Bodybuilding Article: Debunking the Myth Debunkers

In response to the article, "Bodybuilders: Myths About Nutrition: How do bodybuilders keep going on this diet of myths and contradictions?", I would like to address some of the myths widely held by non-bodybuilding dieticians and scientists, as well as refute several of this article's arguments.

I will be the first to admit that the world of bodybuilding is plagued by senseless beliefs, practices, and counterproductive behaviors, and I won't even address the issue of true anabolics--we'll leave that for Congress. That Brill's study came upon many of the myths mentioned in the article comes as no surprise--bodybuilding lore frequently mixes up fact and fiction in a physiologically insensible manner. However, I believe the article and study in discussion:
1. Grossly ignores the physiology behind some of the practices
2. Neglects to place the practices in seasonal training context
3. Fails to consider knowledgeable bodybuilders/trainers/coaches. Certainly some of the bodybuilders questioned would have no concept of what physiology is at work when using some of the nutritional mandates of optimum performance. However, it is downright misinformative to post an article that so egregiously overlooks very basic physiology in a uniquely different human population.

Myth No. 1: Protein supplements are necessary to build muscle mass.
The author states that when a "bodybuilder lifts a weight during a workout, carbohydrate - not protein - provides the necessary energy", thus refuting the need for higher protein consumption, as do many non-bodybuilding dieticians and nutritionists. In fact, even the US RDA for protein intake recommends that individuals consume 0.8 g protein per kg of bodyweight. That means that for a 152 lb male, he should be consuming 56 g of protein per day, or roughly the equivalent of 2 small chicken breasts total. In fact, this is touted as meeting the needs of 97.5% of the population (0.8 g/kg bodywt) and as being in excess of their basic needs. The problem here is, athletes are not normal in their nutrition requirements, and bodybuilders in particular are a very extreme minority of athletes in terms of protein nutritional requirments. While many sports docs and exercise physiologists will be quick to point out a moderate increase in protein consumption is needed for all athletes, fewer still understand bodybuilding and its unique demands. Some bodybuilders go to excess and consume more than 4-500 g of protein daily on a long term basis. While this is probably not toxic to the kidneys in any way unless there is underlying kidney disease, it is counterproductive in the sense that consuming that much protein upregulates the production of degradative enzymes (chemicals that break protein down into glucose and waste) while shortchanging the athlete of more efficient, workout-powering carbohydrates. That being said, a more realistic need for many bodybuilders is about 1.2 g protein per lb of bodyweight. While the body's metabolism will never allow a positive nitrogen balance for long (what happens when you ingest more protein than you need) before catabolizing the excess into glucose, this is the fundamental misunderstanding of dieticians thinking about extreme strength athletes. Nitrogen balance is not the issue, and it never has been. So why, then, do I maintain that a high amount of protein is necessary to promote growth? As a bodybuilder actively causes microtears in the myofibril and sarcomere during the course of a workout, adequate amino acids must ALWAYS be available for repair. As you know, this is one of three mechanisms in which we induce hypertrophy (growth) of muscle. The muscle cell can increase the nutritional and fluid content of its sarcoplasm (cell volumization), it may induce fusion of satellite cells to myocytes, and it may increase the amount of actin and myosin in myofibrils, thereby gradually expanding width of the muscle cell. This is what we strive to accomplish when we train hard and consume upwards of 2-300 g of protein daily. It is important to note that various athletes present with varying protein needs, and protein is only one important portion in growth. Indeed, carbs do fuel the workout and enable the more effective training session. Thus, the "low carb" diet should never apply to the bodybuilder attempting to make mass gains, unless he or she is genetically gifted or very advanced in training and nutrition. However, a concurrent high protein intake and adequate carbohydrate consumption IS critical in muscular growth and hypertrophy. One must always have excess amino acids present so that they may be used for repair at a moment's notice, while also having the glycolytic and oxidative energy provided by carbs. Protein need not necessarily come strictly from supplements, and in fact the protein types and timing ought best be saved for another discussion, but it is useful to obtain up to 1/3 of intake in this way because, well, 7 chicken breasts in a day is just plain boring!

I would like to address one other issue regarding protein intake in terms of preparing for a contest. It is not uncommon for a bodybuilder to engage in what is called "carb-cycling" or even depletion when "cutting" or dieting, so as to appear more shredded. At this point in the training season, growth is not going to be possible, as the athlete has become hypocaloric with the intent of losing as much fat as possible. A common practice is to increase protein dramatically at the expense of carbs for short durations followed by incremental increases in carbs and decreases in protein. Most dieticians would look at the practice as insanity to increase protein to 50 or 60% of your daily caloric intake, but it is a useful practice for this very extreme segment of the athletic population. Bodybuilders do not care about physical performance at this point--they care not that they feel sluggish, weak, and exhausted, as they are solely striving for as little bodyfat as possible, going far below what any elitely fit track or football athlete would ever consider. By oscillating protein and carb consumption while maintaining low fat intake, the athlete is able to constantly "trick" the body's metabolism as it desperately attempts to preserve what little fat it has. By inducing a temporary ketotic state (what occurs when nearly all glycogen reserves have been depleted while eating very little carbs), one can "train" the body to utilize remaining fat stores. Of course, this quickly leads to muscle degradation, as well, so it is important to increase the carbs enough so that the body's ketotic mechanisms do not become overly harmful to one's lean body mass. This phase of training and its protein needs are also important physiologically to another aspect of optimum aesthetics that I will cover in another myth refutation.

As this discussion has taken vastly more of my evening than I can afford, I will address myth No. 2 in the near future. I welcome your comments, both from editors and authors of this site's articles and from readers.