscle tissue, especially bodybuilders and strength-training athletes.
The PowerBar ProteinPlus
® 30g protein bar provides a hefty 30 grams of muscle-building protein per serving, along with 33 grams of carbs. Taken just after working out, that’s enough protein and carbs to flip the anabolic switch and get the muscle-building process started for even the biggest of athletes.
PowerBar ProteinPlus 30g protein bar is made with PowerBar
® TriSource™ protein, PowerBar’s proprietary three-protein blend, which combines high-quality whey, soy, and casein proteins. These proteins are absorbed by your body at different rates to deliver a steady supply of all 20 amino acids, including the nine essentials, to support muscle growth in response to your training.
And not to be outdone, each bar provides 3.5 grams of leucine, the essential amino acid turbo-powered to help boost muscle protein synthesis.
If building muscle tissue is your goal, maximize the results of your training with the new PowerBar ProteinPlus protein bar. The bar comes in two great flavors: Chocolate Brownie and Dulce de Leche. Be sure to pack a few in your gym bag.
Nutrition tips for maximizing muscle building
The following are some nutrition tips to get the most out of your weight-lifting sessions.
TIP #1: Don't skip meals
Remember that after an overnight fast or when you go long stretches without eating, muscle catabolism outpaces anabolism. So don’t skip breakfast, and make sure to consume some high-quality protein with each meal.
TIP #2: Pre-load with protein before lifting
Keep in mind that resistance-training boosts the rate at which muscle tissue proteins are made even during exercise. So consume some high-quality protein before your workouts to make sure you’ll have amino acid building blocks, including leucine, on hand to support protein synthesis.
TIP #3: Jumpstart recovery after a workout
You’ll help flip your metabolic switch from catabolism to anabolism after a workout just as soon as you provide your muscles with the necessary nutrients — protein, carbs, and extra leucine. So, keep a stash of POWERBAR PROTEINPLUS bars in your gym bag, and have one as soon as possible after that last lift — or whenever you’re feeling the need for a muscle protein–building boost.
TIP #4: Bulk up on extra calories when training
Trying to get bigger while cutting calories doesn’t make for a good mix. If your goal is to build muscle mass, you’ll actually need a surplus of calories. So plan on consuming an extra 500 calories daily when you’re in training to bulk up.
References:
Matthews DE. Proteins and amino acids. In: Shils M, Olson J, Shike M, Ross A, eds. Modern nutrition in health and disease. 9th ed. Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins; 1999:11–48.
Norton LE, Layman DK. Leucine regulates translation initiation of protein synthesis in skeletal muscle after exercise. J Nutr 2006; 136:533S–537S.
Koopman R, Wagenmakers AJM, Monders RJF, Zorenc AHG, Senden JMG, Gorselink M, Keizer HA, van Loon LJC. Combined ingestion of protein and free leucine with carbohydrate increases postexercise muscle protein synthesis in vivo in male subjects. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2005; 288:E645–E653.
Topics:
During, Skills, Strength training, Muscle
Rights of Usage Policy