Yo,
You’ll often hear about protein powder when entering the fitness space. What brand, flavor, type and so much more. Most people often see other individuals who have a significant amount of muscle talk about this, and consequently associate the two. That is:
Protein Powder= Building Muscle.
To be honest, it’s not wrong entirely, however there is so much more that goes into muscle building. We’ve already talked about how protein powder can assist in losing weight and ultimately fat, so today we’ll go into discussing how it contributes to building muscle remember myself at the start of my fitness journey, I was so confused and curious about what protein powder was. To be honest, when I first bought it, I thought it would be like magic. I assumed that suddenly after consuming a few shakes, muscle building would be 10 times easier. Looking back, I was right and wrong. Ultimately, it’s just another assumption that needs to be uncovered to save yourself time when thinking of buying protein powder.
If you’d like to learn from my own experiences, keep reading and if not, I wish you luck on your muscle building goals.
Yes
The answer is as simple as that. I found that when I was able to use protein powder to help me achieve my protein goals, as protein is a significant factor to building muscle, I was able to build more.
However it was not because I consumed protein powder, but what it provided me. It’s protein my friend. Do you get where I’m going with this?
Even if you do not have protein powder meals or shakes, the underlying principle is that you achieve your protein goals for the day and eat in an appropriate caloric surplus. Some protein Powders are higher in calories and some are lower, but regardless, whether you consume it or not is not the be all and end all
Make no mistake however, I am not putting down the use of protein powder. I’m an advocate for aiming to receive sufficient protein from whole foods, however I often have a protein shake.
Why? This is because it is convenient and easy to consume. There have been many days when I have only been able to hit enough protein for the day because I had some form of the powder. If I had not done that, this would have resulted in many days of me not hitting enough protein and this equals: minimal muscle growth.
I want you to understand this my friend, protein powder does and can build muscle. I still use it to this day, but it is not what it is, but what it provides, which is protein and you can get this from other food sources to build muscle.
Realism
One thing that hit me when I started taking protein powder was disappointment. Truthfully, I was disappointed that after protein powder my muscle gain did not vastly increase. Looking back, it makes sense I was upset, after all, I had consumed so much fitness and diet content without considering the numerous factors to building muscle.
This leads me to what I want to emphasize to you, which is, realism. Even when you enter the ‘noobie gains’ phase of lifting, which is the stage (approximately a year) where muscle gain is much faster than others, and consume protein powder, you cannot attribute all of your muscles to this new supplement.
Protein powder is only a supplement. It provides a building block for what you want to achieve.
Let’s say you were barely making your protein goals daily and consequently, making minimal progress towards building muscle. By incorporating the protein powder and consequently being able to consume a sufficient amount of protein, then yes it would certainly be a key factor to building muscle. However, let’s look at a different example.
Here, let’s suggest that you were consuming more than enough protein every day, whilst remaining in a caloric surplus of course. Assuming your training and sleep appropriate, then the body will be able to build lean muscle mass just fine. By adding in protein powder, what do you think would happen to your muscles?
Do you think you would be able to build more or less? Take a moment to think about it.
The answer is neither, and that you would be able to build the same amount of muscle. Why? This is because you already consuming a sufficient amount of protein, and all other factors that contribute to muscle. When we look at both situations, we can see a key difference in the protein consumption amount and what the protein powder does to it for the day.
Furthermore, you must understand that everybody grows muscle at different speeds and comparing yourself to someone else, then attributing it to if you are having a protein shake or not is just self-sabotaging. You are only putting yourself at risk of becoming extremely frustrated at yourself, genetics and potentially wasting money on different options.
It is vital that you look your own situation and have realistic expectations about what could happen. By ignoring the realistic element of protein powder and it’s correlation to muscle growth, you strip yourself of the ability to trust the process of building muscle.
Conclusion
Alright, so we have covered that protein powder can help in building muscle, but it is not going to be the sole reason to building substantial muscle mass. I wish for you to avoid getting upset at yourself for not witnessing extreme muscle growth after consuming the powder.
I know all too much about being disappointed at the pace of growth in muscle mass. I was there almost fours years ago, and still am, however I am still learning to becoming comfortable with my own journey to building muscle, just as I hope you will.
Protein powder can be a great asset to building muscle, but it ultimately comes down to how you use it and trusting the process.
Thanks for reading bro.
