Have you seen Lego? Well of course you have.
Now with those Lego bricks, you can completely assemble an entire Lego set, however, you like it.
I am sure you are wondering why I am discussing Lego here, well let me explain. A single Protein (Lego set) is made up of many Amino Acids (Lego bricks).
Protein is a
complex macro molecule which is regarded as the building blocks of tissues, like muscles, whereas Amino Acids is the individual unit of each protein.When you ingest protein as part of your diet, it gets broken down into Amino Acids, now your body knows what to do with them.
A balanced diet and exercise are two factors that will keep you healthy and help you get in shape.
A nutrient (protein) rich diet will act as fuel for both your workout and your daily routine. This protein in your diet plays a vital role when it comes to increasing stamina and gaining muscle mass.
How protein increases your muscle mass?
Mere consumption of protein-rich diet isn't going to increase your muscle mass. In tandem with a protein-rich diet, one also needs to work out and lift the weight.
Although protein is an essential part of muscle build-up, that doesn't mean you should rely only on proteins.
For a healthy working of the human body, the diet must always be balanced with nutrition like vegetables, fruits, complex carbohydrates, etc.
When you begin your work-out and start lifting weights, soon after you end up creating minute (micro) tears in your muscles.
The protein which you consumed gets metabolized and the resulting amino acid finds these tears, they then encircle and clog them. As a result, muscle fiber gets larger and burlier.
How much quantity of protein is needed?
This particular aspect is of quite an importance, just like every other thing you need to have an optimum range.
If your protein intake is less than the required level, then it will take you a lot longer to get bulked up.
On the other hand, if you are consuming protein more than you should, then you will drive yourself to dehydration, thereby increasing the risk of kidney stone formation.
Furthermore, you will start gaining weight due to fat, instead of muscle mass.
So this brings the question, how much is enough?
We shall see that in the table below:
BODY WEIGHt (POUNDS)
MINIMUM (GRAMS)
MAXIMUM (GRAMS)
A widely accepted recommendation is that 1kg of body weight would require .8 grams of protein if that person is someone who workouts regularly.
With that, we can conclude that a person weighing 150 pounds would need around 60 grams of protein each day.
The demand for protein increases exponentially if the person is an athlete.
There are a couple of factors on which protein intake depends such as, a person`s gender, height, weight and the extent of his/her workout.
Obese people who are trying to lose weight should focus on two things, first, a balanced diet and second priority should be burning those calories.
Having a recumbent bike for obese helps greatly in the process, they are designed to ease the pain in the lower back and joint sections of the body.
Since the focus of a recumbent exercise bike is on the lower body, you will be able to bulk-up your quadriceps as well as gluteus muscles.
Not to forget that a 30-minute workout would burn up to 250 calories.
Protein-rich food
Peanut butter and Rice cake
Undoubtedly a perfect pre-workout snack, Peanut butter is a rich source of protein, while the Rice cake would provide you the energy.
Eggs
An egg isn't restricted to any particular phase of the day, you can eat it anytime you want. As for the contents, an egg has all those essential amino acids which your body requires.
Banana and Yogurt (Greek)
Normal yogurt has much less protein than a Greek one, the credit for that goes to the way it is strained.
Add a banana to counter the sourness of yogurt, also to have a dose of potassium. If the sourness persists, then add some honey.
Best time to consume protein
We know for sure that you can gain muscles if you combine a protein diet with exercise. Now the question that remains is, when you should take proteins.
Despite doing some researches, experts still haven`t found anything conclusive yet regarding the timing.
Journal of Physiology, an old study that laid out that if a person took protein supplement soon after workout, his skeletal muscle would exhibit growth.
Yet another meta-analysis suggested that there are no known drawbacks on having proteins either before, or after the workout.
So the bottom line is, if a person desires to increase his/her muscle mass, then for that consuming protein is more important than the time of consumption.
Conclusion
In this article, we learned what protein is and what it is made up of, and how those amino acids help with the muscle build-up.
Along with muscle build-up, proteins also keep you satiated for a longer period which indirectly keeps your focus away from unhealthy snacks.
Furthermore, protein decreases the rate of sugar metabolism, thereby controlling the secretion of insulin for an extended period.