Protein for the Athlete and Bodybuilder

Protein has an incredible array of functions in the human body. For the athlete and bodybuilder, protein is especially essential for repairing and building muscle tissue and for energy during prolonged exercise.

And, there is even recent evidence that eating high protein foods can help shift your body makeup in favour of muscle over fat.

What is Protein?

The average person needs a daily minimum 0.8 grams of protein with the essential amino acids for each kilogram of their body weight.

Essential amino acids are those (from the full group of twenty amino acids) that we must get from food because our body cannot make them from scratch.

Not all food is ranked equal when it comes to building protein in the human body.

Most proteins from animal food sources will provide a 'complete' protein sufficient to meet our dietary needs.

Plant sources of protein lack one or more of the essential amino acids, which basically negates its utility as a protein.

The good news is that it is pretty easy to blend a mix of these 'incomplete' proteins to create a complete protein that the body can use.

Even two incomplete proteins, such as rice and beans, will create the necessary protein with all of the essential amino acids.

Protein Needs of Bodybuilders and Athletes

Everyone needs protein in their diet to provide energy and to maintain healthy skin, organ, tendon, ligament and muscle cells.

Bodybuilders and athletes need more protein with the essential amino acids than the average person.

The minimum of 0.8 grams per kilo of body weight for the average person is the minimum amount needed before the body begins breaking down its own tissues (which results in extreme forms of malnutrition — known as protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) — for many people in developing countries, people with eating disorders, and HIV / AIDS patients).

Athletes involved in endurance sports, such as marathon running, may need up to 1.4 grams of protein per kilo of weight per day for energy and to maintain blood glucose.

Strength athletes, such as bodybuilders, need more amino acids than the average person to synthesize new muscle proteins.

Eating proteins following a workout or performance is especially important to soothe and repair muscle tissue, and may help maintain your ability to train hard and consistently.

Combining proteins with carbohydrates has been shown to be especially beneficial for tissue repair, and a meal of twelve to fifteen grams of protein combined with a healthy carb within half an hour of a workout may be ideal — something as simple as a canned salmon sandwich (on whole grain bread of course).

Remember too, that too much of any good thing can potentially turn it into a bad thing. There is evidence that excessive protein may pull calcium from bones and have a negative impact on the kidneys.

According to the dictionary, the biological value of a protein is:: the nutritional effectiveness of the protein in a given food, expressed as the percentage used by the body of either the total protein consumed or the digestible protein available.

So the higher the biological value of protein, the better it is absorbed into the body. Manufactured proteins, like whey, are very high in biological value, with their values exceeding over the 100 mark.

This makes a manufactured protein supplement, like Cyto Sport Protein drinks and supplements, one of the best proteins on the market for athletes and bodybuilders to build muscle mass and tissue strength.