Why Beasts Need Protein: Nutrition For Performance

Are you even a beast if you don’t optimise your performance the right way with protein?!

Protein = strength. It’s one of the 3 macronutrients and it’s essential if you want to achieve your goals in the gym and elsewhere. It repairs your tissues and helps them to grow, and it’s the building block for muscles. 

Knowledge is power, too. Join us as we take a look at exactly how protein gives you strength via nutrition. 

Essential Amino Acids vs Non-Essential Amino Acids 

When you digest protein, amino acids are formed. Amino acids are protein. They’re the building blocks that help to create protein molecules in your body.

There are 2 types of amino acids:

• Essential amino acids 

• Non-essential amino acids

Essential amino acids 

These bad boys are the ones your body needs. The sad thing is that your body doesn’t actually produce them - which really sucks. 

But it’s okay because you can get them from your diet instead. Quinoa is an example of an essential amino acid, which makes it a complete protein. This actually makes it unusual as most plant-based foods are incomplete proteins. 

Other examples of complete proteins (which will give you your essential amino acids) include eggs, seafood, fish, poultry, meat, cheese and yogurt. 

It’s important that you get as many of these complete proteins as you can, as they play a key role in muscle growth. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, you’ll need to put yourself on a high quality soy protein diet. As well as quinoa, make sure to add amaranth to your grocery list. 

Non-essential amino acids

A non-essential amino acid is produced by your body. Despite the name, they’re still really important if you want to stay healthy and get stronger. 

You can get you incomplete proteins from legumes, nut butters, seeds, grains and nuts. 

If you’re a vegetarian or vegan and thus can’t eat most complete proteins, try combining incomplete proteins for maximum effect. For example, you could enjoy a plate of black beans with brown rice. 

How Much Protein Do You Need To Get Stronger? 

Ever been in a gym and asked a meathead how much protein you need to consume to get as big as him? 

I did it once and he said 2 grams per pound of body weight - each day. 

Which is insane. 

The good news is that you don’t need to be that extreme. And if you did, I can guarantee it won’t be too long before you never want to see a protein shake ever again. 

To build muscle, you don’t need to obsess over protein and take things to the extreme. But you do need to consume the optimum amount, which is around 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight each day (which is about 2 grams per kg).

Follow a high-protein diet but don’t chug down slabs of meat each day. It’s not necessary. As you get leaner, make sure to keep your protein intake high. If you drop it below the recommended 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight each day (2 grams / kg), you’ll lose muscle and strength faster. Not cool.

Conclusion 

Protein isn’t rocket science. Follow the tips in this article, eat the right things, workout - and rinse and repeat.