Is Protein Powder Necessary to Gain Muscle?

Last Updated 3 years ago

Depending on who you ask, you might receive any number of answers to this question.

Supplement companies generally claim that their protein powders or amino acids are the only surefire way of gaining muscle mass, melting fat and boosting strength overnight.

People who drink protein shakes every day typically do so because they heard it’s great for making #gains at the gym.

There’s no arguing that when you’ve got a hard-hitting exercise regime on the go, protein is one nutrient your body needs in sufficient quantities to avoid uncomfortable and unhealthy side effects like fatigue and muscle weakness.

Protein fuels our muscles and helps to rebuild them after a workout, so without enough protein in our diets, we can’t get the most out of our exercise routines.

However, truth be told, the best muscle-building substance you can put into your body is a good old-fashioned diet.

Eating the right food provides the body with all of the building blocks, energy resources and nutrients needed to recover after exercise and develop your muscles.

To increase muscle mass in combination with physical activity, it is recommended that a person that lifts weights regularly or is training for a running or cycling event eat a range of 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (or 0.5 to 0.8 grams per pound of body weight).

Although there are conflicting views around when the best time to consume protein for muscle gain is, most people agree that you should aim to drink it within one hour of your workout. This is when your muscles need it most – during recovery.

Athletes need to include some form of protein in every meal, whether that is in the form of lean meat and fish, nuts or nut butter, eggs, dairy or soy.

Depending on how much you’re exercising and your appetite, some people may struggle to eat enough protein throughout the day.

People who find it particularly challenging to meet these amounts may include vegans and vegetarians, athletes and weight lifters, older adults, or people with a chronic illness.

Here is where a good protein supplement comes in handy. Adding a scoop of protein powder to your shake, pancakes, or virtually any other food or drink, is a quick and easy way to up your intake after a gym session.

The same goes for isolated amino acids. 99% of people can get the right levels by adjusting their diet but professional athletes may need amino acid supplements (often called BCAAs).

If you are really serious about building up muscle, you should sit down and build out a training plan and food diary. Look at your current protein intake and figure out where there are gaps that cannot be met by eating more of the right foods.

There are various other things to consider alongside the use of protein powder if you really want to bulk up.

If you want to gain more muscle then you need to up your calorie intake, either in the form of protein shakes or by eating more. If you aren’t consuming more calories than you are burning throughout the day, you won’t be able to put on any muscle.

Doing this via food lets you increase the amount of complex carbs, protein, healthy unsaturated fats and important nutrients via nutritious food. Dodge the processed foods that will mess with your blood sugar levels and reduce muscle gain.

On which note, ditch the boozy nights out too.

Alcohol contributes to protein breakdown more than your nutrition (including supplements) can do to protein synthesis. When the body degrades muscle protein, it breaks down more muscle than it builds. In other words, you’ll never be able to increase muscle mass.

Try eating smaller meals more often too. Eating five or six smaller meals throughout the day ensures that your body is getting a good constant supply of fuel and amino acids to build and repair muscles. One or two of these could be in the form of a protein shake or protein fruit smoothies.

Throwing in a bunch of healthy ingredients like low-fat milk, banana, berries, chia seeds, yoghurt or even some green leafy veg is a great way of rounding off a nutritious snack.

Even though we associate high-carb diets with getting fat, be sure to include some complex carbohydrates with every meal too. They are critical for fuelling your muscles during workouts to stimulate muscle growth.

Some examples of complex carbohydrates are whole grains, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, whole oats, grainy breads and root vegetables like sweet potato. Complex carbs offer sustained energy rather than the peaks and troughs induced by white bread/rice/pasta.

You can also try increasing your protein intake naturally. Now and again you should try skipping the protein shake and fuel up on healthy, lean protein choices such as lean meat, chicken, eggs, fish, legumes and low-fat dairy foods.

For snacks, just stock up with nuts and seeds, quinoa, hummus with wholegrain crackers, or yoghurt and muesli.

If you’ve got the time then why not try making your own protein bars and balls, so that you can directly influence how much sugar goes into your body?

If you think that you could benefit from the addition of protein powder into your diet then the next step is to look at what types of supplement there are and which will best meet your requirements.

To summarise, whilst protein powder may help you to up your protein intake and hit additional requirements from your exercise regime, it shouldn’t be considered the magic pill that will have you waking up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger.