What does the latest research say about protein intake, distribution and sources? Stick around to find out. Welcome to the Whits and Weights podcast. I'm your host, philip Pape, and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self-mastery by getting stronger, optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition. We'll uncover science-backed strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle and mindset, with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry, so you can look and feel your absolute best. Let's dive right in.

In the latest issue of the Mass Research Review, eric Trexler wrote an article called how Important is the Lucine Content of your Protein Sources? I definitely encourage you to subscribe to read all of those types of articles, but I wanted to summarize some of the findings at the end that he shared. In terms of what the latest evidence says about your protein strategy. It's actually pretty straightforward. It's not going to be too surprising, but let's get into it. First of all, the most important thing when it comes to muscle growth is your training. It is not the protein. This happens during fat loss or muscle building. If you don't have the training stimulus, it's really not going to matter that much. If you do have the training stimulus, the effective protein is helpful, but not the most helpful thing. Just keep that in mind. The second thing is you can get protein from a whole bunch of sources plants, animals.

The key here is to get enough total protein. We're talking around 0.71 gram per pound for most people. If you are concerned and you want to get more than that, you don't have to. That's the key. The evidence continues to show that no more than one gram per pound is generally needed. Now, in a rapid fat loss phase or a mini-cut, you may want to go a little higher for other reasons, like satiety, but you don't have to go that high.

The other aspect of this is protein distribution. We've heard four or five, six times a day. You got to spike the muscle protein synthesis. Really, what you want to do is spread it out two, three times a day, more if you need to, but that's enough. What they found is two is way better than one, three is a little bit better than two, and then it's diminishing returns. That's it. That's the updated, very complicated protein strategy. Get enough protein, eat it at least two or three times a day, make sure you are training hard and get enough protein from whatever sources you want. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Wits and Weights. If you found value in today's episode and know someone else who's looking to level up their Wits or Weights, please take a moment to share this episode with them. Make sure to hit the follow button in your podcast platform right now to catch the next episode. Until then, stay strong.