Total Protein Needs for Natural Versus Enhanced Bodybuilders

Your protein needs are very different if you're natural or enhanced. For natural bodybuilders, 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of lean body mass is the best range for gains. If you're enhanced, your higher muscle protein production needs more amino acids, which brings your goal closer to 1.2 grams per pound of lean mass. When you do the math, you should always use lean mass instead of total size.

Why Steroids Change Everything About How Your Body Uses Protein​

Anabolic steroids completely change how your body makes, stores, and reacts to protein from food. Knowing this difference is important if you want to set reasonable goals for protein intake. When you use anabolic steroids, your body makes more muscle protein than it normally would. This is something that a natural lifter can't do. Your muscles get a lot better at using the protein in your food, which speeds up healing and growth beyond what your body can naturally handle. As an enhanced bodybuilder, your protein needs don't exactly go through the roof, but your body's ability to turn food protein into contractile muscle tissue does get a lot better. Steroids basically boost your body's anabolic signals, which means that getting enough protein becomes even more important to make the most of the better muscle protein synthesis environment you've created with drugs.

How Much Protein Natural Bodybuilders Actually Need​

Enhanced athletes use more powerful anabolic signals, but natural bodybuilders work within their bodies' stricter limits. This change affects how much protein you need. For best muscle growth in natural bodybuilding, research regularly backs up a daily protein intake of enough per kilogram of lean body mass. It's not often that pushing past that ceiling leads to real gains. Your muscles can only make new tissue at a certain rate, and adding a lot of extra protein won't speed that up. As important as reaching your protein goal is how much you train, how many calories you eat, and how much sleep you get. There is a range of weights that is supported by evidence that gives lean people who train hard everything their bodies need.

Why Enhanced Bodybuilders Need More Protein Than Conventional Wisdom Suggests​

Not only do enhanced athletes build muscle faster, but their bodies also work in a completely different way, which changes how much protein they can actually use. Anabolic compounds increase muscle protein synthesis beyond what the body can naturally do. This means that your body can use and process more protein from food than a natural bodybuilder ever could.
This changes the amount of protein needed for improved bodybuilding because higher rates of synthesis need more amino acids to be available. When training volume goes up to match better recovery ability, muscle recovery also gets harder.
If you keep your protein intake at the level of a natural bodybuilder while your synthesis rate stays much higher, you won't make the gains you could. Most of the evidence shows that athletes who want to get stronger should aim for the higher end of known protein ranges instead of settling for the lower end.

Natural vs. Enhanced: How to Calculate Your Actual Protein Target​

If you compare your protein goals to your lean body mass instead of your total body weight, it makes a big difference whether you're naturally fit or have been supplemented. If a natural bodybuilder has a lot of body fat, they don't need protein that is measured by the pound.
The amount of protein that natural bodybuilders need is usually between 0.7 and 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. Because of higher muscle protein synthesis and faster recovery needs, enhanced bodybuilders may do better by getting closer to 1.2 grams per pound of lean body mass.
Take your total weight and remove your fat mass to get an idea of your lean body mass. Using these protein needs as a guide gives you a much more precise and personalized goal than using general numbers based on bodyweight ever could.

Protein Mistakes Natural and Enhanced Bodybuilders Keep Making​

Natural and enhanced bodybuilders always fall short when it comes to protein, even when they train hard and follow a good plan. Most people base their protein goals on their total body weight instead of their lean mass, which can greatly affect their protein per kilogram estimate if they are overweight. Another mistake is assuming that one big shake after resistance training is enough to meet your daily protein needs. If you only eat whey protein and not enough whole food sources, you might not get enough micronutrients, which are important for healing. Some enhanced athletes think that higher drug doses make it okay to eat a lot of protein, but there is no evidence to back that. Lastly, both groups often don't realize how calorie deficits affect protein utilization, which has a direct effect on body composition outcomes, whether you're naturally fit or have been enhanced.

 

[annelifts]

I'd be wary of automatically assuming enhanced lifters need a whole lot more protein, because the evidence for a specific higher target is far less clear-cut than the article suggests. Daily protein, calories, training quality and consistency still trump for me total based on natural vs enhanced status chasing a very specific number.