Factor One: Be Protein Positive

Your muscles contain about 40% of the protein in your body. It is the raw material from which you are constructed. It is crucial in the rebuilding and recovery process. Yet, the consuming of protein, in itself, does not build muscle. It needs to be just one in a whole continuum of factors that work synergistically to bring about the end result of more mass on your frame.

Muscle growth can only occur if muscle protein synthesis exceeds muscle protein breakdown. This means that there must be a positive muscle protein balance. Strength training improves muscle protein balance, but, in the absence of food, the balance will remain negative, or catabolic.

The ingredient within protein which makes it so vital in the muscle building process is nitrogen. Unlike carbohydrates and fats, protein contains nitrogen, which is essential for the replacement of body cells. To be able to build muscle, and even to keep the muscle that we currently have, we must be in a state of positive nitrogen balance. That means that we need to be taking more nitrogen into our bodies than we are expending in the course of our daily activities.

If proteins are the building blocks of the body, then the building blocks of protein are amino acids. There are 20 amino acids that can be reformulated in a vast number of ways to create hundreds of different proteins. A dozen of these amino acids are able to be produced naturally by the human body. They are known as non essential amino acids because we don’t have to rely on outside food sources to get them into our body.

The remaining 8 amino acids are known as essential because they can’t be manufactured by the body and must come by way of the food we eat.

Here are the eight essential amino acids:


· Lysine

· Isoleucine

· Leucine

· Methionine

· Phenylaline

· Threonine

· Tryptophan

· Valine

Proteins sources that contain all eight of the essential amino acids are referred to as complete proteins. Many complete proteins come from animal sources. That’s because an animal’s molecular structure is similar to a human being. Here are some great animal sources of complete protein:


· Chicken Breast

· Salmon

· Turkey Breast

· Lean Beef – flank steak, bison, sirloin, lean ground beef

· Low Fat Pork

The very best complete protein source of them all is the egg.

As a hard gainer, you should aim for 1.5 grams of protein for every pound of bodyweight. So, if you are currently 175 pounds, you should be taking in …

175 x 1.5 = 262.5 grams of protein per day.

This consumption should be spread over the course of six or seven meals during the day. Your body can only absorb about 50 grams of protein at one sitting. By eating six meals per day, spaced about three hour apart, you will be able to get your daily protein requirement without any waste.

Our 175 pound guy will be taking in …

262.5 / 6 grams of protein per meal

That equates to 43.75 grams per meal. To give you an idea of how much of a certain food to consume in order to get your protein requirement in, a large egg contains 6 grams of protein, while most lean meats like beef, chicken, turkey and fish contain 6 grams of protein. Milk contains 1 gram of protein per fluid ounce.