Originally Posted by
TexasGuy
It's interesting to me that people get lost in the gray area of "what's best individually" where diets in general are concerned but will throw out an arbitrary number that sounds good for protein intake.
Sure, there probably is a fairly uniform number that keeps like 99% of the population from going catabolic but in the event of bulking, optimum intake for optimal gains should be the goal.
On that note, there are many variables to protein synthesis, two of which are acknowledged in this thread. Work load for sure, the aforementioned endurance athlete also weight training would incur more muscle damage needing to be repaired and would require more food in general to supply the necessary energy (Interestingly, some weight training routines incur significantly more muscle damage and require more muscular energy than others too...)
We've also mentioned steroids. Well, with the effect of mimicing testosterone in mind, one man to the next has varying levels of natural free test floating around. Perhaps you have higher levels of test than "average", you wouldn't want to underfeed your potential any more than you would want to underfeed a cycles potential.
These are only two aspects of protein requirements and synthesis. There is no magic number.
I started with the recommendation of 1 gram per pound years ago and made gains off of it.
As I became more advanced in bodybuilding style training after athletics, I experimented with routines coupling diets calling for 2-3 grams per pound. Scale weight changed noticeabley quicker, though my routines were also geared for growth as opposed to athleticism, I had more recovery time with athletic conditioning and drills out of the picture et cetera, so it is hard to say exactly what led to better muscle gain, or how big an impact more accurately.
I can say, however, that after experimenting with a variety of routines and protein intake levels post football, I recover much, much faster at around 1.5 to 2 grams per pound than less. I personally don't feel any difference at over two grams but then I'm a natural lifter, and my "sweetspot" is somewhere in the natural range of physiological responses.
All of that said, find your sweetspot. It may sound like bro science, but essentially it is finding where you respond best personally, considering your unique, physiological environment. You could get a panel of tests done to be super accurate but this is pretty unrealistic.