How Much Protein?

 I am gettin between 180-200 grams per day I am maintaining and makingsome gain but not much. Probably normal.  

Now if I want to hit 225 for weight and muscle  should I increase protien to 225 grams.

I mix up lifting one week fo instance on bench (don’tlaugh ) 150 175 180.

then the next do 175 to fatigue and do another two,or three sets same way.

I seem to have better shock growth in hard gain areas which is all of them at this age(39).

Does this seem right I came up with this on what I have read,and it seems to be working, and doesthe Ideaof increasing protien make sense.

[quote]uptruck wrote:
I am gettin between 180-200 grams per day I am maintaining and makingsome gain but not much. Probably normal.

Now if I want to hit 225 for weight and muscle  should I increase protien to 225 grams.

I mix up lifting one week fo instance on bench (don’tlaugh ) 150 175 180.

then the next do 175 to fatigue and do another two,or three sets same way.

I seem to have better shock growth in hard gain areas which is all of them at this age(39).

Does this seem right I came up with this on what I have read,and it seems to be working, and doesthe Ideaof increasing protien make sense.[/quote]

Most people recommend 1g-1.5g of protein per pound of body weight.

In addition to 1-1.5 grams protein per (projected) pound of bodyweight, you need to make sure that you are getting enough fats and carbs to spare the protein. If the other 2 macronutrients are too low your body will use the protein for energy, rather than laying it on as muscle.

I’d add that you need to make sure that the protein is spread out throughout the day. The body doesn’t store, so too much at once just becomes extra calories, and not enough at other times leaves your body without the ability to build muscle tissue as a response to your work outs.

I’d make sure you get a good slow-digesting protein before bed, and get some protein with breakfast. Make sure you get some in your system before working out, and use a post-exercise recovery drink immediately after your work (if you’ve been reading articles on this site, you’ll have been told many times about the sponsor’s recovery drink, Surge).

I actually like to sip some in addition to a lot of water during training. The key is to spike your insulin at a time when your body’s muscles are very ready to put to good use the sugar and protein that insulin helps transport into cells.

Adding to skidmark’s comment, you need to be at a slight caloric surplus daily to build muscle. While you don’t want to go overboard on the calories, as for non-beginners you can only add a bit of muscle a day, and then you are just adding fat.

To build a pound of muscle a week, you will need to add about 2,500 calories surplus to your weekly diet, or about 350/day. You might want to log your eating (it isn’t just for those who want to loose weight), although most of us underestimate how many calories we get without logging, so you are probably getting enough.

If you find that if you are giving yourself enough recovery time, eating protein spread throughout the day (esp. before bed and after a workout), and feel like you are still not gaining a reasonable amount, add an additional snack of good carbs and fats, and make sure part of this is at bedtime (some low-glycemic fruit [e.g., apples, pears], some cottege cheese, etc.).

Berardi has an article on T-Nation that questions the 1 - 1.5 grams / pound. It’s very brief, just look at “Lesson #1”:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=521351

That’s a great article. For me the 1 g/lb didn’t help me add the muscle I needed and trying to make up the calories through carbs or fats wasn’t helping. I’ve doubled my old intake and the gains are much swifter now. With 4-5 “real” protein meals and 2-3 shakes a day it’s a breeze.

Thanks for the info. I am ryingto tweakmy diet. I am close but I lift good for a month and the burn out for a week. I do not know it this is normal,or just diet. I am wagering on diet related by what you have all told me.

It seems to be the evening diet.]

Morning 4:00 is 6-9 eggwhites cup of oatmeal sometimes protien drink
cup of coffe 46 grams

Snacks apples pears bannnas (one of each) water

Lunch fish or chicken apples pears bannnans fruits. Whole wheat bread. (Protien dink 46 grams.)

Dinner it falls appart but ussually pastsa Chicken or if the wife cooks PORK ( sorry i hate that shit) SHe loves it. Gotta give some where. Used to be salads three times a week hard to get good lettuce lately.

Snacks three halves peanut butter sandwhich 8 oz skim milk three to four times a week

It’s not unusual to need a layoff or Lower volume week after a month of intense lifting. I can only go 3 weeks myself before taking a deload week. It’s a week where I cut back on the number of sets I’ll do. Intensity stays the same I just take the volume down to 60%. Or not lift at all, sometimes.

That’s central nervous system fatigue. Just plan in a deload week and pick up where you left off after that.

You’ll probably find that you’re stronger than before the deload week.

Looking at your diet, I’d only say that you might want to spread your protein consumption out a bit so that you are getting a bit more with your snacks even if you drop it a bit from your bigger meals. I’d have your protein drinks with a morning and afternoon snack, and some before you go to bed. None of these need to be full servings.

If you are getting enough protein overall (which looks like yes from what you listed), just have halve the protein drinks from your 3 main meals and add those halves to the snacks.

Also, you don’t mention your pre- and post- workout eating. On workout days, try to get a protein drink in you about an hour before working out, get some simple carbs in you right at the start and during workout, and then have a post-workout drink that spikes your insulin with high glycemic carbs and protein (e.g., Surge and other recovery drinks or a do-it-yourself concoction).

These will help your body spare burning protein for fuel and from going into a catabolic state. Do some searches in the article database for workout and meals or foods. The other thing is to supplement pre and post workout, as well as before bed with some branch-chained amino acids. Even some of the above will probably help, esp. if you need to watch your bottom line as well as your measurements.

On the burn out, while we all need to have periodic recovery times other than a weekly day off, consider making it an active recovery by planning to do some kind of fun exercises as a change up. Plan to take a couple bike rides on your local trail, or doing some of the crazy pre-hab or non-barbell stength exercises. Get an old tire and a sledgehammer and beat the crap out of it, do some renegade training, or whatever else puts a grin on your face while still giving you a work out. It keeps things fresh, and I always begin to look forward to getting back to the traditional strength program.

Also, if you are doing any cardio, consider diversifying (i.e., crosstraining), found that I generally recover from both my strength and cardio sessions faster when I’m not just doing one type of cardio. I found I have fewer off weeks this way.

I find that 300+ grams per day is much better than 250. This is at about 235-240lbs.