How do you gain muscle mass?

If you’re still relatively new to the muscle building game, this is a pretty natural question to ask.

You’re training hard and eating right consistently from week to week, and you want to know what you can realistically expect to achieve from your efforts over the long term.

You’ll hear answers to this question that range all over the map, and getting an idea of what’s truly possible will benefit you in two main ways…

If you’re still relatively new to the muscle building game, this is a pretty natural question to ask.

You’re training hard and eating right consistently from week to week, and you want to know what you can realistically expect to achieve from your efforts over the long term.

You’ll hear answers to this question that range all over the map, and getting an idea of what’s truly possible will benefit you in two main ways…

First off, it will ensure that you don’t get scammed out of your money by the endless number of bogus supplements, miracle programs and other over-hyped products out there promising you “pounds of rock-solid muscle” over completely unrealistic time frames.

And secondly, it will help you set practical, achievable goals that keep you on track and prevent you from “program hopping” from one muscle building plan to the next because you were convinced that you should be making gains at a faster rate.

So, how much muscle can you really gain, and in what time frame?

Let’s go over it…

How Much Muscle Can A Person Truly Gain?

First off, it’s very important to understand that there is far from any single black and white answer to this question.

The ultimate figure can range quite a bit from person to person, and it will depend heavily on many different factors such as genetics, age, body structure as well as the effectiveness and consistency of your program.

For that reason, any answer you get to the question of “how much muscle can I gain” will always be a rough approximation and should be viewed as such.

And what is a safe “rough approximation” when it comes to the ultimate muscle building potential of a natural trainee?

For those ranging from slightly below average genetics to slightly above average genetics, 20-40 pounds of total lean muscle mass would be a realistic lifetime goal to expect.

I recognize that this is a fairly wide range, but given all the factors involved this is about as precise as I can be.

Those with average genetics would probably land somewhere in the middle at around 30 pounds of muscle, while those with slightly below and slightly above average genetics would land on the outer figures of about 20 and 40 pounds of muscle respectively.

Females can take these numbers and reduce them by about half.

This range will cover the vast majority of the lifting population, so there’s a very good chance that you’ll fall somewhere between those numbers if you’re reading this right now.

That said, there will also be a small percentage of “genetic outliers” who will fall on the more extreme ends of the spectrum.

This includes those with particularly poor muscle building genetics who may only be able to gain 10 pounds of muscle or less regardless of how perfect their program is, as well as those with exceptionally good muscle building genetics who may be able to gain 50 pounds or more even on a sub-optimal plan.

However, this will only make up a very small minority of the population and most typical lifters will fall somewhere within that 20-40 pound range.

Also keep in mind that this figure is referring specifically to actual lean muscle mass as opposed to overall body weight.

As you gain more and more muscle, you’ll also put on some additional body fat and water weight along with it, so your actual body weight itself can increase by more than what is outlined here depending on your goals and what type of look you’re aiming for.

How Long Will It Take To Build That Muscle?

Just as no one can tell you for sure how much total lean muscle you’re ultimately capable of building, your actual rate of muscle growth is also going to come down to an educated guess as well.

How long does it take to build muscle approximately?

For most lifters, achieving roughly 50% of your ultimate muscle building potential in the first year would be a realistic expectation, with the rate of growth slowing down by about half for every year thereafter.

Remember that muscle growth is not a linear process, and it will become increasingly harder to progress to higher levels as you gain more and more size.

Your body has genetic limits in place to prevent you from gaining too much additional lean mass, since muscle is metabolically “expensive” tissue that requires a lot of resources to build and maintain.

The bigger you get and the further you move away from your natural set point, the harder your body will press on the brakes to slow the process down.

Using the above figure though, you could expect the following in terms of total gains achieved relative to your genetic potential…

1 Year: 50%

2 Years: 75%

3 Years: 85-90%

Where you specifically fall within that approximate 20-40 pounds of muscle range (or whether you land somewhere outside of it) is influenced by a few very important things…

Genetics

Regardless of what anyone tells you, individual genetic makeup does play a very significant role in the muscle building process just as it does in most other areas of life as well.

Some people simply have a much harder or easier time building muscle than others, and this is influenced by different factors such as muscle fiber distribution, testosterone levels, growth hormone levels, bone structure, insulin sensitivity, myostatin levels and individual recovery ability.

Anyone can build a significant amount of muscle given enough time as long as they aren’t an extreme genetic outlier, but your individual genetic makeup will heavily influence how much muscle you’re ultimately capable of building as a natural.

Body Structure

This ties in with genetics as well, but also keep in mind that different amounts of muscle can appear dramatically different from an aesthetic perspective depending on an individual’s unique body structure.

Height, limb length, muscle shape and muscle insertion points all play a huge role in determining exactly how your newly built muscle mass will actually look.

For example, a lifter who is 5’5 with a smaller bone structure will still appear quite strong and muscular even if his lifetime muscle building potential is only 15-20 pounds.

On the other hand, those same 15-20 pounds may not look overly impressive on someone who is 6’3 with longer limbs, and that lifter would need to gain more total muscle in order to achieve an equally muscular look.

Age

Those in their late teens and 20’s are naturally going to have the fastest muscle growth rate since testosterone levels will be in the optimal muscle building range during that time.

Testosterone levels play a central role in the muscle building process, and if you’re still in your early teens or are in the 40-50+ age range then you can expect to progress at a slower pace.

Training And Nutrition

All of the figures outlined in this article obviously assume that you’re utilizing a properly structured training and nutrition program and are sticking to it consistently over the long term.

If you’re following a sub-par program or are frequently going off-track with your workouts or diet, all of these numbers go straight out the window as your ultimate muscle building potential will of course be compromised.

On top of the 4 factors listed above, the figures given also assume that you’re a natural trainee (steroids and other drugs dramatically alter how much muscle you can pack on) and that you’re starting from a normal healthy body weight (those recovering from an illness such as an eating disorder will be able to gain more total muscle mass from where they started).

How Much Muscle Can You Build? The Bottom Line

After 4-5 years of training and beyond you’d be right up near your natural limit, and although you’d still be able to make additional progress with continued training, the level of diminishing returns would be very steep.

At that point it would likely require multiple years of hard training and proper nutrition just to gain a few pounds of additional muscle.

Factors That Affect Your Individual Muscle Building Potential

As I mentioned at the beginning, any answer you get to the question of “how much muscle can I gain” will always be an educated guess.

There are simply too many different factors that come into play, and the figures will vary quite a bit from person to person.

Not only that, but different amounts of muscle will appear differently on each individual based on their body structure.

That said, 20-40 pounds of lean muscle built over the course of about 4-5 years is a realistic muscle growth rate for those ranging from slightly below to slightly above average genetics.

When it all comes down to it though, this isn’t something I’d spend too much time getting hung up on.

Although it does give you a realistic idea of what’s possible, you still have no way of knowing from the outset what your exact muscle building potential will be, nor how that muscle will actually appear on your frame once it’s built.

Your best bet is to simply get yourself onto the best training and nutrition plan possible, execute it on a consistent basis, see what your individual genetics have in store for you, and adjust as you go along

fitness plan

The topic of proper training can be made complicated.

Extremely complicated.

We can obsess about every little detail behind optimal workout frequency, number of sets, exercise selection, rep ranges, rep speed, time under tension, resting between sets and more until building muscle effectively seems like an infinitely complex process involving rocket-science precision and an intimate understanding of human physiology.

Yes, all of these individual factors need to be addressed and properly laid out when structuring an effective training routine… but at the heart of it all lies ONE key principle.

One principle that your ENTIRE training program should be based around.

If you don’t give it your full attention, or even worse, overlook it altogether…

You’re completely ignoring the very foundation of the entire muscle building process.

What am I talking about?

“The Law Of Progressive Overload”

To put it into simple terms, the law of progressive overload states that in order for you to gain new muscle each week, you must accomplish the following two things…

1) Train with a sufficient level of intensity in order to stimulate the body’s muscle growth mechanism.

When you go to the gym, you place your muscles under stress by lifting weights.

Each repetition closer to muscular failure creates deeper inroads into the muscle and causes what are called “micro-tears”.

In other words, you are voluntarily inflicting damage on your muscles by breaking down the fibers.

Muscle growth is an adaptive response to that stress, and therefore, it’s critical that the level of stress be high enough during your workouts in order to give your body the proper incentive to grow.

The plain reality is that you will not make significant increases in muscle mass and strength or transform your physique to a truly impressive degree unless you’re prepared to train at a level that is at (or close to) your maximum potential effort.

Exactly how intense should your workouts be?

As an overall guideline, I would recommend taking the majority of muscle building sets that you peform in the gym approximately 1 rep short of concentric muscular failure.

Concentric muscular failure is the point at which you are unable to complete an additional positive repetition of a given exercise in proper form despite your greatest efforts.

In other words, you’ll want to continue your set to the point where, if you were to give a 100% all-out effort and push with every ounce of strength, you’d only be able to manage 1 more rep using proper form.

Do keep in mind though that if you are completely new to weight training then it will definitely be best to ease yourself into the gym and gradually build up your training intensity using lighter weights first.

It is very important that you always utilize proper form and make sure that your joints and connective tissue are not being stressed too heavily. The goal here is to safely push your body to its limits.

Once you have learned the proper form for each exercise and feel comfortable with the various movements, you can then begin to ramp up the intensity over the course of a few weeks.

2) Consistently increase the amount of weight lifted on each exercise over time.

Let’s use a basic analogy here…

Envision a building. A 7.0 earthquake hits and the building is severely damaged. Workers rush to the scene to repair the damage that has been done and to protect the building against a possible future earthquake. 

Sure enough, a 7.2 earthquake hits and the building is once again broken down. The workers return and repair the building once more. Only this time they rebuild it even larger and stronger to protect against any possible future earthquakes. Now a 7.4 earthquake hits…

I’m sure you can see where this is going.

In order for the muscles to continually become larger and stronger from week to week, you must gradually increase the amount of weight you lift on each of your exercises over time.

In doing this the body will continue to adapt and grow to the ever increasing stress.

Think about it; if you were able to squat 200 pounds today, and were still using the same weight 3 months from now, do you think you would have experienced any considerable muscle gains during that time?

Of course not.

Your body would have adapted itself to squatting 200 pounds and will only progress further when it is presented with a workload beyond that capacity.

This is why it is so incredibly important that every single time you set foot in the gym you have your plan of attack in mind.

You should know exactly what you accomplished in the previous week and what you are striving to achieve this week.

Since the ultimate goal of everything you accomplish in the gym is consistent progression, then quite clearly the central basis for building muscle is to build strength.

This is a universal law of muscle growth and is by far the #1 most important principle in your entire workout plan.

It’s all about getting better each week.

Every time you enter the gym, the first thing you should be thinking of is:

What did I do last week?

What must I do this week in order to improve upon last week?

This is the ultimate bottom line.

Just make sure that any time you add weight to the bar, your form and technique is not compromised.

True progression means that your form remains exactly the same every time you increase the weight. If your range of motion begins shortening, you start using excessive momentum, your rep speed increases and/or your technique just gets downright sloppy, you’re simply adding weight at too fast a pace.

Building muscle is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.

Keep your ego in check, take your time, and focus on gradually increasing the weight while maintaining perfect technique at all times.

Not only is lifting heavier weights with inferior form NOT going to help you gain muscle faster, but it’s going to greatly increase your chances for injury as well.

So, to sum up the law of progressive overload in simple terms:

Train hard. Focus on getting stronger. Repeat.

If you aren’t grinding it out in the gym by training fairly close to your limits each time… and if you aren’t adding weight to the bar consistently… you can be rest assured you won’t be building any considerable new muscle either.

So, if you want the most powerful (yet basic) piece of training advice possible, it’s simply this:

Get a notebook and a pen and start tracking every workout in detail.

Write down the exercises you performed, the number of sets you did and the number of reps executed for each one.

Next time you enter the gym, your entire goal is to “beat the logbook” by either adding slightly more weight to the bar or cranking out an extra rep or two with the same weight.

It doesn’t matter how good your memory is or how much you insist that you “keep everything in your head”, you must keep a written record of every workout you perform.

By doing this you will have a visual representation of the exact weight you used and reps you performed in the previous workout.

This is an extremely powerful tool and will enable you to progress as fast as you possibly can. By keeping a written record versus just remembering, you will be much more motivated to increase your weight and reps since you’ll have to hold yourself accountable if you fail to do so.

It is also very motivating to be able to look back at previous weeks of training and have a concrete record of the increasing weight and repetitions.

The difference from week to week will be minor, but when you extrapolate it over months and years of consistent training, you’ll be amazed by the gains you’re able to make.

It still boggles my mind that 90% of people in the gym don’t do this… but then again, it’s no surprise that 90% of people never make any real progress either. watch video

The law of progressive overload: treat it with respect, revolved the basis of your entire workout plan around it, and the difference in your results will be like night and day.

Health and fitness, after all, needs to be a lifelong journey, not a quick-fix solution and for that to happen what you do must fit clean eating into your life and not demand you revolve your life around it.

Sure, it’s challenging to stick with a regular exercise program or a healthy eating plan even WITHOUT the responsibilities of everyday life – kids, spouse, home, job and so on. Having to work late one day can mean you miss a workout. The thing is, missing a workout does not mean you have blown your whole regimen. Being affected by life’s little bumps does not mean you are weak. It means you are simply human.

watch video     

soup recipes for a flat tummy 

how to protect your hormones

If you care at all about your body and health, I'm sure you already know to avoid the obvious sugary cereals like the flakes with sugar frosting, the fruity sugar cereals with artificial colors, the frosted wheat biscuits, or the marshmallow cereals that so many parents are poisoning their kids with these days.

However, even most breakfast cereals that aren't frosted in sugar are marketed heavily as "heart healthy", "rich in fiber", and "a good source vitamins & minerals"... Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth!

As a Nutritionist that's studied the biochemistry of nutrition for over 25 years, and how certain foods affect the cells of your body, there are at least 10 important reasons to be extremely concerned about what cereals are doing inside your body.  I'll touch on a few of the important details in this short article...

Most cereals (even "whole grain" or "high fiber") cause extreme harm to your hormones and create runaway blood sugar in your body

One of the WORST things about most cereals, even so-called "whole grain" cereals is that they ALL cause a significant spike in your blood sugar (regardless of whether they are wheat, rice, or corn based) to dangerously high levels, which results in a cascade of fat storing hormones to be released in your body, and causes more carb cravings later in the day. 

This is NOT the way to start your day if you care about your waistline or how much belly fat that you have.

In fact, even cereals that have added fiber (such as bran flakes or raisin bran) have been found to cause just as much of a massive spike in blood sugar as the low-fiber cereals such as rice or corn based cereals.  Remember that the starches in wheat, corn, or a bowl of rice cereal break down quickly in your body into SUGAR and immediately do as much harm to your blood sugar regulation system as if you ate 40-60 grams of pure corn syrup or pure table sugar.

Those massive spikes in your blood sugar essentially damage your cells in your body through a process called glycation, which accelerates the rate of aging in your joints, skin, organs, and even your brain.  Ouch...  That tiger on the cereal commercials is never going to warn you about that!

And speaking of hormones, another effect of high blood sugar is that it blunts the ability of your body to release growth hormone (aka, the youth hormone), so if you want to look and feel younger, cereals are NOT helping you in that department!

Note:  Regarding the claims that cereals are a "good source of vitamins and minerals", this is actually FALSE... The majority of vitamins and minerals in most cereals are not naturally occurring, but rather, are synthetically added vitamins, which have been proven to be less absorbed than natural vitamins and potentially even harmful in some cases.  As an example, synthetic vitamin E is shown in some studies to be harmful to us, while natural vitamin E is beneficial.

Crunching your way to Diabetes and belly fat every morning?

Think about this next time you're gobbling down that bowl of bran flakes, rice puffs, or wheat biscuits while you're running out the door in the morning...

The more cereal you eat, the more you constantly stress your pancreas and other organs involved in controlling your blood sugar.  Insulin levels surge every day to try to control your massive blood sugar attacks from all that cereal, and eventually, your insulin sensitivity suffers, leading many people to type 2 Diabetes, and a life of injecting insulin with needles and stabbing your fingers every day for blood tests every day of your life.

Not only that, but causing high insulin levels in your body every morning by eating cereal also triggers your body to STORE body fat.  So if you want to be lean, cereal is directly going against your goal, and only making you fatter!

Gut Inflammation and even gut damage?

More bad news about cereal...

Any cereals with wheat ingredients in them can possibly cause gut inflammation and long term gut damage from too much gluten and lectins, even if you're not officially gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive. 

Think those corn-based cereals are better than wheat?  Think again!  Corn-based cereals are almost always made with GMO corn, which has many scientists very concerned about long term health threats, since there are no long term studies on the effects of GMO corn to your health, as well as your children's health.

And rice-based cereals (krispies, etc) aren't much better, as they cause just as high of a blood sugar spike as pure table sugar... Ouch!

Cereal causes CRAVINGS for more carbs later in the day, leading to excess calories

The blood sugar spike and subsequent insulin surge from your morning cereal makes your body to try to get all that sugar out of your blood and into cells (usually fat cells), and that causes a big drop in your blood sugar hours later.  This makes you CRAVE more carb-based or sugary foods later in the day.

The result of this is a constant wild roller coaster ride of blood sugar and insulin all day long, leading you to eat more calories in any given day.

I recently read a study about people that ate egg-based breakfasts vs cereal-based breakfasts...  Even though the people that ate egg-based breakfasts consumed far more fat in the morning, they ended up eating much less calories throughout each day because they didn't have the wild blood sugar swings, hormone imbalances, and subsequent cravings.  Egg breakfasts are proven to CONTROL your appetite, while cereal breakfasts are proven to INCREASE your appetite for more food, particularly more starchy and sugary carbs. 

Cereal makes your body a carb-burner instead of a fat-burner

The more carbs that you eat each day from foods such as cereal and breads, the more you train your body to rely on carbs for energy.  So when your blood sugar dips again, you need more carbs again, or you'll have a major energy slump.

On the other hand, the more that you get most of your calories from healthy fats instead (avocados, coconut oil, grass-fed butter and cream, olive oil, nuts, seeds, eggs, and pasture-raised meats), the more you train your body to be a fat-burning machine.

This is called creating a "fat adapted metabolism" and you do this by reducing your overall carb intake and simultaneously increasing your healthy fat intake.  This doesn't mean you need to go extremely low in carbs like Atkins, but just a LOT lower than the average carb addict, which is pretty much everyone eating a modern diet.

By relying mostly on healthy fats for energy instead of carbs, this balances your hormones and gives you VERY stable blood sugar levels throughout each day, allowing you to also have VERY stable energy levels throughout each day without the typical spikes and slumps in your energy that most carb addicts feel every single day.

Another benefit of creating a "fat adapted metabolism" in your body is that you will naturally lose body fat easier!  There is no magic ratios of macronutrients that's perfect for everyone, nor do I think you need to obsess over exact calories or exact ratios of carbs to fat... However, to give you an idea of how far off most people are... Most people currently eat a diet that is in the range of 60% carbs, 20% fat, and 20% protein.  What I'm describing to you in order to create a fat adapted metabolism would be more around eating 20% carbs, 60% fat, and 20% protein. 

Basically, as you can see, it's like flip-flopping the typical western diet ratios of carbs to fat. 

Healthier alternatives to cereal that are still QUICK (helping you to be a fat-burner instead of carb-burner)

Instead of the typical cereal in the morning (that's slowly killing you and making you fatter), try a bowl of plain greek full-fat organic yogurt (which is loaded with healthy gut probiotics, healthy fats, AND protein) and add in a handful of fresh, organic berries (or frozen wild blueberries), a handful of nuts such as either almonds or pecans (more healthy fats), and a little stevia or vanilla protein for a little added sweetness if you need it. 

This breakfast will leave you leaner, keep your blood sugar, energy levels, and hormones balanced for the day, and prevent cravings for more starchy and sugary carbs later in the day.

Another option is simply any combination of eggs, veggies, avocado, and even organic breakfast meat if you want.  One of my favorite quick breakfasts is to cook up a couple eggs over easy real quick and slice a half of an avocado on a plate. 

I chop the eggs and avocado together with some hot sauce and a couple slices of turkey, and voila... a quick 5-minute breakfast that's incredibly delicious, yet MUCH healthier than that bowl of cereal, and will help balance your hormones for the day instead of creating hormone imbalances and energy crashes like cereal does.see more

Food that CAUSES Faster Aging

Due to biochemical reactions in your body that occur with every type of food you eat on a daily basis, some foods age you FASTER than your real age, while other foods help to FIGHT aging.

Eat the wrong foods regularly, and you can look and feel 10 or more years OLDER than your real age (not fun!) ... but eat the right foods, and over time, you can start to look 5-10 years YOUNGER than your real age.

Three of the processes that go on inside your body that have a MAJOR impact on your rate of aging are called "glycation", "inflammation", and "oxidation". 

When we talk about aging, we're not just talking about wrinkles on your skin or how thick your hair is... we're also talking about factors that you can't see, such as how well your organs function, and whether your joints are degrading.

Yes, I'm sure you'll agree this is much more important than just how you look superficially (although we'll show you how to improve BOTH below!)

With the title of this article, you might have guessed that obvious answers like sugar or trans fat would be what we talk about in this article.  Yes, we all already know those are bad, but I want to discuss another food that ages your body faster than normal... and it's one that you might not expect!

So let's dig right in and I'll show you how your rate of aging can be directly related to the foods you might eat every day, and how to protect yourself...

The #1 WORST food that ages you faster:

Wheat based foods (yes, even "whole wheat")

Before I tell you why wheat can actually speed up the aging process in your body, let's clarify some simple biochemistry in your body...

This deals with "glycation" in your body, and substances called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs).  These nasty little compounds called AGEs speed up the aging process in your body including damage over time to your organs, your joints, and of course, wrinkled skin.

So with that said, what is one of the biggest factors that increase production of AGEs inside your body?  This may surprise you, but high blood sugar levels over time dramatically increase age-accelerating AGEs in your body.  This is why type 2 diabetics many times appear that they have not aged well and look older than their real age.  But this age-increasing effect is not just limited to diabetics.

So, let's get back to how "whole wheat" relates to this...

Here is a little-known fact that's often covered up by the massive marketing campaigns by giant food companies that want you to believe that "whole wheat" is healthy for you... but the fact is that wheat contains a very unusual type of carbohydrate (not found in other foods) called Amylopectin-A, which has been found in some tests to spike your blood sugar HIGHER than even pure table sugar.

In fact, amylopectin-A (from wheat) raises your blood sugar MORE than almost any other carbohydrate source on earth based on blood sugar response testing that's documented in studies.

This means that wheat-based foods such as breads, bagels, cereals, muffins, and other baked goods often cause MUCH higher blood sugar levels than most other carbohydrate sources.  If you don't believe me, here's something you should know... I ran personal blood sugar tests on myself using a blood glucometer about 45 minutes after eating 2 slices of wheat bread vs eating a bowl of oatmeal, with equivalent grams of carbs. 

The blood sugar test results:

2 slices of whole wheat toast: 

45 minutes after consumption:  Blood sugar spiked from 86 fasting level to 155.

1 Bowl of Oatmeal (equivalent grams of carbs to 2 slices wheat toast)

45 minutes after consumption:   Blood sugar raised from 86 fasting level to 112 

As you know now, the higher your average blood sugar levels are over time, the more AGEs are formed inside your body, which makes you age FASTER.  Clearly, the whole wheat spiked blood sugar MUCH higher than the oatmeal, and if you don't know, 155 is a massive blood sugar reading that will certainly contribute to faster aging if you eat wheat frequently.

You've probably also heard about the potential health-damaging effects of gluten (another problematic compound found in wheat that can cause inflammation in your digestive system) in the news recently, but this blood sugar aspect we just covered is not talked about that often, and is yet another reason to reduce or eliminate wheat-based foods in your diet.  Your body will thank you by aging slower and looking YOUNGER! 

And losing bodyfat is typically another fun side effect of eliminating or reducing wheat in your diet!

Yet another problem with wheat-based foods and aging...

As it turns out, baked wheat products contain carcinogenic chemicals called acrylamides that form in the browned portion of breads, cereals, muffins, etc.  These carcinogenic acrylamides have been linked in studies to possible increased risk of cancer and accelerated aging.  Note that acrylamides are also found in high levels in other browned carbohydrate sources such as french fries or any other browned starchy foods.

Don't worry though... There's a trick that you can use to protect yourself from these carcinogenic acrylamides, and it has to do with eating the RIGHT foods that COUNTERACT damage from these nasty chemicals.  I'll show you how to find the EXACT foods that protect your body on the next page!

Other foods to watch out for that can increase aging in your body include corn-based foods that also disrupt blood sugar highly (corn cereals, corn chips, corn syrup), soybean oil and other "vegetable" oils that contain excessively refined and processed fats that cause inflammation in your body, and also excess sugars from candies, cakes, and sweetened drinks.  more article 

  

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protein and muscle

Whether you’re following a plant-based diet or are just trying to figure out how to properly track your daily macronutrient intake, the question of complete vs. incomplete protein is one that springs up quite often.

Should you count incomplete proteins as part of your daily protein totals, and do they contribute positively to muscle growth?

Let’s go over it…

Do Incomplete Proteins Count?

complete vs incomplete proteins

The simple answer here is that yes, they certainly do.

Whether it’s 30 grams from a chicken breast or 1 gram from a banana, every gram of protein that you eat throughout the day does count toward your protein total and does assist your muscle building and fat burning efforts.

All proteins are made up of individual building blocks called amino acids, 9 of which are considered “essential” since your body cannot produce them on its own.

amino acids

Traditionally speaking, “complete proteins” are those that contain a sufficient proportion of all 9 essential amino acids on their own and are generally derived from animal sources such as chicken, beef, eggs, dairy etc.

On the other hand, “incomplete proteins” are those that are particularly low in at least one essential amino acid, which is typically referred to as the “limiting amino acid” in that food. These are generally derived from plant sources such as fruits, vegetables and grains.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that all protein sources are technically “complete” since they still do contain all 20 of the amino acids in some amount.

It’s just that some foods have lower amounts of certain amino acids in comparison to others.

For example, beans are high in the amino acid lysine but are low in methionine, whereas grains are high in methionine but low in lysine.

                  

If for some reason you were only eating a relatively small amount of protein per day from a limited number of sources, this likely would become a legitimate concern since you wouldn’t be receiving a sufficient amount of certain amino acids needed to optimize muscle protein synthesis and overall health.

However, in the context of an overall diet providing enough total daily protein from a variety of sources, the whole notion of “complete vs. incomplete protein” basically becomes a non-issue.

daily protein intake

This is because your body can only build a limited amount of muscle in any given day to begin with, and it only requires a finite amount of each specific amino acid to maximize your growth potential over that specific period.

More protein and more amino acids does not automatically mean more muscle growth, and there are diminishing returns as your total protein intake gets higher and higher until eventually there’s no added benefit at all.

So, instead of thinking in terms of “complete vs. incomplete protein”, it’s far more useful to simply think in terms of total protein intake and total amino acid intake for the entire day as a whole.

As long as you’re getting in somewhere between 0.8-1g of protein per pound of body weight daily and are following a standard “fitness diet” that includes a variety of different protein sources, you’ll automatically be getting enough of each individual amino acid to optimize your results.

For that reason, worrying about the specific amounts of “complete” vs. “incomplete” protein you’re consuming is really just an unnecessary over-complication.

Remember, your body does not view your diet within the context of individual foods, and amino acids are amino acids regardless of which specific source they’re coming from.

On top of this, your body also has a “free amino acid pool” available that it can draw from if certain aminos are missing at a particular time when they’re needed.

So, if a certain meal you eat is low in a particular amino acid, your body can draw from this pool to balance things out.

This is why, contrary to what was traditionally recommended in the past, there’s actually no need for vegans/vegetarians to specifically combine their incomplete protein sources together at each meal to form a complete protein.

The Bottom Line On Complete Vs. Incomplete Protein

incomplete protein bodybuilding

While it’s true that a typical “complete” protein source such as chicken would be superior to an “incomplete” protein source such as rice on a gram for gram basis, it’s really not a practical concern when looked at in the overall picture.

As long as you’re consuming enough total protein for the day as a whole derived from a variety of different sources, all of your individual amino acid needs will be met one way or another.

The issue of complete vs. incomplete protein is more or less an outdated concept at this point, and it’s not something you need to concern yourself with from a muscle building or overall health perspective.

Just focus on total protein content and variety, and you’ll be good to go