The studies I've read say something between 2-3g / kg LBM, and that's on a cut (higher protein required to avoid muscle loss), so you're probably right. It is kind of a detail thing though. I imagine diminishing returns kick in at some point, and you'd make gains either way. Point is, if he's eating something like 100g a day, it needs to go up.
The 1g per pound rule has always struck me as kind of conveniently easy for people who don't know anything about the subject to rattle off as a gospel truth (1g/lb is 2.2g/kg, which is pretty close to 2-3g/kg mentioned earlier). I tend to think that a high protein diet as assessed by an intelligent 8 year old (Gee mister, we learned about proteins and carbohydrates at school and you sure eat a lot of eggs, meat and dairy!) is probably all that's necessary for people with a high protein requirement. The US RDA for an adult male is 56 grams of protein a day - which is about 1 scoop of whey protein. Most of the people I see cramming whey protein are having that at least twice a day, with milk, in addition to a high protein diet. I know the RDA is a very broad average intended to reflect average weight, average activity levels and average muscle mass... But I'm pretty skeptical about diet advice that suggests three or four times that much as a minimum. Especially when almost every one of those diet recommendations comes with a protein powder advertisement somewhere in the advice. It's also worth remembering that adjustment methods are pretty relevant consideration when you're talking about protein content of your diet. Most of the published tables don't declare if they've adjusted their results to correct for PDCAAS or BV or PER, or just not adjusted at all. My understanding is that PDCAAS is widely considered the best method for adjusting, but there's so much material out there based on BV or PER, and it's increasingly popular to publish results unadjusted so that nutrition researchers can adjust based on whatever model they prefer. It makes reading any of the data about how much protein is in food a real pain since the only way it's worth the effort is if the recommendations you're building your diet around are based on studies using an adjustment method that you know so that you can base your intake choices on correctly adjusted data.
56g protein is about 2 servings (up to 4 scoops depending on brand/scoop size) and that's about the maximum I feel comfortable taking any one day anyways - and if I do I've probably fucked up my diet somewhere along the way. Not a big fan of heavy metals, myself. "Average muscle mass" - have you taken a look around recently? I'm not a fan of anything recommended towards maintaining an "average muscle mass". I don't read fitness magazines, so I don't know about supplement ads. I do read Rippetoe, Lyle McDonald, Martin Berkhan, other random articles and assorted studies though. I trust PubMed over an RDA anyday. (If you really want a laugh, take a look at the government's recommendations for Vitamin D intake per day. Then look up how much Vitamin D you make after 20 minutes of direct sunshine. Then look up the toxicity levels. Pick different vitamin. Repeat.) I guess this goes back to the "8 year old's understanding" thing. Milk, eggs, beef = good protein, wheat = "Huh? That has protein?" No need to keep a table handy, really, just don't delude yourself by thinking you're gonna get swole eating nothing but spaghetti. (Although it is interesting to see the numbers.) Coincidentally, the easy way to hit your protein target tends to be with high-quality-protein foods. Getting your protein by eating bags of peanuts while staying within your calorie limit/hitting your macros is easier said than done.
The United States Government is the LAST entity I would trust to tell me what is good or bad to put into my body.
Read this whole series on Chaos and Pain a while back, about bench press form: <a class="postlink" href="http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2012/06/stop-bitching-and-start-benching-4-my.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... -4-my.html</a> TL;DR big numbers have been put up with all kinds of form. Close grip, super wide grip, arched back, no arch, reverse grip, all kinds of shit. So fuck what anyone else says, experiment and see what works for you. Bench has always been a shit lift for me, so I decided to experiment with my grip today. Moved my hands in so my index is touching the smooth, and holy shit, HUGE difference. The weight feels lighter, goes up stronger, and it feels like my pecs and triceps are sharing the load better, if that makes sense. Plus I always had trouble unracking the weight, and it's a lot easier with my hands closer in. Rereading that article, might have to start pausing the first rep at the bottom, too. Experimenting is good.
Too many people lose the forest for the trees. Work your ass off in the gym, take away the junk food and up the healthy food. Lots of people get great results with 1g or protein per kg, if you go further than that fine. Worry about other shit first.
I sprained or strained or something the upper part of my right trapezius msucle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezius_muscle). I need to take a least a week maybe two or three off from lifting, but I want to keep working out. Any suggestions for exercises that won't put much strain on this muscle. The only thing I can think of is swimming. I might also do pullups and pushups everyday, but I'm not sure if that will aggravate it.
You know what sucks? Visiting your retardedly religious vegetarian family while trying to not lose all your muscle mass. No wonder you're all fat, you eat rice for every meal and don't lift anything heavier than a remote. I need to buy a bunch of tuna and hide it somewhere in the house.
I am not an expert on injuries, but having had some experience of shoulder injuries in the past, I would not recommend pull-ups as this exercise works the same area you have injured, potentially delaying your recovery and further aggravating your injury. A combination of rest, swimming and sauna would all be helpful towards speeding up your recovery. Better to rest, and get back in the gym when you can then risk a long-term injury problem occurring because you have over-trained. Obviously we all have different mental/physical characteristics that impact our recovery time, and our ability to train whilst injured (doing pull-ups), so it is important to listen to your body, and do what you think will speed up your recovery and get you back in the gym.
Same here, I have progressed faster in all my other lifts other than Bench Press. Good article I read when I first got into Strength Training, about how to Bench Press with perfect form, which has helped me progress a lot since reading, worth a look: <a class="postlink" href="http://stronglifts.com/how-to-bench-press-with-proper-technique-avoid-shoulder-injuries/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://stronglifts.com/how-to-bench-pre ... -injuries/</a>
Does anyone know of a good strength training yoga routine/video series? I work pretty long hours so I want to be able to just do something when I get home a few days each week instead of going to the gym. I'm looking for something more towards the advanced side if that's not too much to ask. Or if anyone knows of a home workout routine that is all body weight exercises.
For home workouts I would recommend Ross Training: <a class="postlink" href="http://rosstraining.com/blog/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://rosstraining.com/blog/</a> Read some of his sample workouts, they are intense and do not take long to do: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.rosstraining.com/articles.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.rosstraining.com/articles.html</a>
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.trulyhuge.com/pro_bodybuilding.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.trulyhuge.com/pro_bodybuilding.htm</a> Well, this is horrifying.
I tried Tabata sprints today for the first time. Because running at an all-out effort is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about 101-degree heat... Those 4 minutes kicked the dogshit out of me, but in a good way.
No kidding, I found a video online that I have done a couple times modeled after the same concept. Warm up, killer 4 minutes, an active recovery, then repeat. Kicks my ass. About brought my marathon running husband to his knees when I tricked him into doing it with me
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/exercise-detail/At-Home-HIIT-Workout-Program-for-Fat-Loss/a6/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/exercis ... t-Loss/a6/</a> Here is the video that I did. They did 20 seconds on/10 off of a couple different exercises for a total of 8 sets, 2 min active rest, then repeat. I like doing the video so I dont' have to focus on the clock. Works for when you don't want to haul your ass out into the 110 degree heat to do sprints.
Marathon running shouldn't really be seen as any kind of baseline as to how one would do performing HIIT. Heck, marathon runners a lot of times have below average athleticism due to absurdly low muscle mass. Compare a sprinter versus a marathoner and outside of long distance endurance the sprinter beats him in everything else.
Doing ANYTHING tabata styles will kick the fuck out of you. I firmly recommend hitting tabata pushups on the regular. Sprints...are the goddamn devil.