HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO YOU NEED TO BUILD MUSCLE???

Here's an easy formula to help you determine how much protein to take to build new muscle. There's a VERY basic way that bodybuilders / power-lifters used to use to determine how much protein their bodies required, but it was not very accurate and could be dangerous if they took extremely high levels of protein.


The old formula was to simply multiply your body-weight (in pounds) by 2. They said this was the number of grams of protein you'd require.

The accurate way to determine protein requirements is to use this formula:

Multiply your total body weight by your body-fat %.
Subtract the number of pounds of body-fat from total body-weight.
This number is your total Lean Body Mass (LBM)
Multiply LBM (x) 1.818
This is the exact protein requirement of your body for your total LBM.

Example: I'm a 240 pound bodybuilder, currently at approximately 15% body-fat.

240 pounds (x) 15% (=) 36 pounds of body-fat.
240 pounds (-) 36 pounds
LBM (=) 204 pounds
204 (x) 1.818
Daily Protein Requirement (=) 370.872 grams.

Now in contrast, if I had used the old method and multiplied my body-weight (x) 2, here's what it would have looked like:

240 pounds (x) 2 (=) 480grams of protein per day. As you can see, that is way too much protein and could side effects like kidney problems.

It is typically very difficult to get enough protein since our diets are typically carbohydrate based, but natural protein sources like chicken, fish, meat, beans etc. can be a good base.

There are a lot of varieties of protein supplements that work very well, TROJAN'S OWN WHEY PROTEIN IS A GREAT SOURCE.