Exercise and building muscle is all about balance. You break it, food repairs it. The concept is called 'catabolism' (break down) or 'anabolism' (building) of muscle fibers. Protein plays a huge role in this process. A great question was posed to me about how much or how little you should be consuming in order for the good stuff to occur?...
Protein synthesis and more importantly the amino acid availability in your system really determines if your training works or not. Thats right... you can work out all you want but if your do not fed the machine with the right nutrients... its not going to amount to anything but burning of protein and muscle!!!!
So lets talk protein. Protein has long been associated with muscle building. Bodybuilders and CrossFitters turn to the Protein in whole food form or in protein supplements to help rebuild muscle damage in training. The more protein you ingest the better right? If I keep eating it, Ill get massive right??? Well not so much. Here are a couple of things that happen when you consume too much protein:
1) Excessive protein consumption can damage the kidneys. The kidneys are our filtration system for the body and it is where excess protein ends up when it is not taken in by the Gut. Having the Kidneys work extra hard to filter the protein can cause damage to your kidneys. There are studies that are suggesting a link between renal failure and excess protein intake. So if you don't want dialysis later in life, keep your nutrition balanced.
2) Protein can be broken down for energy. Just as when we cut you all off from eating so many refined carbs, and you began to switch your body over to running on fats... the same goes for protein synthesis. If you eat too much protein, you run the risk of having your body search for protein to burn (including Muscle Protein) for fun to serve the body! Protein breakdown is detrimental to muscle building.
So what is the happy medium? How much protein is too much?
Looking at most Protein supplements and the amount of protein taken in from normal meals, the happy medium is 20-50grams/ 3-5 times per day. My reasoning for this is as follows:
1) You need at least 20 grams of available protein and amino acids to turn your muscle building process "ON" in the body. It is like a light switch, you need to activate it after training and when your muscles need it. Once it is on, you are good... no need to overload the system.
2) Eating too much protein, too often will crate the glut of excess in the system that I spoke of earlier. This can be thought to clog the system and potentially do damage to your organs. Plus, you probably don't work out that much anyway so Protein is meant more for recovery than for performance.
3) Going up to 50g of protein in your post workout meal (30mins- 2 hours) after training can optimize the bioavailability of amino acids and nutrients in the body. Be mindful that the 50 grams should be spread throughout a few different protein sources and not just in shakes or god awful dried out chicken breast!! YuCk!!
As with everything else, Protein is about balance. Eat, identify, note, adjust. This is the science of optimal performance. High quality is always better than ease or going cheap. Remember that food is fuel and the same applies to your supplements !
Baseline:
10X High Knee Pull
10X Quad Pull
10X Marching High Kick
10X Elbow To Instep
10X Samson Lunge W/ Pass Thru
Agility Ladder- 8 Passes Linear and Lateral
Arm Swing Drill -Pose
Wall Lean Drill- Pose
5X Jog 50m / Run 50 m
*rest :20 between Rounds
Conditioning:
EMOM 10
9/7 Burpee
Sprint 100m
Accessory Work:
Ring Dip
6X 7
Muscle Up/ Pull Through
5X3
