PROTEIN

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I can’t say this any better than Mauro G. Di Pasquale, who is becoming a hero of mine.

However, for those athletes involved in strength events such as the Olympic field and sprint events, those in football or hockey, or weightlifters, powerlifters, and bodybuilders, I recommend between 1.2 and 1.6 g of high-quality protein per pound of total body weight. That means that if you weigh 200 lb and want to put on a maximum amount of muscle mass, then you will have to take in as much as 320g of protein daily. There are several competitive weightlifters, powerlifters, and bodybuilders that I know who take in 2-3 g of high-quality protein per pound of body weight.

If you are trying to lose weight or body fat it is important to keep your dietary protein levels high. That is because the body oxidizes more protein on a calorie-deficient diet than it would in a diet that has adequate calories. The larger the body muscle mass, the more transamination of amino acids occurs to fulfill energy needs. Thus for those wishing to lose weight but maintain or even increase lean body mass in specific skeletal muscles, I recommend at least 1.5g of high-quality protein per pound of body weight. The reduction in claories needed to lose weight should be at the expense of the fats and carbohydrates, not protein (345).

Dr. Di Pasquale in his powerlifting days

Protein for Strength Training
This is very telling. Let’s look at each paragraph. The first paragraph discusses necessary protein intake based on body weight. This quote doesn’t just come from a diet or training book, it’s a no-shit textbook with literature reviews on everything related to amindo acids and proteins and applying it to athletics.
Earlier in the book there was a review of the literature concerning how the Recommended Daily Allowances were developed which resulted in the 1989 protein intake of .8g/kg in body weight. This is equivalent to .36g/lb — a horribly low number (a 200 lb male would be prescribed 72g of protein!). Peter Lemon (of Kent State) observed that these recommendations were for sedentary individuals and came up with the following recommendations in 1995: 1.4-1.8g/kg for strength athletes and 1.2-1.4g/kg for endurance athletes. This would be .63-.81g/lb for strength athletes and .54-.63g/lb for endurance athletes. A 200 lb strength athlete’s recommendations would be 126-162g of protein. This is better than the RDA, but still childishly low.

Dr. Di Pasquale’s recommendations of 1.2-1.6g/lb of body weight would have a 200 lb strength athlete between 240-320g per day. This is what we find as practitioners in training and coaching; having more grams of protein per pound of body weight is the first dietary error to address when recovery is an issue. Especially when training for three or more days per week.

Now let’s make this applicable. Have you stalled in your program? Are you unable to train efficiently because of lingering soreness in your back, hamstrings, or shoulders? Has your progress slowed? The first thing to look at is your daily protein intake. What is it? Oh, you don’t even know? Well have fun shoveling shit in the regular infantry, because Special Forces are not in your future.

Estimate your daily protein intake and compare it to Dr. Di Pasquale’s recommendations (which mimic the recommendations on this site of adding 50g of protein to your body weight in pounds). It’s probably low, so figure out a way to increase it. Now. Your training will improve.


Protein for Fat Loss
The textbook thoroughly (very thoroughly) details how protein is digested, metabolized, utilized, skibbytitized, and blabbitized. It covers everything. So when Dr. Di Pasquale — who has a Bachelor’s in biological science, a Master’s in molecular biochemistry, and a medical degree — says in the second paragraph that you need more protein when losing fat than you would otherwise, we should listen. His recommendation of 1.5g/lb would have a 200 lb guy taking in 300g of protein when trying to lose fat. Don’t skimp on protein when reducing or changing calories.

This textbook is full of very good info, and the more that I read it on the toilet, the more that I will share the gems with you.

Di Pasquale, Mauro. Amindo Acids and Proteins for the Athlete, 2nd Ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2008. Print.

66 thoughts on “PROTEIN”

  2. My spies on 70s big have shown me your anti-female rant, Justin, and I have to say that I’m not surprised you would talk shit about me through a medium where you are safe behind your monitor and keyboard. I’m knowledgeable in quite a few martial arts and hold a 4th dan black belt in Kempo Karate as well as a 6th dan black belt in Taekwondo and quite frankly am not afraid of some sub-10% bodyfat lifter who spends most of his time posing in a thong. I doubt you’d say any of the things in the video to my face.

    The fact is, Justin, you simply don’t know how to coach women. You may coach them but you do so poorly. I’ve coached women. Just look at my post history on startingstrength.com. I have made 2,332 posts since 4-29-2010, and many of these posts have more than 5,000 words. That is quite a few YouTubes that I’ve watched and coached lifters through. I doubt you’ve typed as many words as I have or sat through as many hours of YouTube lifting as I have – to be straightforward, I think it’s pretty apparent that I have as much coaching experience as you do, if not more.

    And since I AM a woman, I understand COACHING women as well. And you just don’t get it, Justin Lascek. That’s painfully apparent in ALL of the posts you’ve made addressing women. You’re a chauvinist, condescending, patronizing shit-encrusted pube when it comes to dealing with women. I weep for the woman who marries you, even if marriage is a patriarchal construct designed to register women as property.

  4. Hey, Justin. FYI, the person impersonating me (“spar” on the Starting Strength forums) is almost certainly a guy. I’ve already called your attention to this months ago and asked you guys to deal with it, but, of course, you don’t have to–it’s not like I own the word “spar”. But I hear you’re publishing youtube rants about this. So you probably should be made aware that you’re being trolled and trolled hard.

    My youtube rant is not due to the fake spar on this thread, and if anything refers to the typing wars you have on ss.com. But, when I made that off-hand comment in the video, it was for the amusement of the people that have amusement in your typing battles.

    You don’t make me mad, real or fake you. What makes me mad is when women comment on my “women training posts” about stupid irrelevant bullshit that focuses on something irrelevant, or bitch at me for generalizing the female gender. Some women don’t understand that all women aren’t like them in every way.

    –Justin

  6. “therealspar” I don’t know what agenda you have to try to discredit me but, quite frankly, it’s pathetic. In fact, it’s almost cyber-stalkerish, and if I ever find out who you are I am going to report you to the appropriate authorities for very clear and blatant cyber-bullying. Identity theft is not a joking matter. At the very least this would be classified as libel. If Justin has any sense of class at all, he’d ban YOUR account, not mine.

    I’m also not surprised that you’d use the gender card against me – that’s very bigotrish of you and could only come from a MAN.

  12. @spar
    Justin’s video wasn’t an anti-female rant. It was a rant against a hypothetically “you” possibly an individual or small group of individuals who continually complain about Justin’s female posts. It isn’t against the entire population of females or promoting male superiority over females so I don’t understand how Justin is being chauvinistic at all. He is promoting women to empower themselves and improve themselves through strength training and overall fitness which would be the opposite of male chauvinism.

    Coaching isn’t about gender, but about knowledge. If you have the knowledge, then you will be able to coach somebody correctly. Having or not having a penis doesn’t change that fact.

  14. relevant comment: awesome post, just saw that picture and knew it would be good… it appears, as well, one must have 1.5g of beard per pound of body weight to be a true man. all things noted.

  15. Completely unrelated but as I got off the metro today in downtown dc, this group of people from a horrible horrible gym called “vida fitness” that has their own stylist and hair salon inside the gym, were doing yoga on the sidewalk in front of the gym. Or at least some bicep jacked dude in tight clothes was leading them in some ass stretches in the rain on the concrete. The things people pay money for.

  16. Thanks for the protien reminder – Whenever I start to stall I look back and realize I am getting lazy with the protien intake. That and sleep.

    I am finally ramping back up to my pre-job-change squat. I kept climbing too fast and tanking out at the same general weight (275x3x5) and stuggle to even get doubles the next workout. So this time I started at 225 and went up in 5# each workout instead of 10#, I did 265×5,5,7 yesterday and am feeling much more solid this time.

    I don’t see many spar-type garbage posts here; Don’t know if you filter or if this site just keeps the aholes away by sheer awesomeness.

  17. @strongerthanyesterday–Gallery Place? My fiance wanted to join Vida Fitness. It’s $100/month. OK…that’s a lot of money for a gym. Then I found out that at least they have haircuts and styling there. Maybe it’s a good deal then…but then I found out haircuts are not included. W.T.F. Hopefully those bicep bros were at least scapling tickets to make for an efficient use of time.

  18. :D
    Great picture!
    I went from 50 g protein shake/day to 100g protein shake/day and I gained 10 lbs shockingly fast…which is a big deal for me since I weigh less than 150 lbs soaking wet.

    also, where’s my shirt?

  19. Just watched the rant video, and it was very funny. Anyway, my wife’s copy of the Starting Strength DVD just arrived, which is not a sentence I ever thought I would be writing. You helped a good deal in this process (indirectly of course, you weren’t actually here, that would be weird) so if the moaners want to moan, screw em.

  22. Hey dude, where did you get your hands on a copy of the book? I was going to put it on my christmas list, but I can’t find it anywhere currently in print… Scratch that, fuck yeah! My university has it in the library. I normally spend ten hours a week in there anyway, might as well pick up some light reading while I’m at it.

    This really resonates with me, because I’ve noticed that the only times my lifting tanks are when I’m not eating to support it, mainly when I’m not eating enough protein.

  24. I’m usually not entertained by trolling, especially blog trolling, but this one’s been interesting.

    Also, time to up the protein ante another 50-100 grams.. Good post.

  26. Justine,

    Di Pasquale is pretty interesting. I’m curious to hear what you think about his “metabolic/anabolic” diet. Isn’t it basically just keto for 5-6 days and CARBO-load for 1-2 on the weekend?

    Also, Lyle put out a similar book called the Protein Book which you might want to take a gander at. They reach the same conclusions regarding protein so there’s probably a lot of redundancy.

  27. @Maslow- yep gallery place it is. sometimes the yoga class offers a nice view or two but this time it was just kind of pathetic next to the homeless people who sleep under the verizon center and with the trash and debris on the ground. I guess you get what you pay for.

  34. Justin-

    I’m a very busy guy- I own/run an auto repair shop by myself and am a volunteer fireman as well. Being busy with both fields, plus the wife, dog, house, family, etc, leaves me no energy to really worry about food. I’ll be great for a week or two, and then just say F it, and grab McDonald’s or whatever. My strength is continuing to rise, but I know my diet needs help, especially to kick off a few extra pounds(would like to drop 10-12# of fat). Shakes are easiest. A good shake for me is:almond butter, milk, banana, ON whey, and maybe some ice cubes. Sometimes BCAAs. Is this OK to drink a couple times a day for protein fulfillment?

    When I have time to go to the butcher shop, we eat a lot of tri tip and veggies, but I’ve been too busy to make a run before they close, and I’m stuck with frozen chicken breasts and I hate that.

    Shakes are fine, but getting more protein in via food is obviously optimal. I would suggest making a lot of ground beef at once and eat a pound of that at night. Or you could just make it every night (it should only take 10 to 15 minutes on a low heat with the cover on, flipping/mashing it once or twice).

    –Justin

  35. I’m in the oil field and work a 14 days on/off schedule. I’ve picked up some kettlebells, a 16, 24, 32, and 40, and have started some programming I found in Pavel’s book consisting of C&P, snatches, presses, and swings. Was wondering what y’alls thoughts would be on doing this for 2 weeks, and then the 2 weeks I’m home following a Texas method style of programming. Would this be succesful or counterproductive?

  36. Evan-

    For what its worth, I try to knock out a good chunk of the cooking/grilling I need to do on Sunday. This way the food is ready to go throughout the week and I dont have to worry about having to choose eating some shitty food because its ready to go.

    Also, I know Justin has mentioned, as well as a slew of other people in the know, that the majority of your protein intake should come from meats. However, I would be willing to bet that getting the majority of your daily needs from shakes is far more favorable over settling with McD’s or missing your target altogether. Hope that makes sense.

  37. StonewallWells (and whoever else),

    I have often heard the same thing, that the getting the majority of your protein from meats is superiors than getting it from shakes, but is there any evidence to back this up? If I get 350g of protein a day, and 216g of it is from whey (9 scoops at 24g a scoop), why is this substandard, assuming other dietary needs are being met?

  38. “My youtube rant is not due to the fake spar on this thread, and if anything refers to the typing wars you have on ss.com. But, when I made that off-hand comment in the video, it was for the amusement of the people that have amusement in your typing battles.”

    I really am fascinated by how compelling my output seems to be to your average strength site denizen. Please, carry on.

    FWIW, I’m sure your approach/philosophy to training women works for the women you train. Otherwise they (duh) wouldn’t gravitate to and stay with you as a coach. But you probably want to consider that, for every woman who posts and says [x claim by you about women who train] doesn’t hold true for them, there are probably many, many women for whom her statement rings true. So instead of getting so mad about that, just consider it a good lesson for your readers in being cautious about making assumptions or sweeping statements. After all, a good coach assesses his trainee first and foremost as an individual–both physically and psychologically. If he doesn’t, he is a crappy coach.

    And I don’t know what your policies are regarding moderation, but it would really be nice if you’d disable the “spar” imposter. The bad parody is whatever, but I have been getting PMs from people asking whether I trained TAEKWONDO. In BOSTON. If you don’t know this already, you should be aware that this is an insufferable state of affairs for a TCMA practitioner who is a New Yorker.

  39. Also, I actually do coach/train people who are aware that “spar” is my handle on the ss forum. It would be great if someone weren’t out on the Internet pretending to be me and spouting training philosophy and qualifications which are not actually mine. As a coach, I hope you can understand why this is a potential problem.

  43. This has gone on long enough. It’s gotten ridiculous, to be frank. Though I’m not sure why the other impostor is defending my interests as a coach – I may power clean less than 88lbs but I consider myself a proficient instructor in all the lifts. I have, after all, read The Book, and I spend most of my waking hours on the Starting Strength boards pretending to make people better lifters by typing 10k posts about why they should be squatting low-bar.

    I just don’t understand why so many people feel the need to mock me by impersonating me – am I really that intriguing? Do people admire me that much? Surely a single, middle-aged woman couldn’t possibly capture the imaginations of so many. I suppose it’s flattery in a way. As Marilyn Monroe said, “… if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”

    Anyways, Justin, I’d appreciate if you’d ban the two impostors here. As mentioned above, it will hurt my reputation as a notable Starting Strength coach and I do have a high standard of quality to uphold in my services.

    Regards,

    theREALrealspar

  44. @Evan- In my own experience with fitting in work (with a commute and long hours) lifting, and nightly meetings and commitments, I echo stonewallwell’s comments about the sunday food prep. I normally take about 6 to 7 chicken breast’s, put them in two pyrex pans, season with spices, olive oil and whatever else I have around the house such as bbq, hot sauce, etc and put it in the oven for an hour at 375. I find that this leaves them nice and juicy and combined with the 3 or 4 pounds of sweet potatoes that I boil that day too, I have an instant lunch and dinner meal almost everyday.

    I think I hate chicken. Unless it’s eggs. Chicken is so shitty. I eat over a pound of beef every night, and it’s way better than chicken.

    –Justin

  48. Justin,

    “Shakes are fine, but getting more protein in via food is obviously optimal.”

    Why is this the case? Not doubting its true, but I’ve never heard an explanation for it why this is optimal if dietary needs are being met in both cases.

  49. “…it’s a no-shit textbook with literature reviews on everything related to amindo acids and proteins and applying it to athletics.”

    Bullshit, amino acids are proteins:

  50. Thanks Justin and strongerthanyesterday….like you, Justin, I hate chicken with a passion. I just can’t do it more than twice a week(yeah, thats what she said). I do good with ground beef(especially butcher shop stuff- pre packaged in frozen 1lbs bundles)…Thanks for the help and affirmation of what I should do :P

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