The above should be taken only on days that you train and used in addition to your daily
multi-vitamin. On the days you train, you will be taking this along with your multi-vitamin.
PROTEIN
Over the years, high protein has become a big part of most athlete’s diets. One reason for this
is the increased amount of calories consumed by athletes. They’ll get them without really thinking
about them.
But many athletes will also make it a point to deliberately increase protein in their diets through
eating protein-rich foods and adding protein supplements to their daily routine to enhance
strength and performance. Most medical and scientific sources in the past have tried to discredit
this view. They claim that high protein diets are unnecessary and that the Recommended Daily
Allowance for protein supplies more than enough for the athlete.
In recent years, though, studies involving both strength and endurance in athletes have found
that exercise actually DOES INCREASE protein needs.33,34,35,36 While those RDA levels may
be acceptable for couch potato types, they won’t cut it for the athlete. The intense muscular
stimulation the bodybuilder goes through in a workout increases both protein catabolism and
its use as an energy source. A high protein diet protects the protein to be turned into muscle by,
among other things, providing another energy source for use during exercise. The body will
burn this protein instead of the protein inside the muscle cells.
One animal study found that dietary protein appeared to directly stimulate muscle growth
by limiting protein breakdown and increasing anabolic compounds.^37 Similar effects have been
found in man. It’s well known that high protein diets are necessary for success in muscle growth
using anabolic steroids.^38 It’s also been shown that protein drinks taken after training may increase
insulin and growth hormone, and thus have a strong anabolic effect.^39 It also stands to reason
that when intensity of effort is high and the body is stimulated to adapt by adding muscle, protein
is going to have to increase to provide for the increased lean muscle mass.
My belief is that once you’ve exercised past a certain level of intensity, dietary protein becomes
more important in adding to the anabolic effects of the exercise itself. If you’re under that level,
you may not need the protein. But if you’re over, you will.
And what’s the easiest source of dietary protein for those who need it? Eggs, meat, and some
dairy products. Exactly those things that the high fat diet has you eating a truckload of. In this
way, the high fat diet works doubly well in giving the bodybuilder just what he needs for growth.
Protein supplements can also help here. Several studies involving Refit (a milk powder
containing around 90% protein and 5% mineral salts) have shown improved sports performance
among athletes who use it.40,41
It should be pointed out that, despite what some have claimed, protein supplements don’t seem
to have any anabolic advantage over high-quality protein food. Still, they can be a real ally for
those who want to minimize calories or can’t eat food in the volume necessary to get enough protein.
SUPPLEMENTATION 55