The more protein your body stores—in a process called protein
synthesis—the larger your muscles grow. But your body is constantly draining
its protein reserves for other uses—making hormones, for instance.
The result is less protein available for muscle building. To
counteract that, you need to “build and store new proteins faster than your
body breaks down old proteins,” says Michael Houston, Ph.D., a professor of
nutrition at Virginia Tech University.
1. Eat Meat
Shoot for about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, which
is roughly the maximum amount your body can use in a day, according to a
landmark study in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
For example, a 160-pound man should consume 160 grams of protein a
day—the amount he’d get from an 8-ounce chicken breast, 1 cup of cottage
cheese, a roast-beef sandwich, two eggs, a glass of milk, and 2 ounces of peanuts.
Split the rest of your daily calories equally between
carbohydrates and fats.
2. Eat More
In addition to adequate protein, you need more
calories. Use the following formula to calculate the number you need to take in
daily to gain 1 pound a week. (Give yourself 2 weeks for results to show up on
the bathroom scale. If you haven’t gained by then, increase your calories by
500 a day.)
3. Work Your Biggest Muscles
If you’re a beginner,
just about any workout will be intense enough to increase protein synthesis.
But if you’ve been lifting for a while, you’ll build the most muscle quickest
if you focus on the large muscle groups, like the chest, back, and legs.
Add squats,
deadlifts, pullups, bent-over rows, bench presses, dips, and military presses
to your workout. Do two or three sets of eight to 12 repetitions, with about 60
seconds’ rest between sets. That rep range will put your muscle cells on the
fast track to hypertrophy, the process they use to grow.
4. Have a Drink First
A 2001 study at the
University of Texas found that lifters who drank a shake containing amino acids
and carbohydrates before working out increased their protein synthesis more
than lifters who drank the same shake after exercising.
The shake contained 6
grams of essential amino acids—the muscle-building blocks of protein—and 35
grams of carbohydrates.
“Since exercise
increases blood flow to your working tissues, drinking a carbohydrate-protein
mixture before your workout may lead to greater uptake of the amino acids in your
muscles,” says Kevin Tipton, Ph.D., an exercise and nutrition researcher at the
University of Texas in Galveston.
For your shake,
you’ll need about 10 to 20 grams of protein—usually about one scoop of a
whey-protein powder. Can’t stomach protein drinks? You can get the same
nutrients from a sandwich made with 4 ounces of deli turkey and a slice of
American cheese on whole wheat bread. But a drink is better.
“Liquid meals are
absorbed faster,” says Kalman. So tough it out. Drink one 30 to 60 minutes before
your workout.
5. Lift Every Other Day
Do a full-body
workout followed by a day of rest. Studies show that a challenging weight
workout increases protein synthesis for up to 48 hours immediately after your
exercise session.
“Your muscles grow
when you’re resting, not when you're working out,” says Michael Mejia,
C.S.C.S., Men’s Health exercise advisor and a former skinny
guy who packed on 40 pounds of muscle using this very program.
6. Down the Carbs After Your
Workout
Research shows that
you'll rebuild muscle faster on your rest days if you feed your body
carbohydrates.
“Post-workout meals
with carbs increase your insulin levels,” which, in turn, slows the rate of
protein breakdown, says Kalman. Have a banana, a sports drink, a peanut-butter
sandwich.
7. Eat Something Every 3 Hours
“If you don’t eat
often enough, you can limit the rate at which your body builds new proteins,”
says Houston.
Take the number of
calories you need in a day and divide by six. That’s roughly the number you
should eat at each meal. Make sure you consume some protein—around 20
grams—every 3 hours.
8. Make One Snack Ice Cream
This tip will be the
easiest to follow by far: Have a bowl of ice cream (any kind) 2 hours after
your workout.
According to a study
in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
this snack triggers a surge of insulin better than most foods do. And that’ll
put a damper on post-workout protein breakdown.
9. Have Milk Before Bed
Eat a combination of
carbohydrates and protein 30 minutes before you go to bed. The calories are
more likely to stick with you during sleep and reduce protein breakdown in your
muscles, says Kalman.
Try a cup of raisin
bran with a cup of skim milk or a cup of cottage cheese and a small bowl of
fruit. Eat again as soon as you wake up.
“The more diligent
you are, the better results you’ll get,” says Kalman.
