It’s long been understood that athletes and anyone else undergoing intense physical training should do themselves a favor by loading up on as much protein as possible both before and after they work out.
At the same time, this point we just kind of take this advice as gospel and never really consider how much of an impact supplement like whey protein make – and what our results might look like if we weren’t flooding our bodies with protein supplements when we take our training seriously.
Physiologists in Finland have decided to experiment to figure out just how much of an impact protein has on building lean muscle mass, working with 31 different test participants in their 20s. The physiologists recognized the long-standing acceptance of the impact protein has on building lean muscle mass, so this study wasn’t really conducted to figure out if protein works but rather to figure out just how well it works.
Each participant of the test hadn’t done any way training in the past, but during this testing protocol they were instructed to go to the gym twice a week for a period of 21 weeks. Another group, the control, didn’t do any training whatsoever.
Those participants that were sent to the gym twice a week were tasked with targeting all of the major muscle groups throughout the body, working the lower body, the upper body, the core, and the arms with a standardized program that the test creators came up with.
Half of those that worked out were given a protein shake containing 15 g of whey protein powder before and after their workout, while those in the placebo group were given a shake before and after their workout that included absolutely no protein whatsoever.
This study was done as a double-blind study, making sure that the results were as accurate as possible and no one being quite sure of who was getting protein and who was getting a placebo.
After the 21 weeks of training concluded, it was shown that the placebo group had been able to gain an average of 2.57 kg of lean muscle mass. Those that had been supplementing with protein were discovered to have gained on average 3.1 kg of lean muscle mass over the same block of time.
This has led researchers to conclude that supplementing with just 30 g of protein split in half (15 g before you workout and 15 g afterwards) can help to build 21% more lean muscle mass – anything but an insignificant factor for those that want to bulk up as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
Anyone that is taking their body transformation process seriously will want to lean heavily on protein supplements to get to achieve their goals much faster. Not only was there an increasingly muscle mass but there was also an increase in overall strength and endurance levels, review showing just how much of a superstar supplement the quality source of protein is.
