Recap on muscle building

As you have seen from your course modules, optimising muscle gain or fat loss is more complicated than assigning each macronutrient a "percentage" of overall caloric intake.

Macronutrient requirements expressed in percentages is an outdated model.

Instead, sports scientists use "grams", e.g. grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (and never percentages).

This way, you calculate your macros in grams, then convert them into calories, and finally you can assign to them a percentage based on your total calories - ideally never the other way around.

For example, the current scientific consensus for muscle gain is: 1) a protein intake of 1.8 grams to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight, 2) your carb grams per the Training Carbohydrate Intake

Calculator in Module 4 increased by 20%, and 3) what's left of your calories in fat (ideally from natural sources and not processed foods, fried foods or artificial trans fats).

Studies show that there's no additional benefit from increasing protein beyond 2 grams per kg body weight. See here and Unit 3, slide 3.

Here are other general findings, cited in your course, which are followed by the International Olympic Committee for Olympic weight lifters and the American College of Sports Medicine recommendations, who are the leading authority on muscle metabolism:

1. Although some strength athletes and body builders consume over 2 g/ kg BW/ day, there is no evidence that these high daily intakes result in further muscle mass and strength gains, according to Tipton and Wolfe and the International Olympic Committee. Most studies conclude that muscle growth is dependent on other factors, including the timing of ingestion in relation to exercise (remember, ideally right after training and always within 2 hs), other nutrients (such as carbs, see the ideal carb:protein ratio from your course materials), the composition of ingested amino acids and the type of protein (whey vs casein, BCAAs, etc – also in your materials as well as your graduation bonus later on).
2. In a study carried out at McMaster University, Ontario, strength athletes were given either a low-protein diet (0.86 g/ kg body weight/ day – similar to the RDA), a medium-protein diet (1.4 g/ kg body weight/ day) or a high- protein diet (2.3 g/ kg body weight/ day) for 13 days (Tarnopolsky et al.). The low-protein diet, which was close to the RDA for sedentary people, caused the athletes to lose muscle mass. Both the medium- and high-protein diets resulted in an increased muscle mass, but the amount of the increase was the same for the two groups. In other words, no further benefits were gained by increasing the protein intake from 1.4 g to 2.4 g/ kg body weight/ day.
3. Similar findings were reported at Kent State University, Ohio. Researchers gave 12 young volunteers either a protein supplement (total daily protein was 2.62 g/ kg body weight) or a carbohydrate supplement (total daily protein was 1.35 g/ kg body weight) for 1 month, during which time they performed intense weight training 6 days a week (Lemon et al.). Nitrogen balance measurements were carried out after each diet and the researchers found that an intake of 1.4– 1.5 g/ kg body weight/ day was needed to maintain nitrogen balance, although strength, muscle mass and size were the same with either level of protein intake. The researchers concluded two main points. First, strength training approximately doubles your protein needs (compared with sedentary people). Secondly, increasing your protein intake does not enhance your strength, mass or size in a linear fashion. Once your optimal intake has been reached, additional protein is not converted into muscle.

In practical terms, remember from your course materials that your goal here should be to consume 1 g carbohydrate/ kg body weight immediately after training, ideally combined with protein in a ratio of 4 : 1 (4g carbs for every 1g protein).

And remember that protein combined with carbs reduces the GI of a meal, which is good for muscle gains. In other words, aim for low GI combos.

Here’s a few examples of post-workout snacks to be eaten within 2 hours after exercise:

• 1– 2 portions of fresh fruit with a drink of milk
• 1 or 2 pots of yogurt or cottage cheese
• A smoothie (crushed fresh fruit and yoghurt whizzed in a blender)
• A homemade milkshake (milk with fresh fruit and yoghurt)
• A yogurt drink
• A sandwich/ bagel/ roll/ wrap filled with lean protein – tuna, chicken, cottage cheese, peanut butter or egg
• A handful of dried fruit and nuts
• Jacket potato with tuna, or with baked beans, or with cottage cheese

Make sure to keep in mind other principles from your course. For example:

1. Consuming 15-25 grams of protein post-exercise to promote muscle synthesis/gains (as recommended by the International Olympic Committee).
2. Eating over 25-30 grams of protein in a single meal does not seem to increase muscle gains (see above and here).
3. When you consume protein in the post exercise window, do it in a 1 to 4 ratio with carbs to foment lean gains (so 4 grams of carbs per gram of protein)
4. Also, consuming some protein (20-40 grams, such as a casein drink) before sleep has been shown to increase muscle protein synthesis by 22% and help with muscle gains. Per Unit 2, and see more here and in this PDF on protein ingestion before sleep and its potential for optimising recovery.

In Module 8, Competition Nutrition, we link to Science-based recommendations for bodybuilding contest preparation. Such principles are slightly different: because of aesthetic reasons, caloric restriction is often followed, so protein is calculated not as grams per kilogram of body weight but as grams per kilogram of "lean body mass" (i.e. fat free mass, see how to calculate it here), suggesting 2.3 to 3.1 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body mass per day.

There's a lot to digest from this module, so please do take your time to absorb the information and, more importantly, make sure to compute all these principles in your meal planning!

Use the worksheets we provide you with, and put them into practice. There's no shortcut. Building a sound nutritional program takes time and effort, but it's worth it. So go for it.

AUTHOR: Alex Ruani, Research Director

Updated on: 28/10/2026