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post workout protein...hows it processed?

J

jguruz

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Hi guys

This is a bit of a stupid question so please excuse the ignorance here, but i'm only 1.5 years old as far as training goes...ok, so you workout for example have a chest workout, break down your muslce fibre, then have your post workout shake. My question is does all the protein from this specific post workout shake head to the broken down muscle? Also, i hear people talking about protein intake being 1g to 1.5g per pound of body mass. So where does the subsequent protein intake go? Is it evenly distributed in the body or is it mainly focused on the broken down tissue?

Thanks
 
Samoan-Z

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Now I could be completely wrong as guys like Braaq and tim could fill you in better on the digestions of protein now it depends on the protein as well Whey is a fast digesting protein and break down rather quickly going to aid in the repair and recovery of muscles.

but depending on how much protein you are taking your body can only digest so much before you body will just digest left over protein into calories.. I hoep that kinda helped.
 
tim290280

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This question is actually quite complicated. I'll try and put it really simply.

Your body only needs ~1.6g/kg to have enough aminos to be in positive nitrogen balance so that you can build muscle. Any more than this and it is burnt for energy.
Training makes the body break down muscle so PWO shake needs to be quick acting aminos (like whey) taken ASAP in the hour after training to switch the body back to building.
You only need a few grams of protein to do this (~30g + ~60g fast carbs dependant on goals, body mass, etc).
Your body can only process a certain amount of protein per hour (1.5g/min or something like that) so you actually want your food intake spread over the course of the day to be absorbed efficiently.
Training should cause satellite cell accumulation at the muscles trained which should favour amino transportation to this site (especially with creatine supplementation). But aminos are spread systemically and will be used throughout the body. Remember that the body is constantly repairing and replacing cells throughout the body. Check this link http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_the_human_body_regenerate_every_7_years

So PWO shakes are ideal for stopping the body breaking down and starting growth, and the aminos are usefull for the building blocks but this is not an absolute. As long as you were to eat sometime after training you would have made this change. In fact if you didn't eat at all your body would return to a level of homestasis in several hours, you wouldn't be growing but you wouldn't necessarily be getting smaller. The idea of nutrition is to enable the body to at least repair the damage done from exercise. Give the body a surplus and it will grow. The growth stimulus that comes from training (depending on the type and duration and intensity) lasts for 36-48hrs such that you can't just think of the PWO window, it is the rest of the day/week that you need to think about too. This 36hrs is also why frequent bouts of training for a muscle can be a good thing.

I'm sure I've missed some points, or been overly simple on others. Braaq, IS or Creator may have some more to add/correct.
 
FtMet65

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After your workout the body's first priority is to replenish lost glycogen (energy) levels, then to repair muscle tissue that is exercise induced. this is why having carbs with your shake is ideal, due to the fact that carbs are preffered by the body the best to replenish energy levels. once that main priority has been taken care of, the protein will run damage control and be used to repair muscle. A 2/1 carb/protein ratio is ideal for a post workout shake. hope this info helps you out bro, train hard and eat smart!
 
J

jguruz

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thanks a lot for that guys, all that suddenly makes sense!
 
The_KM

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A bit late here due to my absence, but I'd like to add to Tim's post by showing the process in a different way:

Here's a diagrammatic way to look at it:

Finished working out --> consume protein --> enters stomach --> hydrochloric acid denatures protein (uncoils) --> food moves to small intestine --> pancreas secretes proteases (protein enzymes) --> proteases breakdown proteins into polypeptides --> peptidases (enzyme for polypeptides) breakdown polypeptides --> tripeptides --> dipeptides, and eventually amino acids which are absorbed --> transport proteins bring amino acids to necessary tissues --> muscle cells were broken down, so the AA's are shipped there --> restoration and muscle cell girth.

That is the generalized digestion process of protein, but of course muscle doesn't utilize all of the protein absorbed. So the excess is held within two options:

1st option)
If energy is needed, glucogenic amino acids will be converted to glucose and enter glycolysis.
2nd option) If no energy is needed, through a series of reactions, the amino acids reduce to glucose where it converted to acetyl CoA. The acetyl CoA is then configured into body fat.

Hope my diagram helps improve your understanding about it! And if it doesn't help you, hopefully others will get a better understanding.
 
PrinceVegeta

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^^ nice breakdown of protein digestion man.
 

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