Protein v Weight Gain

"With hard training, the maximum amount of extra muscle you could build in a year would be less than 8lb."

What data do you have to support this? This is an absolute myth. Many athletes gain subatantially more LBM than this in a year.

"Muscle is only 22% protein so an increase of less than a tenth of an ounce a day is all that is needed to bring about the greatest possible muscle gain."

An increase of 3g / day above what? RDA ? Baseline protein needs? Please dont say RDA....

This also assumes 100% metabolic efficiency, ie every gram of protein you eat is converted in to new muscle tissue. This is nonsense. If you look at PER / PDCAAS etc for foods you can see how much nitrogen is retained per / g protein ingested. If you then figure in all the reactions / processes OTHER than the accrual of new muscle tissue that proteins are involved in (every enzyme, blood cells, soft tissues other then muscle, organs...everything!) and also that most of these processes will upregulate and require YET MORE protein as LBM increases then you can see that protein needs for an athlete seeking to gain LBM are far more than 3g per day more than maintainance levels (which are in turn well above the RDA for sedentary people).

"instead of overloading the body with unnecessary protein which taxes more than it helpsEat the right protein in the right amounts and gain maximum benefits."

True.

But the right amount is not 3g / day over the erroneous RDA. Lemon's research has shown that around .9g protein per LB body mass is an appropriate upper limit for protein consumption, so an athlete my size would be taking in around 240g / day during normal training. Presuming I now wish to gain more muscle mass and subsequently set my training up to accomplish this goal. Are you really suggesting that if i eat 243 g of protein a day as opposed to 240g i will suddenly start gaining as much new muscle tissue as possible, given an appropriate calorie surplus? Or would you have me eating 3g / day above the RDA ?

Protein synthesis following training can be elevated far above baseline levels so it would make sense to supply protein to meet increases in protein synthesis. Your "3g / day" equates to 1.3% of my current baseline protein intake, do you wish to contend that protein synthesis (and hence need for amino acids) following hard training is only elevated by 1.3% above baseline, again assuming the mythical 100% efficiency?

If you do go by the RDA, then pleasse show me a diet that will meet my kcal needs (3700 to maintian weight) without having me eat more than the RDA of protein and put "stress" on my "system". BTW, the idea that protein taxes the ehalthy kidney has never been proven. Any studies that have shown that protein increases markers of organ damage have been conducted on those with pre-exisiting damage.

To answer the original question the mass you accrue will be dependant upon the training stimulus and your response to it, total kcal consumption and availabilty of the raw materials required to build new tissue. If any of these factors is suboptimal than yes, you can expect to gain a maximum of 8lbs LBM in a year as opposed to the 15 - 25lbs LBM you could have gained.

So, take in a kcal surplus.

Take in a reasonable amount of protein above and beyond baseline needs.

Meet your micronutrient needs.

Train smart, grow large.

Gavin.