Muscle Meals For Muscle Gains

Muscle Meals For Muscle Gains
Tomi Jurlina
Posted by Tomi Jurlina
Co-founder

Muscle Meals

Muscle meals ain't just ordinary meals -- they're specifically laboured over to ensure quality muscle-building amino acids AND enough protein to boot. Most people fail with their muscle growth diets because they don't get enough protein. They also don't get enough QUALITY protein. So that's why we exist, to take the guesswork out and just deliver gains to your door: DING DONG! Ok, let's go through why muscle meals are so important.

Muscle Meals

Muscle Meals For Muscle Gains

Taking a stab in the dark with your nutrition doesn't help you get enough protein, nor grow enough muscle. 

What you need are all 9 essential amino acids. And they are:
  • Phenylalanine
  • Valine
  • Tryptophan
  • Threonine
  • Isoleucine
  • Methionine
  • Histidine
  • Leucine
  • Lysine
Now you don't need to remember all these, that's our job.

But if you wanna be a smarty pants, you can remember the mnemonic PVT TIM HaLL ("private Tim Hall") which will help you remember them and sound like the Einstein of muscle gains.

 

Ok, so foods with all these amino acids are called complete protein sources. We're talking about:

- Beef
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Milk
- Whey protein
- Fish

 

Basically, the protein sources we provide for you on our Workout Meals menu.
Workout Meals

The essential amino acids are also available from incomplete proteins, which are usually plant-based foods, but just not in a dosage that's high enough.

Branched-chain Amino Acids and Muscle Meals

And hiding within the essential amino acids are the branched-chain amino acids, which I'm sure you've heard about many times. They are:

- Leucine
- Isoleucine
- Valine

Also called BCAAs for short, they get a lot of attention because they are the main amino acids utilised in your muscle.  
But the key amino acid here is leucine. That's the one to remember, the real star of the show to include in your muscle meals. This is because leucine is one of the key door openers for muscle growth.

Now, you can take BCAAs alone and experience muscle growth -- this study concluded that taking BCAAs alone without the essential amino acids allowed for a 22% greater muscle growth response after resistance training, compared to nothing at all.

Yep, well BCAAS will work. Great. 

But then, the same researchers put the BCAAs with the essential amino acids, and the results skyrocketed -- when the essential amino acids WERE NOT present, the "muscle myofibrillar protein synthesis was approximately 50% less."

50 per cent less!  

So, you need ALL essential amino acids for the best muscle growth results: essential amino acids are at least 50% MORE EFFECTIVE at building muscle than BCAA's in isolation.
Muscle Meals
 
So that's why you need muscle meals that have ALL of the amino acids. Meals with animal protein sources to ensure you're covered. 

You can also get your essential amino acids from:
- Whey protein
- Plant food products (just not quite in a high enough dose, and sometimes with a few missing. This is why vegans rely quite heavily on supplements for all essential amino acids).
 
If you regularly consume animal-based protein sources, you've got one hell of an advantage. 

Getting Enough Protein In Your Muscle Meals

So you've got all the essential amino acids from your animal protein sources. Great.

But the job isn't done -- you need enough grams of protein, of course, made up of these essential amino acids. 
 
So how much?

Let's bring in some researchers:

"To maximise muscle protein accretion with resistance exercise, daily protein intakes should be ~1.6 g/kg/day and up to 2.2 g/kg/day. This intake can be achieved by ingesting 3 meals, each containing ~0.53 g/kg protein, or 4 meals containing ~0.4g/kg protein."
 
And for weight loss, you'll want to consume up to 3 grams of protein per day if need be -- but starting at 1.5-2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day is a good approach.  

And that's the guts of what you need to know.
Muscle Meals
So recapping: 

- There are 9 essential amino acids (and within those the three BCAAs) and 11 non-essential amino acids; 20 in total. 

- Leucine, one of the three BCAAs and essential amino acids, is very important for muscle growth. However, it can't carry the muscle growth show on its own. 

- For optimal muscle growth, we need all essential amino acids, which we can get from complete sources of protein: whey, or animal products like meat, fish, and dairy. 

- We need to focus on complete sources of protein for optimal muscle growth.

- We need ~1.6 g/kg/day and up to 2.2 g/kg/day of protein for maximal muscle growth in concert with resistance training

- Aim for up to 3 grams of protein per day for weight loss if you like. But start at 1.5-2 grams per kilogram of body weight first.
And of course, we have all of the above on our muscle meal menu. You say the word, we'll deliver it!
Happy lifting!

References

Lopez MJ, Mohiuddin SS. Biochemistry, Essential Amino Acids. 2021 Mar 26. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan–. PMID: 32496725.

Melkonian EA, Asuka E, Schury MP. Physiology, Gluconeogenesis. 2021 May 9. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan–. PMID: 31082163.

Platell C, Kong SE, McCauley R, Hall JC. Branched-chain amino acids. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2000 Jul;15(7):706-17. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1746.2000.02205.x. PMID: 10937674.

Layne E. Norton, Donald K. Layman, Leucine Regulates Translation Initiation of Protein Synthesis in Skeletal Muscle after Exercise, The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 136, Issue 2, February 2006, Pages 533S–537S.

Jackman SR, Witard OC, Philp A, Wallis GA, Baar K, Tipton KD. Branched-Chain Amino Acid Ingestion Stimulates Muscle Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis following Resistance Exercise in Humans. Front Physiol. 2017 Jun 7;8:390. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00390. PMID: 28638350; PMCID: PMC5461297.

Hoffman JR, Falvo MJ. Protein - Which is Best? J Sports Sci Med. 2004 Sep 1;3(3):118-30. PMID: 24482589; PMCID: PMC3905294.

Stokes T, Hector AJ, Morton RW, McGlory C, Phillips SM. Recent Perspectives Regarding the Role of Dietary Protein for the Promotion of Muscle Hypertrophy with Resistance Exercise Training. Nutrients. 2018;10(2):180. Published 2018 Feb 7. doi:10.3390/nu10020180

Helms ER, Zinn C, Rowlands DS, Brown SR. A systematic review of dietary protein during caloric restriction in resistance trained lean athletes: a case for higher intakes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2014 Apr;24(2):127-38. doi: 10.1123/ijsnem.2013-0054. Epub 2013 Oct 2. PMID: 24092765.

Back to blog