How Much Protein for Strength and Mass Gains?

People often fail to meet their strength goals due to a lack of planning in the dietary aspects of the training sphere. Goals are not enough, they have to be associated to an action plan.

It is a myth that 21 days are necessary to change an habit, the scientific research points out that it takes at least 66 days for the average person to install an habit.

From experience, whether you want to gain muscle mass or strength, the first goal you should establish is how much protein you should eat in a day. For males, who aim at increasing muscle mass and strength gains, if you only train once a day, 2 g a kg should be more than enough (for women 1.2g /kg of bodyweight).

With Olympic level athletes in strength sports who train up to 5 times a day, that value can climb up to 3.3 g/kg to 4.4 g/kg in accumulation phases, where they aim at increasing their muscle’s cross-section. However, athletes that reach those high protein needs are about as rare as lawyers who under-bill their clients!

That total protein amount should be spread out over 5 to 6 intakes a day, including any peri-workout intake (during/post). In the recent past, I have found that 80 grams coming from 40 grams of essential aminos with an additional 40 grams of BCAAs worked best to increase my gains in the gyms. I was certainly not consuming enough intra-workout. Since hypertrophy was the goal, I also consumed 30 to 70 gr of carbs depending on the size of body part, insuring proper transport into the cell.

Of course the quality of the protein matters. You cannot *compare 40 grams of baloney protein to 40 grams of bison protein.

Keep in mind that in order to grow you will need a minimum of 40% of your calories coming from carbs in the diet. Higher intakes of carbs are indicated when one has great insulin sensitivity and has the training volume is there to validate it. Again for most of the readers, 40% is probably better.

There are three populations who in my experience need higher protein intakes (3.3-4.4 g/kg):

1. Insulin resistant morbidly obese, ultra-low carb. As their insulin sensitivity improves the protein needs will go down, being replaced by paleo carbs.
2. Athletes who are fully dedicated to developing hypertrophy/strength; however they have to train enough: more than 2 sessions a day. An extremely small percentage of the training population. For a lot of them, they actually finally recover once they move that up.
3. People from phenotypes that respond better to high protein i.e. Native Americans.

Keep in mind that Ed Coan became one of the strongest men in history with a very limited workload, his protein intake being circa 2 g/kg. Individualization is key. Not growing? Try more protein; still not growing: cut back on protein and increase carbs.

Testosterone Enanthate Side Effect

Testosterone Enanthate is similar to Testosterone Cypionate in that it’s a long-lasting form of testosterone that helps build mass quickly. It releases slowly, which means you get more for your money when investing in Testosterone Enanthate – but you can also inject it weekly for faster results.

Because the two drugs are similar, most people decide whether to buy Testosterone Enanthate or Testosterone Cypionate based on whether it’s available at the time they need it. Due to the length it takes to exit your system, users of Testosterone Enanthate who have negative side effects will be plagued with them for 3-4 weeks.

Enanthate Side-Effects

If your body doesn’t react well to taking Testosterone Enanthate, then you can use post-cycle products such as Nolvadex and Proviron to help you deal with the side effects. This will help restore the natural level of testosterone to your body as the Testosterone Enanthate dies down.

It’s important to know that Testosterone Enanthate, like most androgens, are usually tolerated well by those who use it for bodybuilding. Since scientists are learning more about how to use Testosterone Enanthate for therapeutic reasons, they’re quickly studying ways to enhance its benefits.

Of course ... Testosterone Enanthate can be stacked with other compounds to help build mass. Always check the other product to see what benefits it has that testosterone enanthate may not have on its own.

Testosterone enanthate is currently a drug that is injected into the muscle tissue (usually in the buttocks). But the soaring interest by patients and physicians to use it for therapy has resulted in studies to create an oral version of testosterone enanthate.

Some patients are even able to get their physician to surgically insert a pellet-version of Testosterone Enanthate into their abdomen for release that lasts up to six months. A study about inserting a year-long implant of Testosterone Enanthate is being conducted outside of the United States.

Although the drug comes in many forms – or is being tested to sell in various forms – injected testosterone enanthate is still the most popular. Gels, surgical implants, and other methods to use Testosterone Enanthate either don’t work as effectively or aren’t as easy to discontinue should the user experience side effects.

Testosterone Enanthate – regardless of its form – will remain popular with pro athletes and others interested in performance-enhancing drugs.