Sleep Sleep Sleep!!! Grow Grow Grow!!!
"Do you remember back when your momma read bedtime stories to you? You know, illustrated children's books spinning tales of old Gepetto and Pinnochio, Jack and his Beanstalk, and Raskolnikov and his Crime and his Punishment. What's that?
Thinking back, one of my favorite stories was the legend of Robin Hood. This story told of a daring outlaw who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. In my youth I was enamored with his cunning and his loyalty to his friends. It was always satisfying when his quick wit allowed him to make a fool of the powerful Sheriff of Knottingham.
On one occasion, Robin and his men were able to sneak into an archery contest and win the first prize, a golden arrow. Although this contest was a trap set by Knottingham, Robin and his merry men had good on their side and were able to win the arrow and escape capture. I've liked the underdog ever since.
Unfortunately in today's supplement market, a modern day Sherwood Forest if you will, a story is being told that's the antithesis of the Robin Hood story. You see, in this bedtime tale, the rich Knottinghams of the industry are robbing from the consumer, and they're doing so with promises of golden arrows.
So, true to my love of the underdog, you know where this article is headed. Just call me Robin Hood (and no, I don't wear tights!).
A Little Knowledge Is Dangerous
Weight lifters today are more informed about training and nutrition than they were a decade ago. But as often is the case, a little information can be dangerous. Unfortunately, you and your wallet are the ones in danger in this case.
Take the phenomenon of overnight catabolism, for example. First, you learn what the word catabolic means. It's the opposite of anabolic and has to do with muscle wasting. Then you learn that you become catabolic during sleep at night. As a result, you make it your goal to prevent this catabolism at any cost.
Now here comes the dangerous part. The big bad Knottinghams of the supplement world realize your unnecessary desperation and begin to use this information against you, spinning scientific-sounding tales based on spurious assumptions and false promises.
They come as a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing and, unlike the fairy tales of our youth, it becomes difficult to distinguish the heroes from the villains.
Keeping with the overnight catabolism theme, Knottingham's new golden arrow is his so-called "nighttime anti-catabolic protein formula." He's been trying to convince would-be supplement consumers that his super expensive, slow-released protein blends are the only way to prevent wasting away to nothing overnight.
Using fancy words and a couple of inappropriate references, he claims that the conventional protein powders on the market today are useless for overnight consumption and that only his special high-tech blend will make you huge.
With furrowed brow, I unsheath my arrow.
What Happens When the Lights Go Out
When tucking into bed at night, you're about to embark on a six to eight hour journey of rest and repair. After all, it's been a long day in the forest. However, during this time you aren't feeding the body. We call this the post-absorptive period. If you haven't heard of this post-absorptive period before, let me explain.
Throughout the day, the first hour or two after eating is referred to as the post-prandial period. During this time, the body digests and absorbs nutrients. When you eat and even during the post-prandial period, the body's maintenance needs for blood glucose and energy are met. At this time it begins to synthesize proteins and glycogen in the liver and muscle.
Once this period is over, the post-absorptive period sets in. After the absorption of the nutrients from your last meal is complete and the nutrients in the blood have been delivered, the body begins using those stored nutrients for energy.
Then, in order to maintain blood glucose and tissue metabolism, the liver and muscle start metabolizing and sending glucose and amino acids out into the blood.
If you're eating frequently during the day, the overnight period is your longest post-absorptive period. It should be no surprise that after an overnight fast and a long post-absorptive period, some of the muscle glycogen and muscle protein will have been depleted. In fact, research has verified this hypothesis and shown specifically that after the overnight fast, muscle protein breakdown exceeds muscle protein synthesis.
Interestingly, the opposite is true in the splanchnic region (gut, liver, etc) because in these tissues, synthesis exceeds breakdown. Therefore during the night, muscle is broken down to feed the gut/liver/etc and presumably other tissues as well (1).
Feeding For Increased Muscle Mass: Nuts And Berries Of The Forest Won't Do It
Understanding what happens after an overnight fast, I'm sure you're now wondering how you might keep out of the post absorptive period and prevent overnight muscle losses. Well, the secret is in understanding how the body handles protein and amino acids under normal conditions. Remember, net muscle-protein status (anabolism or catabolism) is determined by a simple equation: protein synthesis minus protein breakdown.
Large increases in blood amino acid levels (100-200% above the fasted baseline) are necessary for increasing protein synthesis. Therefore a protein meal containing at least 20-30 grams of fast-digesting protein (like whey) can accomplish such a goal.
Interestingly, to inhibit protein breakdown we only need small increases in blood amino-acid levels (25-50% above fasted baseline). However, these small increases must be prolonged (4-5 hours) in order to realize this inhibition of protein breakdown. In this situation, a slow-digesting protein like casein is necessary.
So, at this point you might be asking why you can't simply consume whey protein every few hours in order to maintain super-high levels of blood amino acids. It makes sense that this would keep amino acid levels high for a very long period of time, thus stimulating protein synthesis and preventing protein breakdown, right? Well, not so fast, Little John.
Unfortunately, when large increases in blood amino acid levels (+100%) are achieved via intravenous infusion for a prolonged period of six hours, protein synthesis only increases from the 30 minute to the two-hour mark. After two hours, protein synthesis rates almost immediately return to baseline.
Unbelievably, protein synthesis rates remain at baseline levels from the two hour to the six hour marks, even with the same level of hyperaminoacidemia (2).
So it's clear that keeping amino acid levels elevated all day won't keep protein synthesis rates racing along. It's my guess that if you were to try to do this, breakdown would simply balance synthesis and you wouldn't get any bigger.
It's my theory that you need those phasic bursts in amino-acid levels to stimulate protein synthesis.
If you're keeping up, this presents a confusing picture as to how to time your meals for optimal protein growth. In my opinion, large bursts of hyperaminoacidemia every four hours or so (to stimulate synthesis in a phasic manner), coupled with a prolonged low-level hyperaminoacidemia (to chronically inhibit breakdown) may be the best way to coerce the muscles into getting huge.
So how can you accomplish this? That's easy, at least when you're awake.
Consider the "pros" and "cons" of the bodybuilder's two main sources of protein:
* Whey protein intake (30g) produces large transient hyperaminoacidemia. After an hour, blood amino acids are elevated by about 300%. After two hours, about 92%. After four hours, you're back to baseline. This is ideal for increased protein synthesis but does nothing for protein breakdown (3,4).
* Casein protein intake (30g) produces moderate but prolonged hyperaminoacidemia. After two hours, blood amino acids are elevated by about 32% and after four hours by about 35%. After seven hours, blood amino acids are still elevated. This is ideal for prevention of protein breakdown but does nothing for protein synthesis (3,4).
The next question is, where the heck are you gonna find whey and casein protein in Sherwood Forest? Well, if you can find a cow or a goat, you're in luck.
Milk protein is composed of 80% casein and 20% whey. Milk is interesting in that, believe it or not, the whey and casein fractions are absorbed separately. In one study, subjects consumed skimmed milk and were evaluated over the course of eight hours.
With milk-protein ingestion, there's a rapid rise in blood amino acids within one hour (probably as a result of the whey fraction), a plateau from one to three hours (a combination of simultaneous whey and casein absorption), and then there's a progressive decline over the course of the next eight hours.
However, blood amino acids are still elevated at the eight hour point as a result of the casein fraction. (5).
While this discussion has only dealt with milk proteins, it may be safe to say that most animal proteins are probably similar to casein in their slow digestion and absorption profiles. So, during the day, eating a combination of fast digesting and slow-digesting proteins every four hours or so is probably the best way to maintain a highly positive daily protein status.
Again, this can be done with milk proteins alone or with a combination of whey or milk protein and animal protein at each meal.
In the end, though, don't get too obsessed with seeking out your favorite cow every four hours. Research has shown that eating animal protein alone does a nice job of increasing post-prandial protein synthesis, too.
