…continued – Protein
The Five Nutritional Elements Continued…
Protein
Protein is needed by your body for virtually all growth promoting processes. Protein is a “builder” of cells. Protein is the single most abundant substance in your body next to water. Protein is present in every organ in your body. Protein is essential for blood, hormone, and enzyme production. Protein is also essential for optimal immune system function. And, protein is absolutely essential for muscle repair and growth.
As you can see, improper protein consumption affects much more than just direct protein synthesis. It affects all the trigger mechanisms that control muscle growth.
Weight lifting places a considerable increase in demand for protein by your body. And the more muscle you develop the more protein you will need. Muscle tissue is the major dumping site for protein. It’s like a huge protein reservoir. And when you are supplying insufficient protein your body will steal it from muscle tissue whenever it needs it. Muscle breakdown.
Delivering your body a constant supply of protein throughout the entire day is essential for optimum muscle growth
You never, ever want to have your body steal protein from muscle tissue to suffice any of these other functions. This will result in muscle loss.
To maximize muscle growth you want protein available for synthesis at all times. This is of vital importance and is why supplying protein to your body every 3 hours is essential to maximize growth. Anytime your body has to steal protein from muscle you stall and even regress the muscle growth process.
The last thing you ever want is to be protein deficient when your body needs it. You can even consume more than your required amount of protein daily and still be “time-deficient” in your protein needs. This is why timing protein and nutrient intake is so important. You never want your hard-earned muscle tissue to have to sacrifice protein to meet demand from other systems in your body.
