Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
Many body builders and weight lifters are overly
concerned about what they eat and what food supplements they
take. If you want to grow larger and stronger muscles, it helps to
understand how food can help your training program. Just
exercising does not grow large muscles. If volume of exercise
made you strong, marathon runners would have the largest
muscles. The only stimulus to make muscles larger and stronger
is to stretch them while they contract against resistance. When
you lift a heavy weight, your muscles start to stretch before they
start to contract. This tears the muscle and causes soreness on
the next day. If you rest and let the muscle heal, it will be
stronger than before you stretched it. You improve by taking
hard workouts so your muscles can grow and heal while you
recover on your easy days.
Anything that helps you recover faster from a hard
workout will allow you to do more work to make you stronger.
Scientists have known for years that you recover faster by eating
immediately after you finish your hard workout. Now we know
that eating extra protein helps you recover even faster. Muscles
are made primarily from protein building blocks called amino
acids. Muscles heal from a hard workout when amino acids and
other nutrients travel from your bloodstream into the muscles.
Eating any food, particularly foods with plenty of protein,
immediately after you finish your workout helps your muscles
heal faster so you can do more work. The sooner you eat protein
after you finish your hard workout, the quicker you will recover.
However, you don't need to take expensive supplements;
ordinary foods provide high-quality protein and taste better.
Remember, your body cannot store extra protein. If you don't
need all of the protein you have eaten, it is broken down into
ammonia and organic acids, which are used for energy. Any
excess is stored as fat.
May 1, 2006